GRAVEN News

Hello, my name is Arturo Pahua, and I am a 2D / 3D Artist at 3D Realms / Slipgate Ironworks. Today it's my turn to tell you a bit about the process of creating and designing GRAVEN's weapons, specifically the Peat Burner: an ugly, crude hulk that exists for one reason only: to destroy monsters and leave their ashes stinking.

One of the advantages of working for an independent studio is the synergy that is created with each developer. When there are no corporate divisions, we all have a voice, an opinion, which makes creativity an integral part of the development of our games.

It all starts with an idea for each weapon, which is proposed by one of our Game Leads. Although each weapon fulfills a function, let's say archetypal within the First Person Shooter genre (melee, spread damage, sharp shooter, high rate of fire, etc.) even within the context of the game and constrained by their function at gameplay level, these can be routed in such a way that they are visually unique. That is where I come in.

Throughout my career as a Concept Artist, I have worked on projects of all kinds and with different philosophies and methodologies, from independent productions, with more heart and soul than direction, to AAA productions in which every aspect of the artistic direction is scrupulously designed, and does not leave much space for the own interpretation of the object to be designed. In this way, I have had to adapt to be able to work in all possible techniques, ranging from overpaint to 3D concept work, or mattepainting, which many times ends up drastically moving away from drawing, which is what in the first place made me develop professionally as an artist. Fortunately, the development scheme in GRAVEN (and of all the productions of 3D Realms and Slipgate) is a mixture between flexibility and spontaneity, and organization and communication using management technologies. Therefore, when it comes to working, artists count on with a great creative and interpretation freedom, without neglecting the technical and core aspects of gameplay that the game requires. For this reason, projects like GRAVEN have become my bastion: a small island where I can travel to do something like I used to do as a kid and get away from the most modern methods of work, which would require me to take photos from the internet, create a huge reference sheet, and make a frankenstein concept with various elements. Even though they are respectable and perfectly valid techniques, mine is a bit more like a game that involves memory, instinct and a lot of sketches.

To begin, let's take the description of the Peat Burner:

“A crude wooden device which flings messy bricks of burning peat that stick where they hit and explode."

Rather than go into a browser and type "Peat Burner" and see what comes up, I really like to stimulate my imagination. I read the description carefully, and considering the context of the game, and the defined art direction, I imagine that I am a gunsmith in this world before it went to hell, and that one day, while throwing the waste bucket down the window, I see that the mad lord of the town comes to visit my establishment to manufacture this weapon for him.

I usually prepare five to six drawings, but this weapon is particularly complicated, so my creative process takes longer than necessary. When I already lead a rebellion against the high taxes of the town of GRAVEN in which I live as a gunsmith, I decide to put my ideas into a single sketch, and share it with the team to see if I am on the right track. Although this time there were a couple of mistakes (or happy accidents, as Bob Ross and his cool afro put it)



Although it has a rough design and launches bricks as the description asks for, there is an error that my colleagues point out: the bricks are not literally bricks, but accumulations of manure. In addition, some of our weapons already have this “horizontal” configuration and we run the risk of being repetitive.

Peat Burner 1 - Arturo 0.

In the chat the word "ugly" appears to describe the weapon, also, with the idea that this weapon is, in essence, a poop launcher. I take new courage, while trying to appease my dying inner adolescent with generous doses of old 90s sitcom episodes so he doesn't make me draw nonsense.

The next round of sketches, for practical reasons, was reduced to two proposals, which encompass different philosophies.



Proposal 1 is a two-handed weapon with top shuttles, a pressure and ignition system, and a sack containing the poop bricks. It looks somewhat elegant for what it is, but it seems to fit well into the concept of a unique and whimsical weapon, painstakingly crafted by this humble senile and drunken gunsmith. It looks easy to shoot, reload, and animate.

Proposal 2 is a mill that collects bricks from a receptacle at the base, which is fed by the bellows on the left. It doesn't make sense, it's horrible, heavy, rough, dirty, defies the laws of physics, and looks uncomfortable. It is perfect in short.

GRAVEN's setting is grim, and as my colleague Nikola said on his music dev-blog: tragic. What could be more tragic than being burned to death by a weapon based on a poo-throwing mill?

The team loves the second proposal. It's all jubilation and cheers, but it doesn't stop there: now I must refine this baby and make it presentable so that it can be modeled in 3D and put in game.

In other projects, I usually make an approximation (proxi) 3D model, animate the moving parts, and separate the structure. Then I send this model to the 3D artist, who uses it as a base and keeps the proportions intact. For GRAVEN I don't do any of that. I color it in an old-school technical way, partly because it helps to gives it a rough, old, battered effect (very much in the style of the game) and because it's so much fun.

I’m a somewhat minimalist artist. I know all the tricks and fancy effects that can be used in an illustration, but as a general rule I use only 3 layers: Line Art, Color, and Adjustments - although sometimes, in an act of rebellion, I collapse everything and paint without looking back. When the result has enough volume and texture, that's when one of our great 3D artists comes into action; Samuel. He has an incredible talent for interpreting concepts, and making corrections as required, which makes the transition from 2D to 3D easy. If he requires any more views that are not seen in the concept and cannot be deduced, I provide them. Although my résumé says that I know how to draw orthographic views, it has been years that they are not super necessary for some assets, either because I provide the Proxi models or the 3D artist is very good.

This is the finished piece.



Thank you very much for reading this little breakdown of my art. I can't wait for you to play GRAVEN and use the bunch of weapons that this humble drunken gunsmith made for a mad lord with great dedication.

Make sure to wishlist GRAVEN on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371690/GRAVEN/

Written by Arturo Pahua.

Greetings bounty hunters! The time to fight through the hordes of Cromune's minions and claim the bounty on his head is here - we are excited to announce that Viscerafest is now available in Steam Early Access!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The Early Access version includes an introductory prelude level, the game’s main and chapter 1 hubs, and the entirety of the first chapter with 7 levels to play through. It also features 8 of the enemies, and 6 (out of total 9) of the game’s weapons. The second chapter is planned to be added down the line during the Early Access period. The hub's primary features together with the third chapter are planned for the game’s full launch. The price for Viscerafest Early Access is set at $14.99 USD / €14.99 EUR, accompanied by a 15% discount during the first week!

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and grab Viscerafest right now!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1406780/Viscerafest/

In this dev blog, lead level designer Chris Holden describes the documentation process when creating levels in GRAVEN.

It starts with a write-up of the core goals of the level. For example, "The Brine Muskeg" (Swamps) the player objective is to locate the sinking lighthouse and ignite it to lure the infected away from the gates to the next level.

GRAVEN uses an open world like hub system, designers need to know what level connections to include and where to put them. Missions are broken into mandatory and optional mission types. As above the mandatory mission of the Muskeg is to activate the lighthouse. From there, we list what weapons, items, enemies, etc. the designer needs to use. Most all of this is written by leads and/or everyone in collaborative meetings very early in the games development. Much of this is open to change, within reason, as the project develops.

At this point, the level is assigned to a single, core Level Designer. They continue the documentation process by creating a moodboard. This is collecting reference images that capture the atmosphere, colors, shapes, and so on of what they would like to see in the level. A concept artist then uses that reference to create key illustrations for the level.

The next big part of documentation for the level designer is creating a detailed plan for all the above information. This can include a top-down map, drawings, flow charts, write-ups of locations, encounters, puzzles and so on. This is mostly for the designer and it's up to them to document what they need to convey their ideas to the team. This is a more personalized part of the process as each designer handles their documentation differently.

With all documentation approved, the level designer now builds the level blockout. This is simple geometry to convey shapes, level layout, spaces, etc. This should be a fully playable version of the level from start to finish without any time spent detailing. The importance of this step is to ensure how the layout and gameplay should work, and address any issues before heavy detailing and reworking.

In Dev Blog #2, I detailed the process of creating level blockouts; read it here.

After the detailing is complete, the rest of the team dog-piles the level to add set dressing, lighting, vfx, scripting, audio and lore. Most of these have their own sub-level in Unreal so all individuals can be working on the level at the same time. Levels then go through rigorous internal playtesting and polishing.

[h2]Design Philosophies [/h2]

[h3]Loops[/h3]

In a literal sense a circle O shape, the infinity loop ∞ or figure-eight (8). These shapes keep the player in a flow that makes navigation feel smoothly meaningful. Like a roller coaster or race track, there's twists and turns that always come back to the station or hub. Skyrim's dungeons/caves often make great use of this by the end dumping the player back at the entrance. This avoids backtracking and gives the convenience of moving on quickly.

A basic loop is a column in a room. An object the player can run around that also provides cover an empty arena might not.

In this figure-eight example, the player can see, but not reach, a key. They must navigate around the loop to grab it and can drop back down to the entrance.



The first area comes to a 4-way hall where the player can see a key item on an unreachable platform on the left (blue dot) and a locked exit on the right (purple dot).

The only option is the green path to an arena fight. This continues on to a loop around to a key item (aqua dot) which grants access to the blue path loop and finally the exit.

The figure-8 layout is a straightforward way to achieve two loops. The raised areas could also include a raising platform that activates after the goal is reached to create a nice shortcut for backtracking.

[h3]Meaningful Backtracking[/h3]

An infiltration where the protagonist reaches a goal and must escape. In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he has to avoid all the traps to get to the golden idol. Upon taking it, the temple begins to collapse and he's in a race against time with massive stone doors lowering and the iconic giant rolling boulder before being chased off by locals. The timed escape is a classic, nerve-wracking experience used in many video games. Super Metroid begins with one where Samus enters a dead space station to retrieve a metroid only to be thwarted by Ridley and must evacuate the station before it self destructs. The player learns the environment in a low stress situation then backtracks under high stress.

An example might be stealth into a powerful weapon and fight out. It can be more casual by going in to receive a navigation upgrade like double-jump the backtracking with many new exploration options.

[h3]Verticality[/h3]

Landmarks can guide the player and give them reason to look up. For those that have played the GRAVEN demo you know about the Sunken Lighthouse and the Clocktower visible from the hub and swamp, both of which the player can walk to in the full release. In particular the clocktower is visible from almost all areas and can provide a sense of direction.



Vantage points allow the player to overlook an area, access dangers and plan out where to travel next. When designing the underground area of the first hub, verticality was one of my main goals and it started by laying out three tiers of playable space. The player enters this area from above. This gives the player multiple advantages in that they can see most of the area and can get the drop on the Infected. This goes both ways as in the underground as the transition to the other side is at the lowest level putting the player at the most disadvantage.



Visibility and Occlusion in verticality can provide cover and assist in performance. This also applies to loops mentioned above. The player or enemies gets the edge here. In the first areas of the hub, all of the buildings have optional explorable areas between them. And thanks to UE4's mesh bounds, most things behind them are occluded.

Encounters (covered a bit above): if the enemy is above the player and has a ranged attack this can be incredibly oppressive to the player. If you've ever played Quake, you know the destructive power of a couple Ogres lobbing grenades down or in DOOM when a designer places Revenant on a tall platform. Basically a turret spamming explosives. In the opposite situation, enemies placed in a basin below the player are fish in a barrel.

[h3]Epilogue[/h3]

When it comes to Level Design I could go on all day. If you’re interested in it, Quake and DOOM communities are a great starting place. UE4, Far Cry, Source, Mario Maker for 2d. Another great resource is the LevelDesign hashtag on Twitter. Find what you want to make, study and the best advice I can give is make maps.

[h3]Don't forget to wishlist GRAVEN![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371690/GRAVEN/

[h3]Relax your ears with the Citadel track from GRAVEN:[/h3]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Don't forget to wishlist GRAVEN on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371690/GRAVEN/