I have to say that this past year has been a very busy one for the art department. "Sixteen new locations, interiors, land ... and SPACE!" This was the projected goal we in the art department were presented with right after the first game shipped. We were faced with an ambitious, exciting agenda.

I worked on the first Battlefront game last year, modeling and texturing ships, architecture, props, and a couple of characters. I was fortunate enough to get a taste for everything -- I loved the variety. Working on the sequel, in comparison, with the original Battlefront tagged as the "Best- Selling Star Wars Game of all Time," the stakes were now higher and the goals would be more challenging and ambitious. It required my position on the team to be more focused and concentrated on one specific art role, rather than numerous. I was delighted when Matt Palmer, the art director, asked me to come aboard the environments team. There was much I wanted to see in the first Star Wars Battlefront game that I now would be given the opportunity to develop for the sequel.

Well, it's been a long and challenging development cycle. Looking back on the project, we five environment artists -- Moon Bae, Chris Arden, Walter Cosico, Matt Palmer, and myself -- worked very hard to try and re-create the rich and varied environments that graced the Star Wars universe. I'm very happy with the end result.

Anyway, on to the juicy part! So, I've been asked to kindly fill you guys in with "The Good Stuff"... the "Ins and Outs" of how we created rich and varied environments for Star Wars Battlefront II.


Well, first I'll start by explaining the role of an environment artist. My role was to model, texture, and light immersive and virtual 3D environments, also known as "maps" in the gaming language. These complex, 3D-modeled environments (sculpted using 3D software and painted using 2D illustration software) serve two functions for the player:

  • They provide the player with a physical platform/stage to participate in the various gameplay modes of Star Wars Battlefront II.
  • They also serve as the primary aesthetic focus. Environments, when built and designed correctly, set the tone and atmosphere, which encourages the player to immerse themselves into a given storyline. Seeing as how the environments are the platform by which the player interacts with during gameplay, they serve as the dominant and primary aesthetic feature of a game. Each map should give the game a specific look and style that matches the game's overall tone. They should serve to complement gameplay.

    Typically, the physical makeup of an environment is comprised of:

  • Static, non-living objects, such as architecture and props.
  • Living, breathing matter, such as trees and plants.
  • Environment Effects: Effects are typically the finishing touch to an environment. They serve to add to the realism and make the world that bit more convincing. Effects may include sunshine, wind, rain, steam, sleet, ice, fog, snow, fire and water.

    I'm now going to fill you in on all the relevant tasks which the environment team undertook in order to achieve the desired effect. We broke the processes up into six stages.