LOOKDEV: Lighten Up
With our team coming from concentrated disciplines, our artists have taken into learning new ones in order to cover the basics of creating a game.
One of our 3D artists took up the challenge for lighting. Coming from a VFX background, where you craft shots from just one locked view, we had to adapt to the world of gaming where players can move anywhere, sometimes even unpredictably. We had to ensure lighting looked interesting and consistent throughout the whole world.
There was also the fact that you must keep in mind how costly lights can be for a game engine. Overwhelm it, and the frame rate would drop, resulting in poor gameplay,
EARLY LIGHTING TESTS:
THE OUTSKIRTS
Here the fog was really thick, barely anything was visible and the palette way too dark. We did like the light beam though, and how the fog blurs the characters, helping them blend into the environment.
THE POWERPLANT
The Powerplant level was still in early development at the end of April, so by the time we officially assigned a Lighting Artist, there was no test lighting done at all.
FINAL LIGHTING:
Below is the final lighting around the end of May.
THE OUTSKIRTS
Since Simon Stålenhag was an inspiration for the Art Bible, we looked to reflect the mood of his work with our lighting style. A main result of this was the background fog having a light blue tint.
For the interior, we wanted some light that would conflict with the cold blue of the outside, hence we made the house lights warm orange, which we believed created an eerie atmosphere.
THE POWERPLANT
For the Powerplant we wanted the player to feel that danger is always lurking nearby. Our Lighting Artist said he was mainly inspired by Alien Isolation.
Having really dark shadows and limited light areas, he thought it would raise the player’s alertness to their environment, as something could potentially jump out from them.
We also kept in mind to have lighting that would give subtle lighting clues to the player as to where to go to progress in the game.
END TITLE
We unfortunately didn’t have much time for to polish our End Title to tease the potential of the game.
With the time we had, we aimed to have the city seem a bit more alive, as it was part of the narrative. but at the same time make it seem dystopian and that a looming threat lies further in.
