[00:00] Warhammer 40,000, Boltgun 1 and 2 are modern FPS games designed to feel like they were created in the 90s. We capture that spirit of those 90s games by bringing back all the hallmarks of their
[00:12] fast, action-packed gameplay, level design focused on combat flow, secrets and hidden areas, a brutal arsenal of high-impact weapons, and tons of gore. Another important way Boltgun harkens back to that era of 90s shooters is the art style,
[00:26] which sits heavily in the retro space. Pixel art in itself is an impressive medium that requires a lot of skill. Nothing says polished retro graphics like a set of nice, crisp pixels being blasted across the screen, and there's an appeal to games that lean more into a strong visual style over realism.
[00:42] A world of 3D pixels gives us that retro aesthetic, and this concept can be applied to characters to great effect. One of the main challenges we faced when creating enemies for Bulk Gun 2 was conveying the tiny details of these characters and making them recognisable,
[00:56] even at lower resolutions. To solve this, we look for things like interesting bits of detail and strong silhouettes that would read well to players in game. Next is modeling We try to emphasize parts like weaponry armour detail and skin patterns Details like chainmail or strands of hair are difficult to represent individually and would risk looking too noisy in the final sprite version
[01:17] Texturing is where a lot of the pixel art conversion starts. For this, we use a hand-painted style to help with the readability of assets in-game. One of our favourite methods is applying edge highlights to really make bottles pop. Our animation uses the same approach of style
[01:29] over realism. Poses and gestures are often exaggerated to sell strong, recognisable silhouettes. We also purposely reduce the number of frames used, which also plays into the idea of retro-ness. When our character is animated and ready to go, we begin the process of turning them into
[01:44] pixels. We use a custom setup that captures assets from 8 different camera directions, and a script converts the output to a compressed 2D sprite sheet. This is how we fake the look of 3D onto 2D sprites.
[01:56] As you can see, there's a lot of thought that goes into creating the art style of Warhammer 40,000 Boltgun. We worked hard to develop a pipeline that captures the idea of a polished retro boomer shooter with a special focus on characters. All of this hard work came together to give
[02:09] bulk on its unique visual identity and allows players to experience the thrill of classic 90s boomer shooters all in a Warhammer universe.