Table of Contents: Environment Design

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Environment Design for Video Games

Table of Contents

Written for aspiring artists, indie studio artists, and AAA professionals. Each unit is scaffolded with clear projects for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced / Expert.

Part I — Orientation & Foundations

Unit 1 — The Environment Concept Artist

  • Sub-units: Roles across indie / AAA, deliverables, collaboration map
    • Ch.1: What env concept art solves (gameplay, mood, world logic)
    • Ch.2: Deliverable types (thumbnails, keyframes, callouts, paintovers)
    • Ch.3: Reading briefs, asking the right questions
    • Ch.4: Production constraints 101 (time, memory, readability)

Unit 2 — Drawing & Design Fundamentals

  • Sub-units: Form, perspective, composition
    • Ch.1: Perspective for spaces (1/2/3-pt, curvilinear, axonometric)
    • Ch.2: Scale cues & proportion for environments
    • Ch.3: Composition for level readability (flow, focal hierarchy)
    • Ch.4: Value design & shape language

Unit 3 — Light, Color & Atmosphere

  • Sub-units: Lighting models, color design, aerial perspective
    • Ch.1: Global vs local illumination for concepting
    • Ch.2: Color scripting for emotion & gameplay states
    • Ch.3: Atmospheric perspective, fog, volumetrics
    • Ch.4: Time-of-day & seasonal shifts

Unit 4 — Reference, Research & Visual Libraries

  • Sub-units: Fieldwork, moodboards, research ethics
    • Ch.1: Building a genre-specific visual library
    • Ch.2: Moodboards that direct style, not copy
    • Ch.3: Photographic studies & note diagrams
    • Ch.4: Research packets (geo, culture, materials)

Unit 5 — Worldbuilding for Environments

  • Sub-units: Macro → micro logic
    • Ch.1: Geography, climate bands, and settlement logic
    • Ch.2: Culture ↔ architecture feedback loop
    • Ch.3: Economy, resources, and travel routes
    • Ch.4: Environmental storytelling fundamentals

Part II — Natural Worlds

Unit 6 — Geology & Landforms

  • Sub-units: Formation logic that drives believable terrain
    • Ch.1: Mountains, valleys, canyons, plateaus
    • Ch.2: Erosion & stratification as visual cues
    • Ch.3: Coasts, beaches, cliffs, islands, arches
    • Ch.4: Deserts, dunes, salt flats

Unit 7 — Water, Weather & Sky

  • Sub-units: Hydrology, cloud / sky language, severe weather
    • Ch.1: Rivers, lakes, wetlands—how water shapes space
    • Ch.2: Oceans: waves, foam, translucency, tide zones
    • Ch.3: Cloud types, storm structure, light scattering
    • Ch.4: Rain, snow, wind, sandstorms—readability & mood

Unit 8 — Biomes & Ecosystems

  • Sub-units: Plant architecture, ground layers, ecological logic
    • Ch.1: Forest types (boreal, temperate, tropical)
    • Ch.2: Grasslands, tundra, swamps, mangroves
    • Ch.3: Rock / soil / vegetation relationships
    • Ch.4: Stylizing foliage without losing botany

Part III — Built Worlds

Unit 9 — Architectural Grammar

  • Sub-units: Structure, typologies, vernacular
    • Ch.1: Loads, spans, stairs, doors, windows, roofs
    • Ch.2: Vernacular cues across cultures and climates
    • Ch.3: Megastructures & monumental scale
    • Ch.4: Wayfinding, signage, and human factors

Unit 10 — Settlements, Towns & Cities

  • Sub-units: Urban logic from hamlet to megacity
    • Ch.1: Street hierarchies, blocks, plazas, edges
    • Ch.2: District theming and visual rhythm
    • Ch.3: Infrastructure (bridges, transit, utilities)
    • Ch.4: Lived-in storytelling & population density

Unit 11 — Materials & Surface Language

  • Sub-units: Material systems, aging, and weathering
    • Ch.1: Wood, stone, metal, concrete, glass, fabric
    • Ch.2: Wear patterns: edges, contact, stains, moss, rust
    • Ch.3: Scale reads: tiling, repetition, breakup
    • Ch.4: Conveying temperature, weight, and history

Unit 12 — Interiors, Sets & Cutaways

  • Sub-units: Space planning, circulation, furnishing
    • Ch.1: Functional layouts (workflows, adjacency)
    • Ch.2: Prop ecosystems & set dressing for story
    • Ch.3: Cutaways, exploded views, callout sheets
    • Ch.4: Readability for gameplay in tight spaces

Part IV — Genres & Style Systems

Unit 13 — Stylized to Realistic: Building a Style System

  • Sub-units: Shape, value, edge, palette rules
    • Ch.1: Defining a Style / Art Bible & constraints
    • Ch.2: Palette engineering and material simplification
    • Ch.3: Harmonizing across teams and outsourcing
    • Ch.4: Style drift—diagnosis and correction

Unit 14 — Genre Toolkits

  • Sub-units: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalyptic (plus crossovers)
    • Ch.1: Fantasy world logic (magic, myth, medieval to high)
    • Ch.2: Sci-Fi tech trees (hard / soft sci-fi, near / far future)
    • Ch.3: Post-Apoc plausibility (decay, salvage, bricolage)
    • Ch.4: Mixing genres while keeping coherence

Part V — Production & Collaboration

Unit 15 — From Brief to Package: The Concept Pipeline

  • Sub-units: Ideation → iteration → finals → handoff
    • Ch.1: Thumbnails, block-ins, value comps
    • Ch.2: Iteration strategies (30% changes, A / B / C sets)
    • Ch.3: Keyframes vs orthos vs callouts
    • Ch.4: Final packages: what to include and label

Unit 16 — 2D / 3D Hybrid Methods

  • Sub-units: 3D blockouts, kitbashing, photobash ethics
    • Ch.1: Speed blockouts for scale & lighting tests
    • Ch.2: Using scans / kitbash to ideate, not dictate
    • Ch.3: Lighting renders for paintover
    • Ch.4: Terrain workflows & heightfield thinking

Unit 17 — Level Design, VFX & Lighting Partners

  • Sub-units: Readability, metrics, and gameplay beats
    • Ch.1: Whitebox → greybox → art pass collaboration
    • Ch.2: Sightlines, encounter spaces, traversal flow
    • Ch.3: VFX hooks (wind, water, fire, magic, tech)
    • Ch.4: Tech art / lighting constraints & opportunities

Unit 18 — Color Scripts, Beats & Sequencing

  • Sub-units: Emotional arcs & environmental pacing
    • Ch.1: Beat boards & narrative progression
    • Ch.2: Day / night & weather shifts across a level
    • Ch.3: Cinematic cameras, lens language, parallax
    • Ch.4: Isometric, VR / AR, and unusual cameras

Unit 19 — Optimization, Modularity & Reuse

  • Sub-units: Thinking like production from the start
    • Ch.1: Modular kits & tiling logic in concept
    • Ch.2: Reuse patterns without visual noise
    • Ch.3: Memory / readability trade-offs in concepts
    • Ch.4: Documentation that downstream teams love

Part VI — Advanced Practice & Professional Growth

Unit 20 — Advanced Narrative Environment Design

  • Sub-units: Time layers, culture, and environmental “voice”
    • Ch.1: Story beats inside spaces (before/after)
    • Ch.2: Micro-clues: patina, signage, artifacts
    • Ch.3: Hero spaces & setpieces
    • Ch.4: Subtext and symbolism without clichés

Unit 21 — Case Studies & Reverse-Engineering

  • Sub-units: Breaking down shipped games & art tests
    • Ch.1: AAA pipeline constraints—what changed the art
    • Ch.2: Indie ingenuity—scope vs vision
    • Ch.3: Art test walkthroughs and rubric alignment
    • Ch.4: Remastering an old scene: a full teardown

Unit 22 — Portfolio, Careers & Ethics

  • Sub-units: Targeted portfolios, communication, contracts
    • Ch.1: Sequencing a portfolio for recruiter flow
    • Ch.2: Writing callouts & case notes that show thinking
    • Ch.3: Collaboration skills, feedback loops, leadership
    • Ch.4: Ethics of reference, AI, and cultural respect

Unit 23 — Sustainable Workflow & Creative Health

  • Sub-units: Time, energy, and lifelong practice
    • Ch.1: Sprinting your personal projects
    • Ch.2: Study plans (daily / weekly / monthly)
    • Ch.3: Preventing burnout & building momentum
    • Ch.4: Communities, mentorship, and teaching