Dark Souls: Design Works

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A casual review of the environmental concept art for games such as God of War: Ascension, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Gears of War: Judgment, or titles in the Uncharted series, reveals a different pattern. Here, there is a stronger emphasis on macro scenery – the totality of a given environment rendered in as much detail as possible. Asymmetry is more prevalent than symmetry, and it’s harder to divide the environments into distinct chunks. In general, these games and others seem to prioritize compositional principles that (although present in many cultures’ creative expressions beforehand) were popularized in Europe and America during the twentieth century (there is also perhaps something else to be said, outside of this article’s reach, about artist Nicolas Bouvier’s influence within the videogame medium). Miyazaki wants to create is an experience akin to the sublimity of romantic paintings. A feeling of veneration in the face of something far greater than the viewer that does not attempt create emotion through superficial illustrations of genre or theme, but through the awe and reverence of experiencing it. This idea is found all throughout Dark Souls III. In its countless environments and character designs, the sublime never fails to appear.

Miyazaki: Probably, relief from his pain at last… Although it's extremely difficult and I doubt anyone will ever discover it, I seem to recall there being a way to progress through the game without killing him, although in truth, it's more of an exploit than a valid method. Miyazaki: Yes, but each of the areas had its own feel or tone as far as art direction was concerned. For an area like Blight Town for example, we found that once we decided on the general direction and gathered appropriate reference materials, there wasn't really a need to spend too much time developing the look of the area, it just came together. However in areas which were composed of more traditional architecture, we had to spend a lot of time working on the finer details. There weren't a huge amount of artists on the team so it was a case of moving people to where they would be of most use.Nakamura: Before we move on, I'd like to ask you about the Demon enemies I designed, specifically those designs which incorporate some type of symbolism. I know that you dislike designs which are too easy or obvious, but spending too much time trying to force symbolism into designs can be just as damaging to the development of the world. So I just wanted to know how you feel about the demon enemies overall. Miyazaki: The Catacombs and the Tomb of the Giants have a similar atmosphere to that of Blighttown but both contain a great many more man-made objects, which meant more work for the artists. In our team, the 3D artists would sometimes be called upon to do work more akin to that of a traditional artist, because we tried to utilise their skills as much as we possible. As I said before we don't have many artists to work with and just throwing more people at something doesn't guarantee a better result. Otsuka: With all this freedom in the design process and the concept artists differing styles, was there a need to unify all the designs? I hadn't expected people to say it looked like a character from Demon's Souls though. That wasn't intentional at all.

In the end they never were, the four knights disappeared and the design work for knights A and B was transferred to other characters like Ornstein and Artorias. The Channeller was given a different role, so that left Smough. I'm extremely fond of the design so I wanted to do something special, turn him from one of four knights into something almost… heretical. Miyazaki: I think you're thinking too much of it. To put it plainly, I'm delighted with your designs. Does anyone have information on who is the main genius behind making Dark Souls as beautiful as what it is, visually? If so, you'd be helping me out a lot with my studies in game development. Each colour used in the scene is a form of blue. The figure is surrounded by darkness with the only blue light emitting from the gothic rose window and illuminating the figure. The light source being directly behind the figure draws the attention to it and creates a threatening and eerie effect. This monochromatic colour scheme reinforces the raw, glacial and eldritch atmosphere created within the room. This kind of colour scheme is also highly atmospheric since some things may be represented in colour that they naturally would not take on, such as bluish skin, giving the effect that the work has been covered in a sort of ethereal haze.

Miyazaki: You can almost imagine it saying things like "you're too far away", "get over here, I want to eat you". Of course, these words never came up in the design process as I never imagined the creature would develop in this way, but I think it's a really incredible design. As I said before I love working together with the artists, I really think it benefits both of us. In fact I'd go so far as to say that it's my favourite part of the job. Miyazaki: Oh yeah, especially at the beginning. About the world, life and death, and with regards to the game world, the meaning of fire and role of the Four Kings. By talking like this with the artists I found that it not only helped them to develop their ideas, but it really helped me shape my idea of the world I wanted to create. I also tried hard not to be predictable or conservative. Of course, since we decided on a fantasy setting, we couldn't stray too far from that, but we had to be careful not to just take the easy route, or the world would become boring. I really tried hard to maintain this. Miyazaki: I don't think so. There are a huge number of things, that, while present in the game, we make no attempt to explain to the player, and many more that they simply have no way of finding out. The Ceaseless Discharge's story is just one of these. I recall the main difficulty designing the character was trying to get across that sense of sadness. People just couldn't see past the fact that he's a flaming giant. The Dark Souls series is globally noted for its tendency to communicate its narrative mostly through the environments presented to the player. Much is left untold and is up to the player to interpret. The environmental designs of Dark Souls III can be compared to the artistic movement of Romanticism in the way that they create generate largely melodramatic views of scenery.

Miyazaki: Yes, that's right. Firelink Shrine serves as the hub for the game so I initially wanted it to be a very healing place with water, greenery, soft light and subtle music, and while that never really changed, as Mr. Satake said, factors like the introduction of kindling and Frampt's arrival later in the game meant that the water gradually disappeared from the area. We realised that when Frampt appears, he bursts through the ground, so the water that used to fill that area would all have to drain away… Hatsuyama: No, not at all, I think you pointed out a lot of useful things, I think it really took me to places I wouldn't have gone to before.I'm currently in university studying game development and part of my current assignment is the research and psychological motivation of various artists.

I'm also a huge fan of the Gaping Dragon. It's a little different from the other dragons in the world, it's part of an ancient race of mineral based life forms, existing since long before the emergence of mankind, yet, despite its superiority over us, its time has passed, and it finds itself alone in the world, the last of its race forced to survive in any way it can. As to what triggered this change… well, the emergence of life corrupted it, it was warped by emotion and desire…Since “gameplay” is sort of an unwieldy term when used outside of the context of footage of a game being played, let me attempt to clarify Margaris’ statement by saying: when you look at a spot in Dark Souls, it’s often fairly easy to determine how that space is delineated. Its environments have a spatially explicability that’s uncommon for modern 3D games. I think that one reason why I and others find Anor Londo so striking is that we can look down from an elevation, see that the area is sectioned into identifiable landmarks, or focal points – a central walkway, an elevator-tower, or a great church – and also know that we can visit each. Waragai: Diligent people will notice I think, by that point you've already seen several large boulders.