See how a Wild West Dynasty is made from bricks, clay and digital grit
Toplitz Productions and Virtual Magic Games invite players to take an early look at how the upcoming sandbox survival adventure Wild West Dynasty is being built. Turns out that the secret to making an inspiring landscape is that human touch. Before a single polygon is rendered, Virtual Magic Games map out each of the biomes - from mountain ranges to river valleys - using modelling blocks. See how it’s done in the exclusive trailer below, as aired in IGN’s E3 Summer Of Gaming showcase on June 11th.
With this plastic landscape laid out, the next phase is scanning it, smoothing those rough edges and making sure the scale feels right in 3D. With that done, it’s back to the real world, 3D printing the skeleton of the landscape, then layering it over with modelling clay. Virtual Magic’s team hand-craft every major crag, mesa and boulder, giving the world a truly hand-crafted feel, before scanning it all once more and beginning the detailing process.
In comes the digital art team, texturing the landscape, adding organic lighting and then filling in the gaps with everything from wind-swept trees, rock piles from ancient landslides, tenacious desert greenery growing in the shade and plenty more. It’s a long, complex process, but Virtual Magic Games think it’s worth the effort. After all, this is where you’ll be settling down.