Deep Dive: The art of Foundation

gamedeveloper.com:

Game Developer Deep Dives are an ongoing series with the goal of shedding light on specific design, art, or technical features within a video game in order to show how seemingly simple, fundamental design decisions aren’t really that simple at all.

Earlier installments cover topics such as designing for impact and narrative variance in Roadwarden,  curating meaningful choices in multiplayer narrative games with Doomsday Paradise, and an exploration of how the artists of LEGO Bricktales recreated the diorama-based building experience in a virtual setting. 

In this edition, art director Olivier Latouche talks about how he assessed and improved upon the art of Foundation after assuming his role on the project earlier this year.   

Hi, my name is Olivier Latouche and I have been working in the video game industry since 2012. I have since contributed to many different projects ranging from larger, more mature PC games, to lighter mobile games for kids. During these years, I have worn many hats, which in return allowed me to gain a lot of experience in several different spheres of game development.

In March 2022, I had the opportunity to join the amazing team here at Polymorph Games. They had a clear artistic vision in mind but were looking for someone to help them refine and materialize it. The talented art team had already gone through many iterations to try and find Foundation’s very own style, therefore, it was (and still is) very important to me to respect that process. So I set out to give myself a few rules: build upon what you already have, tie up loose ends and use the team’s strengths.

Before getting my hands dirty, the first step was to get up to speed with the rest of the team and understand what was working and what