Back 4 Blood DLC: Tunnels of Terror (2022)
The first DLC for Back 4 Blood was ridiculously fun to work on because we took a 90 degree turn from what the base game is. The artistic directive was to make seven underground dungeons feel unique with their own visual schemes and make them feel a bit like separate "realms".
The dungeons were done in the span of about four months, starting shortly after we shipped the core game.
For display on ArtStation, did the usual Lightroom post-processing to maximize dynamic range and composited more Zeiss Milvus lens flares into some of the shots where it made sense with light sources firing right into the camera. Also used more of the high-ISO sensor noise of my Panasonic S1 camera to break the images up a bit.
Check out the other fine people who worked on Back 4 Blood's Dungeons DLC!
Art Direction:
https://www.artstation.com/mikebrainard
Lighting:
https://www.artstation.com/norbertvarga895
Environment, level art, & design:
https://www.artstation.com/ianrunnels
https://www.artstation.com/evansart
https://www.artstation.com/tivoli
https://www.artstation.com/pipesfranco
https://www.artstation.com/brentgriffith
https://www.artstation.com/jafo
https://www.artstation.com/dallanpickard
https://www.artstation.com/alternateground
https://www.artstation.com/phillgonzales
Character art:
https://www.artstation.com/alexboatman
https://www.artstation.com/jchavez21
https://www.artstation.com/elliotb
https://www.artstation.com/jhill
Weapon art:
https://www.artstation.com/bradboyles
Animation:
https://www.artstation.com/chazamation
Concept art:
"The Cut"
The "energy within" lighting motif that was created for The Abomination in the base game was cranked up for this dungeon to imply that it's the closest to the source of this light.
Sharon Bednarek found these gorgeous reference photos of natural sinkholes which heavily influenced the strong top-down lighting approach.
"300 Below"
Used smaller and dimmer halogen sources in some areas to play up the scale of the concrete retaining walls. Somewhat inspired by photos of oil rigs at night. Color variations to imply different bulb ages and spectrums.
"Brood Lair"
"Caustic Cesspool"
