Behind The Scenes: Environment Art
Behind the scenes is an article series in which one of the Deceit developers takes us through some of the content that’s recently been in the works for the game.
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Hi there! I’m John Handy, Senior Environment Artist on Deceit.
Over the course of this year we’ve been reworking the lighting and optimisation of our existing maps to improve their quality and level immersion. As of this week, four of our five maps have received our attention. We’ve been working to make best use of the assets we already have, before we shift our focus to brand new content next year. Let’s take a quick look at some of the progress we’ve made so far:
[h3]The Forest[/h3]
The main issue I found with the forest was that we weren't making effective use of the lighting systems inside CryEngine. With the update I added a global moonlight as a way to subtly help with orientation. I updated lighting levels to leverage eye adaptation meaning when you go from bright areas into dark areas your eyes will adjust. Finally I enabled SVOGI for some tasty bounced lighting.
[h3]The Lumberyard[/h3]
The Lumberyard had a few layout issues that had a big impact on the feeling whilst playing. The main thing I did was to address the time it takes to traverse from one area to another, as it took far too long to cross the map. Then like the forest, updated the lighting.
[h3]The Manor[/h3]
The Manor had some serious performance problems that had been neglected and some art issues that meant it never looked how it should. I fixed a lot of the rendering and performance issues which means light now interacts more correctly with the environment. Then I added some more dramatic lighting throughout, helping the overall atmosphere.
The Asylum has been our main testing ground, with numerous visual updates throughout the year. This leaves just the Arctic, which we’ll be revisiting soon. Aside from that, we’re now looking at building some new content to level up our maps, including:
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[h3]When did you first join the Deceit team, and how have you found the experience overall?[/h3]
I was one of the original developers at Automaton working on Deceit. After working elsewhere in the games industry, I have come back to continue work on Deceit.
Making a new game has its challenges, and there have been plenty of them during the development of Deceit. However the experience has been great, lots of ups and downs but at the end of the day I have had the chance to meet some great friends and make something we are proud of, and want to improve further.
[h3]Out of everything you’ve contributed to Deceit, what sticks out as your favourite thing to have worked on?[/h3]
My main focus as an Environment Artist is to create the maps, which includes work on layout design, visual realism through materials and props, and lighting. I think my answer to this question changes over time.
Recently I have really enjoyed working on upgrading the lighting across the maps. There is a lot of great art which we have put time into over the years, and in my opinion the lighting wasn't representing it that well. The new manor is a good example of this. A bonus of upgrading the lighting system is how we have improved the atmospheric feeling through volumetric fog effects.
[h3]Do you have any sneak peaks you can share as to anything we’re expecting to see in the near future?[/h3]
We have been discussing how we can make the maps foster better chase sequences during the night period. One idea we are playing with is having set destructible walls that the terrors could burst through, and balancing that with small passageways only the innocent can fit through.
This will be a really cool combination of Art and Design and I think will help to keep things fresh and add a lot of sandbox moments in the game.
[h3]Who is your favourite character to play in Deceit, and what outfit do you rock?[/h3]
Honestly I like to mix it up, but I am a big fan of the Nina+Cap combo with the Oversized hoodie!
[h3]If people would like to follow you on your journey, where can they find you online?[/h3]
A few years ago I actually dropped off all social media! However feel free to catch up with me in the Discord, or on my ArtStation
[hr][/hr]
Hi there! I’m John Handy, Senior Environment Artist on Deceit.
Over the course of this year we’ve been reworking the lighting and optimisation of our existing maps to improve their quality and level immersion. As of this week, four of our five maps have received our attention. We’ve been working to make best use of the assets we already have, before we shift our focus to brand new content next year. Let’s take a quick look at some of the progress we’ve made so far:
[h3]The Forest[/h3]
The main issue I found with the forest was that we weren't making effective use of the lighting systems inside CryEngine. With the update I added a global moonlight as a way to subtly help with orientation. I updated lighting levels to leverage eye adaptation meaning when you go from bright areas into dark areas your eyes will adjust. Finally I enabled SVOGI for some tasty bounced lighting.
[h3]The Lumberyard[/h3]
The Lumberyard had a few layout issues that had a big impact on the feeling whilst playing. The main thing I did was to address the time it takes to traverse from one area to another, as it took far too long to cross the map. Then like the forest, updated the lighting.
[h3]The Manor[/h3]
The Manor had some serious performance problems that had been neglected and some art issues that meant it never looked how it should. I fixed a lot of the rendering and performance issues which means light now interacts more correctly with the environment. Then I added some more dramatic lighting throughout, helping the overall atmosphere.
The Asylum has been our main testing ground, with numerous visual updates throughout the year. This leaves just the Arctic, which we’ll be revisiting soon. Aside from that, we’re now looking at building some new content to level up our maps, including:
- Cracks for humans to squeeze through, along with destructible walls. This will come together with new terror abilities.
- New map-specific interactable elements to give each map a more unique identity.
- More props to help bring more realism and variety to parts of our maps.
- A new map as part of our next expansion!
[hr][/hr]
[h3]When did you first join the Deceit team, and how have you found the experience overall?[/h3]
I was one of the original developers at Automaton working on Deceit. After working elsewhere in the games industry, I have come back to continue work on Deceit.
Making a new game has its challenges, and there have been plenty of them during the development of Deceit. However the experience has been great, lots of ups and downs but at the end of the day I have had the chance to meet some great friends and make something we are proud of, and want to improve further.
[h3]Out of everything you’ve contributed to Deceit, what sticks out as your favourite thing to have worked on?[/h3]
My main focus as an Environment Artist is to create the maps, which includes work on layout design, visual realism through materials and props, and lighting. I think my answer to this question changes over time.
Recently I have really enjoyed working on upgrading the lighting across the maps. There is a lot of great art which we have put time into over the years, and in my opinion the lighting wasn't representing it that well. The new manor is a good example of this. A bonus of upgrading the lighting system is how we have improved the atmospheric feeling through volumetric fog effects.
[h3]Do you have any sneak peaks you can share as to anything we’re expecting to see in the near future?[/h3]
We have been discussing how we can make the maps foster better chase sequences during the night period. One idea we are playing with is having set destructible walls that the terrors could burst through, and balancing that with small passageways only the innocent can fit through.
This will be a really cool combination of Art and Design and I think will help to keep things fresh and add a lot of sandbox moments in the game.
[h3]Who is your favourite character to play in Deceit, and what outfit do you rock?[/h3]
Honestly I like to mix it up, but I am a big fan of the Nina+Cap combo with the Oversized hoodie!
[h3]If people would like to follow you on your journey, where can they find you online?[/h3]
A few years ago I actually dropped off all social media! However feel free to catch up with me in the Discord, or on my ArtStation