Battalion Wars GC (2005)

Source IGN - "Nintendo presents BATTALION WARS for the Game Cube, a military action strategy game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Instead, the game presents players with a unique style of graphics and character design, fun shooter controls, and a good amount of humor. Players take on the role of a field officer in BATTALION WARS.
Players then take direct control of their squad and head to the battlefield. One of the interesting aspects of BATTALION WARS is that players aren’t represented by any one character. Instead, they can take control of any unit on the battlefield, switching to a vehicle to perform a quick assault, then taking control of a heavily armed solider to take down a bunker. The other units, of course, continue their attacks even when the player isn’t controlling them, creating an interesting system of battle. BATTALION WARS combines strategy with a third person shooter in such a way that players will enjoy. With the ability to command many different units in the same battle and plan strategies involving different units, BATTALION WARS is a great humorous war game for all players"

I took on this project as Lead Artist about 1 year into its 2 year development. I was responsible for the management of the internal art team of 17 and reported to the studio head. My core responsibility's were in Implementing and directing the art style, liaising with the design and code teams and also managing the art schedule.

This was also the first large budget stylized title I had worked on and having just worked on the PC RTS "Line of Fire" which had similar game play but a gritty art style, it was a real challenge at first. The Advance wars franchise had a real hardcore fanbase so we had a lot to live up to.

The project was tough but it was also great fun and I still consider the team to have been one of the best i have worked with. We learned a lot, knowledge which we took onto Battalion Wars Wii.

"War is a subject that people usually don't try to put a cute face on. Yet somehow, like the Advance Wars strategy games that inspired it, Battalion Wars for the GameCube manages to do just that. Battalion Wars is a well-made action strategy game that offers a whimsical art style, setting it apart from other games that try to take a more serious approach. But don't let the cartoonish looks fool you--even veteran players will get a satisfying and serious challenge from the campaign"

The trailer best shows an overview of the art content. A broad range of levels spanning the 4 features world of Tundra, Corral Atolls, Dune Sea and Xylvania.

The game also features a vast range of characters, 4 armies each with several troop types plus the CO characters that primarily featured in the FMV.

Trailer: I was involved in many aspects of this project. One aspect was the creation of this trailer. This video was used in retail outlets such as GAME and EB, It took me 2 weeks to make.

The overall art theme of the game is loosely based on real world locations, theatres of war and the armies of real military powers. The WW1 and WW2 era feature heavily as the machinery, uniforms and locations have a wealth of interesting stylistic detail.

We used the strongest visual elements from these real world locations, armies, vehicles and additional stylistic influences (graphic novels, games, toys etc) using them as a foundation to build a new art style.

For example: WW1 battlefields + Military bunkers + Gothic architecture + Nazi Germany + Transylvania = Xylvania!

US Army + Sports + Action toys = Western Frontier

The environments also share a common influence, WAR! The architecture off all the environments is chunky and bunker like with slits for weapons and buildings that have been reduced to ruins by war.

Blending styles like this to form new location obviously takes a lot of thought and research however not all the environments contain so many stylistic influences.
The Corral Atolls location is pretty heavily influenced by the Pacific Islands with architecture based on native Polynesian huts and in order to add a stylistic twist we mixed the architecture and materials like bamboo and grass and with military style buttresses and gun slits. Reinforcing the base of the buildings with stone while the upper sections remained wooden

Note in the above image, the Japanese influence in the building shape, curved roof lines like Pagodas. The native village style materials like grass/straw, wood and stone. The military influence, bunker like windows with gun slits, the edges of the stone work are broken away by gun fire to indicate history, many years of war have passed here.

Fine details such as rivets, wood grain, brick mortar etc are all over sized to create a cartooney look and keep the surface of the models free from noisy, fine details that are associated with realism. There is also a simplistic and fun element to the designs which makes a lot of the vehicles almost toy like, chunky, bouncy with a feeling of indestructibility.

I consider the artwork for Battalion Wars on GC to have been a good practice run for Battalion Wars Wii, we got some things right and some things very wrong.
For example the colour palette for the game was too muted and we didnt really pay any attention to how well the colours worked together.

I learned a lot about creating a unique art style on this game.
Battalion Wars Wii is stlistically an evolution of this art style with the issues addressed.

Screen shots: a selection taken from Gamecube.