Cyberpunk 2077’s Art Design, Direction & Philosophy!
Today we are diving into Cyberpunk 2077s stunning Art design and direction and how it brings the world of Night City alive.
In a single player RPG, the art direction is paramount in creating an authentic vision. Throw in the fact that this is a game based in a Cyberpunk universe with over 4700 pages of stylized source material and you have all the tools at your disposable to make the most believable sci fi world in any medium to date.
CDPR has approached it’s art direction cautiously and there are some very important reasons behind this. Art Director Kasia Redesiuk attributes some of this hesitance and time invested because of the visual challenge of developing technology and the world to reflect 50 years of progress from 2020.
Concept artists draft up a variety of different concept pieces and it allows the art department to meet with the other departments to determine which of these styles connect to the overarching themes and ideas of the game as a whole.
We know by know that there is 6 distinct districts in Cyberpunk 2077 with their own unique flare. We’ve seen the Corporate centre and Watson so far, with Pacifica being detailed by media and influencers, and both areas offer styles on opposite sides of Cyberpunk 2077’s spectrum. Whilst Pacifica is a gang ridden slum, riddled throughout the skeletons of a once promising coastal retreat, Watson and the city centre is a Marketers wet dream with buzzing neon billboards, the blur of public transport and on the move street dwellers.
Quest Designer Pawel Sasko has recently highlighted that the 4 distinct styles of the world referenced in their Cyberpunk conceptual art series is not only going to be tied to clothing and our own personal style, but the buildings and environments will also be tied to these specific niches.
Now whilst CDPR has a majority of the freedom in their adaptation of Cyberpunk 2077, Mike Pondsmith is referenced as a walking encyclopedia and the go to man for clarification on some of the harder thematic and visual choices. He’s been very vocal about Weapons in the past.
The UI design is something CD PROJEKT has mentioned highly iterative. CDPR mentions that it needs to be readable, but at the same time it needs to be in universe and consistent. The goal when it comes to this design is that it should be apparent on your HUD if for instance you are getting hacked or fried.
Boisterous color is weaponized on your screen by the Megacorporations. The dichotomy between suffering, pain and struggle with the vivid and overtly “out-there” billboards and ads is a Cyberpunk trope that CD PROJEKT RED has gone full force with. Take one look on some of the more hectic streets of night city and it’s almost suffocating how much toxic brand allegiance seems to propagate throughout the world. If you don’t consume the latest drinks, have the latest car, or the second version of the Mr Studd sexual augment, you’re destined to be sucking cement as lowly street scum.
According to CD PROJEKT RED ads will also give a chance to show more of the universe and the background locales in some of these ads will show the state of the world outside of Night City. Good art allows you to extrapolate with some direction along the way.
Cyberspace was also a big challenge although CDPR have seemingly pinpointed their direction when it comes to this. From realistic to abstract, they’ve moved towards creating a digital playground that is surrounded in an air of mysticism.
Culturally, the genre has many times shown a melting pot future, which 2077 will align with. From the Voodooboys, Haitian immigrants who speak Creole, to the Maelstrom who speak Norweigan, to the fact that a language translator is an important piece of Cyberware for V, which without would make it harder to unwravel the citizens of Night Cities secrets.
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Cyberpunk 2077 – It Took CDPR “Multiple Years” To Nail Down the Game’s Art Direction