The Importance and Challenges of an Art Direction

A well defined art direction has multiple parts to it, including style, theme, color palette, etc. Having all these work together in a cohesive manner can really make the difference when trying to create an impacting and engaging visual experience. This is true for all forms of entertainment like movies, games, and even music.

So why is a solid art direction so pivotal to the game development process? Imagine an art team without a proper art direction to set the foundation for the project. You’d spend more time resolving issues then producing art! Each day would bring multiple revisions and artists arguing over who should change what so everything looks consistent. If these key aspects of the art, like character, clothing, or environmental style, aren’t figured out from the start you’ll either be drastically slowed down, playing catch up, or have a vastly inconsistent looking game. So obviously you can see the benefits of having a solid art direction and how doing so would help alleviate a lot of problems or delays during production.

Now for the challenging part: figuring out your art direction. It takes a lot of time and effort to really nail down your idea of the game on paper, especially if it’s going to have a really unique look. Just having a description doesn’t always cut it. Sometimes you need to find certain references or develop diverse concept art to help convey your style. This process is usually done during preproduction and does require a bit of research into what other people have done and what worked and what didn’t. Also if it is something difficult and never done before that makes it that much harder.

From my own experience on working on NORA we definitely ran into a lot of issues in the beginning when there was little to no art direction established. Once I became the art lead, my first goal was to figure this out and provide a proper vision to move forward on. This process was not necessarily an overnight thing and took some time to figure out but in the end it was worth it and we now a definitive vision and style that we are proud of and can continue to refine moving forward. We definitely can’t wait to show you this game and hope that you love the art style and direction as much as we do.

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By Jared Frenzel, Art Lead for GravTech Games

Find Your Focus

In the earliest stages of production, games are these gigantic bundles of ideas mashed together into something that vaguely resembles a complete concept. It starts with the grand, sweeping, basic as hell phrases like “space captain” or “insane diplomat” and somehow, by some insane alchemy, it becomes a tight, cohesive story. One you can show off to other people and have them say, “Oh! I understand that!"

Except it’s not alchemy.

It’s me.

I came aboard Gravtech at a fairly early stage in development. There were a lot of ideas floating around, but much of it wasn’t written down, or it existed in documents that were way too outdated to help. For my first few weeks, I felt a bit like an anthropologist trying to record a culture with a strong oral tradition. It just wasn’t easy to bring someone up to speed on the whole thing.

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A lot of my work has been figuring out what worked about the ideas, what was outdated, what was recent, and how to refine the concepts that already existed. Since then, it’s been a steady refining process, fitting the game’s design and story to narrative structures and programmable functions (or flexing narrative and function to fit the game). And let me tell you what I’ve learned:

It’s all about narrowing your focus.

The most important thing you can do early on is look at your game concept and define what makes it yours. Strip away everything else that is non-essential and look at what you have left. What is the core of your story, your game, your design? What sets it apart from every other new thing out there?

See, there’s this phrase that floats around writing circles: “Every story’s already been told.” And it’s true. You can find analogues for most ideas somewhere in the history of storytelling. Once you realize that, it’s easy to feel discouraged.

But here’s the trick: You don’t have to make something nobody else has ever made before. You just have to tell the story in a way no one else has. And that’s easier than it sounds. Think about what you bring to the table that no one else does. Tell it your way, design it your way, because no one else has quite your perspective or your thoughts.

Take NORA, for instance (what I can tell you, anyway). There have been science fiction games, and there have been character-focused games. There have been psychological thriller games. But nobody else is going to tell our story quite the way we’re telling it.

That’s the heart of design. The thing we keep returning to over and over again when we need to refocus as designers. What are we saying, what are we doing, what are we designing that no one else will?

Once you have that, everything else is just an added bonus, something to decorate the core of your idea. You’ll always know what you’re working towards. And once you’re confident that your unique take shines through every part of your idea, you’ll know that your design is rock-solid.

Just narrow your focus and find your voice.

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By Annie Craton, Design Lead for NORA

Empowering a Team Part 1 - Leading with Vision

We’ve been at this for a while and I’m in no way saying that we’ve become experts in leadership, but we’ve picked up a few things since we started this project a little over two years ago. So in effort to give back to the community, we’d like to share from our experience ways to boost productivity and team cohesion over a few separate blog posts. And like any project, what works for some, may not work for others so if you and your studio approaches this differently we’d love to hear from you in the comments!

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One thing I’ve personally learned through this is the benefit of leading with vision. You hear that phrase a lot in this entrepreneurial, small business world, but don’t dismiss it. It’s one of the most important tools any business owner has. Through vision you can inspire your team to be a lot more than you ever considered. For us this realization began with a book, “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek. It’s a fantastic read and something I recommend to anyone just getting started in a leadership role. It explains how much further your efforts can go with a simple question, “Why?”

So, why does GravTech exist? One word: Empowerment.

It pains me to see how video games are viewed outside of the community, and even within the community there has been a lot of negativity lately. We believe the biggest cause has been an imbalance of power within the industry. Many voices go unheard when the ones calling the shots think they can live off their past successes forever and many more voices go unheard when a debate turns into a shouting match and people are only listening to those who shout the loudest or say the most outrageous things.

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We decided that if we wanted to make a difference we weren’t going to be doing it alone. We need to empower a team to flex their creative muscles, to push beyond the status quo and reach for something beyond what we initially believed possible. We need to provide content that is engaging to players, something that stimulates the brain and makes you think about what you’re doing, as opposed to some mindless repetitive tasks. It’s time for games to evolve beyond fun toys and into something that can make you reflect just as much as any other work of art.

Once we established that vision, and pushed that vision through the studio, we began to see some subtle differences around the team. We began to have more vocal and energetic meetings. We saw artists, designers, and programmers critiquing each other more openly and ultimately bettering the project. My personal favorite change is how quickly new people become acclimated to the project. Usually a new person spends their first meeting just listening in, but by the second meeting they’re just as vocal as the veterans.

Eventually you’ll see the dynamic shift and you’ll smile to yourself when you hear a lead explain the vision to a new teammate and see how deeply they have embraced it. Let your vision speak through your actions and consistently refer to it when discussing the project or team. Trust me, you’ll be happily surprised with how far a common vision can take you!

So we’d like to hear from you! How do you empower and inspire your team? Tell us in the comments below!

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Kevin Gray

CEO and Co-Founder of GravTech Games