Beneath the Ice #4 - Into the Wild
Greetings, mercenaries, and welcome to another chapter of our Developer Diary!
This time, we’re diving into the heart of Frosthaven – its immersive environments that breathe life into the world and set the tone for every adventure.
In the digital version of the board game, the environment plays a crucial role, and bringing that same depth to the digital version required dedication, research, and careful craftsmanship. Immersion doesn’t happen by accident – but thanks to our talented team, every asset and location was built from the ground up to stay true to the spirit of Frosthaven.
Now, let’s take you behind the scenes and show you how we brought this frosty world to life. Enjoy the journey!
[h3]The Process[/h3]
We are joined by Rossen Tzvetanov, our environment Art Director, and together with his team they will explain step by step how they gave life to the frozen mountains, the unexplored depths, the mechanical halls, the mystical wilderness and many more locations in the Frosthaven world.
Without further ado, let's sit back and enjoy the ride, while listening to the tales they will share with us.
“Our journey started with a deep dive into the original board game, analyzing its biomes to understand their mood, color palettes, and distinctive features. This groundwork helped us stay true to the game’s essence while giving us room to expand visually in the digital space.
From there, we moved into concept art. This was where we defined the visual language of each biome - shapes, silhouettes, lighting, and atmosphere. These concepts became our base for building the world.
Once we had a solid visual direction, we started creating blockouts of modular assets. At this stage, we focused on shape language, scale, and gameplay functionality. In parallel, we began working on textures, building up a library tailored to our needs. Creating materials alongside the blockouts helped us ensure everything worked well together from the start.
As our procedural tools were still tweaked - designed to scatter, combine, and populate the world with modular pieces - we refined the assets to make sure they played nicely within that system. When the tools and assets felt solid, it was time for polish: refining shapes, tweaking silhouettes, and pushing material quality.
To bring each biome to life, we then created beauty and story props - unique, handcrafted elements that break repetition and add character to the world.
Finally, our level art pass focused on storytelling and composition, placing props and features in ways that hint at lore, history, and hidden narratives, while guiding the player’s eye and enriching gameplay spaces.
We’re really proud of how the environments are shaping up, and we can’t wait for you to explore them. Every tree, rock, ruin, and pathway has been placed with purpose - and we hope you feel that when you play.”
[h3]What Comes Next?[/h3]
We're wrapping up the final touches on the game so soon we will reach our last stop! Together with the community council we are actively working on implementing player-requested features every day, and we are more than excited to share the whole experience with you all!
We have only one more stop left, but don’t you worry! On the 31st of July we will officially launch Early access and will reach the Frosthaven outpost together. Until then enjoy the ride, and if you would like to receive updates about the game you can join our Discord server.
[h3]FOLLOW FROSTHAVEN’S SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS[/h3]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PlayFrosthaven
X: https://x.com/PlayFrosthaven
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrosthavenGame
Discord: https://discord.gg/FUNmzWVfz2
This time, we’re diving into the heart of Frosthaven – its immersive environments that breathe life into the world and set the tone for every adventure.
In the digital version of the board game, the environment plays a crucial role, and bringing that same depth to the digital version required dedication, research, and careful craftsmanship. Immersion doesn’t happen by accident – but thanks to our talented team, every asset and location was built from the ground up to stay true to the spirit of Frosthaven.
Now, let’s take you behind the scenes and show you how we brought this frosty world to life. Enjoy the journey!
[h3]The Process[/h3]
We are joined by Rossen Tzvetanov, our environment Art Director, and together with his team they will explain step by step how they gave life to the frozen mountains, the unexplored depths, the mechanical halls, the mystical wilderness and many more locations in the Frosthaven world.
Without further ado, let's sit back and enjoy the ride, while listening to the tales they will share with us.
“Our journey started with a deep dive into the original board game, analyzing its biomes to understand their mood, color palettes, and distinctive features. This groundwork helped us stay true to the game’s essence while giving us room to expand visually in the digital space.
From there, we moved into concept art. This was where we defined the visual language of each biome - shapes, silhouettes, lighting, and atmosphere. These concepts became our base for building the world.
Once we had a solid visual direction, we started creating blockouts of modular assets. At this stage, we focused on shape language, scale, and gameplay functionality. In parallel, we began working on textures, building up a library tailored to our needs. Creating materials alongside the blockouts helped us ensure everything worked well together from the start.
As our procedural tools were still tweaked - designed to scatter, combine, and populate the world with modular pieces - we refined the assets to make sure they played nicely within that system. When the tools and assets felt solid, it was time for polish: refining shapes, tweaking silhouettes, and pushing material quality.
To bring each biome to life, we then created beauty and story props - unique, handcrafted elements that break repetition and add character to the world.
Finally, our level art pass focused on storytelling and composition, placing props and features in ways that hint at lore, history, and hidden narratives, while guiding the player’s eye and enriching gameplay spaces.
We’re really proud of how the environments are shaping up, and we can’t wait for you to explore them. Every tree, rock, ruin, and pathway has been placed with purpose - and we hope you feel that when you play.”
[h3]What Comes Next?[/h3]
We're wrapping up the final touches on the game so soon we will reach our last stop! Together with the community council we are actively working on implementing player-requested features every day, and we are more than excited to share the whole experience with you all!
We have only one more stop left, but don’t you worry! On the 31st of July we will officially launch Early access and will reach the Frosthaven outpost together. Until then enjoy the ride, and if you would like to receive updates about the game you can join our Discord server.
[h3]FOLLOW FROSTHAVEN’S SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS[/h3]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PlayFrosthaven
X: https://x.com/PlayFrosthaven
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrosthavenGame
Discord: https://discord.gg/FUNmzWVfz2