Real Worlds - Environment Thumbnailing and Feedback

 Real Worlds - Environment Thumbnails

Going into the thumbnailing part, I needed to get some things certain first. For one, I needed to know how I was going to go about thumbnailing these consistently - the reason is that I want the most accurate feedback people can give, and thumbnails for buildings are most likely harder to do consistently than characters. Secondly, I needed to get the basic information and details for the building written down so I could come back for reference if I needed to whilst thumbnailing.

Basic Information

Faction: Forge Fathers

Environment Name: Forge Rod Tower

Function: Major area/boss outpost

Game: Souls-like

Hero Building Thumbnails

Going into the thumbnailing process, I had a plan - I first started by blocking shapes out in black, and then I slowly add detail with a greyscale block brush. This makes the building thumbnailing process quick and consistent, which like I said is what I am aiming for. I was going to draw some from the front, but I also wanted to experiment with some isometric view thumbnails too.

I started with thumbnails from the front. This is because these take less time and people will get a general idea of what they are looking at. My plan was to create variations of these designs using the feedback I get from people. 

I asked some of my friends for their opinions, providing the information and context relevant and these are some of the responses I got:

I agree with the feedback I receive which seemed to really like to thumbnail 5. In response to the last comment about thumbnail 4, I will expand on it since I think the industrial, futuristic factory aesthetic really fits a building like this. I think my plan right now is to create variations of 4 and 5 for the next 15 thumbnails. After that, I will spend the last 10 thumbnails for the building expanding on ideas based off of feedback I receive at the next stage.

With my variations finished, I sent them to my friends and asked for feedback regarding my designs, also asking them to pick out favourites.

The feedback for these thumbnails consisted of really positive opinions regarding thumbnail number 19. I agree since I really like the imposing nature of the buildings towards the bottom of the thumbnail sheet. I also think this would the most fun to experiment with in terms of isometric view thumbnails. 

For the next set of thumbnails, I wanted to create a smaller set of variations but have overall higher detail. I focused on making them look like "evolutionary stages" with the first being the least detailed and the last having the most detail and compartments to the building. I once again asked for feedback regarding this stage of designs.

I also explained my thought process in a basic way so it could be understood with the later stages. I was trying to create form with the general idea of my Forge Father character in mind, since souls-like games will often rely heavily on environmental storytelling. Along with this though, I also focused a lot on creating random geometric shapes (hence using them from the very start for the buildings with the block brush). I did this because the Forge Fathers are so ahead in terms of technology, I thought it would be interesting and fitting to make players wonder about the different compartments of the building. Along with this, I think it would add lots of suspense and uniqueness to the boss fight taking place at the top too.

Happy with my designs up to this point and the feedback I had received, as well as the evolutions in my designs, I moved onto thumbnailing my street furniture.

Street Furniture Thumbnails

For my street furniture, since they are all smaller scale in terms of their design, I put all designs for all the furniture onto one sheet, and then asked for feedback. This way, I can quickly and more efficiently get my designs out for feedback and move straight into the 3D blockout phase after.

Firstly, for the pylon, I made quite a variety of designs focusing on the overall silhouette, trying to make it unique, but drawing inspiration from real life and the Forge Fathers design language. I think the biggest problem I ran into here was trying to keep the pylon designs unique enough, whilst still being able to tell what they are. This was especially hard whilst doing it within the context of a specific faction, but I feel like it still resulted in some good thumbnails.

Based on feedback and my own opinion, I am going to go with 6 for this one. I think it fits into the right design language with the Forge Fathers, whilst still being able to convey that it is an electricity pylon.

Secondly for the chest, the variety mostly came from the size of the chest itself. I feel like I succeeded into making it fit with the Forge Fathers the best it can, with the futuristic aesthetic being consistent in all designs. Based off of feedback, people universally agreed that 4 was the best here, which I also agree with. I think it fits the best and it would be the most visually distinct from the surroundings, communicating effectively to the player that their reward from the boss fight lies inside.

Finally for the door, all of the silhouettes and shapes here all look very similar since I knew what shapes I wanted to go with, I was more so experimenting with the width of the door and the details on the front. I am mostly happy with all these thumbnails, so I think this is going to be a case of implementing what I feel works best when I get to the 3D blockout, which I am moving onto next.