In July 2020 we got wind of a new studio being formed called One More Game, which was created by former ArenaNet founder Patrick Wyatt and former Riot Games dev Jamie Winsor. The studio lauded other big name hires including former Guild Wars series artist Daniel Dociu, who takes the lead in a new dev blog to discuss how OMG’s “alpha-driven approach” to design steers the creation of concept art.
Dociu explains that the studio’s generally freeform manner in which artists can consider what to create brings what reads like a number of intriguing wrinkles and extreme levels of creativity. “We don’t start with a crystal-clear vision or established audience expectations,” Dociu writes. “Our approach is based on agility: it asks developers to move quickly, always be willing to turn on a dime, constantly try new ideas, and fail fast.”
That said, that doesn’t mean the artwork being created is aimless, as there’s a “north star” that guides the overall theme for concept art. The north star for OMG’s first game is described as “the magical mindset we all had as children, bringing incongruous sets of toys and characters together into a new world of imagination. Fidelity and realism are irrelevant — the rules of the universe you created served the story you wanted to tell, and the way you wanted to play.” This has lead to a variety of truly remarkable concept pieces, from an owl controlling a tree armor suit to fantastical robots to a ’40s-era motorcyling adventurer.
Of course, none of this ultimately conveys just what OMG’s first game is going to be about, and the artwork shared is described as “earlier in the process than [artists] might be used to,” but the dev blog outlines a unique approach to concept art creation and some spectacularly distinct visual ideas.
