Level Concepts

When first asked to create a level, and given a design brief, my first thoughts went to the Blizzard Entertainment and Wildstar art styles. I wanted to approach texturing very different to the next generation gaming realism, by hand painting the textures myself on Photoshop. I’d always admired the cartoon look, which echoed real life but was far from a replica of it. It almost meant I had a chance to study textures up close, such as wood, metals, grass, tree bark, and leaves. To get the textures close to realism, and yet keep them themed around other cartoon games, I had to make sure the textures were recognizable to the human eye as organic surfaces.

My biggest inspiration came from World of Warcraft’s most recent expansion, Mists of Pandaria, where the company chose to theme the new zones and armour on an oriental theme to appeal to their Asian market. This expansion also saw the upgrade of graphics and artists bringing HD textures to the assets, something that hadn’t been previously done. It’s clearer that the textures are painted when going through the expansion, and when I first discovered them I knew that this is what I wanted to do for my level. I wanted to recreate a calm garden atmosphere, and give the scene some soothing music that suits the oriental theme, much like World of Warcraft has done in places.

Wildstar, my next inspiration, is a much newer game that’s still in beta development and only a handful of players have access to. I’ve been following the development blogs for some time, as well as asking friends for screenshots for the game, so I can browse the textures within the game. The game has less detailed textures compared to World of Warcraft, but the style remains the same and the company have chosen to hand paint the textures. I love the bright colours feel and how the game also looks cartoony, compared to next generation graphics. It’s a style I prefer, and find easier to get enthusiastic about.