Star Trek Online DevLog 3: from concept art to in-game sprites
How does one go about translating concept art into the environments we see in MMORPGs? This is the topic of the latest Star Trek Online DevLog written by Perpetual Entertainment‘s Mike Stemmle. He walks us through the process of developing the different in-game structures that we often take for granted.
The process begins with the design team choosing a building they will be converting from the available concept art. Once the decision has been made, the concept artist needs to create more concept sketches showing the object from various perspectives. It is at this point that adjustments to scale are also made since most MMORPG’s structures generally have bigger doors and pathways than those found in real life.
Once that is done, the building is then dissected into different pieces so that the modelers and texture artists will have an idea of how to group the different items into modular components. This process has to be done so that all the created sprites can also be used in other buildings.
After all of that, the same process is then repeated for the interior of the structure. When the interior has been finalized, the concept team begins to create the different props that will serve as items inside and around the structure. Once these get approved they are converted into in-game objects.
Unfortunately, Stemmle ends the DevLog at this point saying that the rest of the process will be discussed in a future article. Well, that’s something we can all look forward to. Star Trek Online has yet to have a definite release date but it is slated for some time this year. While waiting for more news on this, take some time to go over some of the concept art that will be converted into in-game sprites.
The full article awaits after the jump!
How does one go about translating concept art into the environments we see in MMORPGs? This is the topic of the latest Star Trek Online DevLog written by Perpetual Entertainment‘s Mike Stemmle. He walks us through the process of developing the different in-game structures that we often take for granted.
The process begins with the design team choosing a building they will be converting from the available concept art. Once the decision has been made, the concept artist needs to create more concept sketches showing the object from various perspectives. It is at this point that adjustments to scale are also made since most MMORPG’s structures generally have bigger doors and pathways than those found in real life.
Once that is done, the building is then dissected into different pieces so that the modelers and texture artists will have an idea of how to group the different items into modular components. This process has to be done so that all the created sprites can also be used in other buildings.
After all of that, the same process is then repeated for the interior of the structure. When the interior has been finalized, the concept team begins to create the different props that will serve as items inside and around the structure. Once these get approved they are converted into in-game objects.
Unfortunately, Stemmle ends the DevLog at this point saying that the rest of the process will be discussed in a future article. Well, that’s something we can all look forward to. Star Trek Online has yet to have a definite release date but it is slated for some time this year. While waiting for more news on this, take some time to go over some of the concept art that will be converted into in-game sprites.
Via Star Trek Games