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How did you come up with your idea to make an Abandoned City? Tell us about the process you took to get the results that you did and were there any bumps in the road? |
Before the contest started I knew I wanted to create a big environment. Something you can put in a game that makes to player want to explore and experience it. The architecture in the Giedi Prime concept by Thomas Tenery immediately grabbed my interest. It had nice solid shapes and no crazy details that would take ages to recreate in 3d. I started out by doing a quick painting of how I could lay out my scene, copying elements from the original concept. Next, I created a quick block out model that I painted over to get a good sense of what materials I was going to use. With a block out image, I could experiment with various modular meshes to recreate the scene, essentially minimizing the workload in the end. During the block out stage, I still wasn’t sure yet if I would be working with friends or alone. It ended up being alone, and as a result, I had to scrap a lot of stuff I had planned. But I still had enough stuff planned in my head that would make the scene interesting anyhow. The biggest thing I had to scrap was a crashed spacecraft that I really wanted to have as the focal point of my scene. I also scrapped a lot of smaller details; fortunately, they were hardly missed since the scene was so big anyways. There was a background story I had in my head for this environment, but I wanted to keep it vague, with only some elements in the scene here and there hinting at it.
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What would be your advice for aspiring game artists out there? What type of training do you think would be helpful in becoming a successful 3d environment artist? |
When making your environments, definitely try to realize them in an actual game engine. Try to make something you can run around in yourself, don't just make a pretty picture. Build an actual level for an actual game, this way you will learn better how to make your art become a part of the game play, and you can invite other people to explore your creation. I have started out with level design, and I'm still a level designer in my heart. There are so many great tools out there to build levels for various games, so it’s a great stepping-stone to get into environment art. It’s very fun to make multiplayer levels and then play them with friends, watching them explore your little universe. Also try to learn every aspect of making a good environment. A good environment is the sum of everything, the lighting, materials, composition, small details, effects and more. Experiment with all of that and don’t give one of the elements less attention than it deserves. Also, Don’t get lost in the details, only add details when they are an important part of the whole, otherwise they just become noise and a waste of your time. Work with modular pieces as well, a well thought out modular set of meshes will allow you to create big environments within a small amount of time, even better if you can use those meshes to create a variety of shapes and layouts. Another thing that I believe I learned a lot from is painting concepts myself, it’s a great way to learn what makes something attractive, and what tricks you can use to make your environment more interesting. Also, I can’t stress this enough: Post your work on game art forums for feedback, you’ll get invaluable tips and criticism from industry professionals! Seeing other people’s work will also give you a great standard to compare your work too. I definitely believe I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for game art and level design communities.
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