Virtual reality (VR) brings a whole new dynamic to the already immersive gaming experience. Today’s innovative developers and artists draw on cutting-edge VR technologies to make games feel more engaging and exciting.
Another benefit is that higher-quality VR systems expand access, allowing a wider range of gamers to experience the joy of an immersive environment. Speaking to this improved access, an NPR feature mentions that “new headsets with more powerful graphics and motion-tracking technologies have meant that the audience is starting to expand beyond hardcore gamers.”
However, with this ambition comes challenges, as artists must craft virtual reality graphics that are technically sound and artistically stunning. They strive to create immersive and distinct worlds, complete with memorable characters and settings that will keep players coming back for more. While VR expands some opportunities, it also opens the door for a wider range of errors.
The developers of tomorrow will need to expand their skill set, going beyond typical rigging and 3D modeling to embrace complex design processes that take the inherent complexity of the 360-degree gaming environment into account. This encompasses not only visual concerns but also spatial audio limitations and even ergonomic challenges.
None of this should be a reason to shy away from VR game development. This is an exciting new world, offering novel ways to connect with players. Ambitious designers and developers can unlock gaming experiences once thought out of reach.
In addition, and simply put, VR game design is fun and enjoyable. UX designer Thomas Anderson speaks to this in a guide for BBC’s Global Experience Language (GEL), explaining, “The design team was involved with brainstorming the character and their personality traits, working with the writers to shape the outcome of the story, and creating the game environment itself … Working as a VR designer, you get the chance to tell the story.”
Ready to explore the dynamic realm of VR design? Below, we reveal how game art in VR can elevate immersive digital environments and unleash creative opportunities.
The Role of Game Art in Virtual Reality
Players look to VR as an escape from real life. For such escapism to succeed, the graphics and art design in these VR titles must be prioritized, free of technical hiccups and bland art design in these immersive illusions.
Understanding VR Game Art
Traditional video game art emphasizes televisions or monitors while providing a somewhat passive experience: Players think they are in control, but they ultimately watch the action on a screen. In VR, the action is up close and personal.
In addition to offering active experiences, designers and developers must recognize the unique technical limitations that may exist with the VR hardware itself. If, for example, graphical elements stutter or pop in on a monitor, this classifies as a mere annoyance. With VR, though, such issues could lead to motion sickness or even nausea.
The Importance of Immersion in VR
Immersion is everything in VR. Players look to interactive VR games to provide powerful experiences they can’t find anywhere else. It is undeniably exciting to feel fully immersed in a gaming world — and to interact with that world’s unique characters — and few mediums can come close to recreating this experience.
Virtual reality game design must produce art assets, game mechanisms and characters capable of guiding players through vast, highly interactive worlds while making players feel like they are in charge.
Techniques for Creating Immersive VR Game Environments
The rise of virtual reality has encouraged some of the greatest minds in the gaming industry to embrace VR game development. These creators use software tools such as Unreal Engine for VR to bring their unique visions to life. Such platforms are invaluable for gaming industry veterans and newcomers alike.
Beyond this, however, designers need to expand their technical skill set. This should help them overcome issues with platform integration or VR-specific testing while also providing thorough preparation for upcoming challenges we cannot yet anticipate. At this point, commonly used techniques include:
Designing Realistic and Engaging 3D Worlds
Artists can take players on the journey of a lifetime in an immersive 3D world full of memorable characters and environments. They can also create rich environments modeled after real-world locales. These designs may take shape within the Unity VR development platform, where artists and designers enjoy access to a broad tool set.
Platforms such as Unity and Unreal offer numerous opportunities for designers to craft 3D worlds that feel real. These are commonly used, as NPR explains, “among smaller studios that don’t have the resources to build their own engines.” Exceptional rendering capabilities help artists elevate their already dynamic ideas, while robust platform support limits cross-platform coding concerns, so a realistic experience can be enjoyed across a vast gaming ecosystem.
Utilizing Lighting and Texturing in VR
The best character models and the most expansive game worlds will not amount to much if the textures are muddy and the lighting is lackluster. These elements give life to every aspect of the game world. Realistic lighting, for example, creates shadows and contrasts between light and dark. Detailed textures are critical, especially in VR experiences in which players scrutinize every aspect of the gaming environment.
Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Vision reveals the importance of color constancy, in which humans perceive objects’ colors as generally constant even under various lighting conditions. Researchers explain, “Color constancy is not pixel-based but rather depends on the objects within a scene and their interaction with the illumination color.”
Creating Interactive and Dynamic Elements
Many VR experiences lean heavily on the concept of the player taking direct control of an item in the game world. This could involve something simple as a hammer — or as fanciful as a broad sword. These items — and the environments in which they’re wielded — must be designed with both function and style at the forefront.
Haptic feedback further elevates this by integrating sensory experiences beyond sight and sound. As a study published in Arts points out, “Haptic devices can generate a sense of immersion and social presence,” adding that these devices “manipulate the user’s sense of psychological distance to a mediated other, and the feedback from haptic devices mimics human-to-human contact.”
The Intersection of Art and Technology in VR
Although modern VR technology offers countless possibilities, a few unique technical limitations must be overcome. This is where the artists can work in tandem with designers and developers to ensure that their vision is realized — and that it remains technically possible given the specifications of the VR hardware.
Leveraging Advanced VR Tools and Software
Today’s impressive development platforms handle everything from asset rendering to scalability. Artists who can navigate these platforms have an edge over competitors, who may mistakenly overlook VR game artist tools.
Unity and Unreal are essential; as results from SlashData’s Developer Ecosystem Insights report reveal, more than 60% of game developers now use game engines.
A variety of VR tools strengthen the visual appeal of today’s immersive games and help players feel fully present. Impressive shading and material editing elevate high-fidelity graphics, while particle systems enhance visual effects to bring fantasy elements to the forefront.
Overcoming Technical Challenges in VR Art
The sheer breadth of the competitive VR headset market means that developers must create their games with several different platforms in mind. From Meta Quest 3 to Apple Vision Pro and PlayStation VR2, these big names all pose unique challenges to overcome before artists can get their games into the hands of the players.
As mentioned, the right game engines and creation tools can help, but artists must also understand how to use advanced techniques (such as texture mapping or level of detail) while leveraging today’s most powerful design solutions.
Case Studies: Successful VR Game Art Examples
Game developers have been trying to create memorable VR experiences for years — and recently, the industry hit several home runs. We’ve highlighted a few of the notable accomplishments in VR game design below.
Analyzing Iconic VR Games
VR gaming may be in its infancy, but already, many impressive games prove that this niche has much to offer. Virtual reality game design success stories shed light on what exactly gets gamers excited.
Half-Life: Alyx by Valve
Half-Life is one of the most beloved franchises in PC gaming. Fans were thrilled about Valve’s decision to bring the franchise to VR. Half-Life: Alyx features incredible physics, with players able to interact with items in new ways.
A PC Gamer review explains, “The attention to detail is obvious not just in how the world looks but in the ways you can interact with it.” Perhaps more evocative is the ways in which the “graphic grossness increases by at least a factor of 10,” with reviewer Christopher Livingston highlighting “pulsating tendrils and toothy alien blossoms.”
Beat Saber by Beat Games
Gamers love breaking out Beat Saber, which offers an excellent introduction for those who have yet to enter the VR landscape. This game is simple to pick up and play (and who doesn’t love breaking blocks with lightsabers?). The clean visual aesthetic is enhanced by fantastic strobe and particle effects, making Beat Saber an instant VR classic.
The Climb by Crytek
There’s nothing quite like the thrill of climbing a mountain, but the experience becomes far more accessible when enjoyed via VR. Crytek’s The Climb allows players to use their VR headset along with their controllers to scale realistic-looking mountains. Powerful lighting and textures go a long way toward making The Climb feel like a realistic rock-climbing simulation.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission by Japan Studio
As one of the most charming games available on any VR platform, Astro Bot Rescue Mission combines remarkable character design with unique gameplay ideas that are best brought to life in VR. Astro himself is an adorable character — and he’s quickly becoming a fan favorite in the gaming industry. This platform game stands out as one of the best experiences available on PlayStation VR.
Interviews With Game Artists in VR
Many game artists have embraced VR and pushed creative boundaries within increasingly immersive worlds. Their interviews reveal their enthusiasm for interactive VR games and their strategies for overcoming VR’s ongoing challenges.
Interview with Nathan Phail-Liff (Art Director for Lone Echo)
There is no formula for success in VR game design, although if there was, innovative art director Nathan Phail-Liff likely would have found it by now. Speaking to his success with the then-VR titan Ready at Dawn, he explains, “I guess the secret is trying and failing a lot.”
This trial-and-error approach calls for many leaps of faith as well as extensive focus testing. Also important is a strong emphasis on the user interface. Phail-Liff highlights the need for the UI to feel “intuitive but also…completely natural to the world.”
Interview with Anna Hollinrake (Lead Artist on Battletoads)
In an era of VR, artistic fundamentals remain as essential as ever. The talented Anna Hollinrake reveals as much in an interview with NME, stating that she has long been “obsessed with skill and the technical aspect of creation.” She believes that game art carries true emotional weight: “A piece of concept art can describe the entire intent of a game in one shot.”
Highlighting her success with the early VR standout Lola and the Giant, Hollinrake says, “I had such a wonderful opportunity to pour myself into a game that was very dear to someone’s heart.” Now, she wants to provide similar opportunities for other passionate artists.
Interview with Dominik Johann (Art Director at Minit)
Photorealism is a big deal, but Dominik Johann has long understood the need for balance. In a PC Gamer interview, Johann explains that his goal with the independent studio Crows Crows Crows was to achieve something “very representative [that] gets the emotional point across, while also being simple enough to be in the game to be processed by the [HTC] Vive technology.”
Interview with Jessica Curry (Composer and Co-Founder of The Chinese Room)
Sound plays a fundamental role in bringing realism and immersion to the VR environment. Composer Jessica Curry understands this better than most — and she always considers the endpoint for her music. After all, audio effects will come across far differently through speakers, headphones or, of course, VR. That being said, Curry emphasizes emotional intent, too, stating in a Q&A, “I think that’s what people respond to in my music.”
Interview with LaToya Peterson (Co-founder of Glow Up Games)
With Glow Up Games, visionary LaToya Peterson aims to tell “beautifully crafted stories using mobile, AR/VR, AI, and other emerging technologies.” She views Glow Up as the best way to draw on her unique experiences “in games, mobile, AR/VR and AI” while creating “something new and creative and original.” In the future, Peterson anticipates, “advances in storytelling, in genre-bending, and more and more people pouring into the industry.”
The Future of Game Art in Virtual Reality
VR has dramatically altered the gaming landscape in a few short years, but this revolution is just getting started. Moving forward, advances in motion tracking and spatial audio will make games feel even more immersive, while AI solutions streamline otherwise time-consuming processes to expedite development workflows. This niche’s trends go beyond technology, with exciting opportunities gaining traction across the full spectrum of gaming.
Emerging Trends in VR Game Art
VR shines a light on various existing movements in gaming, including, most notably, the desire for greater diversity and inclusion. In an interview with VentureBeat, then-VR Playhouse CEO Christina Heller explained, “I look around and see people from across the spectrum interested in VR. We should be making VR that appeals to all people.”
Encouraging nuanced representation through immersive experiences, VR can introduce players to new mindsets while also boosting accessibility and even overcoming physical barriers. The development process itself can promote diversity and inclusion through iterative approaches that leverage diverse perspectives.
Preparing for a Career in VR Game Art
VR presents numerous development and artistic challenges, but these are worth embracing. To succeed in this niche requires developing a robust and comprehensive set of VR game artist skills, including 3D modeling, real-time rendering and responsive animation. By enrolling in a targeted game art program, you can expand both your artistic and technical skills as you explore VR game art techniques.
Embrace the Future of VR Game Art With RMCAD
Are you compelled by the artistic possibilities of VR game art? Level up your skill set as you pursue your Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Art with Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD). Offered online and on-campus, this cutting-edge program introduces students to both game art fundamentals and emerging technologies. Reach out today for more information.
