Some cool video game art I'm in the thick of...
A crazy amount of drawing and painting I did for a new RPG from Stray Kite Studios.
I got a call a few months ago from a friend of a friend who recommended me to produce some artwork for an in-development video game being produced by a newly formed company called Stray Kite Studios.
Founded by industry veterans with credits from some of the most successful and well known franchises in the industry, including Borderlands, BioShock, Saints Row, Age of Empires, Fortnite, and Destiny, these guys know their stuff. Despite that, they still wanted me create the world map the player uses to navigate through the game.
I’d never done anything for a video game before, so this was especially fun. And… a whole lot of drawing. Here’s just a partial view of the first map:
It’s hard to get a sense of how detailed this thing is. When the player sees the map, for the most part it’s in extreme close up, zoomed in to their precise location, with their little caravan vehicle rolling along the roads from one destination to another.
In the story, the map is gradually revealed as the game progresses, as a drawing by one of the main characters you’re playing as, hence the hand-drawn look. As the player navigates in this world, newly visited and/or completed areas gradually populate the map to varying levels of finish, first as line art drawings, then, upon repeat plays, with color gradually getting added in multiple layers.
If that sounds complicated, it is. The level of detail and thought that went into this game is astounding. What’s cool is, I got to see the inner workings of this project, from early concept drawings to the multiple storyline possibilities, probably hundred of characters, terrains, etc, all the way down to how the blood falls during different types of combat. I literally cannot wrap my brain around how any one team can organize and populate such a vast world and tie it all together in one package. My part of all this was (and continues to be) a MASSIVE amount of work, planning and coordination (not just for me, but for the AD and CD who have to constantly check my work!) but, in the end, it’s still just basically me drawing. Way more fun, if you ask me.
One of the many reasons this job is so unique for me: this drawing translates into a HUGE file. (I’m on an M1 Mac, drawing entirely in Photoshop.) Everything is super high res, to allow for the zooming in for the player’s context. And, since it is revealed in various stages of its creation, the number of layers required is staggering. I’m super efficient with Photoshop layers: I’m not one to use all the tricks Photoshop offers. Futzing with layer opacity is about as involved as it gets for me, and any normal drawing I do usually has 4 layers: Inks, Highlights, Shadows, Color. This one had…. many…. many more. The final file was over 8000px wide, and was over a half gig.
Here’s a few ‘close ups’ of the map. In the game, the camera is even tighter, but I wanted to show some more detail. So many trees. So many villages…with sooo many houses & buildings…
The best part for me was, the developers were super into adding fun little easter eggs and gags into the map. Besides the McDonald's above, peppered throughout are little fun bits that are just something extra for eagle eyed players.
Here’s a few examples- some are bosses, merchants, etc, who appear elsewhere in the gameplay, just randomly showing up in the map. Others are just me having fun. The kraken with the mermaid was especially fun.
Only one gag I did was rejected. Originally in one of the surrounding sea areas, I drew Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge from Return of the Jedi casually floating along as if it was a yacht. Turns out they thought it was too obvious and recognizable. In my mind, Jabba’s barge floated over desert, not water, so NO one would EVER get the gag… but alas, I turned it into just a goofy floating barge thing. (Upon further reflection, and consideration of the intended audience, yeah, I don’t think anyone playing this game would have NOT recognized Jabba’s ship, no matter what was underneath it. Good call.)
For all you gamers, this Wartorn is now available for ‘Early Access’, meaning, you can get it and play it, and give feedback to the developers as they fine tune and continue to add new levels to this monster of a game. (Official launch is later this year, I’m told.)
Multiple updates are rolling out in the next few months, including the next round of worlds… drawn again by me!
Here’s where you can get it now:
Social media channels: