In November 2021 I joined the Young Horses team and became their second environment artist. I worked on several assets for the Isle of BIGsnax DLC. We used the studio's proprietary engine, HorsePower. It was a challenge working on an engine that was created over 10 years ago but I was able to overcome this.

A major aspect of this DLC was housing and customizing the bugs. I was able to concept my own 2D art which I sent in for approval before I started making the assets. Most of the assets were created from scratch but there were times where it was either faster or completely necessary to use props that have already been made.

Hats

The Young Horses team were impressed with the hats I created for Kena: Bridge of Spirits. My first task was to learn how they created assets and apply that into making hats. These hats were quite fun to make, some tell a story on their own and some were inspired by media that influenced people at the studio.

Later, I was tasked with creating posters as a clue to help the player find the hats throughout the world. The poster board was created using some old assets as well as adding additions like the hooks and paper.

Beds

These beds were some of my favorite things to make. Each Grumpus in game has a distinct personality so I tried to match each bed to them.  The Bunger bed was one of my favorites.

Ceiling Items

Much like the beds, all décor was made with each Grumpus in mind.

A unique challenge with some of these ceiling pieces was getting them to line up correctly in Maya and in the engine. Exporting these at 0, 0, 0 in Maya would have them in a far off place in game. I needed to export the level from the engine and import that into Maya. This still wasn't always accurate but I was able to place them correctly with some patience.

Wall and Floor Items

I loved being able to get creative with these pieces. Wood is some of my favorite textures to make in Substance Painter and Designer.

Wambus, a Grumpus in game, is the typical country farmer. I was lucky enough to have a similar background growing up. My step-father is a rancher and has an affinity toward cowboy hats. When I was tasked with this prop I was told you just hang it on the wall. I have been told many times that this is something that damages these hats so I pushed hard to have them displayed correctly, upside down. Sometimes these small details can be important to a player. It would have been to me anyway!

Rugs

Like almost everything on this project, the rugs were so much fun. I enjoyed picking out the little details in each character to make them special. I also concepted these ones out myself.

The Yard

Outside the hut is also customizable. Not every asset I created is shown here, a large cowboy hat, gargoyles, rock climbing holds, and a radar dish are not shown but they are still in the game. These are some of my favorites. I also created a few plants for the big island.

Triplicate Space

A secret area in the game had this wonderful triangle theme. This area was a passion area for many people on the team. The disheveled employee of the month was a mix between a portrait already made and a paint over I did in order to give it the character we wanted. 

In Preparation of Release

During the time we were done with art and the release date, we created a few promotional assets. These are some of my favorites that I created including an April Fools Day joke. Some letters were not available so I needed to make my own in Photoshop.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed Bugsnax: The Isle of BIGsnax!