Visual Direction and Process Overview

Art Director: Justin Thomas

Focus on the Big PictureTransfomers Revenge of the Fallen for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 had a short production cycle of 12 – 14 months. The game design and technical constraints precluded us from focus on individual assets and fidelity. Instead we focused on the characters, mood, and look of the second Transformers film to tie the game with the movie experience.

ReferenceThe game was created as the film was being made so the look had to be extrapolated from various sources. To achieve the overall look we extracted images from Michael Bay’s trailers for the second film as well as images from the first film. In the images on this page, you can see we had several distinct locations . Game screenshots are paired with their inspiration from the films for the look.

The Game

Working With DesignDesign had several requirements to incorporate: Urban Buildings, Elevated Train, Industrial Area and a Power Station. The challenge I had was to find a context to this space that would be plausible and then make a visual representation to be executed on. In the image below I show the reference, a layout that breaks the area down into “zones” and a paint over to the right that shows a believable transition between types of spaces.

Quick PaintoversIn this case with our “Shanghai” level, you can see the raw image to the right. In some cases I’ll do a very quick paint over to get a fast feel for mood, lighting and context to work towards. In this instance, design wanted to integrate a “construction site” into a Shanghai urban setting with a highway bordering the level.

Simple Lighting Paintover

Light Pooling example for MP Bridge navigation

Current in game

Quick paint over with light pools and source

Visual and navigational flow

Focal point for the whole zone and plausible light source

Zig zag pattern to lead the eye

Foreground to background (works from both sides)

Postmortem: After the Game

In engine screenshots of Urban Diorama done as an exercise after Revenge of the Fallen utilizing the same technology.

Correcting the CourseAfter the project we had the opportunity to start to various “dioramas”. These were navigable, visual slices , in engine. They were designed to grow the skills of the art department, utilizing the engine better, and solve some of the visual issues from Revenge.

First Things FirstSince one of our main issues occurred in the urban environments we focused on improving those first.

Clear GoalsWe went back and focused on all the goals we had originally set for Revenge of the Fallen but were unable to focus on. We combined these goals with our postmortem.

•Less Brown•Overlapping shapes•Human scale “clutter” to sell Transformer size•Break up the “boxes” and right angles •Photo based textures and context•More details in the geometry•Enhance the depth and drama of the scenes•Better use of texture and surface details•Cohesive color variations and focus•Rapid iteration 4-6 weeks spent on each diorama and move on

What’s Next? The needs of the game resulted

in our environments feeling empty and the buildings were boxy to accommodate AI navigation. In the end many of our environments were repetitive, sparse and bland. While the Transformer characters looked good and most of our environments had a mood that complimented the film, we knew there was a lot more we could have done. The reviewers picked up on this as well.

More DioramasContinuing on the 4-6 week cycle we started to focus on more organic dioramas with different visual themes, terrain and weather.

The “Arctic” diorama allowed us to start to focus more on how and when to use normal maps on surfaces and how we could show scale with out relying on buildings.

“Classic Transformers”The animated film from 1986 featured a planet of junk known as “Junkion”. We did this diorama to explore the “classic” style interpreted with current techniques.

This allowed us to work on composition, color theme, style translation as well as continue to work with normal maps and deal with texturing situations for which there aren’t direct photo reference.

Now it was time to start to work on a prototype of what the next film based game might be. With out any information on the film itself we chose to translate the franchise from the classic to the film in much the same way that Paramount approached the live action movie. We chose to translate the “Junkion” planet to something that would fit better into the live action universe. We wanted an environment that visually engaging and would appeal to classic fans but would be interesting to anyone.

Classic Transformers: Chunky, heavy

shapes, very graphic, solid colors

Modern Film Universe: Dangerous shapes,

edgy, heavy atmosphere, focal points of

color

Context to the fantasticOnce we decided on doing a prototype in the film universe, I started to put a visual story around a rough level from the designers.

I came up with a back story for why the Transformers were on this planet, as well as a story for the planet itself.

The environment is just as much a character as any of the bots. So the next step was to again pull reference for mood an atmosphere, from movies, illustrations and life to make sure there is a context.

Concept ArtI was lucky enough to work with an excellent team of talented concept artists. This is where we take the level design, all the reference images and the story and attempt to convey some key locations or moods to be interpreted in the game. Every illustration had a function.

Concentration was on details, focal points, value and composition to create an atmosphere from the player. The environment had to tell a story with out any exposition.

Heat Harvester: Harvest energy from the molten lava fed by the trash

Junk Planet Vista: A giant landfill

Bringing It All Together

Concept by Josh Kao

Concept by Josh Kao

Result in Game

Final ExecutionBecause of the other various “dioramas” we had created, the art team had an opportunity to explore all the techniques we didn’t have time to on the previous project. All of these techniques and some new ones came into play here.

With the aid of the concept art, and armed with new knowledge through ramping up in previous stages we were able to execute. Again this last diorama came in about 6 weeks from scratch to prove to our Team, to Activision and to the Licensor that we could produce stunning “Next Gen” graphics. All work was done in the same game engine as Transformers Revenge of the Fallen as well.

Although the diorama was a complete success, ultimately the project was cancelled for other reasons. We learned a lot while successfully completing and implementing a complete visual direction process that yielded results we could all be proud of.

Heat Harvester: Concept translated in game

Junk Planet Vista: Concept executed in game

Metallic “Dwellings” pushing the use of Normal Maps and Surface Detail.

Some of the organic “rock” detail inspired by the concepts