Report

Chosen Profession (Introduction)

As game hardware improves over time, today’s games contain worlds more vast and deep than ever seen before. Players love to explore these worlds at their leisure, running around and taking in all the sights and experiences that games have to offer. Environment artists create immersive, compelling worlds, down to the last detail. The experience of exploring a universe of their own creation is a joy known to environment artists and few others. As I steadily completed unit 11 over the last few weeks, I began to move away from the concept of a technical artist and into the more comfortable role of the environment/material artist – not to say their job is cushier, it’s just this simpler role is easier to study. 🙂

Workflow

Environment Artist Pipeline

Progression of steps (tasks, events, interactions) that comprise a work process, involve two or more persons, and create or add value to the organization’s activities. In a sequential workflow, each step is dependent on occurrence of the previous step; in a parallel workflow, two or more steps can occur concurrently.

businessdictionary.com

More simply put: workflows are the way employees (or companies) get work done, and can be illustrated as series of steps that need to be completed sequentially in a diagram or checklist, as demonstrated in the flowchart above. By measuring the work that needs to be done, a person can manage how optimally it is executed. Sharing this information effectively keeps all members of the party on the same page and provides a better understanding of the process required to produce the best content at the right pace.

Often, in business, workflows can become overly complex. For example, the flowchart inserted above involves and relies upon a network of people who will be required to take on the responsibility of numerous tasks before a set date. To be more specific, the 3D modeller will need to asses the concept art provided, block out, and plan each object asked of them; these objects will then go through several stages of production, including LOD variations, unwrapping, and texturing. It’s at this level that the multitude of employees (mostly contractors) need to be properly monitored, managed, and optimised to make sure they’re as efficient as they can be. So determining the outline of a workflow is crucial to success in almost any industry.

Example #1

This course overview by Martin Teichmann summarises the general 3D artisit’s workflow, using a stylized environment as a working example. He begins with researching the theme, existing examples in real life, and analyses the concept art provided by the 2D digital artists. In this instance, Teichmann often refers to an old render of a bridge embedded into a mountain range. The modeler will most likely begin with a block out, in their chosen 3D modelling package, which is imported into the engine to provide better scale awareness and an overall form to the environment. Parts that require additional sculpting for detail (such as rocks) are unwrapped and exported. The artist will edit these objects until they are satisfied with the result, and then the high poly is baked onto the low poly via whichever software they are most efficient in or whatever works best for them. Slowly but surely, blocked out assets in the engine will be replaced by their updated counterparts until the scene appears the artist’s goal.

Example #2

Andres Rogriguez from Naughty Dog studios carried out a live presentation and break down of the workflow his team followed during Uncharted 4’s production, alongside a few screenshots that provided a great amount of useful information. Here (inserted above) is a screenshot I took from this YouTube video, which depicts the process of blocking out in engine and steadily replacing parts with finished product. As you can see, some of the overgrown plant life is a presumably finished asset which exists inside the level data at the same time as the very early stages of debris blocked out on the ground. Between these two extremes are the archways, which are modelled modularly and will soon be broken down into aged and crumbling parts.

These are both great demonstrations of very different art styles using similar workflows. They also strongly support the notion that pipelines are far from linear, by working through one asset and then another, moving back and forth through several software packages and stages before the scene is complete. For example, the ivy in the top left-hand side of this image was modelled in 3D Studio Max, sculpted in ZBrush, and textured in Photoshop before the archways were textured, and before the debris was even modelled. This seemingly chaotic setup allows for multiple contractors to work on different aspects of the levels at the same time, meaning shorter production time and less money spent.

Creating a somewhat fixed workflow for all 3D artists makes the technical artist’s role a lot easier, as they will be tasked with tackling issues between software as they arise. If a team is limited to a specific sequence, the technical artist only has to solve issues regarding a particular transfer between packages. For example, moving solely forward from 3D Studio Max to ZBrush to Substance Designer to Unreal Engine 4, means they only have to focus on these particular bridges in this exact order. However, with the use of a non-linear workflow, a person filling this job role will have to be dynamic and adaptable. In summary, there is no one right way of producing a game and companies within this industry are rather secretive regarding their methods. If the technique is conventional and is capable of producing a high quality result, it is valid for games development. However, being a flexible artist is very important, alongside a strong willingness to learn while in practice.

Historical Influences

A Timeline

The first big 3D success was Battlezone, a tank game released in 1980 that used vector graphics to create its visual aspects, much like Asteroids. While a simple game by modern standards, it was fiendishly complex for such an early example, offering the ability to go anywhere in an (admittedly featureless) world, hide from attacks and fight enemies. In 1987, Incentive Software published Driller – a full 3D world on platforms as simple as the Spectrum. It was ugly, the frame-rate was extensive and the game itself wasn’t much fun to play, but it got plenty of attention.

The issue surrounding 3D video-games has always been the same: the potential of 3D fights with the limitations of current systems, whether it’s displaying the graphics as a fundamental or making them look as good as other art styles and CG. Flat faces, stationary lips during dialogue, stick figure character models, blurry textures, and appalling animations, are just some of the issues 3D video-games faced in the 90’s. However, some exempt titles managed to break these boundaries – most notably Core Design’s Lara Croft, who became an international sex symbol despite her pointy, hazy appearance. Most 3D games did well simply because playing a 3D game felt innovative.

The early Wing Commander games provided the illusion of flight through 3D space, but they were really made up of scaling sprites. This allowed the developers to focus on the finer details of the visual effects, making it a more popular title among this wave of modern design. In fact, the state of art varied drastically across genres. First-person shooters relied on fluidity in gameplay, and so graphics were sacrificed for performance – the walls and floor consisted of simple geometry and low resolution, repeatable textures, and enemies were sprites rendered in 3D space. Whereas Ultima Underworld could afford to push these limits because as a role-playing game, it was inherently slower than a shooter, and the audience was more willing to accept the necessary compromises, such as a small viewing window on-screen.

For performance and sales reasons, most games were stuck in what was promptly titled 2.5D until the launch of Quake in 1996. Quake wasn’t the first genuinely full-3D shooter in the modern style, but it was the one that made 2.5D officially obsolete. These faux 3D or 2.5D games were flat maps, where areas could be raised and lowered, but the player couldn’t have one room on top of another. Sprites became a growing problem. By the mid ’90s, level design was getting more and more impressive. Almost all of these games were able to do this because they saved their 3D for the world. Actual characters were pre-drawn 2D images, pasted into the game. Not only did they increasingly look weak, not part of the scenery and incredibly blocky up-close, but they also didn’t fit. Games could scale sprites to deal with the player getting closer to and further away from them, but when they started offering the ability to look up and down the effect showed its limits, with sprites shearing and increasingly looking like the cardboard cutouts they were.

Quake brought full 3D worlds and enemies to the field in 1996, but at the cost of visuals. Technically, they were better, and the improvement in animation was stunning but the world was still dull, ugly and simplistic, with the enemies looking excessively blocky and their textures boring. Like all games related technological advancements, it became increasingly obvious that providing the player with more CPU power was simply not enough to progress the field – not single-handedly though, of course. In 1997, mainstream video-games began to require a dedicated video-card. However, it took some time to really understand the power of a GPU as it was only initially used to transform, clip, and light objects within a single scene – the device would be used to remember the location of items in the level and how they were lit in their current location. The next big advance was the addition of shaders. Shaders are additional calculations thrown into the rendering pipeline that work on individual pixels, vertices and pieces of geometry to add effects and change the final image. Valve largely pioneered skeletal-based characters rather than keyframe-by-keyframe animated NPCs/enemies in Half-Life, while ragdolls spread to every new game until the games that didn’t offer them felt stodgy and ancient in comparison. Most importantly, the new realism of these games finally allowed developers to concentrate on new genres they’d never have been able to create as a traditional corridor shooter style game.

Contemporary Influences

In this section, I’ll be exploring and scrutinising specific titles as examples of contemporary influences in the games industry; these franchises will mark the beginnings of trends, advancements, and new ideas, including the use of unique peripherals, gameplay styles, and genres.

Guitar Hero

Although there are several game titles and console releases that feature unique peripherals, such as the Power Glove for the NES, the Super Scope 6 for the SNES, and Dreamcast’s fishing rod, none of them took off quite like RedOctane‘s guitar. The musical series Guitar Hero, based on a Japanese arcade game of the late ’90s, was first launched in North America in 2005. In the game, the player uses a guitar-shaped controller to match the rhythms and notes of famous rock songs. The closer the player approximates the song, the better the score. This game introduced a new genre of games in which players simulate playing musical instruments. Guitar Hero and Rock Band brought new means of marketing and a kind of cross-media stimulus with them. The songs featured in the games experienced increased downloads and sales—as much as an 840 percent increase in some cases.

Grand Theft Auto

The first game in the Grand Theft Auto series was released in 1997 for the PC and Sony’s PlayStation. The game had players stealing cars—not surprising given its title—and committing a variety of crimes to achieve specific goals. The game’s extreme violence made it popular with players of the late 1990s, but its true draw was the variety of options that players could employ in the game. Specific narratives and goals could be pursued, but if players wanted to drive around and explore the city, they could do that as well. This type of game is known as a sandbox game, or open world, and it is defined by the ability of users to freely pursue their own objectives. As hardware advances and becomes capable of greater things, playable maps get larger, quests and missions become more complex, and freedom to explore the word becomes more accessible and diverse for all players. A franchise like this one has inspired thousands of modern titles, such as The Witcher, Red Dead Redemption, and The Elder Scrolls.

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft, released in 2004, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) loosely based on the Warcraft strategy franchise of the 1990s. The game is conducted entirely online, though it is accessed through purchased software, and players purchase playing time. Each player chooses an avatar, or character, that belongs to one of several races, such as orcs, elves, and humans. These characters can spend their time on the game by completing quests, learning trades, or simply interacting with other characters. As characters gain experience, they obtain skills and earn virtual money. Players also choose whether they can attack other players without prior agreement by choosing a PvP server. The normal server allows players to fight each other, but it can only be done if both players consent. A third server is reserved for those players who want to role-play, or act in character.

Virtual Reality

Despite dating back to the last 1930s, virtual reality has only been commercially available and affordable in the last 10 years. Virtual Reality is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. The only limits to near-real VR experiences are the availability of content and cheap computing power.

Evaluation

Games development is a vast and dynamic profession that will continue to evolve in the next century, as it has over the last 30 years. These developments will require a commitment to lifelong learning and I find the prospect of this inspiring. The second third of this report is evidence of a ever changing environment that will remain innovative for as long as it’s relevant. These advancements have given artists the freedom to explore new and exciting genres for the industry to experience, as well as the tools to produce incredible things. Obviously, without the changes that have occurred over the last 30 years, environment artists wouldn’t be able to create the immersive worlds we explore in-game today.