Dauntless Dev Tracker
This thread was added on May 22, 2020, with posts from CreatureTech-PHX, moarandmoar, jordanpowpow, Tanjams555, kienan_lafferty, yellowchecker, dhpapa78, Splider1234.
Hey everyone and welcome to our Artist AMA.
Have any questions about the art process of Dauntless? Want to know more about the art side of game development? Curious about the tools of the trade?
Ask our artists anything your heart desires!
What will be the next theme for the battle pass ?
You'll have to wait and see...
Do you think you will one time take a behemoth concept fan art for a real concept in the game ?
Great fan art certainly always gets our attention! Ideally though to be made into the game we would like you to be a part of the official team!
When designing a behemoth, what's the first thing you consider in the design
Hey there.
Usually the designers come up with where they want that behemoth to fit into the game and what kind of mechanics they want in the encounter, including what element it will be.
When it comes to the art side, we first consider that it fits within the gameplay design. But two core aspects that are core to the art design of our behemoths is that they should feel majestic yet threatening.
Do you think you will one time take a behemoth concept fan art for a real concept in the game ?
What Kienan said! There comes a lot of legal baggage when using a fan design. That being said, if we ever went this route in the future, we'd let you know :)
Which was your favorite armor to design and why?
My personal favorite armour to build was the Torgadoro Ultra armour set because of the fire/flame FX that we could play with. Also it had a really cool behemoth to base off of.
So when designing exotics what do you first consider?
How can we make it look more awesome than the current item
When designing a behemoth, what's the first thing you consider in the design
There are many things to consider when designing a behemoth, but on the concept art side the first thing on our mind is making it look dangerous and powerful, depending on the case however, we also like them to look somewhat relatable.
Ah sweet, where’d you get the idea for the hunger and tragic echo
Hmm, not sure who was on that specific asset. I'll see if I can track them down for you!
Are there times, where you don't know what you wanna create? Due to a blockade or something?
All the time! The key is putting together reference and inspiration, considering the team goals, and most importantly doing what concept artists do best, creating tons of options and in anticipation of many of them being thrown out!
How do you come up with ideas for hunt pass and how did you think up of vault store? How do you decide on the items to put on vault store every week
I'll try to poke our concept artist about this one, but for the Vault, that's more on design. We look at the success of prior items while also taking into account community sentiment around them.
Ever thought of redesigning any behemoth or weapons?
Yes, even some of the characters in the city but we also need to create new content for you to enjoy :)
Have any advice for building a portfolio for an environment/creature concept artist? Which is better? More fully rendered illustrations, or more ideas even if they're sketchy?
Also, how important is 3D modeling for an environment artist? Should I be fluent or will a foot in the door cover it? Does it depend on the company?
Thank you!
The best option is to illustrate what you find the most enjoyment doing! We love seeing rendered illustrations, but a common misstep is not including your sketches and choices for how you got to the final product. The purpose of the portfolio is to show off your skills but also give the team a feeling of what it will be like to work with you and your process!
Where do you get ideas/inspirations when creating a behemoth and the environments of Dauntless?
I'll answer this one with regard to the escalation islands as that's what I've been focusing on lately :) For these last few islands, we use the element of the season, for instance Blaze or Shock, and start exploring a mood and a biome that would fit the element and the behemoth (if the behemoth has already been established) Then we start gathering reference and mapping it out into mood board, and start having concept artists explore themes, compositions and props. Ideas and inspiration can come many different places, but the element as a kind of creative prompt is what sparks it all.
Where do you get ideas/inspirations when creating a behemoth and the environments of Dauntless?
Heya! As a 3D artist I'm not directly responsible the initial design. But we do draw a lot of inspiration from living animals and creatures. Especially as reference when making the 3D models. But also as fans of all forms of media, we definitely draw inspiration from fantasy, sci-fi and everything in between.
How do you come up with ideas for hunt pass and how did you think up of vault store? How do you decide on the items to put on vault store every week
From Katie, who works heavily on the concepts around Hunt Passes:
"We source ideas from the whole team for huntpass themes, then we discuss them to see what would be the best fit for a particular patch"
I definitely recommend checking out her work on twitter: https://twitter.com/katiedesousa?lang=en
Thanks!
From Katie: "It was a while ago - but I love dark and creepy things so I wanted to do something a bit more monstrous than what we had done in the past"
You can also find her over on twitter: https://twitter.com/katiedesousa?lang=en
Ever thought of redesigning any behemoth or weapons?
We've actually redone some of the older behemoths like Shrike and always looking to improve where we can. :)
Ever thought of redesigning any behemoth or weapons?
Yes! we are currently in discussions of the current designs of our behemoths. We like them to be relatable to a point, but more importantly want you to feel like your are defending your home from a mysterious encroaching danger, look forward to future additions and changes to help back this vision up!
How do you clearly draw the line between normal plants and gatherables and how often does this pose a problem to the team?
We try to make plants that are gatherable pop in a few ways.. they should feel a little bit special or unusual, maybe a bit more vibrant and large, set apart from clusters of normal plants in their placement. Also they sparkle! :)
A slightly tougher nut to crack here --- we are seeing efforts to get the lore of Dauntless present in the game, and more important to the players. What about the reflection of the lore in art?
We have seen multiple Hunt Passes that had tangential or no relation to the lore, or that outright made no sense in the core aesthetic of the game (Aetherpunk, Zephyr Strike, Hidden Blades to name a few). On the other hand, Rogue Elements and the free-track mog from Searing Talons have been really good and lent themselves to the theme very well.
Is this a sign of things to come? Will the Ramsgate Renovation and future Hunt Passes aim to re-capture the "fallen world", anachronistic mixture of technology and scavenging-based savagery Dauntless initially sold itself with?
Maybe... ;) I can't fully answer, but the roadmap might help a little (for now)
https://playdauntless.com/roadmap/improved-interface/lore-journal-and-chronicles/
-How much is the art team inspired by other universes? For example, whenever I have a hunt on an island that is grassland, I don't know if it's because of the light, the floating earth or the music, Nagrand (WoW, Draenor/Outlaws) comes to my mind.
-Will we ever see in game discarded designs, which after being revealed, were more attractive than the ones we received?
-How far ahead is the art team, in terms of passes/sessions, of what we see?
Everyone in the studio is constantly playing games and consuming media. We also hire from all over the industry. We have people who worked on LoL, Mass Effect, Guild Wars, and a tonnnnn of other games.
You can definitely see a lot of their background/experience, as well as their fandom, shown in their work.
What is the process behind making a new behemoth? Like the concept stages, colors, aspects, etc. How does the team come up with and narrow down what the newest behemoth will be?
Creating a new behemoth can start with a visual design, leading to gameplay, or it can be the other way around, starting with a cool idea or in-game experience, then designing visually around that!
Thanks!
I'm not sure about specific inspiration. But, being umbral exotics, since umbral is this kinda mysterious and otherwordly/cosmic form of aether, we wanted to push those vibes. Shrouds 3 eyes for the sword and his darkness mode for the helm were key elements as well.
I have a few! I'll be graduating from my college next year, so naturally I have those questions in mind. I know everything happens to everyone differently, but I would still love to know:
How did you first 'break in' to the video game art industry?
What makes for a good 2D artist portfolio?
What are the red flags that a company or individual will be difficult to work with?
I love those questions! You break into the industry by getting someone's attention, whether meeting someone thru a convention, posting incredible fan art on social media, or an internship!
A good 2D artist portfolio shows competent skills for the role you are applying for with plenty of process showing how you do your thing.
Red flags are portfolios that don't show process, have content that is plagiarized (you'd be surprised how often this happens) or someone who doesn't understand the importance of working and communicating within a team.
What is the process for designing the game's interface? I noticed that almost every new update there is some kind of improvement to it
From our UI Artist, Jeff: "Oh ya we do a lot of focus testing to see what players are missing/not understanding in our UI and try to fix it. It usually works pretty well and we get positive results. It's just a matter of going through each area of the UI and making the improvements which is often just polish but sometimes it's just the small things that have a huge impact. :-)"
Prestige strikers when?
Good question! From what I hear, they will be coming very soon. ;)
A slightly tougher nut to crack here --- we are seeing efforts to get the lore of Dauntless present in the game, and more important to the players. What about the reflection of the lore in art?
We have seen multiple Hunt Passes that had tangential or no relation to the lore, or that outright made no sense in the core aesthetic of the game (Aetherpunk, Zephyr Strike, Hidden Blades to name a few). On the other hand, Rogue Elements and the free-track mog from Searing Talons have been really good and lent themselves to the theme very well.
Is this a sign of things to come? Will the Ramsgate Renovation and future Hunt Passes aim to re-capture the "fallen world", anachronistic mixture of technology and scavenging-based savagery Dauntless initially sold itself with?
Great question! Yes we are making a huge push to include more lore based experiences in the game, many of which you will be seeing very soon...
how do u design islands of escalation , i mean for example for the torga it was clear that firts island were with a tropical theme and as u got closer to the volcano the islands was more dryer, but what is the theme for next escalation ( dark ??) in general and do u design the mob first and then the islands to go with a the mob ?
I talked a little bit how we design our themes around the elements for escalation in another answer.. but as far the next season which is Umbral themed, I can't go into too much detail yet, but we were definitely trying to explore another aspect of Umbral as well make the island feel consistent with the Hunt Pass :)
In general we have designed our behemoths first, and then created a setting that makes sense for them, but for the season following Umbral, the island and behemoth are being developed more in tandem.
Is anyone on the slayer design team working on further expanding upon curly hair styles & braids? The focus on straight hair customization is firmly lopsided.
We are always working on new hair styles every now and then. That's a great point! We'll definately keep that in mind when we are designing future hair styles. :)
-How much is the art team inspired by other universes? For example, whenever I have a hunt on an island that is grassland, I don't know if it's because of the light, the floating earth or the music, Nagrand (WoW, Draenor/Outlaws) comes to my mind.
-Will we ever see in game discarded designs, which after being revealed, were more attractive than the ones we received?
-How far ahead is the art team, in terms of passes/sessions, of what we see?
To answer that last part, we're about 3-4 hunt pass ahead of what's coming out.
Can you take my whole platinum in exchange for a gnome hat? This is a serious question.
UHHHHHHHHHHHH
Hi Dauntless Team, I think I could have a good idea for a Dauntless comic book story. I'm making it as a fan art right now but is there any way I could show It to you when It's finished? Thank you for your attention.
Please tag us on Twitter when you're done. We would love to see this <3
Have any advice for building a portfolio for an environment/creature concept artist? Which is better? More fully rendered illustrations, or more ideas even if they're sketchy?
Also, how important is 3D modeling for an environment artist? Should I be fluent or will a foot in the door cover it? Does it depend on the company?
Thank you!
Do you want to design creatures, or create appealing illustrations of existing creatures? If you're specifically looking to build a *concept art* portfolio, raw creativity trumps fine rendering. If you're looking to build an *illustration* portfolio, the inverse is true. As for 3D skills, just run with your own process. If 3D helps you get to the finish line, go for it, but it's certainly not a hard requirement.
Hey everyone, we're stepping back to have lunch and then get back to our work. We'll leave this up and pop in to answer a few more as the day goes on.
Thank you all so much for your questions and we hope you enjoyed this as much as we did <3
Do the Dauntless artists use drawing pads, tablets, mice or something else?
Do any of you prefer the mouse/ drawing pad over a tablet?
I’ve wanted to try digital art for a while but never knew where to start.
Tablets are the way to go! And there are plenty of affordable options to get started nowadays. I personally prefer a medium size non-display tablet as it is easier to travel with and allows for better posture.
Hey PHXL, have you guys ever saw a concept art and went "This is fricken awesome" but thought it wouldn't suit the game itself? Like mechanics or design wise?
Also, have you guys ever wanted to put a behemoth in the game with a whole new way of fighting? Like weapons wise for ex. You naturally fight embermane with chainblades or skarn with hammer or strikers etc? Like create a behemoth that you must wound in order to do damage?
Yeah, all the time! There are a lot of great pieces of fan art out there, and even though there are some really awesome designs, sometimes they may not quite hit our art style or the feel/mood we try to hit with our behemoths. The key aspects we try to hit with our behemoths, is that they feel majestic and relatable, yet powerful and threatening.
All the time! The key is putting together reference and inspiration, considering the team goals, and most importantly doing what concept artists do best, creating tons of options and in anticipation of many of them being thrown out!
Follow up question from me -- how much gets "thrown out"?
Hey PHXL, have you guys ever saw a concept art and went "This is fricken awesome" but thought it wouldn't suit the game itself? Like mechanics or design wise?
Also, have you guys ever wanted to put a behemoth in the game with a whole new way of fighting? Like weapons wise for ex. You naturally fight embermane with chainblades or skarn with hammer or strikers etc? Like create a behemoth that you must wound in order to do damage?
Your second question is more of a design question, but I may be able to give a little insight.
We are always wanting to add something new to an encounter. Such as the Boreus fight (even though, it's not everyone's favorite,) or Valomyr. Or it may not be a complete game changer but add some flavour and change up the flow, such as Malkarian where two key features in it's design were the mounting system and synced attacks, which we had wanted for a while. As for weapon wise, I feel like we may do that less as we want players to feel empowered to use their weapon of choice. But we are always trying to think of ways to change things up and make fights feel more unique and interesting.
If we have a combat or encounter focused AMA, you may be able to get more solid answers there. ;)
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I broke into the industry a looong time ago, and it's a vastly different scene now. Nowadays, having a great portfolio, sharing work, and building a network of colleagues will all help. Aside from the portfolio red flags Kienan has already noted, I'd add that a conversation is a better way to suss out an applicant's attitude and personality, and is generally the second step in recruiting. At that point, we're looking for enthusiasm and passion about art and games, while watching out for big egos and difficulty hearing constructive critique.
From looking at the art in different parts of the game, it's fairly obvious that the blaze escalation map has far more detailed and thought-out artistry than any other environment in the game. Is this because you spent so much time on it, or does it have to do with increasing development resources over time?
I think that Blaze escalation benefited from being the follow up to Shock escalation, where we were discovering and working out what exactly escalation was and how we wanted that player experience to feel in general. When it came to make Blaze we had all of that work to build upon just need to execute on a new theme. :) It also helps that the escalation maps are linear and tailor-made to one behemoth and theme, vs needing to be versatile enough to be a home for many types of behemoths.
Also, as we continue creating content, we are building up a library of art as well as honing what works and doesn't work as far as our processes and pipelines.
I’m assuming the non-display tablet is a drawing pad, right? I never thought drawing pad was the proper name but I wasn’t sure what else to call them.
Any recommendations on type, brand and what I should be looking for in a non-display tablet?
I’ve always used Wacom brand but there are plenty of other competitors that should work just fine 👍
Follow up question from me -- how much gets "thrown out"?
About 75 to 90% 😇
About 75 to 90% 😇
;)
What was you favorite weapon to design and why?(my favorite weapon is the axe)
Axe is my favorite too. I haven't actually designed the concept for any weapons but I have modeled and textured a few. My favorite being the Torgadoro axe, it was a lot of fun sculpting the lava rock and trying t figure out how the shapes flow and fit together.
Does the art team make the ideas that the gameplay team then makes a behemoth around or does the gameplay team make concepts for a behemoth first and send those to you? who takes the lead
Heya. Usually the gameplay team comes up with an encounter design first which then influences the art design. But the process is pretty collaborative and ideas can flow both ways.