[RIOT CREATIVE CONTEST 2017] Environment Art - Peter Burroughs
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Hello! For this entry, I will be tackling the creep den and turret. I'm undecided on what the turret should look like, but for the creep den, I'd like to rework Baron Pit. I really love the visual update that was made to Baron when Summoner's Rift was overhauled, and I think Baron Pit could be even more epic! More posts incoming!
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If Baron's corruption affects the natural world around him and he's believed to be dead for centuries, I'm going to hypothesize that he was an issue for Runeterra in the distant past. What if he wasn't killed per say, but rather wounded and forced to retreat, or sealed away so that he couldn't return? Running with the idea of being sealed away, Baron Pit could be an area with a stone-engraved seal, much like the two fountains on either end of the map. Perhaps a shrine/temple was built around the seal to protect it and serve as a reminder, but over the years it has become overgrown and fallen into ruin. The magical fluctuations in modern times coupled with the lack of maintenance are just now allowing Baron to reemerge. Over the progress of the game, the seal could break more and more (every 5 minutes?) to show how much closer Baron is to arriving. And of course, the Rift Herald is our by-product of the void/corruption leaking out!
I absolutely love how there are little Easter eggs hidden in the environment, like the old Baron's skull and the Helmet Bro armor laying around in the pit. I would like to push this even more, and see about possibly incorporating discontinued items and/or tying in existing items into the Baron Pit to make it an homage to the history of the game.
I've grabbed 200+ references for my artwork, which can be found on my Pinterest board, but below are some of my favorites! Next up, sketches!
https://www.pinterest.com/paburroughs/riot-creative-contest-2017-overgrown-environment/
- The shape of Baron pit should stay relatively the same. Any change in the outline of the pit would have some pretty big effects on gameplay; for example, removing the nub at 4 o'clock would eliminate important cover from red-side jungle and provide a lot of vision into the river. The current shape of the pit already does a good job of giving tactical advantages/disadvantages to whatever team is doing Baron or attempting to steal it, so I don't feel the need to change it.
- It is important that the back of Baron Pit does not obscure the jungle path behind it. This means that I should be careful about placing a lot of tall elements like pillars there that would prevent players from being able to see where they're clicking. Additionally, players need to understand that they can jump over the walls of the pit, so the back should not be completely walled off.
Just some food for thought. Back to the drawing board!looking forward...
1) The Defiled Grotto
- A flooded grotto with basalt rock formations. The monster Baron Nashor, thought to be dead for centuries, has burrowed through the long-dormant volcanic tunnels and surfaced in the grotto. While the occasional scuttle crab keeps him fed, such small prey can hardly sate his hunger, but the 5 approaching champions might...
2) The Festering Stump- The rotting remains of a once great tree. The Great Parasite, Baron Nashor, has bored through the trunk and taken up residence within, spreading his corruption through the surrounding area. Left unchecked, his malevolence will wither everything until it resembles his homeworld, the Void.
3) The Dark Seal- The site of a dilapidated shrine. Though the Corrupted Wyrm was nigh unkillable, in a heated battle, 5 summoners were able to force Baron into the sacred temple and seal him away. Over many years, the stories have become myths, and the temple fell into disrepair. With the Dark Seal broken, Baron has reappeared on Summoner's Rift.
4) The Sunken CisternThe 3rd one is my favourite by far, these twisted roots gives an aggressive feeling that fits the Baron. Plus, the asymmetrical look is really more interesting than the others than tend to stay quite circular. Praetus raised a good point though, the effect is definitely out of the value range for the environment. Although, I'm not sure there's strict specification against that for the contest but if you want to respect the art direction, you should definitely look into it.
One thing I'm missing a bit in these is some more elements like bushes, grass, flowers,etc... but maybe you used only a few elements to represent each den.
Keep it up!
@praetus Good points! I'll definitely be taking the amount of glow into account, since I know in League, colors that bright are reserved for spells/effects.
@Kumator My thoughts exactly! Thanks for the feedback!
After taking a critical look at all my concepts, I've decided 3-The Dark Seal is the strongest. The shape language and warmer colors of the twisting branches make them a strong focal point of the composition, and contrast well with the vertical pillars. The symbolism of the 5 pillars is also good, since it (ideally!) requires all 5 players to fight Baron. I like the idea that the Dark Seal (same as the in-game item) is locking Baron away, but slowly grows more corrupted as Baron breaks free over the course of 20 min into the game.
I've also started on the other portion of the contest, the tower/inhib. I've decided to focus on the tower idea for my submission, though I might do more just for kicks (having a unified aesthetic across the architecture is pretty important anyways!). I really really like the whole subtle Red Side- Owl, Blue Side- Stag theme that is already displayed on Summoner's Rift, and I'd like to see that reflected in the other structures. I tackled the turret designs from a problem-solving approach, and you can read some of my thoughts below. I think representing the Red Turrets with an Owl theme would be particularly perfect because owls are very observant animals, and their big eyes would be an additional indication to the players that nothing can run past the turrets unseen. Additionally, they can rotate their heads 360 degrees, which would show well visually because the turrets need to be able to shoot in all directions. I've selected a few of my references to show and dumped all my initial thoughts into some quick thumbnail sketches, and I'll begin narrowing down the better ideas next!
Can't wait to see everything completed!
Also nice work on all the concept sketching, that's a lot of good ideas.
I've just submitted my work to the contest!! That was a helluva lot of work, and I definitely feel that its one of my best projects to date. I've learned so much about painting and modeling in the past few weeks, and I can see plenty of areas for improvement now, but any and all feedback is welcome! Good luck to everyone; I've enjoyed seeing the progress we've all been making!