GDC 2024 Session Viewer

In this session, Veera Hokkanen, Senior Concept Artist at Housemarque, Sony PlayStation Studios, sheds light on the visual development of Returnal, an award-winning science fiction roguelite game. The talk is a concept art postmortem with a balance of design and explanation of the practical process of concept art.

Veera, a senior concept artist with 8 years of professional experience, showcases a variety of concept artworks done during the production of Returnal, explaining the creative principles and constraints that shaped the visual look of the game. She demonstrates the work of a concept artist with concrete examples, provides reasons behind the team's artistic decisions and reflects on her own career.

In the end, Veera compares the production of Returnal to the production of its DLC: Ascension and provides lessons learned from the six years she has been at Housemarque.

Takeaway

Attendees will gain insight from creating Housemarque's first roguelite game from an artistic perspective. They will understand the importance of defining creative principles in order to create a coherent world-building. Finally, they will see these principles applied into practice and an overview to concept art in different stages of production.

Intended Audience

This is for artists, designers, and game developers who want to understand artistic vision of Returnal. It is also for those interested in seeing behind-the-scenes material and the practical process of concepting ideas into production. Prior knowledge of Returnal is not required.