Wipeout fans across the world rejoiced when the Fury add-on for Wipeout HD was announced at E3 2009, and for good reason. The add-on essentially doubles the amount of content seen in the original game, and includes 8 new tracks, 13 new ship models and 3 new game modes. And Marcus Tanner, the art director of Wipeout Fury, was able to give some insight as to how the Wipeout environments evolve from concept art to digital reality.
Wipeout Fury places a large emphasis on bold structural design in order to create buildings and other various architecture that quickly registers in the player’s mind. Not only are these buildings beautiful to look at, they act as visual checkpoints such that players can more easily memorize the track layout.
“The positioning of objects in a WipEout environment is created by a design process called Dynamic Composition. The results can be likened to a piece of music providing the track with a visual melody, rhythm and harmony. This process involves sectioning the environment along the track to provide the fundamental flow of shapes that creates an interesting rhythm for the player.
It includes strategically adding set pieces which provide focus for the player and then populates the track to create an enhanced game experience. The result is a dynamic environment that emphasizes the feeling of speed and movement as a result of the rhythmic pattern of structures around the track, and also focuses the players’ attention on set pieces.”
What’s great is that the tracks are built organically, with art assets bounced around from team member to team member in order to “evolve and clarify” the track designs. The team also makes sure that the architecture creates interesting lighting setups, thus giving the “impression of a highly complex and richly populated environment.” The Fury add-on pack for Wipeout HD releases later this year. The price of the Fury pack has yet to be announced, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Make sure to check out the development artwork posted below, and let us know what you think!
[Source]
