Say hello to Dave, Senior Concept Artist (he's not really as menacing as he looks in this pic
)
I’ve been working in the games industry for twenty years or so, and a lot of that has been focussed on the fantasy genre – (Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, Magic the Gathering and World of Warcraft). Coming to work on Celtic Heroes wasn’t too much of a stretch and I was pretty familiar with the subject matter. I was also living in the same city as OTM when I came for the initial interview, so that helped.
• Once you’re presented with an idea from the designers how do you go about deciding where you want to go with it?
I first do a bit of research online, doing google image and Wikipedia search, whether it be for anatomy, mythological or historical imagery or information. I then do rough sketches based on my findings, then resubmit them back to the designers. We usually have a few rounds of feedback before we get the final design nailed. Once it’s approved I’ll go back and do further details and colour finals based on the agreed design again letting people give feedback at regular stages.
• Tell us a bit about the process you go through to get an idea from the first sketches to the final finished product.
First off, I try and generate an interesting silhouette, an outline that will stand out in the game. Silhouettes are very important; each character needs to be as identifiable as possible at a glance so you know who you’re going up against. Once I have good shape and structure, I start adding details and embellishing the overall design. I try to be mindful of not adding too many features which won’t translate on a small screen. This is also where a strong silhouette helps. I also try to keep in mind that certain areas need to be recolourable. There’s quite a bit of consideration and effort that goes into each design we create for the game.
• Apart from the original myths and historical records where else do you draw inspiration from for CH?
Mostly films/TV like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Game of Thrones, Dragonslayer, Jabberwocky and comics such as Hellboy and Slaine, but I only look at traditional art by the old masters to get inspiration. I try to create a mood and energy in the concepts that’s depicted in the paintings you see in museums and art galleries. Although the fantasy genre is relatively new the fundamental rules of good art still apply and we can learn a lot about light and colour from artists like Rembrandt and Caravaggio. Many of the old masters included plenty of tension and drama in their paintings and by careful observation you can learn the little tricks and techniques they did to produce powerful images.
I like the use of light and colour in these images. They all have great level of details and the artists have a strong understanding of anatomy, weapons and armour, and nature.
• What’s your favourite piece you’ve done for CH?
I think it’s probably the Mage mood board (shown as a loading screen in game) which has the Mage standing over the body of a wolf while the others menace her in the background
• Can you give us any hints on what we can expect from CH artwork in the future?
Well, we’re working on Gelbron’s Tower as we speak, so in the next few weeks I’ll be tackling the NPCs that exist in the Tower itself, such as the Wizards and Alchemists. I’d like to develop a new look for them that sets them apart from the Druids and Mages. We’ll also have other mobs lurking around the various floors but I can’t go into too much detail about them at the moment as we’re still in the process of designing and balancing them.
We’ve already done a fair bit of concepting for the tower environment itself and the various floors. We’ve pretty much decided on a theme and style through the concept art and various rounds of feedback and at the moment the 3d artists are creating prototype levels based on the grey box geometry and detailing it out. The grey boxes help us visualise the scale and scope of the areas as well as provide a way to test out gameplay and they are literally just that; levels made from grey boxes.
Thanks Dave.
Also this week we’ve been finalising the release of the latest Android Beta and it should be up for you to try. It adds the dark, forbidding Tunnels of Carrowmore so go try it out and give us feedback in the beta forums.
Speaking of the forums a vital component of One Thumb is our Support Team and we hope to fire a few questions their way soon to give you an insight into the work they do and the challenges they face on a daily basis. We’re hoping to introduce some improvements to their working environment soon that will make not only them happy but also the people they deal with on a daily basis, yes, you guys.
As Dave mentioned the environment team have been busy creating some prototype levels for Gelebron’s tower in collaboration with the designers. The artists have met with them to understand what sort of gameplay will feature across the tower. This helps them understand the space they need to work in. We’ll have a catch up with some of the environment artists next time and we’ll get them to go into more detail about the process they go through taking a concept from an idea into a playable area.
I’ve been working closely with one of our new hires, Chihiro, a senior designer on the underlying systems of the mounts and crafting features that will be coming later on in the year. This period is crucial to understand and identify the key points that will really make these features shine and keep you, the players engaged for some time to come. It all sounds so simple at the start but once you begin to delve into the intricacies and the effects that seemingly small decisions may have on the wider game it becomes a very intensive process.
We’ve also been planning our next Android release. What could it be now that we’re on the cusp of having all the zones released? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see but I promise there’ll be some great content in there.
Until next time, Heroes!
P.S. The iOS Unity build is still coming on strong. The coding team took delivery on some shiny new development machines this week that’ll mean their jobs are just that bit easier and more efficient.