Greetings, everyone! My name is Alina, I am one of the concept artists from The House of Tesla team, and today I would like to delve deeper into the processes surrounding my field of work.
As you may remember, my colleague Sari introduced you to the standard process of concept creation, where we receive text descriptions, a 3D block-out, or sometimes charming scribbles from our game designers, and can start concepting from there.
At times, however, game designers have an idea of the functionality of a puzzle - a kind of initial spark - but they need visual input from concept artists to help finalize their idea and crystallize the design. This form of collaboration is not typical, but it is refreshing and intriguing. We get to help design the puzzles themselves, and it is always motivating to work with people from different departments within an organic, evolving, and flexible process!
Alright, let’s now take a specific example from the game. Our game designers needed something that would function as a compact object enabling electrical connections between parts of a small electrical device. Sounds like PCBs (printed circuit boards), right? Yes, indeed! Only… there weren’t really such things during Tesla’s time! Not to worry, though - we can make this work!
As our main goal is to create believable, functioning and visually appealing concepts, we rely on research and historical evidence so that our players would feel that all of what we created could indeed be plausible.
Thus, we begin our dive into the world of possibilities (read: research and brainstorming). During this journey, we learn that although PCBs did not exist yet, there were viable alternatives, such as “breadboards” - wooden boards used as a base to connect electrical parts with copper wires; ceramic elements, like lightbulb sockets; and various brass terminals and switches. Here is a screenshot of part of the research moodboard:
After gathering all these references and ideas, we can now work out a concept for this intriguing item. We can use the available materials and arrange them in a way that fits the technology of the time. When coming up with such hypothetical designs, it is helpful (and fun!) to imagine yourself as Tesla, inventing new things, pushing science forward, proving to people that your ideas might work, but also staying close to what is actually possible. Here you can see some initial sketches based on the mentioned research:
Eventually, after some iterations and consultations, we present this research moodboard and concepts to the game designers. At this stage, they can start visualizing more specifically which elements they can use to create amazing puzzles. Once they have refined their ideas, they return to us with their wonderful charts and scribbles.
I hope you have enjoyed this detailed description of the concepting process. As I mentioned before, it is always refreshing to find new approaches to your work and collaborate with colleagues in new ways. This way, we can truly help each other bring our ideas to the next level. If you have not read the previous devlogs, do check them out, and stay tuned for more insights into our processes!
Alina
Concept Artist
Blue Brain Games