The modern world of the gaming industry dictates its own rules, one of which is that visual design is a very important component in forming the first impression of players. From the first frame, from the first second of the game, the player must be captivated by something, whether it is either the power of the world, or living characters, or an unforgettable atmosphere. In order to achieve truly high quality in these aspects, it is worth involving truly professional studios in the development process — the game art outsourcing company. After all, it is such teams that are able to create truly holistic, artistically strong and at the same time technically verified content.
Preparatory stage and art direction
A deep project brief, which explains the entire game concept, budget, clear deadlines, style, and so on, is what always begins the cooperation process. The partner company offers or requests a moodboard, artistic vision, and style guide. Why is this done? Everything is easy, because it is a guarantee that both parties understand each other correctly and that further communication and cooperation will be effective and bring real results. To minimize the risks of a large number of edits and misunderstandings in general, it is extremely important to be attentive to the clarity of technical requirements and tasks, the level of detail, and the desired formats.
Any professional studio, regardless of its scale, is obliged to consult with the customer’s art director or appoints its own person to this position. And starting from this, the process of forming a global artistic direction takes place. The guarantor of stylistic integrity in accordance with the environment, characters and UI/UX elements is the art direction. In this case, one of the key roles is played by specialists with a high level of professional expertise (for example, the company N‑iX Games, in which the art director leads the project from beginning to end to ensure consistency of style and quality throughout the entire production).
Stage 1: Concept art and ideas
According to the terms specified in the brief, the team of artists begins by creating sketches of specific locations, characters, and objects. This is necessary in order to discuss everything quickly and productively and approve the final look of the project that is to be implemented. Such concepts are checked with the art director and the customer. After approving the style, a reference package is formed, which serves as the basis for further work.
Stage 2: The process of 2D and 3D art production
The concept of 2D art includes the entire process of creating character illustrations, UI icons, interface elements, fantasy landscapes. Both large and medium-sized outsourcing companies usually involve up to 60 professional 2D artists. Their work is carried out under the supervision of an art director, adhering to the approved style and guide, respectively.
But 3D art is about developing full-fledged three-dimensional objects. And this process begins with blocking, which includes:
- rough shapes
- sculpting high-poly models
- retopology for optimal polygons
- unwrap and baking
- texturing
- further shading
Stage 3: Rigging, animation and VFX
After creating the models, they move on to the technical part: rigging (character bone structure), skinning (binding the mesh to the bones), and weight painting. Then animation: keyframe or mocap, motion capture clean-up, integration into the game engine, implementation of VFX elements (particles, special effects, kinematics). Teams with years of experience, such as in N-iX Games, have specialists in MoCap, VFX, and cinematic animation, which allows them to implement both characters and entire scenes — from blocking to motion capture clean-up and in-engine integration.
Unique elements: QA, integration and team flexibility
It is worth noting that the game art outsourcing company is able to ensure effective, and most importantly, high-quality integration of its art assets into the final product. This is possible due to the fact that the outsourcing teams skillfully combine their own engines (for example, the same Unity and Unreal Engine) with the engines of their clients. Undoubtedly, the most transparent and easy communication processes (usually through the use of platforms such as Slack) leave each client as satisfied as possible not only with the final result, but also with the entire workflow. After all, he gets the opportunity to track the progress of production in real time, seeing all comments, deliveries and downloading of updated versions of assets.
Stage 4: Milestones and Quality Control
After the first 3 stages, the workflow is further divided into various sub-stages, including:
- concept
- blocking
- texturing
- animation (and so on)
Each subsequent launch discussion or payment associated with the next stage is implemented only after the successful and effective implementation of the previous one. There is no room for chaos or errors here, everything must be at the highest level. After all, only in this way can you fully control the deadlines, quality and, of course, the financial component. If there are still any doubts, the outsourced team and the client conduct joint interim reviews.
Stage 5: Delivery, Integration and Feedback
The concept of the final stage is that after the final approval of all previous processes, everything is delivered in a final format, ready for integration into the client’s engine. Quite often, the outsourcing company also helps with in-engine integration, checking the compatibility of assets with the system. In addition, outsourced specialists can also provide support with the optimization process. The client has the opportunity to pedestalize feedback, make final edits and approve the final look.
Conclusion
The multifaceted process “from sketch to epic” is not only about creativity, imagination and freedom of artistic thought. This process is also about a clear, maximally detailed and thoughtfully organized system. This system includes the development of the concept itself, the production pipeline, integration, animation, and the final release itself. Modern game art outsourcing company acts for the development studio not just as a performer, but as a full-fledged strategic partner. The experience of professional companies like N‑iX Games is a clear confirmation that achieving great results is possible by combining creativity, technology, and smart planning.
