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Guild Wars 2's Asura Week continues with a look at environmental concepts
Asura Week continues today with another blog entry from ArenaNet's Matt Barrett. While yesterday's update looked at conceptualizing the floppy-earred cutelings themselves, today's blurb is all about their environmental art. Asuran design is heavily influenced by ancient Hindu architecture and features "massive stone columns, intricate, masterful carvings, and a sense of being inside a mountain," Barrett explains, before going on to share several thumbnail sketches and designs for more specific in-game props. While most of Barrett's showcase is in black and white, he does do color pieces as well, primarily toward the beginning of the conceptual process. After that, he says, "it's much more economical to explore designs in grayscale." So what is it that makes Asura tick, according to the ArenaNet's art department? They're "mad with ambition to harness the power of the planet, and they have all the best tools with which to do it." On a lighter note, today's update also features an Asura advice column filled to the brim with pearls of wisdom about everything from lemonade turrets to grawl-infested cabbage crops. Head to the official Guild Wars 2 website for the full Asura experience.
SWTOR dev diary steps beyond story
Star Wars: The Old Republic separates itself from other MMORPGs by introducing the element of -- say it with me -- story. But how deep exactly is this wormhole? BioWare Writer Ian Ryan explains to us in the latest developer diary that a TOR writer's work is not done once the last word is penned. "Armed with [our] knowledge, we set out to provide feedback on each planet's art as it relates to story," Ryan reveals. The writers log into the game and play the levels they created story for. It is a collaborative effort. The writers attempt to give the environmental artist a clear picture of what best sets the scene for the stories they have created. In the gallery below, we have some before-and-after renders of the Promenade on Nar Shaddaa and the Blastfield Shipyards on Corellia. Both of these areas received major overhauls after the writers witnessed the first incarnation of the environments. Following the before-and-after pictures is a new piece of concept art of Corellia released for the fans. Lastly, we have featured some new pieces of art created by the SWTOR fans Micah_Vale, CuriousOne, and SkinRuder77. Enjoy. %Gallery-114430%
ArenaNet talks Guild Wars 2 environment art
There's a new Guild Wars 2 dev blog loose on the interwebs, and ArenaNet's Peter Fries has lots to say about the upcoming sequel's environment art. Fries paints a pretty picture of the game's locations, both literally and in the mind's eye of folks excited about ANet's decision to make Tyria more of an open world. "In the original Guild Wars, a map artist could cheat in places they knew a player could never reach, using unbacked facades or hollow props, but there are few parts of this game world that are inaccessible," Fries notes. The blog entry gives us a high-level overview of the creation of a game map from prototype to finished product, and Fries says that environment artists were involved very early in the process (usually just after a level designer finished up with an initial three-dimensional sketch). We're also let in on the fact that ANet typically uses two environment artists working in tandem on a particular map, the better to shoulder the significant workload inherent in filling the landscape with minutiae. Finally, we get a bit of a tease as to why location and location art matters, as Fries alludes to the history of Tyria and the continuity from the original game to the sequel. "Players who enjoyed the lore of Guild Wars will find plenty of relics from our game's history in the landscape of Guild Wars 2, sometimes tucked into surprising places," he says.
Star Wars: The Old Republic unveils art from its players and developers
In watching any of the documentaries or behind-the-scenes interviews, you will notice that art plays a huge role in any Star Wars-related project. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, the developers and community team like to showcase not only the artistic skills of the designers but the illustrations of the fans, too. This week, we are lucky enough to have both. The SWTOR Studio Insider is written today by two artists: Senior Concept Artist Ryan Dening and Senior Environment Artist Christopher Reeves. These two creators dive deep into the design process of creating the Agent starship. "For the first time, we were making these ships exist in real space and giving the players the experience of owning their own Starship," Dening said in regard to the difference in designing for SWTOR vs. Knights of the Old Republic. The community is not without its talent as well, and the community team is quick to acknowledge this. Greighson and Crypticgrrl of the official forums had their work displayed in this week's Fan Friday. Grieghson designed propaganda posters for the Empire, and Crypticgrrl displayed her fine art talent. We have placed their works in the gallery below. In another announcement, the development team confirmed that it will be at PAX East in Boston, Massachusetts, from March 11th to March 13th. Rest assured Massively will be there to catch the latest. %Gallery-114430%
