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2 votes

Spotlight: Designing Art for IA!'s First Environment

Posted by AndY in Spotlights on 20 January 2012 · 4812 views

Development Art

Since IA!'s conception, we've spent the majority of our time learning a brand new engine (UE3), implementing some of the core aspects of the game (e.g. OP view) and prototyping many features. As such, most of our work thus far has been in code.

After laying down some of the groundwork, we announced IA! to the world and kicked off many other aspects of development, working towards our next major milestone: a vertical slice of IA!.

→ What's a Vertical Slice? To us, a vertical slice (or VS for short) is a level that showcases a small percentage of each aspect of the game: art, audio, gameplay and level design. It can be used as a demo to give players (and other interested parties) an idea of what the end result will look, feel, sound and (most importantly) play like.

Art obviously plays a very big role in a VS, which is why we've been putting in tons of effort in that department since the start of the new year and, as soon as the team had voted on IA!'s theme and art style, the fun began!

We started by picking a setting for what would eventually become the game's first actual level (and what we'd use for the VS). While everyone's first thought was a space station (Moonraker!), we chose a location that was slightly more.. hospitable: inside a volcano!

David (our art lead) got us all started with a few concepts, giving us an idea of what we should be aiming for (you can see the complete set in this gallery album):

We then planned a basic, linear, multi-part level (based on those concepts) that we could use to showcase the various assets we produce. David made a drawing of it which Michael (our environmental artist) could use as a reference when blocking it out in UDK's level editor:

Our wonderful art lead then put together a list of assets needed to build and detail that level, with concepts and specifications for each (complete set in this album):

For the next few weeks, our artists will be hard at work creating all the 3D models and textures needed for that level and, as we get closer to completing it, we'll definitely be making another post showcasing our progress!

This all brings us one step closer to completing the VS and finally being able to release IA!'s first of many public builds to the world. We hope you're all as anxious as we are!

That's it for IA!'s first Spotlight. Be sure to leave us your comments and feedback!

rickinator9
Jan 20 2012 06:54 PM

Nice, a level set in a volcano, haven't seen it that much. I imagine there will be nice traps which use lava(hopefully).

leiftiger
Jan 20 2012 08:15 PM

Really nice, I can't describe my happiness when I saw these images!

Can't help but wonder though; how will the maps be like in IA?
Will it be like in Overwatch with a random set of objectives or could you possibly make entirely different map setups for each round?

AndY
Jan 20 2012 09:51 PM

leiftiger, on 20 January 2012 - 08:15 PM, said:

Can't help but wonder though; how will the maps be like in IA? Will it be like in Overwatch with a random set of objectives or could you possibly make entirely different map setups for each round?

We definitely want IA! levels to have the same "randomness" to them as the ones found in OW.

Objectives will be different each round, and we're looking into ways to make some aspects of the levels themselves change as well.

Namen
Jan 20 2012 11:37 PM

leiftiger, on 20 January 2012 - 08:15 PM, said:

Really nice, I can't describe my happiness when I saw these images!Can't help but wonder though; how will the maps be like in IA?Will it be like in Overwatch with a random set of objectives or could you possibly make entirely different map setups for each round?

Speaking from a purely technical perspective, the Unreal Engine gives us the ability to add much more dynamism to our levels. You won't be disappointed

WAXT
Jan 21 2012 08:01 AM

rickinator9, on 20 January 2012 - 06:54 PM, said:

Nice, a level set in a volcano, haven't seen it that much. I imagine there will be nice traps which use lava(hopefully).

Lava is always a fun thing to be around; it's both funny (when others/enemies fall in) and frightening (when you almost fall in). Perhaps a finale where the volcano begins erupting and the players must escape a rising tide of hot lava?!

AndY, on 20 January 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

We definitely want IA! levels to have the same "randomness" to them as the ones found in OW.Objectives will be different each round, and we're looking into ways to make some aspects of the levels themselves change as well.

Namen, on 20 January 2012 - 11:37 PM, said:

Speaking from a purely technical perspective, the Unreal Engine gives us the ability to add much more dynamism to our levels. You won't be disappointed

Perhaps something as simple as randomly sealing certain blast-doors/airlocks forcing the players to seek alternate routes each round. Similar to the implementation in Left 4 Dead?

AndY
Jan 21 2012 09:24 AM

WAXT, on 21 January 2012 - 08:01 AM, said:

Perhaps something as simple as randomly sealing certain blast-doors/airlocks forcing the players to seek alternate routes each round.

Or instead of it being completely random, we could have the OP select which blast doors to open/close?

rickinator9
Jan 21 2012 04:32 PM

AndY, on 21 January 2012 - 09:24 AM, said:

Or instead of it being completely random, we could have the OP select which blast doors to open/close?

Then I do think the OP should have sort of a 30 sec preparation phase to pick his strategy.

AndY
Jan 21 2012 04:33 PM

rickinator9, on 21 January 2012 - 04:32 PM, said:

Then I do think the OP should have sort of a 30 sec preparation phase to pick his strategy.

Yep, that's what we have planned.

rickinator9
Jan 21 2012 06:34 PM

There sure is a lot of telepathy here. I hope you aren't receiving my dreams...

WAXT
Jan 21 2012 09:14 PM

AndY, on 21 January 2012 - 09:24 AM, said:

Or instead of it being completely random, we could have the OP select which blast doors to open/close?

I like this idea very much.

I do think the OP should be able to open and close doors at any point during the round. This way the OP can force players to double-back by closing doors in front of them or split them up by only allowing a few of them through first.

rickinator9
Jan 21 2012 10:19 PM

WAXT, on 21 January 2012 - 09:14 PM, said:

I like this idea very much.I do think the OP should be able to open and close doors at any point during the round. This way the OP can force players to double-back by closing doors in front of them or split them up by only allowing a few of them through first.

Well, that seems cool at first sight, but I do not want to have a troll as OP who opens and closes doors so the 'rebels' won't be able to progress throughout the level.

WAXT
Jan 22 2012 01:35 AM

Obviously there will need to be a cool-down or other preventive measure implemented to stop such things.