Normally it’s the other way around. You lay out a level and a concept artist will create an impression of what it might look like for the Enviroment artists to work from.
However Damnation are apparently going a different way and basing their Level Designs on Concept art.
I’m interested in seeing how this process works out in terms of actual gameplay as a good concept artist can throw out sketches faster than you can block out a level in sketchup and tend to get hired on the strength of their imagination. In contrast Level Designers are often hired for their technical skill more than their artistic ability.
Being able to use a game Editor and script in LUA will push your Resume closer to the top of the pile compared to somebody who can make their own textures (ProTip: If you spend longer making your level look awesome than play awesome apply for Environment art jobs).
So with that in mind inspiration can be tricky when coming up with your designs. Having a Concept artist onboard early in the process will at least introduce a sounding board for ideas and a second perspective from somebody who can visualise a 3D scene and then communicate it quickly. So long as it’s a two-way process with the artist and designers inspiring each other I can’t see how it could fail.
So here’s hoping Damnation is actually fun.
3 Comments
I like the idea of this. I personally try to make it the same with mods, while i have to admit you come across certain disadvantages. You have to block the players path way more then normal with invisible walls or obstacles and whatnot.
Hang on I thought all games started with concept work like films do. I mean that’s what a concept is something you do before you make it right?
@Werebadger
Concepts are initial to designing a level, but usually the concept artist is creating the look and feel of the level, and not the design. At least by what I saw in this movie clip.
Basing their design off of the picture they received, it seems like the designers aren’t actually coming up with ‘gameplay areas’ (levels) and are instead just planning a route that they think looks interesting off of artwork. I do the same whenever I look at MC Escher’s artwork Relativity, but that doesn’t mean I actually designed or created a level with gameplay in mind.
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[...] Un artículo acerca de como se crean niveles a partir de concept art salió en gamedesignblog.com, mostrando una entrevista con el tipo que hizo los niveles del juego Damnation. LINK [...]
[...] Level design based on concept art es un artículo del sitio GameDesignBlog.com y explica la técnica utilizada para level design en el juego Damnation. LINK [...]