How to Make Game Art as a Programmer

One-man game production studios are becoming more frequent nowadays, and many of them are succeeding. That being said, what happens when that one individual isn’t an artist? What should be done first? Learn about game illustration programs and build your game art portfolio? Perhaps, but this is far from the first step on your path. There are many directions for making game art. And today we will try to dive into them in more detail.

This article examines some of the choices available to indie game programmer for making or purchasing art for their game.

Artist & designer are key creative roles in game production. What’s the difference between game art & design? We’ll cover that.

Game art and design differ in the position and responsibilities of their artists: game art supports the game’s visuals and feel, while game design leads the creative and project management processes of gameplay. Game art is key to modern gaming, informing players and informing them of their interactive actions.

Game art covers any visuals used in a game, 2D and 3D. UX, protagonists/antagonists, backgrounds, weather effects, storyboards, etc. all fall under game design. Although programming is required to position and utilise the graphics, anything the player sees is a part of game art, as is any art generated during the game’s development stages.

There are various benefits of incorporating game art into game programming. So let’s try to understand them all and determine which of the benefits we really need.

First, game art can help make games more visually appealing, which can increase player engagement and retention. This is important from a commercial point of view. The modern gaming market is crowded. Therefore, it is very important to create a product that will differ from all others not only in its functionality, plot, and history but also contain art and programming at the same time.

Additionally, it can help to create a more immersive experience, as game art can bring game worlds to life and help players feel like they are part of the game. Orcs, elves, or pirates. Players must feel part of the process, fully involved in its essence. Therefore, when creating the art of the game, pay attention to this component, since it is very important.

Furthermore, game art can also help to add more personality to a game, which can help to differentiate it from other games in the genre. We’ve talked about this before, but it’s a really important aspect. It doesn’t matter if you choose pixel art for game developers or realistic game art. Your product must be of high quality and unique.

Finally, game art can also help to increase the popularity of a game, as it can help to make the game stand out in marketing materials and draw in more players. Whether you’re an indie game programmer or work for a game art and full product company, you should always consider the end user and whether they’re willing to pay money for the final product.

A computer game can take decades to develop, and a significant amount of work must be completed before the first line of code is written. Before you sit down to put all the parts together, you must first develop an idea and overarching design for your game. Improvements will undoubtedly occur during the development process, but having a powerful concept in mind will save you a lot of time and stress later on.

Whether you intend for your game to be 2D or 3D, you will require tools to assist you to get your concepts down on paper. Such tools will be essential to you as an artist as you build the look and feel of your game. If you are not an artist, you should be conversant with the tools that your artists could be using.

Nevertheless, if you’re an artist (which is presumably why you’re reading this), adaptability is your best tool. The more 3D modeling software and approaches you know, the more competitive you’ll be. We’ve prepared a list of art applications that concept artists frequently use.

• Photoshop

Photoshop is the ideal artist’s holy grail. It’s basically mainstream technology, albeit there are countless other items that work just as well. Nevertheless, some knowledge of Photoshop is beneficial. You have a lot of alternatives because you may change images as well as create art from scratch. You can also design patterns to transfer onto your 3D models, making it much more versatile.

• Maya 

Maya is one of the game industry’s standards for 3D modeling and animation. It is expensive, but it also offers a suite of functions such as 3D modeling, animation, and rendering. The learning curve can be steep, but this is an excellent tool to have in your arsenal. Although you will mostly use 3D modeling skills for concept art, knowledge with all of its features will only benefit you in the long run.

• ZBrush

It is a sculpting program that functions similarly to conventional sculpting. Anyone can construct extraordinary modeling techniques with the ability to sculpt up to one billion polygons. ZBrush is ideal for concept art since it allows you to keep importing your creations into other programs for modeling, animating, and rendering.

• 3DS Max

This is another 3D modeling industry standard. 3ds Max Design is mostly used for massive, open-world games, but it also has powerful 3D modeling and rendering tools. Concept artists can use it to rapidly and easily construct detailed models and surroundings. Because 3ds Max Design is a frequently used technology in the gaming industry, it is highly suggested that you become acquainted with it.

When creating any game, there are several important steps that should not be missed. Here is a short list of these steps:

• Concept

The moment when an idea is born within a team or within one person. At this stage, it is important to articulate the main idea of your game as clearly as possible and think through the plot.

• Design

This is where the design team comes in to create game concepts and final designs. Design can also be called the creation of code and the entire technical component of the game. Here you can also ask how to create game assets. This is the perfect stage to sort things out.

• Pre-production

At this stage, testing of the almost finished product takes place. It is critical to consider the errors and make changes before releasing the game.

• Post-production

The final step, but a very important one, is releasing your game to the public, should be known to as many people as possible so that you can get feedback and continue to work on improving your product.

Learn more: How To Make Art For Video Games

The process of drawing your own video game is not easy and can cause many complications. Especially if you work on your own as an independent developer. Although the process of creating a game can take years for many teams,

To avoid this, based on our experience, you need to draw up a specific plan where the actions of one or another team member will be described step by step. If this is entirely your project, create a detailed schedule. A competent time manager will help you achieve your goals on time.

Don’t delay creating a test version of your product. Let the players feel the reality of your game as soon as possible, check it for bugs and problems. to avoid these mistakes in the future.

A brilliant developer can create a technically flawless product. However, no matter how technically advanced and bug-free it is, it can quickly become boring and gloomy for the player. A brilliant designer may create an exciting game using elements in which the player will enjoy overcoming crashes, glitches, and eerie images. So let’s look at a few practices that will help you be the best at your job:

• Work Together with the Designers

You must collaborate closely with your game’s creator when generating game art. This will benefit you in a number of ways. It assists you in developing an art style that is appropriate for your game. Collaborate with your design team to figure out how to make their concept into artistic indie games using images.

• Use Art to Communicate Information

Mobile gamers prefer to be given information aesthetically. They dislike reading long passages of text. They are not fond of lengthy lessons. As a result, you should use art in novel ways to enhance performance.

Other games developers employ visual cues to assist their players in learning how to play their games. The visual signals in the game prompt players to make various decisions in the game, such as selecting a specific item, attacking a specific enemy, or moving toward a specific location.

• Examine Opponents

You may learn a lot about game art for programmers by looking at other games in your genre. Take a look at the finest games in your category to find out which art styles are popular. Look at the worst of the bunch to learn which art styles don’t go well with the category.

• Enhance that Over the Future

The contemporary art style is more appropriate for the current era. However, as time passes, so do the trends in game art and the desires of gamers.

• Consider the user interface (UI) design

UI design plays an important role in creating a user-friendly and visually appealing game. Game developers should be familiar with the different UI design concepts to create effective user interfaces. For more information on game UI design, check out this article on game user interface design examples. It contains a comprehensive list of game UI design examples with explanations of their features and benefits. By studying these examples, game developers can learn best practices in UI design and apply them to their own games.

To inspire programmers and everyone who reads this article to create quality game art development, we want to share examples of several of our works that we are especially proud of.

Our artists designed a whopping 107 rooms for the Relaxing 3D Interiors for Zen Match project, each with four overpaint variations in distinct color palettes. The biggest accomplishment, however, was that we improved the workflow, used numerous scripts and tools, and used automated rendering. This investment in optimization and automation has enabled us to function efficiently with the vast amount of 3D pictures required for the game, as well as to prepare for greater projects to come.

Our team created a semi-automatic migration of location, lighting, and effects from Unreal to Unity for our second equally favorite Cyberpunk Skater Girl project. For this, experienced programmers were linked so that our project could continue to expand and improve.

As you can see, art and programming go hand in hand in these and many of our other projects. We try to combine the two sides so that our games are impressive for both future players and our customers. It is important for us to take all points of view, since many programmers also have knowledge in the field of game dev art and can make suggestions that will significantly improve the quality of this or that art.

If you are still looking for an answer to the question, “How can you make game art?” please contact us and we will try to advise you and find the answer.

Based on our experience, you need to put in enough effort and have enough desire if a career as a game programmer is what you enjoy and what inspires you. It is a difficult path, but you will be able to pass it because along the way you will meet enough educational materials, wise assistants, and a team of gamers who are just as inspired as you are. After all, game development art is a whole science in which you must become Einstein.

Use the list of programs and tools that we have demonstrated in this article, and you will find the answer to the question of how to design graphics for games. Don’t give up if everything doesn’t come out on the first try. We wish you good luck and believe in your gaming and creative success.