Another week of Dev Blogging! Emmet here! This week we’ll be talking about the art side of the game and the stages we took to get to where we are now. For a game like this, it’s very important to have a consistent art style. Harder than it looks though! With plenty of testing with different art styles, we have finally come to our final concept and we’re sticking with it!

The art style was a very important part of the game for us to get right. The base theme of the game is steampunk. Steampunk incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.

Initially, we wanted to use a realistic art style but soon realised that it didn’t work with the theme and style of the game we wanted to convey to the player. Below is an example of the realistic art style we tested.

After deciding that the realistic art style did not work for the game, we decided to go back to the drawing board. We finally settled on a bright and lively stylized art style which represents everything we want to convey from the game. The difference between the two is clear. The first style is very dark without much life to it. With the second art style, the game is given some life with plenty of bright popping colours. 

Now! To the process of creating what you see on screen! This may be boring to some of you but to me, it’s really exciting! To begin with, I start with paper drawings which are very rough concepts. From there they are then copied onto Photoshop and add extra detail and colour as seen below. 

From the concept drawing stage, I then take it to 3DS MAX and begin to turn the concepts into 3D models. 

When the 3D model is finished I then apply a UV Unwrap modifier which basically gives a flat representation of the model on a 2D space to texture the model. 

When the UV unwrap is complete the model and texture are then exported to Substance Painter where the detail and colour is added! Turning an ugly model into a beautiful model! 

This is an example of our finished art style for our tutorial level. Adding the skybox was a big bonus to the map giving it the floating effect we aimed for.

And that's the whole art process! Remember to follow our socials for updates @boscadubhgames

Out of context quote of the week: Is there a Dorito shortage? - Olivia, 2021