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I Expect You to Die 2: Operation Party Crasher Key Art

I Expect You to Die 2 - Operation: Party Crasher Key Art
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The wine cellar level went through a whole lot of changes throughout production, so this was actually the first key art I did for this level before it was overhauled again for the final layout.
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It needed to feel like the most luxurious expensive wine cellar ever, so I tried to make it look like no expense had been spared with things like gold plated accents, glass cabinets, and a hand carved marble wall feature off to the side.
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There were also several gameplay considerations to account for in this key art that were already being mocked up in the whitebox that I painted over, like hidden escape hatches, candles to let players light things on fire, etc.
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This is a perfect example of Design putting together a rough level layout, and then Concept helps to flesh it out and give an idea how the final level could look and feel, without investing weeks of time on textures and full 3D models before they’re sure they want to go in that direction.
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In this case, once we explored this version of the level and did some user testing, Design decided the level needed reworked again. So the final level looks significantly different, but this early key art was a vital step in figuring out what we wanted for the finished design.
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I love this aspect of Concept, it’s part of our job to save the team time by exploring ideas through drawings and paintings before they move forward with final ideas - it’s way faster to draw a whole bunch of ideas first than jumping straight into making 3D models, and then redo them if they don’t work for the game you’re making. And for me it’s a ton of fun creating and exploring ideas.

IEYTD2_OperationPartyCrasherFirstPassKeyArt_byZacharyDCoe

IEYTD2_OperationPartyCrasherFirstPassKeyArt_byZacharyDCoe

IEYTD2_OperationPartyCrasherFirstPassKeyArtCloseUp01_byZacharyDCoe

IEYTD2_OperationPartyCrasherFirstPassKeyArtCloseUp01_byZacharyDCoe

IEYTD2_OperationPartyCrasherFirstPassKeyArtCloseUp02_byZacharyDCoe

IEYTD2_OperationPartyCrasherFirstPassKeyArtCloseUp02_byZacharyDCoe

IEYTD2_OperationPartyCrasherFirstPassKeyArtProcess_byZacharyDCoe