Chapter 4: Research Packets

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Research Packets for Environment Concept Artists — Geo, Culture, Materials, & Methods (Concepting + Production)

A research packet is a compact, decision‑ready bundle that turns raw information into style rules, build logic, and gameplay clarity. It is not a sprawling wiki; it is a field manual that fuels concept exploration and keeps production consistent. This guide explains what to include, where to look, how to avoid rabbit holes, and how to package research so both concepting‑side artists and production‑facing teams can act on it immediately.

1) What a Research Packet Is (and Isn’t)

A research packet answers five questions fast:

  1. Where is this place? (Geography, climate, geology, ecology)
  2. Who built it and why? (Culture, economy, tech level, ritual, conflict)
  3. How is it made? (Materials, joinery, construction systems, maintenance)
  4. How does it feel? (Mood pillars, color/air recipe, soundscape)
  5. How do we build it in our pipeline? (Kits, trims, PBR targets, lighting plan, wayfinding)

It is curated (10–30 pages/slides), annotated (rules, not trivia), and actionable (callouts, dimensions, palette/roughness targets). Anything else belongs in an appendix or a separate research dump.

2) Packet Table of Contents (Recommended)

  1. Executive Summary (1 page) — location, purpose, three pillars each for massing, materials, lighting/air.
  2. Geo & Climate Sheet — map inset, elevation/latitude, seasonal ToD notes, air recipe (falloff, hue shift).
  3. Geology & Ground Truth — rock typology, soil, erosion, water paths; implications for foundations, quarrying, color cast.
  4. Ecology & Biome — flora/leaf‑on vs. leaf‑off, canopy density, wood availability, thatch/reed/brick viability.
  5. Culture & Economy — resource flows, craft traditions, motifs and taboos, signage and script systems, markets and rituals.
  6. Materials & Construction — structural systems (post‑and‑beam, vault, truss), joinery, module sizes, wear logic, maintenance cadence.
  7. Palette & Lighting — value key tendencies, temperature mixes, saturation ceilings; ToD and weather alternates.
  8. Wayfinding & Graphics — iconography, color semantics, mounting heights, cadence; accessibility notes.
  9. Gameplay Affordances — cover language, traversal anchors, stealth occluders; metrics mapped to real forms.
  10. Kits & Trim Guidance — module dimensions, trim profiles, hero‑unique allowances; LOD silhouettes.
  11. Material Matrix (PBR Targets) — albedo/roughness/metalness ranges with photo exemplars.
  12. Anti‑Cliché & IP Safety — what to avoid and why; cultural notes; originality guardrails.
  13. Reference Index & Credits — sources (licensed/primary), fieldwork links, further reading.

3) Research Sources You Can Trust (and How to Use Them)

  • Primary sources: fieldwork photos, measured drawings, government maps, museum archives. Highest signal; cite and keep permissions.
  • Academic & technical: archaeology journals, engineering manuals, building codes, ethnography, material science. Extract rules (span limits, roof pitches, brick bonds), not trivia.
  • Professional guides: architecture/landscape handbooks, signage standards, lighting design references. Translate into kit/wayfinding specs.
  • Local knowledge: oral histories, craft videos, artisan blogs. Verify with at least one other source.
  • Stock & inspiration: use ethically licensed images; annotate why they are included and what rule they illustrate.

4) How to Research Without Getting Lost

Start with hypotheses. Before reading, write three guesses for each category (geo, culture, materials). Research to confirm or revise them. This prevents endless grazing.

Timebox and tier. Use a 3‑tier system:

  • Tier 1 (90 minutes): Build the skeleton—maps, climate, one structural system, two materials, one palette sketch, core motifs.
  • Tier 2 (half‑day): Add kit implications, wear logic, wayfinding, ToD/season alternates.
  • Tier 3 (as needed): Deep dives on risky items (e.g., unique vaulting, cultural ritual accuracy).

Rule extraction every hour. For every 5–10 pages you read, write one design rule and discard the rest. If no rule emerges, the source is flavor—file it in the appendix.

Stop when you can draw. The moment you can thumbnail believable spaces and write kit dimensions, pause research and iterate. Resume only when blocked by a missing fact.

5) Geo, Climate, and Geology: What to Pull

  • Latitude/altitude → sun angles, shadow length, snow load.
  • Prevailing winds & water → weathering patterns, settlement orientation, soot and salt deposition.
  • Rock & soil → quarry color, block size limits, mortar use, erosion shapes, dust color cast.
  • Hydrology → wells, cisterns, canals; path of runoff; flood scars. Translate directly into foundation logic, roof pitch, drainage, path materials, and air recipe.

6) Culture, Economy, and Ritual: Turning Lore into Forms

  • Resource flows: what’s abundant/scarce (wood/stone/metal; dyes/pigments). Abundance dictates massing and ornament.
  • Craft & joinery: woodworking vs. masonry details; fastener types; tool marks—these scale cues anchor believability.
  • Ritual & taboo: processional routes, sightlines to sacred objects, threshold rules; spacing and ornament logic.
  • Markets & labor: stall types, storage, security; implied circulation and signage language. Convert into motive geometry (why a plaza is a certain shape), threshold design, and prop clusters that imply use.

7) Materials & Construction: From Quarry to Kit

  • Module sizes: brick course heights, beam spans, board widths; build kits around multiples (1:2:3).
  • Wear maps: windward bleach, leeward soot, drip edges; hand‑height polish; rust blooms. Annotate with decals and roughness targets.
  • Maintenance cadence: what gets patched vs. replaced; color variation over time.
  • Availability & transport: cost logic—heavy stone near quarries; light timber where roads are poor. Feed into trim sheets, LOD silhouettes, and material matrices that multiple artists can stamp consistently.

8) Palette, Air, and Lighting: A Shared Recipe

Define a value key and temperature mix per state (day/night/storm). Tie hues to materials and light tech (sodium vs. LED, oil vs. candle). Provide an air preset (falloff curve, hue drift, shaft density) with biome notes. Include accent semantics for gameplay (safe/service/hazard/interactable) and accessibility constraints (contrast minima, strobe limits).

9) Wayfinding, Graphics, and Typography

Collect local signage forms and create a diegetic UI system: icon families, color semantics, mounting heights, cadence. Avoid arbitrary fonts; pick a typographic model that fits technology and culture. Document shape redundancy (icon + color + position) for accessibility.

10) Gameplay Affordances and Metrics

Map real‑world forms to gameplay metrics: sill heights = low cover; balcony guard height = vaultable or not; step rise/run for traversal rhythm; ledge thickness for mantle affordance. Provide annotated photos/diagrams that translate immediately to paintovers.

11) Anti‑Cliché and Originality Guardrails

Create a page of banned tropes with reasons (IP adjacency, stereotype, overuse). Offer function‑first alternatives drawn from research (e.g., instead of random floating rocks, use wind‑carved yardangs that create the same silhouette energy with geologic truth). Add cultural notes to avoid flattening living traditions.

12) Production Encoding: Make It Buildable

  • Kits: wall modules, column spacing, stair standards; show three valid assemblies.
  • Trims: profile library (vector), corner solutions, UV strategy.
  • Materials: PBR target table with albedo/roughness/metalness and wear logic.
  • Lighting Plan: key/fill ratios, fixture types, emissive policy, probe/volume density hints.
  • Wayfinding Pack: icon set, colors, mounting heights, emissive ranges.
  • Naming & Versioning: consistent file names; state suffixes; change log summary.

13) Packaging & Format

Keep the packet thin and layered:

  • A core PDF with images, overlays, and 1–2 sentence rules per item.
  • A source folder with high‑res references (licensed/primary) and a CSV/JSON tag file.
  • Layered PSDs/SVGs for overlays and profiles.
  • A cheat sheet (one‑pager) for daily use by level/environment artists.

14) Review Rituals & Ownership

Assign a packet owner (often the concept artist who gathered it). At each milestone (vertical slice/alpha/beta), run a 30‑minute packet review: retire patterns that don’t ship, promote exemplars that did, and add “before/after” paintovers showing rule enforcement. Keep an issue list (“needs measured stair; signage cadence unclear”) so research remains targeted.

15) Collaboration Between Concepting and Production

Concepting side uses the packet to generate value thumbnails, motif sheets, and keyframes that are world‑honest. Production side converts it into kits, callouts, and material matrices, and runs drift patrol to keep shipped content aligned. Share paintovers + packet pages in the same review so decisions trace back to research.

16) Common Pitfalls (and Fixes)

  • Encyclopedia trap: 200‑page packet no one reads. Fix: Cap the core to 30 pages; push extras to appendices.
  • Vibe hoarding: pretty images with no rules. Fix: Overlay every exemplar with a rule or cut it.
  • Cultural flattening: token motifs divorced from function. Fix: Tie motifs to craft, climate, and use; consult and credit.
  • Pipeline mismatch: research demands ornate shapes that break trims/LODs. Fix: Tag items as trim‑friendly vs. hero‑unique and provide kit‑first exemplars.
  • Rabbit holes: weeks lost on edge cases. Fix: Timebox and return to drawing; escalate only blockers.

17) Exercises (Concepting + Production)

  1. Tier‑1 Sprint: In 90 minutes, build a 10‑page packet for a coastal fortress: geo/air, structure, two materials, palette, wayfinding, one kit implication. Then thumbnail an arrival keyframe.
  2. Rule Extraction: From 12 references, produce a one‑page rule sheet (proportions, profiles, wear, palette). Kill any ref that yields no rule.
  3. Kit Derivation: Using the packet, design a 6‑piece wall kit + trims and prove three assemblies.
  4. Accessibility Audit: Add contrast minima and color‑vision redundancy to the wayfinding page; re‑paint one scene to comply.
  5. Curation Pass: Prune a bloated packet to 20 pages; add a cheat sheet and demonstrate faster handoff in review.

18) Hand‑Off Checklist (Concepting + Production)

  • Executive summary with pillars and purpose
  • Geo/climate/air recipe; geology and drainage notes
  • Culture/economy/ritual rules tied to forms and signage
  • Materials/construction systems with module sizes and wear logic
  • Palette/lighting plan with ToD/weather alternates
  • Gameplay affordances mapped to metrics
  • Kits/trim guidance and LOD silhouettes
  • Material matrix (PBR targets) with exemplars
  • Wayfinding pack and accessibility notes
  • Anti‑cliché & IP safety page
  • Sources/credits; licensing/permissions clear

Conclusion

Research packets convert curiosity into shippable clarity. On the concepting side, they let you invent boldly within rules grounded in place, culture, and material truth. On the production side, they become compact specs—kits, materials, lighting, and wayfinding—that scale across a team without drift. Keep them thin, annotated, and reviewed, and they will accelerate every decision from the first thumbnail to the final bake.