Aquila Interactive seeks to deliver an eagle-eye view to players with acute attention to detail.

https://youtu.be/ifyoTP9Rznc?si=VZ_9u-rjduq0mm-lFor this Dev Diary, we are happy to introduce you to three of our talented artists!

In this Dev Diary, three of our talented artists behind Gilded Destiny take center stage to discuss how visual identity, historical inspiration, and technical constraints shape the game’s world. From early concepts to in-game assets, we explore how art supports design, strategy, politics, and immersion in a grand strategy experience.

If you're interested in being an artist in the creative industries, or a fan of Bob Ross, then pick up your easel, wash your brushes, and take some notes in this one of a kind snap shot into the life of a gaming artist.

So, without further delay, we're pleased to introduce 2D/UI Artist, Elena.

"Hey everyone! I'm Elena, a digital artist working on Gilded Destiny. I want to take you behind the scenes of my work as I dive into the process of creating historically accurate assets for the game. Specifically, I'll be talking about how I make sure that every single piece of artwork, from weapons to vehicles, is as historically authentic as possible."

We begin with research and a respect for the period we’re trying to represent, to make sure it reflects the true nature of the era. It's about telling a story through every item, and making sure that players feel like they've stepped back in time. Along with this research, we study art and photographs from the era. This helps us understand the visual style and textures of objects.

Once all the information is gathered, we begin working on the design itself. By using all of the historical references to create an authentic look, whilst also making sure the asset works within the game's context. You can see how these historical references, like Vintage Hats, went into the final illustration.

Here you can see the process of creating a Fine Clothing Icon, layer by layer. Each Goods icon represents one of the resources that your POPs produce, consume, and trade in the game; everything from Coal and Iron to Perfume and Confectionery.

At the end of the day, it’s all about creating a world that feels rich in history, where players can connect with the past. I'm incredibly proud to contribute to this process, and I hope that when you play Gilded Destiny, you'll appreciate the attention to detail we've put into every single asset.

Summary

• Elena makes sure that every single piece of artwork, from weapons to vehicles, is as historically authentic as possible.

• The team conducts deep research and has a respect for the period that we’re trying to represent in Gilded Destiny.

• They also study art and photographs from the era to help them understand the visual style and textures of objects.

"I'm about to walk you through a brief demonstration of my process of creating the unique icons for Gilded Destiny. I'll talk about the Technology Icons specifically, and I hope you will find this interesting."

Preparation:

Before we get started on the fun part of drawing the icons, our content team does the work of sourcing the references for each icon. They're usually the team behind the scenes, making sure that these assets are historically accurate.

While they're sourcing this, we put together an artboard to define the overall style that we want. We wanted these icons to look like old published illustrations. Somewhat reminiscent of a pen and ink drawing:

Thumbnails:

Initially, we work in thumbnails. Starting with silhouettes to create general compositions. This is the "loosely scribbles" of the concept stage. Mapping out simple shapes and proportions.

An effective way of doing this is by using a large square brush like this one from Procreate (an app for artists used on Apple products).

Once we're happy with the compositions, we move on to doing some Rough Sketches.

Rough sketches:

During this stage, we add simple lighting and some rough details. Additionally, we also try to incorporate more perspectives on objects, like this one here in Circular Saw.

The next stage is to switch to a 6B pencil from Procreate or this pencil brush in Photoshop with a smaller diameter for the finer details.

Once the kinks have fully been worked out, we move on to finalizing the piece.

Finalizing & Clean up:

The last stage is detail clean up—"also the fun part, for me!". By switching to a larger canvas during this stage, we keep line strokes cleaner and finer. Given that these assets are mostly presented on a smaller scale, we try to simplify some details and check if the assets are readable enough with clear silhouettes.

And here you can see the final output of the Electric Light Bulb, Argand Lamp, Circular Saw, Micrometer, Rotary Printing Press, and Printing Press.

Summary

• Stephanie and our Artists work using a methodical approach by: Preparation, Thumbnails, Rough Sketches, then Finalizing Image and Cleaning up.

• Preparation: Works alongside the Content team to collect references and art board before beginning

• Thumbnails: Start with silhouettes to create general compositions. Working loosely on scribbles during this stage. Mapping out simple shapes and proportions.

• Rough Sketches: Add simple lighting and some rough details, along with incorporating more perspectives on objects.

• Finalizing & Clean up: Then switch to a larger canvas during this stage to keep strokes cleaner and finer. Given that these assets are mostly presented on a smaller scale, we simplify some details and check if the assets are readable enough with clear silhouettes.

"I'm the art director of Gilded Destiny, and this will be my second time on a Dev Diary - you can't keep me away! This time, I want to show you the terrain illustrations I recently completed."

Grand Strategy Games tend to span the globe and cover all kinds of terrains. All of which have their own gameplay effects and need to be easily identifiable both on the map and in the menus. The way that we address this is by taking the size of the requested image, doubling it, and getting to work on painting the terrain images that the Content Designers want

The reasons that we doubled the sizes are:

1. It makes the image more future-proof, making it usable in larger resolutions.

2. When shrinking the image down to 50%, one can sharpen the details.

3. It is easier to work with since it doesn't require pixel-perfect precision when painting.

Additionally, the images also need to be of high enough quality for Marc to show them blown up in the Dev Diary!

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There were a few points of focus when these paintings were created. The most basic one was to try to match the horizon line so that it is roughly in the same spot in all the images. The images had to be pretty, or at the very least appealing to look at, no matter how dreary and desolate the terrain should be. This is a good example of how we try to balance realism with aesthetics in Gilded Destiny.

Below are the 9 terrain images that the Content Design team wanted to create, along with the thought process behind making them:

Coast

Desert

Drylands

Forest

Grasslands

Snowy Mountains

Mountains

Jungle

Snowlands

Swamp

Tundra

Wastelands

Summary

• A look at Gilded Destiny's terrain 2D art and some of the UI used.

• Originally doubled the size of the image to make the image more future-proof, sharpen the details, and it's easier to work with since it doesn't require pixel-perfect precision when painting.

• Shared 9 Different Terrain images: Coast | Desert | Drylands | Forest | Grasslands | Mountains | Rainforest | Snowlands | Wastelands.

• Began refinement and iteration of Policies, including sources of Political Power.

• Began iteration on Colonization system mechanics.

• Began work on the Design of Religious Convictions.

• Began work on UK events.

• Continued work on the Technology icons art.

• Continued designs and fixes for Economy refinement for implementation next year.

• Complete design for Prussian and Qing event content

• Update the design of policies and technologies to fit with updated systems and improve balancing.

• Complete major Religious Convictions

• Begin work on event images

• Continue work on Technology icons and City illustrations

And there, you have it—a behind-the-scenes look at how our artists are actively gilding Gilded Destiny! Thanks again to our three special guests on this Dev Diary!

We hope you've enjoyed this Dev Diary, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, don't hold your horses, trot down to the comment section below.

Lastly, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel[aquila.now] and, if you have not done so already, add Gilded Destiny to your Steam wishlist.

Until our paths converge once more, we bid thee farewell!

May your destiny be a gilded one.