Guild Wars 2

Once again, you guys have done it again! Dry Top has a beautiful sense of immersion and amazing transition from sand to jungle. I’m currently working on improving my environmental design as It’s my greatest weakness right now as an artist. My question is, what was the overall design that lead up to how Dry Top was? Was it created from scratch or was it done using references from GW1?

I would love to see concept sketches and learn from fellow professional artists.

It’s absolutely based on GW1, the whole theme of Maguuma is Barren Wastelands into thick jungle. It’s quite literally an area of extremes.

I didn’t find the layout to be immediately recognizable from the GW1 zone, if recognizable at all. It sounded like much of it was in a higher elevation that was inaccessible there though (assuming the areas line up in the first place).

Visually, it does take that cue, with the wastes-to-jungle transition. It never looked quite like this in GW1 though – what they pulled off in this area looks amazing. You do have to spin the camera around a lot to see quite a bit of it – but among other things, that north canyon wall would give El Capitan a run for its money. The oasis was also very pretty, though I think that underground ley-line cave would be the overall coolest area

Southsun had its own design concepts that were pretty interesting overall, but the “vista density” of Dry Top is comparatively off the charts…

Sirius.4510:

Southsun had its own design concepts that were pretty interesting overall, but the “vista density” of Dry Top is comparatively off the charts…

One of the best things about GW2 environments is their ability to make you feel incredibly small. I have a healthy fear of heights, so I absolutely love taking a second to realize I’m like 60 stories off the ground hugging a 4 inch ledge. Mini adrenaline rush on demand.