GB Feature: The Art of Iron Tower Studios Interview

We managed to convince Iron Tower Studio art director Oscar Velzi to take his eyes off of The Age of Decadence and Dead State long enough to answer some questions about his contributions to both games and his thoughts on art in independent titles as a whole. A little something to whet your appetite:

GB: Working independently rather than with a major publisher has some obvious effects on in-game art, working with engines and graphical assets that can not or should not compete with mainstream games. What is your perspective on the kind of graphical goals an indie RPG developer should set for himself?

Oscar: I believe that any indie developer should try to focus on a graphical level that will allow him to finish the kind of game he is making. Many times I’ve seen many mods and indie games trying to bite off more than they can chew, or bite it in a very wrong way. For example, if you are making a big game like AoD, with around 50 different levels, set in mountains, canyons, deserts, forests, with 3 big cities, the last thing you should do is spend a week creating an awesome house model, full of small details. Make the models good looking but easy and fast to do, and lay out and finish the basics of every area. Then when all areas are done, go over them in phases and start adding an increasing amount of details. Don’t focus on a small part of the game and try to perfect it before you move on. You’ll burn yourself, and won’t have even 10% of the game finished.

This leads to the importance of having a view of the whole game, setting realistic goals for yourself, and working hard towards them.