Website powered by
Matthew Birkett-Smith
Lead Artist & Art Director in the games industry
Home page
Resume

Rigs - Rio

Rio was our initial prototype level for Rigs (2016). It went through a huge amount of iteration and experimentation and probably if we were to start it again at the end of the project we would have tackled a lot of it quite differently.
One of the areas we found that definitely worked was the strong colour coding of zones, we established a visual language on Rio that we would have a red end and a blue end for each team, and then we would have a central yellow area to signify you were close to the powerslam goal. Another area we found that was effective on Rio was to have a detailed surround that gave a sense of scale, the city itself had a fairly bumpy development but we pulled it together in the end.
Lighting wise Rio was always intended to be about bright vibrant colours. This is something that needed a lot of fine balancing to not overwhelm the player. Bounce light from the strongly coloured surfaces was very important.

The sun angle here was carefully chosen to make sure all the main play area floors had a small hint of light across their edges at the least. It's important to always subtly draw the players attention to key navigable surfaces.

The sun angle here was carefully chosen to make sure all the main play area floors had a small hint of light across their edges at the least. It's important to always subtly draw the players attention to key navigable surfaces.

Here you can see an example of how we strongly colour themed areas to make it clear which spawn a player was in. All advertising screens are chosen to fit the same palette.

Here you can see an example of how we strongly colour themed areas to make it clear which spawn a player was in. All advertising screens are chosen to fit the same palette.

It was important to try and get pockets of light for the player to run through when going through the lower sections. This helps encourage the player use the lower areas which tended to be less utilised in testing.

It was important to try and get pockets of light for the player to run through when going through the lower sections. This helps encourage the player use the lower areas which tended to be less utilised in testing.

You can see the ramp edges all have a small self illuminated strip. We found this helped the player read the edge of surfaces more clearly however it could create aliasing issues. Glowing edges for ramps wasn't something we used on other maps.

You can see the ramp edges all have a small self illuminated strip. We found this helped the player read the edge of surfaces more clearly however it could create aliasing issues. Glowing edges for ramps wasn't something we used on other maps.

Aligning local cubemaps to fit reflection shapes was very hard for most maps as they were essentially never cubic in layout. This is one area where the cubemap lines up nicely with the glass.

Aligning local cubemaps to fit reflection shapes was very hard for most maps as they were essentially never cubic in layout. This is one area where the cubemap lines up nicely with the glass.

This is one of the neutral central areas of the map. It was important to not use too much red, blue or yellow as those were reserved for spawns and the central powerslam area.

This is one of the neutral central areas of the map. It was important to not use too much red, blue or yellow as those were reserved for spawns and the central powerslam area.

You can see here a lot of the stadium details cast incidental light onto the floor. Giving the sunlight shadows a soft penumbra helped this feel more natural.

You can see here a lot of the stadium details cast incidental light onto the floor. Giving the sunlight shadows a soft penumbra helped this feel more natural.

We deliberately placed some absurdly large buildings into the cityscape to give a sense of grandeur. These were 2.5D matte paintings to keep the performance costs down.

We deliberately placed some absurdly large buildings into the cityscape to give a sense of grandeur. These were 2.5D matte paintings to keep the performance costs down.

In general I set the quantity of bounce from the sunlight to be very high in Rio. In areas like this where the majority of the scene is in shadow I still wanted a real sense of light and brightness.

In general I set the quantity of bounce from the sunlight to be very high in Rio. In areas like this where the majority of the scene is in shadow I still wanted a real sense of light and brightness.

We wanted lots of yellow to give warmth to the environment however we sometimes used it in areas that drew more visual attention than necessary. You can also see we made the entrance frames white to calm down the amount of colour in the scene.

We wanted lots of yellow to give warmth to the environment however we sometimes used it in areas that drew more visual attention than necessary. You can also see we made the entrance frames white to calm down the amount of colour in the scene.

For the city backdrop I ended up placing a lot of custom cloud blockers that only affecting lighting just to make the lighting more dappled and less constant.

For the city backdrop I ended up placing a lot of custom cloud blockers that only affecting lighting just to make the lighting more dappled and less constant.

The city took a lot of development time to get up to an acceptable visual quality while still hitting performance budgets. It gave a great sense of scale though. We shied away from full cities in levels after Rio.

The city took a lot of development time to get up to an acceptable visual quality while still hitting performance budgets. It gave a great sense of scale though. We shied away from full cities in levels after Rio.

Here in the interior tunnels we wanted a real contrast from the exteriors, this area is deliberately under exposed. Where possible we always have a light source picking out entrances and exits.

Here in the interior tunnels we wanted a real contrast from the exteriors, this area is deliberately under exposed. Where possible we always have a light source picking out entrances and exits.

You can see here we place a red, yellow and blue screen next to their respective exits to reinforce where the player is in the map.

You can see here we place a red, yellow and blue screen next to their respective exits to reinforce where the player is in the map.

The mountain itself was tricky to develop. The level is placed in broadly a real world location but the mountain connected to the stadium is entirely fabricated. To fit gameplay the shape is a touch contrived in the middle.

The mountain itself was tricky to develop. The level is placed in broadly a real world location but the mountain connected to the stadium is entirely fabricated. To fit gameplay the shape is a touch contrived in the middle.

Report