wfmag.cc \ 19When games look like comic booksInterface
ntil it was roughly 75
percent of the way through
development, the original
Borderlands looked like any
other shooter targeting
a 2009 release. The September 2007
cover of Game Informer shows off the
loot-shooter before it received its famous
makeover: a Psycho, looking less like an
unhinged, violent desert gangster and
more like Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, leaps
from his realistically rendered buggy
to the Vault Hunter’s equally realistic-
looking vehicle.
By 2009, triple-A games were still
slavishly devoted to realism, which
resulted in a raft of titles – the likes
of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Left
4 Dead 2, Resident Evil 5, Call of Juarez:
Bound in Blood – whose colour palettes
looked like onion soup. When Borderlands
eventually released, it was a shock to the
system, with bold lines, bright colours,
and outlandish guns. It looked, at least
if you squinted, like you were playing a
comic book.
Borderlands 3 was released by Gearbox
Software last September, nearly a decadeU
after the original surprised players with
its unique art style. But, in the time since,
much has changed.
Where browns and greens once
dominated the landscape, a stylised look
is now a quick way to get attention – in
both the triple-A and indie spaces. From
Cuphead’s Fleischer- and Disney-inspired
animation to Far Cry New Dawn’s pinkand purple apocalypse, developers are
now aiming to be as inventive with their
aesthetic design as they have always
endeavoured to be with their mechanics.
The drab days are over. The combined
effect of the Borderlands series’ success
and the growth of the indie scene in
the 2010s has ushered in a new era.
You certainly don’t have to squint any
more. Games like Blue Manchu’s Void
Bastards and Shedworks’ Sable legitimately“BORDERLANDS
WAS A SHOCK TO
THE SYSTEM”
look like fully coloured, inked-up pages
from alternative comic books. Arc System
Works’ catalogue of fighters has made
sure that the Eastern school of comic art
has also been increasingly represented
as well, with manga and anime-inspired
graphics elevating games like Dragon
Ball FighterZ.
So how do these developers make 3D,
interactive spaces look like 2D, artfully
framed illustrations? How do they
capture the charm, readability, and pop
of comic book action? And how do they
maintain a singular, stylised aesthetic
across years of development?
For those answers and more, we
spoke to Ben Lee and Jonathan Chey,
art and design leads at Blue Manchu,
Gregorios Kythreotis and Daniel Fineberg,
who head up art and design, respectively,
at Shedworks, and Takeshi Yamanaka, a
producer at Arc System Works.LOOKING BEYOND GAMES
Creating an inspired look requires, well,
inspiration. The devs at Arc System
Works have a leg up here: they often
adapt manga and anime properties,