Heya! I’m Vancris Balanon, Art Director of Dimraeth. Today I want to take you behind the scenes of something the whole art team poured our hearts into: crafting The World of Dimraeth. From the smallest blade of grass in the Wildwood Forest to the colossal statues of the Old Ones, every detail was carefully considered.
The Three Guiding Pillars of Environment
Creating a world from scratch is no small feat—it was easily one of the toughest challenges our art team faced. But those challenges brought incredible satisfaction when everything clicked. To guide us, we focused on three pillars: Unique Visual Identity, Immersion, and Game Design Alignment. In this post, we’ll dive into the first pillar.
Why Unique Visual Identity Matters
For us, a strong visual identity means players will remember an environment long after they’ve left it. But what creates that sense of uniqueness? Two key elements: Biome and Culture.
The best example is Earlwood Village, the player’s very first glimpse of the outside world. We wanted it to feel simple yet breathtaking—a quiet seaside settlement at the edge of the continent, far from the bustling cities of Mirkea, but unforgettable in its own right.
The Earlwood Peninsula
To achieve this, we started with geography. Location is the foundation of any environment, so we looked to real-world wonders for inspiration: the White Cliffs of Dover, the Fingal Caves of Scotland, and Vietnam’s Ghềnh Đá Đĩa. Right away, it was clear Earlwood belonged on a dramatic coastal landscape like these. So we crafted a geographical location from these inspirations and produced matching fauna and flora. Earlwood Peninsula was born.
The People of Earlwood
With geography set, we turned to culture. The villagers draw on human traditions from Aldoria with a touch of Elven influence from their neighbors in the Eternal Forest. Their coastal home naturally shapes their way of life, which revolves around fishing, farming, logging, and trade.
Even their architecture reflects this connection. Homes and tools reuse materials salvaged from shipwrecks along the Earlwood Cliffs or repurposed parts from old boat production. Every detail was refined alongside our narrative director to make sure it all tied into the village’s history and the broader world of Dimraeth.
Earlwood's Visual Identity
After countless sketches, iterations, and discussions, Earlwood’s Unique Visual Identity came to life. It’s the perfect introduction to the wider world of Dimraeth—and a first step we hope players will never forget.
That wraps up Pillar One! Next time, we’ll dive into Immersion—how we make Dimraeth feel alive and picturesque. Stay tuned for the next devlog!