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BlizzCon 2009: Artists from the upcoming Cataclysm expansion pack give BlizzCon 2009 attendees a sneak peek at the way the world of Azeroth is going to change.
Who Was There: Chris Robinson, World of Warcraft art director, and the heads of the various art groups on the massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
What Did They Talk About: Chris Robinson and the team leads ran through an overview of the process of generating the staggering amount of art that's going into the just-announced Cataclysm expansion pack. The panel began with a quick look at some Ice Crown raid loot, then dove into a run through the art being created for the new races being introduced: the goblins and the Worgen. The team footage showed the art being implemented into the game.
The talk then shifted to creatures, specifically Deathwing, the winged terror that is central to the problems in Cataclysm. The audience got a look at sketches of the massive dragon in better days, when he was a just a protector of the land, before he went insane and wound up getting shattered. The sketches of a post shattering Deathwing showed the mighty dragon back, covered by goblin-forged plates designed to contain his power.
Deathwing looks friendly...
The technical art team shed some light on its specific role in the development of art. While a fair amount of the work it does is behind the scenes, focusing on fixing problems and improving performance, the team also generates the dungeon and world maps that are obviously a big part of the experience for players.
Lead animator Steve Aguilar was up next, giving the audience its first look at the animation being developed for the Worgen transformations. Aguilar noted that the team looked at a variety of references for inspiration, including movies, cartoons, and video games. Aguilar showed off the evolution of the transformation from rough pass to the most current version, tricked out with a first pass of special effects that include smoke and lighting.
