This isn't concept art. It's actually playable. And this is where Arc Raider started.
Somehow Embark Studios turned this into this.
Here's how they built one of the most ambitious sci-fi worlds in games.
In this video, we'll be looking at some modular assets.
We'll take a look at one environment from early pitch concepts all the way to the final version that made it into the game.
We'll look at the behind the scenes of a trailer and some concept arts both from props and from the enemies.
okay so let's get started by looking at the work of rasvan stansio worked on the consoles so
those here are actually screenshots from the i believe from the early trailers
and here we have some in-game footage
that we we can see those consoles pretty much everywhere
And here we have a GIF.
Here we have all the pieces being assembled like that to create various shapes in different locations.
So some of those pieces, we can see variations of that basically pretty much everywhere in most maps.
so we have lots of lovely screenshots
and you gotta appreciate you can tell they are very well optimized i believe the
texture resolution also is really well optimized uh here it's quite high we see
lots of details when we need those little rust spots it's pretty good too but on other parts of
the surface it seems to be very um i would say compressed not compressed let me check here
i get the feeling that over that surface of metal
it's probably quite low as you can see because metal we can get away with it but the rust spots
seem to be of higher density so this is very interesting and all in all i mean it's very
good quality you can see the you can see here for instance i just want to draw your attention
on some specific spots those are not blurry they are very sharp and well detailed and other parts
are like a little bit more blurry also there's the dust and dirt covering those areas but actually
where it's most noticeable it's for instance on those little buttons right since it's not a big
deal and nobody expects that we would read either the characters or anything else
same thing is going on on those and of course there's again a layer of dust dirt of wear and
tear so it works very well and we have a bunch of additional screenshots there are lots on the
artist portfolio you can see that those little guys are very low poly but it works very well
it's a combination of like very low poly here for instance here too and here it's probably the mid
poly with the smoothing groups and weighted normals so that those very visible silhouette edge
or not super hard right here you can see the
it's not super smooth but it's not super hard neither here it is super smooth right
let me actually outline it correctly here you can you can really see
the flow of this angle is quite smooth compared to those those are a little bit more readable
right they kind of pop off uh they pop out a little bit more with the with the lighting and
those like we they could get away very well uh with those so it's very interesting to study
their model and here you see basically the those are the the sculpts
you can see all the detail the surface detail you can see a lot of work went into it and then next
to it you can see some very low poly bakes because that was well this would be included too
because that's really not a big deal, right?
The overall look seems quite detailed.
And this is like a constant in this game.
This is why I'm spending quite a bit of time on the consoles
because simply they are really seen everywhere.
And here we have another GIF.
that shows basically just the modularity how easily those can be placed in different contexts
so then you we can appreciate the finer details you can see some normal details with like the rust
eating the metal parts you can see that the cables are very low poly actually but it works
because from where it's seen, it's not noticeable.
It's pretty much only artists playing the game that notices these details.
But overall, again, it looks very good.
And the wear and tear, the rust details, those are done wonderfully.
A few more here.
So yeah, you see the different pieces for the modular kit.
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Next, we'll look at the work of Tahir Thaniss, who worked on the trailer shot for the gameplay
reveal trailer.
Everything is modeled, textured and animated in Blender.
And without further ado, let's watch the videos.
This is a short trailer of the reveal of Esperanza, with very nice lighting.
we can see the same shot going from wireframes to the final version. Pretty cool. Now let's take a
look at the spaceport. So the artist is telling us that this is one of the oldest levels that's
been in development for the game. So many people worked on this level. So the map evolved a lot
during development. So more structures were added, smaller point of interest, and the artist worked
on some of these structures, as well as the interior style explorations and rocket parts.
So let's take a look at some concepts.
Very interesting map with completely different areas.
We can see a great shot here.
So lots of exploration of style, of lighting, of tone.
and the scale is always very imposing.
And here we have some of those structures
that were added
as the development progressed on the game.
Always with the scale
to give a good idea to the rest of the team.
Potential asset placements
that not only informs the artist
who will model those pieces,
but the designers, like the gameplay,
is also inspired by, oh, okay, what can we do with this?
That is actually very interesting.
And here we have a very nice asset,
which was done also via collaboration with another artist.
Next, and still by the same artist, the Beard City.
So this is the first level he got to art direct from the ground up.
So a lot of work was done to establish the mood, the general feeling of the area.
And what is especially great, now we see a lot of interiors.
We see some buildings with the main concept of having, well, the city is buried under sand.
So you have dunes going pretty much everywhere, which creates a very interesting case of verticality that you can go up and down buildings by just going up the dune.
So this is a super interesting concept.
And this concept has been pitched through this upcoming video.
So this was all done in Blender.
And it was meant to basically pitch to the rest of the team.
And as you can see, a lot of attention to details were put into this work.
So now we'll take a look at the same level, but in its final version.
This is done by another artist, Daniel Hanifalk.
And he's saying that it's a collaboration effort.
There's, of course, a lot of people involved.
But he was in charge of basically the house kits, the exterior kits, mainly, if I understand
correctly, including balconies, shutters, doors, support structures, and exterior materials like
for the walls, the roofs, and the vegetation. So it's a lot of stuff, right? So let's take a look.
And honestly, I think this level in general is gorgeous, but this specific part is really lovely.
It feels like a European, more precisely an Italian kind of architecture, kind of a small Italian village.
And I mean, the sand that is covering, burying this city and the vegetation also overgrowing everywhere.
it's a very interesting twist on the post-apocalyptic earth you know modern day setting
that we know and live in it's really really a great twist and it's a very nice artistic
vision that that came to life and we can appreciate here this this shot i really love
you can really see where the details are going you can see that the roof is quite
low right it's quite let's say they optimize the roofs it's basically tiling texture so looking at
the roof we can zoom in you can see that the general surface is covered by what seems to be a
tileable texture maybe it has some displacement and when we're far it kind of uh goes out right
this is my suspicion and then of course there's like a few tiles and debris uh laid over it and
along with vegetation, of course.
But the asset itself, the roof itself,
and we can take a look at other parts of the surface,
it really seems like everything that we see underlying
around these debris, it seems to be flat.
It really seems to be flat.
And I suspect there is some displacement
that when you go on those roofs,
you can actually see it reacts to the proximity of the camera and probably it actually shows more
more shapes but as it stands here it seems to be completely flat from this distance
and of course the main the main focus is here and you can see the materials created are really
really nice i really like especially here right that you see the different heights of those two
layers um the the plaster and underneath the i mean the concrete underneath it's very very nice
and it's a small detail that really pops out and really shows very high quality and probably those
are probably decals around here around there probably all of that are simple 2d decals but
this seems to be material blending at a high level with the crisp outline between the two
the two material blendings and here you can see this looks like
standard decals that are great and they do a good job.
Probably some material blending going on on this part here, right?
To apply like a thick layer of dust and dirt.
And you got to appreciate where the vegetation is spawning.
And yes, it is clipping.
you know you might uh you might be crazy for those details and unless i'm mystic and it seems to be
floating here i'm not sure right but it seems this way uh maybe it's been fixed maybe it's been
maybe from from a closer angle it's you know it's spawning uh in between two other assets but
but by by the way these things happen on all productions it's very very difficult to have
all foliage perfectly go where you want them to go. It requires so much optimization,
and it can heat up so much of the performances. It can hinder the performances. So I will make a
video on foliage, or maybe more than one video. I'm not an expert, but I'm very interested in the
topic and i do constantly learn on those topics so i will share what what i learned so we have another one here with with the lighting which is is superb The wood also the wood material for the shutters is great
You can also see this one is the same as this one.
This one is the same as this one.
And from this distance, I suspect this is a third one.
So there's like one, two, three.
and that might be it for this whole oh let's see yeah i think this is the same
this here is it is it different no it's exactly the same as this one
which is it the same as this one i believe it's the case so yeah you have one two three four five
you have ten which actually are three different models so that it doesn't look all similar right
because you don't want that same here this is the same as this one this one is the same but this
this is quite common right but still it's uh interesting details i really love
the destruction here which might be a decal uh it's hard to tell from this angle and with this
luminosity. This is great, greatly detailed. The leaks also are great to texture large surfaces,
which it will be the topic of a video very soon, how to make it look realistic and interesting
and not just a large surface using a tileable material. Well, it looks boring at first, right?
it looks like you can see the tiling being repeated and it doesn't look like this right
so how do you make it look like this well stay tuned on the channel it's going to be
explained and we'll look at different breakdowns quite quite soon so yeah amazing work on this level
If you are interested in learning how to apply the techniques that we are covering while analyzing
those games, I have created a course in which I show everything step by step.
There are no time-lapse, nothing is done off-screen.
I take the time to explain what we do and why we do it.
I show best practices.
And we are creating a small environment from A to Z.
I'm showing every single step of how it's done on a professional production.
I can answer any questions you might have on multiple platforms.
So if you are interested, there is a link in the description
and there's a discount available with the code provided.
so other work from the same artist who well i would venture and guess that he is a foliage
specialist uh vegetation artist biome artist it has many many different uh names titles but that
doesn't matter he's an environment artist and he is very talented at creating foliage so trees
grass, bushes, flowers, all that jazz.
And this tells us that this studio did not use Megascans, right?
For instance, and this is great to see, nothing against Megascans.
I mean, I believe a lot of studios are using Megascans and tweaking.
I really love the material.
by the way if we can zoom a little bit you can see the
the color gradient that adds so much realism
they are of great great great uh great realism this material with the
color variation some are brown ish some are different shades of green
and they react to the light i mean the way they should right the way a real
real plan oh actually this is a better much better and you see that the atlas is i mean it's not
infinite right so you see that this texture this is not to say anything negative uh this is
absolutely normal right you can tell that this leaf especially was uh and you can see it here
you can see it there it's basically the same but flipped and rotated and you know it's like in so
many different leaves and so many different locations and rotation.
I would say maybe there are three different ones.
And again, I'm not a specialist, so don't quote me on anything regarding foliage.
I just deal with it.
I have done it a little bit.
I don't have a ton of experience,
but I observe and I see what professionals are doing around me.
And, I mean, honestly, just the albedo is amazing.
Like, it's so detailed.
And also the vines, the roots, the color variation is great.
It's well distributed also.
So in this case, it's mainly in the back or where it would kind of receive less sun or something like that.
It's just a really, really great-looking asset.
And there is one.
Actually, this is interesting because this is the healthy one, and this is the dead or dying one.
It's the same asset with different material.
So that's just very interesting.
and you see less leaves,
and you can tell immediately that,
okay, this is very healthy,
it's receiving enough water and sun,
but not this one.
So great work by the artist.
There is more on his portfolio on ArtStation.
So you have the link.
You can go and take a look.
We are now looking at the work of S. Bjorn Nord,
who worked on the early world exploration.
So you can see some of his great concept art.
And we have this right here,
which is a concept of spaceport.
So the level evolved and changed,
but there are many, many things that were already there.
And this is from 2019, 2020, around these days.
So it's very interesting to take a look at that.
And we have various levels.
Great composition and lighting.
Those pieces are amazing for the team to really set the mood and the scale.
The amazing scale of some of those levels.
and here we have a very interesting image where we can see some functionality some of
really how it's gonna how will the player navigate through those areas so cross section of a floor
then you see here with the player for scale and this is just an amazing piece this is you know
the central piece of course of this this level but there are many other structures
so lots of great concept art
we have a few more pieces from the same post of the artist those are really really cool
and this one especially is really telling on what the game is going to be all about right
and especially with the like the navigation potential the traversal that the player will
be able to do. I don't know if that, I mean, this is ziplining, right? The feature in the game.
You can see, of course, players for scale. And this is such great work to have early on during
production when they build a world, when they establish what can be done and what can't be done.
even more work from the same artist.
We have some famous piece of concept art.
We can see that on Google, on ArtStation.
Those consoles that we have seen earlier,
they are used in many different levels.
and we see those again used differently you can see that the color can be changed i mean
the idea is is really modularity maximum reuse and that was very successfully executed by the team later on
We have some more. This is something I really like.
And a horizontal slice of a building, so that you can have a good idea. And then
of course people who play the game knows that there is there's a roof,
but this is pretty much exactly how this environment ended up being in the game
so that is great and you have those little topographic apps that were done by the artist
now we are moving on to props so there are lots of props and those concepts are just fantastic
and i absolutely love to see this this is like i mean it's basically it looks like an engineer's
technical drawing of the assets so that's great you have the elevations you have some plans but
mostly those are elevations front and inside you have some variations and this is just so great to
see and honestly the quality of the work here is just amazing and basically every every piece of
of those nice consoles that we've been looking at have been put into concepts right here and you can
see for each and every one they have these views these technical drawings which are just so great
to have like those are amazing references for the team who worked on the final assets the
optimized assets so we can maybe take a moment to compare what this concept was and how it ended up
being in the game well of course they had to optimize it right it's even more so since it's
a modular kit, it's reused all over the place. And, you know, in a competitive kind of environment
for a game, the optimization is even more important, especially, you know, multiplayer,
you have a lot going on. So the optimization was quite intense, but they preserved the essence of
all the complex props and the sci-fi nature at the same time.
It's like, I wouldn't use Star Wars as a reference,
but you know the kind of, it's futuristic,
but it feels old or it feels outdated
or it's been used for a long time.
So this is really what they were going for.
But I use Star Wars as an example all the time
because it's really ridiculous.
And I love Star Wars.
And everybody accepts that.
Yeah, that was the vision from the 70s that, you know, future could look like this.
Of course, complex machines don't look anything like what they look in Star Wars.
But still, it's kind of a funny thing to discuss.
But those are of a really different nature on those concepts.
but in the final version
that made it in the game
everything was
so optimized that it feels
a little bit like
the simplicity that we find
in Star Wars
I really literally
cannot get enough
of those concepts
like so
clean
like this is amazing
I think every production now that will work on such assets has to use these.
Like either you try to hire this artist or at the very least, you kind of apply the same principle, right?
And this is also very cool.
We see the interior.
We see exactly how it's been built, how it operates, how it holds together.
okay so now we have the arc enemies early exploration and we have a lot of concepts to
cover we can appreciate those 3d models already with some animations to explore how could they
behave and we have this kind of a blueprint which is really really amazing also
and we have others we have all sorts of amazing concepts and we have a few videos also
so here we have even more concepts again from the same artist uh regarding the enemies so we have a
lot of mechanical parts uh details and this one is titleable geometry made for the destruction
states in game so this is used for internal parts of the enemies when they are broken you add some
vfx you know with smoke and electricity sparkling and you have some of these parts visible and you
have something great going on so there are tons of concepts which are absolutely amazing and
And it gives a very good idea of how they approached the enemy design.
I'm not going to go over everything.
You have the link in the description.
So you can see the artist's portfolio.
And you can appreciate the work.
So many iterations.
And this is really the work of concept artists.
before it gets sent to 3D artists,
riggers, animators,
and then the rest of the team
so that it ends up in the engine
with an AI that works.
And a lot of work is put
by so many different departments.
But before we make decisions,
we need to see it, right?
And some decisions
are not just purely aesthetical.
They are also functional
and the weaponry might be
different.
Then the abilities,
the strength
and difficulty of the enemy
facing the enemy will be different.
I took a lot
of screenshots
on the board
so that you can explore.
I will make the board available very soon
also but please go and pay a visit to these artists art station pages you will see amazing
work there is more than what i could gather right here and next up we'll take a look at some videos
so this one shows in blender the rig for the guns so it's a very simple rig
but it works perfectly and you see on the left in the render what some smooth cool animations going on
that's pretty neat this one shows the insides of this machine
pretty cool setup again all done in blender
And our last video is showing the joints, how hydraulics are working, how everything is well connected, and it behaves in a believable manner.
Really good job.
So that covers it for Ark Raiders.
there are much more artwork to find on ArtStation from these very artists,
and there are also other great artists who contributed to the game,
and you can explore ArtStation and enjoy their work.
If you appreciate such breakdowns, this channel has lots of others from great games,
and many more are planned for the future.
so subscribe stay tuned and see you soon shout out to the members of the channel
and you are all welcome to join additional perks will be added very soon