Over the last few weeks, excitement has been building concerning the
latest MMOG endeavor by Cryptic Studios, namely the development of
Champions Online.
For those that haven't heard, Champions Online will
be a superhero-oriented massively multiplayer game with a new twist on
the old combat system. Like Age
of Conan, Champions
Online hops to
eliminate the "hit-a-button-and-wait" mentality that still rests with
many older MMOGs. However, in a superhero based game, it's also
important to have quality art direction to really bring the players
into the world. To learn more about the man behind that plan, Ten Ton
Hammer is proud to present a Cryptic-organized Q&A with Shayne
Herrera, art development director for Cryptic Studios.
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Shayne Herrera, Art
Development Director
Q: What do you do as art
development director?
development director I oversee all of the art that is created at
Cryptic Studios, whether it is for our web sites or the entire
Champions Online
universe. I am lucky enough to work with the most
talented art team in the business. And with their skill and talent, we
are creating amazing new worlds with interesting characters.
Q: How long have you been
working in the gaming industry, and what did you do before working on
Champions Online?
the industry of videogame development for approximately 400 years. It
is amazing to look back to when this all started, and say that I went
to high school with Yoda. Wait … that's not me, that's Bruce
Rogers (Cryptic Studios' chief technical officer). I have been in the
industry for 13 years and counting. During that time I have been lucky
enough to work on some awesome games including style="font-style: italic;">Tribes, Escape from
Monkey Island, The Godfather, and of course the hit game style="font-style: italic;">Ski Racing
1998 (featuring Picabo Street).
Q: How did you set the
art style for Champions Online?
episode of Dastardly and Muttley and thought to myself, "Why are you
drinking Pine-Sol and watching cartoons at 1 p.m.? Isn't Michael going
to be mad that you aren't at work?" And that was it! I had the idea for
the art style.
Wait, that isn't what happened. We spent a lot of time thinking about
what jumped out at us when we look at comic books and superheroes. This
game had to feel like it jumped out of the panels of a comic. To get
there, we needed to have a certain style of shading, so we developed
what we are calling "comic shading." By combining comic shading and
some interesting post-processing tricks, we are able to achieve
Champions Online's
vivid color range.
When it comes to creating the Champions
Online universe, we decided to
marry two very different art concepts. The first is based on basic art
and design ideas, including asymmetry, strong silhouettes, smart usage
of color theory, etc. The second concept is to take what we think looks
realistic, whether it is an animation pose or a character's costume,
and then push it to extremes by exaggerating it. Everyone knows what a
punch should look like in real life, and everyone knows what an
exaggerated punch in a comic book looks like. It is my goal to make
that comic punch feel as natural as the real-life punch.
Q: Can you explain how
comic shading is different from cel shading?
somewhere in the center of cel shading and more realistic shading. We
place all of the art details into the geometric mesh instead of using
the traditional method of applying details in the 2D normal or diffuse
maps. Our rendering engine uses the edges of polygons to render the
awesome black outline found in comic books. The more geometric detail,
the better the outlines look.
Q: Who are your favorite
artists?
question. I am a photographer at heart, so I have to split this between
painting/drawing and photography. As far as painting/drawing goes, my
favorites are probably Zdzislaw Beksinski, Phil Hale, Raymond Pettibon
and Degas. As far as the photographers go, I would have to say Andre
Kertesz, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Lee Friedlander, and I love all the
work from Hamburger Eyes.
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An example of the art
direction for Champions
Online.
Q: Who is your favorite
Champions
character?
new character that we just created and I just about married one of the
animators for doing such a good job bringing him to life. (Don't worry
Danny Southard, you will be mine!) But if I have to pick an old
Champions
character I would pick Grond … four arms, baby!
Q: If you could have any
superpower, what would it be and why?
I can avoid speeding tickets. My wife wishes I could avoid these.
Q: What kind of games do
you like to play?
Boggle, Mousetrap, er, wait … Lately I have been playing
Bioshock, Assassin's
Creed and Skate.
Skate has
been my focus for the
last week or so.
Q: What do you like to do
outside of work?
who keep me busy as heck. I travel a lot and I shoot about 10,000
pictures a year. I love museums and art. I also enjoy break dancing and
eating cheese.
Q: What is an interesting
fact about you that players would be surprised to know?
off like 12 years ago in a car accident. Dr. Macha, I still owe you for
doing a bad @$$ job reattaching it.
Q: Do you have any advice
for someone who wants to become a professional artist?
everything you can about the foundations of art. Learn traditional
ideas and mediums. Drawing is pretty much free, now go do it!
Q: Do you have anything
else to add?
"man" in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Johnny Cash. Oh
yeah, if I ever get a dog I want his name to be Clint
Eastwood.
direction for this upcoming game? Does it feel "super" enough? href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?p=218912#post218912">Let
us
know on the forums!
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Champions Online Game Page.
