When we first started working on Looters, our team consisted of five game developers, all deeply passionate about DnD and fantastical universes like vampires, gothic settings, goblins and more. Fun fact: Looters was initially envisioned as a vampire game before evolving into its current direction!
Early environment references for Looters
One of our early decisions was to create a stylized game. This choice was driven by technical considerations and by the desire to create strong portfolio pieces for a team of students. We opted for low-poly assets with baked high-resolution details, allowing us to balance optimization and a solid production workflow (low, high, bake, textures). That said, choosing stylized was not about taking the easy route. It was still a good artistic challenge! We pushed ourselves through constant iteration, feedback and reviews since we had to focus on strong silhouettes and expressive, cartoony visuals. This process required a lot of back-and-forth, but it ultimately elevated the quality of the work. I’m genuinely proud of what the art team has accomplished.
Early character and loot references for Looters
‘’At the beginning of the production, I was the sole concept artist, handling all 2D exploration. I relied heavily on visual research, taking inspiration on ArtStation and Pinterest. This project did push me out of my comfort zone, because my style gravitates more towards softer and cuter aesthetics, whereas Looters required embracing rougher shapes, exaggerated features, and a certain level of ugliness. Goblins, after all, should be silly and grotesque.’’ - Céline
Goblins Concept Art done by Céline
‘’A good example would be the cultist; in its early stages, I explored many iterations using simple silhouettes and softer, rounder features. However, through multiple revisions, and especially during the transition from 2D to 3D, the design evolved significantly. We gradually pushed it toward a more unsettling and eerie direction to better match the tone we were aiming for.’’ - Céline
Cultist Concept Art done by Céline
’’Moreover, I was later on joined by my fellow concept artists Noah and Antoine, whose contributions were invaluable. Together, we refined the game’s cartoony and absurd tone, strengthening its visual identity and making the universe feel more cohesive.’’ - Céline
What were your main inspirations?
‘’As mentioned earlier, our attraction to fantastical universes played a major role in shaping our art direction. Games like Castlevania helped guide us toward a darker mood and informed some of our environmental and thematic choices. For stylization, we looked at titles known for their strong visual readability, vibrant colors and exaggerated forms. The franchise of Zelda, along with Palia and It Takes Two helped us understand how to balance clarity, charm and visual impact. Finally, one of the biggest sources of inspiration came from within the team itself. Working alongside other concept artists brought in fresh ideas and perspectives that we wouldn’t have reached individually. That collaborative dynamic pushed us to explore more creative ideas, iterate faster, and constantly challenge each other.’’ - Céline
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“My concept art would range from basic sketches for shapes and silhouette, to more rendered and colored pieces depending on the needs of the modelling artist I was drawing for. Our art style for the game is very asymmetrical and stylized, and it was a lot of fun seeing how far I could push the designs of something as simple as a turnip or a ham.” - Noah
Concept Art made by Noah Nethercott
“The many exotic plants of the Greenhouse was one of my favorite things to draw, as I got to have creative freedom in making as many different weird and wacky designs as I could. I really enjoy getting to see how my teammates interpret and translate my designs into 3D and I was always open to drawing variations for them when needed.” - Noah
Concept Art made by Noah Nethercott
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“Other than being an animator, I was also put on the task of doing the art and illustrations for the In-game UI. One of my most important jobs was to make the End Screen at the end of each level. With a few designers, we spent a lot of time trying to find a middle ground between an arcade-like and medieval look for our UI. It took quite a few tries and concepts to finally reach a result that looked like what we imagined Looters to be like.” - Antoine
Concept Art made by Antoine Hallé (before & after)
“Designing the End Screen was a suprisingly hard task, something so obvious took a lot of effort and thoughts. One of our biggest concerns was our ability to convey every information about the gameplay in a cute and simple but visually pleasing End Screen. Despite all the time spent, the back and forth with the designers and the many concepts that were scrapped, I was really enjoying myself trying to optimize the most information with the least images, texts, and boxes. Overall I believe the end results is rather fun to look at and clear enough for the players.” - Antoine
UI and Illustrations made by Antoine Hallé
“I'm a simple man, we are doing a medieval themed game, you bet I'm putting knights in it! One of my favorite parts of the project was doing concepts for this little shiny guy. Armor and knights are one of my favorite things, and being given free range on it made me able to express my passion and knowledge on it. Using armor pieces such as a frogmouth and rather cartoonishly large pauldon, I was able to design a full plated armor that would look both intimidating and stylized enough to fit in the game. I really enjoyed working on this piece with Vincent Marquis, who did an awesome job at modeling my concept.’’ - Antoine
Concepts Art made by Antoine Hallé
“After deciding the name of our company, Partners in Crime, I was given the assessment to visualize a logo that we would all love and be proud of. Going from literal criminals to more subtle imagery, I spent time trying to conceptualize the idea of criminal partners for the early concepts. One of my favorites was the one with the bleeding rose, using imagery of mafia and romance to symbolize both partners and criminal activities. However, at some point, the team agreed that a cute and simple logo with an animal would also be a good direction. With these guidelines I looked into cute animals that were known to be associated with being social or crime and it landed on rats, two big ones.’’ - Antoine
Concepts Art and Final Illustration made by Antoine Hallé
“My final task for the game was doing the steam achievements for the release. With the direction our game is and its quite frequent humour, I decided that sneaking in a few references and jokes would be fitting, are you able to tell which one it is? Anyway, to get back to those little illustrations I had to make decisions and choices to be sure that these would be easily readable in such a small format and find away to link them all together. So with the help of my good friend Noah, we decided to inspire ourselves from Hollow Knight: Silksong and go for a two colour palette and make a border for all of them that would give a medieval feel to those drawings. Honestly I was surprised at how much I enjoyed drawing them.’’ - Antoine
Achievement Icons made by Antoine Hallé
Check out Antoine's portfolio here
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Thank you all for reading our devlogs up until now! Hope this has helped to give more insider info on the making of our game and the passion behind each and every student working on this project! We've heard your prayers and thoughts, heisters! Want to learn about the music and the team behind the sounds in our game? No problem! Tomorrow, prepare yourself heisters, as we will shine the spotlight on our amazing Sound Designers, from UDEM University.
Did you know? A brand new map is coming along with lots of bug fixes, new features and pure chaos to the game on May 1st! Mark your calendars, sneaky ones. We're only a week away now ːsteammockingː And as always...