I am very pleased to introduce a new feature to SG.  Even more pleased to do so with such a huge upcoming game such as Brink.  An “Artview” is, as the name hopefully implies, very different to your regular preview or review, and takes a really good look at the concept art for a game, with a brief discussion and analysis of the art style and graphics.

As well as concept art, screenshots and excerpts from the developer’s diary, I have also included a number of complimentary iPhone and desktop wallpapers (some of which have been given the “Sarcastic Gamer” treatment) for you to use.

If you know me, then you know there are two things (among others) that I love: video games and art.  If I know you, the Sarcastic Gamer forum member, then you will be interested in this too.  I welcome any comments or suggestions you have about this about this feature and am happy to discuss any points about the game’s artwork (we will come to other questions about the game soon).

For now, come and enjoy the art of Brink…

At the end of October at the Eurogamer Expo 2009, the SG UK staff members had the good fortune to sit in on a Brink developer session held by Splash Damage’s Paul Wedgwood (you can read my fellow SG writers round up of his impression of the developer session here), but the summary is that the game went from being something that was ‘not on our radar’ to ‘freakin’ day one purchase’.

Part of that reason was the interesting art style, and Bethesda have kindly given me the opportunity to get access to some of the concept art and some other assets.  I found some of the influences on the art style and the way the character design plays a large part in the very in-depth customization and abilities of the player’s character was very interesting, so I thought I would share.

The following contain exerts from Olivier Leonardi’s (Art Director on Brink) Developer Diary.  I will mark any comments I add with an - MM notation.

Brink Environments

(ABove) The Ark concept Art – A floating Utopia of light - MM

The players’ experience on the Ark begins 20 years after its founding, so we had to ask ourselves what would be left from this engineering and architecture utopia… Where do we put rust? Has the paint started flaking? How does the inside of a building look if it has been disused for decades? What would be used to build shelters if space and resources are at a premium? We progressively answer all those questions as we build the different maps of the game and we try to include as much information as possible in the environment itself to tell the story of the Ark. Internally we refer to this as Instant Deep Context. In other words, show, don’t tell.

(Below) The Darker underbelly of the city is depicted in concept art

- Resistance members flee Security forces in a contrast of light and dark - MM

Environment art in Brink is all about contrast. The Ark is a place where worlds collide — the disdainful wealth of the Founders is opposed to the ever-growing refugee population’s extreme poverty, and the clean architectural lines of Founder’s Island contrasts with the inextricable chaos of the slums. Due to decades of massive overpopulation and the resulting resource shortages, even the nicer parts of the Ark have begun falling into disrepair. We’ve really tried to communicate a lot of background information purely through the player’s surroundings.

Brink’s environments are  colourful and the reason for this is really quite simple: we’re out at sea, and all the open water acts like a giant mirror. As a result, there’s a lot of light bouncing everywhere, which yields more vivid colours. The rusty reds of Container City provide a great contrast to the bright blue sky above.

We also “paint” the story of the Ark as you progress through Brink. Each time you discover a new environment, its atmosphere, colour palette, and lighting conditions will underscore what’s happening in the game and help to trigger different types of emotions.

Colour also plays a large role in helping to separate the two factions of Brink. So for the Security we’ve gone for largely greyscale tones that are clean and readable, accented with small hints of saturated colour. While for the Resistance there are much larger areas of colour, often quite loud and without any coordination, a distinction we hope to refine to truly separate the look of the two teams.

(Above) The Ark depicted in game - MM

(Below) A battle in the rust and decay of Container City - MM

Click to; • Page 2 for Character Design & Artistic Influences

• Page 3 for Wallpapers & larger Concept Art

Brink Character Design

When I first sat down with our lead character artist, Tim Appleby, we went through some of my research and settled on an initial style for our character. Keeping with the overall theme of exaggerating human body proportions, we drew upon the influences of artists like Ron Mueck, Jon Foster, Phil Hale, Sebastian Krüger and a few others.

Tim and his team then started working on a prototype character based on the following guidelines:

1. Exaggerate body proportions
2. Simplify the shape of the character while emphasizing key creases in his clothing
3. Exaggerate clothing details like zippers, buckles, pockets, and stitching
4. Achieve a recognisable, dynamic overall silhouette

The resulting style would allow the player to recognize any of our characters, even at a distance. We would also be able to visually communicate essential information like character class, body type, and equipment, without everything becoming too busy – a considerable advantage in a fast-paced shooter game.

With our first character model, we fulfilled all of those requirements, but we had another challenge ahead — maintaining our unique style within the extensive character customization system. We would need to be able to mix and match any and all pieces of clothing and headgear without the result looking odd or out of place. After several iterations and thanks to a very clever system created by Tim and technical artist, Paul Greveson, we finally reached a balance that allows for really unique outfits no matter which combinations are selected.

(ABOVE) Resistance forces on the run (Below) Security Forces on a mission - MM

Brink’s Artistic Influences

Enviroment

There has been a big trend in recent games to push for an overly desaturated look, for Brink we wanted ‘colour’ back. I really like using colour, and the work of painters like Edward Hopper (with his fantastic way of using light), David Hockney (his work on the ‘swimming pool’ series in the ‘60s and ‘70s especially), and impressionist painters inspire me every day.

(Above) David Hockney’s – A Bigger Splash - MM

As the game takes place in the near future, we went through an extensive conceptual phase. We wanted to stay away from pure science fiction and instead, ground everything in reality. We drew a lot of inspiration from contemporary architects with an organic approach to architecture, most notably Santiago Calatrava and Zaha Hadid. Additionally, we spent a lot of time researching contemporary design, eco-design, and self-sustaining engineering principles. Other elements in the world of Brink are based on actual science and engineering projects, such as Seasteading, algae biomass reactors, and hydroponic agriculture.

(Above) Seasteading concept of a floating podded community - MM

Character Design

I originally defined Brink’s visual style as being an exaggerated reality, but it’s not too dissimilar from what Hyperrealism artists started pursuing at the beginning of the 1970’s. It resembles Photorealism in terms of quality and attention to detail, but in addition, Hyperrealism plays around with the scale of certain features (gigantic scale) and enhances particular details (sharp focus) in order to create the illusion of a reality that doesn’t actually exist.

Click to Page 3 for Wallpapers & Larger Concept Art

Brink Wallpapers

Desktop Wallpapers – CLICK TO ENLARGE

iPhone Wallpaper – CLICK TO ENLARGE

SG Brink Wallpapers

Larger Concept Art

–CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE–

Brink Links

• The Official Brink website – http://brinkthegame.com
• Bethesda Softworks website – http://bethsoft.com
• Splash Damage website – http://splashdamage.com