What Resident Evil 9’s Concept Art Reveals About Capcom’s Game Dev Pipeline + concept art secrets

Comments · 130

• RI

  @richbailey819 · 6 months ago

  One thing I gleaned from that is that many studios waste time and money trying to make everything artbook ready, while more efficient studios focus on shipping the product and worry about the artbook at a later date. Can't imagine how draining it would be to spend all that time rendering something players will never see. I also recall someone at Naughty Dog spending a month building a level that got thrown out because nobody told them the level had been scrapped!

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• SI

  @sigmaatf · 6 months ago

  Interesting video. I worked as concept artist at Capcom on RE7 and RE2R. I really look back fondly on how they approached things. You have to realise that all the artist there are very skilful and have know each other for a long time (Japan doesn't do a lot of layoffs and jobhopping, so you end up with very experienced and skilled teams.) Lot's of times the character artist do their own concepts as well, which is why it can be so loose and sketchy. Another important aspect is you are " game creator first, concept artist (or whatever your role is) second ". This means you have to think holistically, and have to be proactive. They truly value the "concept" part of concept artist a lot, which a lot of western studios don't really. Meaning, you don't just get a task and have to do as you're told. You need to come up with creative solutions yourself and contribute to the game in any way. This can also be cross discipline, for example, if you would have a great idea for audio you can just pitch it without being afraid to step on toes and if they like it they'll run with it (even if you are a junior). It is a group effort without ego's. Those things combined foster a great breeding ground for making great games.

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• MI

  @midjipress · 6 months ago

  I just want to say that I agree with your "criticism" of the western style. I work in a creative field, not gaming but design heavy, and the need for literal refinement in concepting is insane and honestly bogs down the process. Not every concept needs to be rendered 100% to be understood, but it truly feels like the US based mindset specifically needs their hand held through the entire process. What makes this crazy is the level of perfection expected from an actual artist here is so high, but then AI comes in and the  bar for quality is near the bottom. Because money is the driver. You mention it's like the art is being done for the book, I'm sure you're correct. It's not about the need of the game, but the need to make as much money as possible.

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• ZU

  @Zuranthus · 6 months ago

  working for a western studio sounds like hell

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• CO

  @codethetoad4327 · 6 months ago

  I think the idea is less it more. You only need enough to convey shapes and lighting to paint a picture of what is needed for concept work. You’re absolutely right about western studios wasting so much money and time. It’s actually ridiculous

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• MO

  @Mosashi_EX75 · 4 months ago

  I also love how Valkyrie Profile Elysium looked and how Tides of annihilation is looking so far.

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• SO

  @someone6379 · 6 months ago

  The whole “stylization in Capcom vs realism in western companies” reminds me of something<br><br>Capcom actually embraces stylization a lot in their work, maybe even more than some other Japanese corporations. One of my favourite from them is the Great Ace Attorney, which is essentially an anime visual novel. The art style in that game almost look identical to many of the concepts design shown in the video. I also got this Capcom shirt from UNIQLO and you know what, everything up there, the entire compilation of their franchises, are all illustrated in the same style of semi-realistic, flat colour Japanese animation look. Yet Capcom isn’t known for anime-styled game, which shows how much they are willing to explore with more stylized approaches in their work.

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• BR

  @breizh-44000 · 5 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuA_KBvCCJI&amp;t=325">5:25</a> afaik Arkane still does this! Their concept art is also really loose and very stylized, and their concept artists often post work on twitter and most of their work is sketching on loose printing paper in meetings :)

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• PE

  @pearlyidol5061 · 6 months ago

  As someone who specializes as a storyboarder and 3D environment artist in games, you know you&apos;re a good artist if you can translate one thing: &quot;What is the main idea of this piece?&quot; With the minimum amount of brush strokes, the minimum amount of colors, the minimum amount of time. That&apos;s why I love storyboards so much, your fundamentals become weaponized, to the point that anyone can understand what you&apos;re trying to convey with a small doodle, even the general audience. Capcom&apos;s work isn&apos;t sloppy, it&apos;s work smarter, not harder. Asking for fully polished concept art and boards is very unreasonable, alot of artists are encouraged to show their sketches/initial ideations in their portfolio, but even <b>those</b> look too polished to me. The best part is, keeping the concepts loose while providing just enough material for the 3D artists to work off of gives the 3D artists more creative freedom in choosing materials for example.

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• VI

  @Vixielicious · 6 months ago (edited)

  I teach game design in the UK, and I am always trying to drill home what you said about studios wasting time and what the actual point of concept art is. It&apos;s an issue I have when trying to find them work experience. Many of them are freelancers or aspiring indie devs, and the moment any AAA studio talks to them, my students report back that they&apos;re thinking &quot;what is wrong with you people?&quot;

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• GI

  @giovannifim · 6 months ago

  A great example of how overdetailed or rendered stuff in art is kinda bullshit is how Marko did all the painting from Orken. It looks &quot;unfinished&quot; for some, but like, its serving the purpose they want. Most of the magic happens in our heads when an artwork is not realisticaly rendered etc, specialy if its based on a worldbuilding project

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• SO

  @SolisDiem · 6 months ago

  Yesssss that&apos;s the type of videos I wanna see c.c someone actually explaining the process that goes into all this

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