Shining light into a quieter corner of the game studio
In this business, we see a lot of artwork. Not just the stuff on the screen during the playing of a game, of course, but also the visuals created often before there even is anything to play. It is one of the joys of working with videogames that we get to see behind the scenes, and also that we’re able to showcase the work of so many skilled people in these pages. We can’t help feeling, though, that concept artists are the unsung heroes of game development, grinding away in the background without the kind of recognition afforded to superstar designers and project leads. Because their work doesn’t get much of an airing once the game is in the player’s hands, the concept artist’s work is easily taken for granted, which seems a little ridiculous when you consider its value to the overall project.
At the start, concept art can serve as the foundation, a fundamental part in the pitching process, when the hopeful studio is asking the reluctant publisher to commit to $25 million, and the bullet-pointed presentation and tech demo need something extra to get everything over the line. Then, with the budget agreed and milestones laid out, the artist’s work becomes the scaffolding, defining the shape of the production and allowing others to make their own contributions as they refer back to the key vision.
Perhaps it’s because this kind of artwork is the part of the development process that feels the most old-fashioned – even if it often utilises some of the most expensive tools in the studio – that it can be so easily overlooked. Or maybe, since historically it’s such a strong link in the convoluted gamemaking chain, it’s simply taken as a given that it will deliver the goods.
Whatever the case, effective game visualisation should evoke a feeling. To the prospective player, ideally that feeling should be: I want to go to this place and have an adventure there. It’s precisely our reaction when we look at the image on p58–59, created by Inflexion’s Steve Klit for this month’s cover game. Now that we’ve given him some credit, you can read about some of his colleagues’ contributions beginning on p54.