Aj: Whilst this definitely wasn’t our first rodeo in making a “2D” game, this felt like a completely new challenge, and in turn we had to completely restructure our art team and approach to pull this off. Lucy: We took our environment art team and we split it
into three smaller teams. Concept art was one team, they created concepts of assets for each theme and drew in detail what each area of Monoth would look like, including the materials and sprites. Production art was the second team, they took the concepts and created the final assets you see in the game. The Production art team would then pass the assets back to the Concept team so that they could thumbnail the areas with the correct size assets. Lastly, and a first for me in a production line, we created an Implementation team. The Implementation team would put together all the areas in engine. This not only meant adding all the assets but using the guides to create each shape and curve, in engine with a tool. They then needed to apply the correct materials, whilst also making sure the design and geometry had been closely followed. Aj: It was incredible to see in action, it meant we got to play all these areas of Monoth as these sketched out thumbnails and then the next thing you know WHAM the world was in there in all its painted glory.
“We had our long-term animation partners, Rumpus Animation, on the project. I imagine we will be working with them for years to come… This project is a highlight of the collaboration between our studios.”
Aj Grand-Scrutton, Creative Director
Lucy: We had to really push how we had worked before and our partners at Unity had told us this was a whole new way of using their tools. Everyone worked so hard to get used to the process and get through all its teething problems and iterations.
HOW DIFFERENT DOES THE RELEASED GAME LOOK FROM HOW IT WAS ENVISIONED? Lucy: Part of me wants to say very but, thinking back to the original target renders, we ended up with a game that visually is so close and true to the feel we wanted to achieve. The art progressed with the rest of the game and decisions to make adjustments were the right choice, mostly led by user experience.
44 | MCV/DEVELOP September 2023
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