Game creators’ journeys at GDC 2024
In March, the Adobe Substance 3D team attended the Game Developers Conference, GDC 2024, the biggest event of the year for game creators. This event brings together those who are passionate about games — that is, those who are driven to experience and to create the absolute best in interactive, visual storytelling.
We were fortunate enough to host some outstanding guest speakers and 3D artists who excel in their field — and who, in many cases, have helped to create some of the most popular games of 2023. They detailed their artistic process, and shared insights into what drew them into game creation, their professional trajectories, and their best advice.
“Every path is unique” — character art in Baldur’s Gate 3, by Alena Dubrovina
Alena Dubrovina is lead character artist at Larian Studios, notably working on titles including 2023 Game of the Year winner Baldur’s Gate 3.
“Every path is unique. There’s no universal advice for anyone. I’d say double down on what you’re good at. If you’re better at making outfits, or making hairstyles, then do that.”
Watch The Art and Technology Behind Creating Characters for Baldur’s Gate 3.
“If you’re more technical, showcase your technical skills, maybe even try to build up some sort of character art system. Maybe don’t try to sculpt anatomy or face likenesses right from the start. Learning this takes time. Focus on something more manageable. I see a lot of artists taking on huge projects, and it’s just impossible to make it work in a couple of months. So be realistic, and if something doesn’t work, try something else. See what you’re better at and stick to it.’
Working creatively as a team — The environment art of Alan Wake 2, by Miro Vesterinen and Benjamin Lindquist
Miro Vesterinen and Benjamin Lindquist are respectively head of environment art and principal technical environment artist at Remedy Entertainment, the studio for games such as Alan Wake 2, which recently won a range of awards including Best Narrative and Best Art Direction.
Watch The Environment Art Technology and Workflows of Alan Wake 2.
“The level designers and environment artists usually sit in the same room or work very closely on the locations in the games. Ideally, there wouldn’t be a lot of changes late in production — but these occasionally happen. Then there’s some back-and-forth discussion about what can be done with the time we have. It’s the teams — together — that make those decisions.”
Creating a diversity of environments — Stylized environment art in Prince of Persia™: The Lost Crown, by Jean-Baptiste Rollin and Loïc Anquetil
Jean-Baptiste Rollin and Loïc Anquetil are respectively lead environment artist and senior 3D artist at Ubisoft Montpellier — at GDC 2024 they discussed their work creating environments for platformer Prince of Persia™: The Lost Crown.
“We wanted to surprise, amaze, and maintain the player’s desire to explore.”
Watch Prince of Persia™: The Lost Crown – Stylized Environment Art.
“We wanted a wide diversity of environments, for narration and orientation, and to match the player’s power of position. Because once you’ve acquired the air dash or the double jump, the spaces change. You need much more room for the player to jump, so we had to adapt the environments. And we also of course wanted to surprise, amaze, and maintain the player’s desire to explore.”
Learning to create 3d art — Making semi-realistic textures in Adobe Substance 3D Painter, by Anna Beganskaya
Anna Beganskaya is an independent character artist. At GDC 2024 she discussed her workflow in Substance 3D Painter, notably for her artwork ‘Cyberpunk Girl.’
“It’s difficult at the very beginning to get a first job, to enter the studio, and to start being a 3D artist. But if you work a lot, and if you really want to become a 3D artist, that’ll come. Just take your time.”
Watch Tips & Tricks in Substance 3D Painter to Make Semi-Realistic Textures.
“When I was learning Substance Painter, I had three sources. The first was official tutorials on the Substance YouTube channel — they’re really good, I love them. The second was that I’d ask my team leaders and art directors when I didn’t know something. And the third was the tutorials of J Hill on YouTube — he gives a lot of information.
“This character, Cyberpunk Girl, took 3 months — but it would usually take half as long. I was rendering this character on my home computer, which isn’t very powerful for Arnold rendering. To render one picture would take about 30 hours. And this was when we had blackouts in Ukraine, because a lot of bombs fell on my city. And so, every time I started to render, I didn’t have enough time with electricity to render it. I had to restart several times — that’s why it took so long.”
Relive some of the highlights of Substance Days at GDC 2024, along with some of the key points from the sessions with our expert speakers.
Learn how the Adobe Substance 3D ecosystem can empower 3D art
The Substance 3D apps are incredibly powerful tools in the creation of 3D artwork, providing industry-standard material creation and texturing possibilities, and a vast range of capabilities besides. The artists mentioned here, experts in the field of game creation, all discussed how the Substance 3D apps are invaluable in bringing both quality and speed to their creative process.
Learn more about how the Substance 3D apps can help you to create outstanding 3D art.