Ouroboros
Research into Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
Games Research
Ouroboros was the main project of The Zero Game Studio, a unit of The Interactive Institute of Sweden – a research studio comprised of academics, scientists, artists and writers whose mandate was research and development in the field of deep characterisation and dramatic game play.
Role
As Art Director I was responsible for the visual style for the game Ouroboros. I liaised with game designers, story tellers and developers, created concept and character art, guided 3D artists, textured models and visualised other members’ research. I worked on the project for 6 months. It shut down shortly after I left.
Setting the scene
Ouroboros provided a shared context within which the studio’s researchers could collaborate on their research and deliver a real world game. The game centred on three mythical pantheons – Norse, Egyptian and Aztec.
From intensive visual research into how each of the three ancient cultures represented their gods and their worlds, I created a huge (4m x 2.5m) wall moodboard that helped me to absorb and connect their visual and emotional styles. I then created an overarching style that had its roots in the beautiful, organic, and highly stylised forms of Art Nouveau, to overlay and weave the extremely stylised views of the three ancient cultures together.
A Nod to the Past
I designed forms that were 2D in appearance but twisted and turned three dimensionally in space – ie. walk around them and you’d see they had only front and back planes, so a player moving about in the world would experience the signature and resonance of the artistic styles of the cultures who represented their gods in this way.
A Nod to the Past
I designed forms that were 2D in appearance but twisted and turned three dimensionally in space – ie. walk around them and you’d see they had only front and back planes, so a player moving about in the world would experience the signature and resonance of the artistic styles of the cultures who represented their gods in this way.
Game Locations
These are visualisations I created for some of the game’s locations – from the gates leading into the City of God – an entry point for players to make their way to selection into each of the sectors, a map of the Egyptian sector and one of St Olafs cathedral in the Norse sector.
Bastet
This is concept art for the character Bastet, an Egyptian cat goddess, and her minions. The image also displays an example of how the 2D/3D forms in the world around her might appear in game. I also began articulating here how textures in the world would be very organic – for example her dress would be based on the stone Turquoise, her skin on Obsidian. The hanging vines around her are gold leaf.
Ambassador Shoalskerrie
The Norse character, Ambassador Shoalskerrie was of the Nordic pantheon and based on the merfolk of Norse mythology – water creatures with a frightening hollow in the back. I evolved my initial humanised look into that of the regal, mysterious seahorse and gave her magical accessories – a bone knife and a jar of salve (wbased upon a sea urchin shell). I did the artwork and also textured the models created by our 3D artists.
Greyhowl & Jorme
Again from the Norse pantheon, Greyhowl was Chief Executioner of the Bysing – an utterly nasty, objectionable character – and poor Jorme was his sweet but pathetic, devoted slave. Here is the evolution of the characters and Greyhowl’s accessories – his blood oath knifes and cigarette case (based on ancient norse designs). Again I did concept art and model texturing.
