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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Expanding the world of Avatar's Pandora, transcending games and movies - Mikhail Greuli DevGAMM Interview
At the DevGAMM in Lisbon we caught up with Massive Entertainment's associate art director to discuss the world creation for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (which is now getting the Secrets of the Spires DLC) and the artist's own hybrid profile coming from both video games and films.
Audio transcription
"All right, we're in Cascais for the DevGAMM, this is day 2 and I'm here standing by Mikhail, who just in the morning had a panel about art and about Ubisoft's Avatar, because you work with Massive, so thank you so much for joining us.
If I'm correct, the title was Expanding the World of Avatar?
Yes, the World of Pandora."
"The World of Pandora, of course, so which would you say is the main takeaway? How would you, sorry for not attending, how would you recap what you shared with joint developers here?
I mean, mainly it was just expanding and showcasing what the amazing team at Massive and Ubisoft in collaboration with Disney and Lightstorm did to expand the World of Pandora to the gaming media, right?
And basically it was focused a little bit more on pre-production and what we did, like how we did the world building, how we worked together with Lightstorm Entertainment and Disney on bringing this amazing world and expanding it for new fans, you know, and yeah, it was mainly about this, right?
So like the pre-production, the art, the design, the world building and what the teams at Massive and Disney did together, you know, how we accomplished this game, you know, this world, which was unanimously praised by everyone and it was, yeah, just a pure pleasure for me to share it with the younger developers to show our learnings that we did, you know, how we structured the workflow and how we did together with the references and all this sort of stuff."
"What else can you tell me about the way you guys worked together, the way you got access to assets, the way you had to sort of reinterpret what you got to make it technically possible for the game? What else did you share today?
I mean, it was basically a true partnership, right? So we worked very closely with both Disney and Lightstorm Entertainment. We had access to their materials, they had access to everything that we did, you know, so it was a very mutual partnership, very close collaborations and it was amazing, just an amazing experience, I think, for both parties."
"And personally, in terms of designs and what you guys put into the game, what was the thing that made you excited the most to work with from Cameron's, you know, original source material?
I mean, for me, it was overall just a big pleasure to work on this IP because I'm a huge fan. I saw the first movie when I was still in high school and I was like...
Oh, don't say that! Last year of high school! And it was for me, like, I think I saw it like five times the week after because it just blew my mind. And being a background in concept art and now actually working on this IP with all those, like, with Dylan Cole and Ben Proctor, who were like my childhood heroes, it's just an amazing true experience, right?
It's like having them look at my work and feedback it or like say, hey, this looks amazing, thank you. And it's, yeah, this was the key highlight for me working with them, right? It's very... I couldn't have imagined this like 10 years ago, right?
I want to ask you about the Secrets of the Spires and I want to ask you about upcoming, it's around the corner, the DLC for Tears of Pandora."
"From the base game, which would you say is the place you like the most or the characters you like to interact with the most, artistically, of course?
I mean, I don't think I have a pure favorite. I think we did overall amazing work on everything, but my personal, what I really enjoyed the most of the region is the Clouded Forest because it's really based on the Swedish Temperate Forest and we as a studio were based in Malmo, Sweden, right?
So for me, like seeing this region, which is very contrasting to their beautiful rainforest that we see in Avatar 1, it's like something different, but it still has this Pandoran touch."
"So it was very fun to work and explore and like bring this region to life, right? So this is really interesting for me with all the fog and all the misty mycelium networks and moss, you know, growing on the trees with the big like cluster pine trees and all that.
Yeah, for me, it was very, very cool region to work on.
Now that you mentioned your personal preferences and this is something that we are seeing a lot here at DEFCON is that many of you guys have a movie background. It's interesting. I don't know if it's coincidental, but we've seen a bunch of speakers that, you know, have been dealing with cinema and movies, etc. And you yourself are like that."
"So what would you say, you know, adds to your career and to your vision in both ways, you know, coming from cinema and the other way around coming from video games that make you, I don't know, perhaps think differently.
I mean, I think what my, because I started with games right first, and then I switched to movies, and then I came back to games to work on Avatar. And what's my experience in the film, right, working with the Hollywood Studios actually helped me on this project is understanding the perspective of Lightstorm Entertainment, right? Because it's a movie IP, right? So I understood how they approach the design, and then I could help transfer it to the approach that we use for gaming because it's slightly different, right? So I think this really helped me a lot. And yeah, I think..."
"Also, specifically, which would you say is the ingredient that makes movie making special compared to how you normally approach art in video games?
I think, first of all, in the movies, it's all about the shot, right? And it's all about supporting the story. But in games, the gameplay is the first thing, right? So we need to support the gameplay as well as the story, right? And in movies, you're doing the shot to fit on this 2D screen, right? Or like a 3D, if it's a 3D movie, but it's like one specific camera shot that the director and DOP design together all the artists."
"In a video game, especially a video game like ours, the players can observe everything. So we need to design the world to make sure that you can look at it from different angles, right? And this is what brings another challenge to us. But understanding what the filmmakers, what for them is important in their 2D image, right? In the world that they're building. And you can take those key components and transfer them seamlessly to the 3D world, like the interactive world that they're building, right?
And this is my knowledge from the movie industry helped me to get this into our game."
"Let alone in VR, that's another layer added to what you just mentioned. Did you collaborate with the Star Wars team as well or not at all?
No, we are separate project.
Okay, let me ask you about cinema again. It's a closing one. Dread Sonia is coming...
I think next year."
"Next year, I think. So, you know, what can you tell us about the visual approach to that movie?
I mean, I worked on it some time ago, like in an early pre-production. And all I can say that, I mean, back in the days, right, we took a much very dark, gritty approach, which I really enjoyed personally, like very dark fantasy.
I'm a huge fantasy fan. I'm a huge Conan fan. So I'm very excited when it comes out. And it was, I think, one of the highlights for me in the movie career to work on this movie because I really resonate with this topic."
"I think the script was amazing. So I really hope that next year when it comes out, people will enjoy it. And I'm really excited to see it myself, right, because it's been a long time to see how the concepts are actually created in the movie.
It's conceptual art, mostly.
Yeah, I'm a concept artist in the background, right? So most of my work on the movies was as a concept designer."
"All right, interesting. Any other project that you are working on that you would like to mention now that we might not have touched upon?
I mean, I also worked on The Electric State, right, which is the movie that comes out next year on Netflix starring Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown. And it was super fun as well to work on the movie.
So I hope..."
"Conceptual art as well?
Yeah, concept design as well. Yeah, it was some years ago. And I think recently a trailer dropped out and looked super cool. And I was like, oh, that's the shot I worked on. Yeah, very nice.
Yeah, definitely check it out. I think it will be a great, great movie. And also, you know, we're having... We just recently, a couple of months ago, released the first story pack for Avatar called The Skybreakers."
"And this month, as you mentioned, The Secrets of the Spires are coming out. So I'm very, very excited to see the players get their hands on it.
Lots of things to look forward to, including your conceptual art, both in video games and movies. So thank you so much for your time, Michael. Enjoy the rest of the show.
Yeah, thank you very much for having me."
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