Brink, the upcoming game from Bethesda and Splash Damage has hit the front page of Bethesda's website once more. The second developer diary has just gone live, this time focusing on Olivier Leonardi, the Art Director for Blink.
Let's take a little look and see what it takes to begin forming the look and feel of an entire game world.
When I first sat down with our lead character artist, Tim Appleby, we went through some of my research and settled on an initial style for our character. Keeping with the overall theme of exaggerating human body proportions, we drew upon the influences of artists like Ron Mueck, Jon Foster, Phil Hale, Sebastian Krüger and a few others.
Tim and his team then started working on a prototype character based on the following guidelines:
1. Exaggerate body proportions
2. Simplify the shape of the character while emphasizing key creases in his clothing
3. Exaggerate clothing details like zippers, buckles, pockets, and stitching
4. Achieve a recognisable, dynamic overall silhouette
The resulting style would allow the player to recognize any of our characters, even at a distance. We would also be able to visually communicate essential information like character class, body type, and equipment, without everything becoming too busy - a considerable advantage in a fast-paced shooter game.
With our first character model, we fulfilled all of those requirements, but we had another challenge ahead — maintaining our unique style within the extensive character customisation system. We would need to be able to mix and match any and all pieces of clothing and headgear without the result looking odd or out of place. After several iterations and thanks to a very clever system created by Tim and technical artist, Paul Greveson, we finally reached a balance that allows for really unique outfits no matter which combinations are selected.
Tim and his team then started working on a prototype character based on the following guidelines:
1. Exaggerate body proportions
2. Simplify the shape of the character while emphasizing key creases in his clothing
3. Exaggerate clothing details like zippers, buckles, pockets, and stitching
4. Achieve a recognisable, dynamic overall silhouette
The resulting style would allow the player to recognize any of our characters, even at a distance. We would also be able to visually communicate essential information like character class, body type, and equipment, without everything becoming too busy - a considerable advantage in a fast-paced shooter game.
With our first character model, we fulfilled all of those requirements, but we had another challenge ahead — maintaining our unique style within the extensive character customisation system. We would need to be able to mix and match any and all pieces of clothing and headgear without the result looking odd or out of place. After several iterations and thanks to a very clever system created by Tim and technical artist, Paul Greveson, we finally reached a balance that allows for really unique outfits no matter which combinations are selected.
That's just the tip of the developer diary iceberg. Head on over to the Bethesda website for the rest of the entry. However, before you do there is just one more thing.
If you haven't already grabbed the Fan Kit for Brink, then what are you waiting for? You can download the Fan Kit and much more from the official Brink website! The Kit contains screenshots, artwork, sound clips, and gameplay details for Brink.
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