Dark Souls: Design Works

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Otsuka: Of all the enemies in the game, the ones which scared me the most would have to be the Crow Demons in the Painted World and the Basilisks in the Depths. Miyazaki: The demon in the Uundead Asylum, the Taurus and Capra demons - in fact, the majority of the demon enemies were designed by Mr. Nakamura. I really love all of his designs, they're simple but not predictable. Exactly the kind of creatures that I imagined populating the Dark Souls world. They're just fantastic. When the imagery’s complexity increases because of a scene’s scope and/or ornamental density, that drama of definition still remains to a notable degree. In one picture of Anor Londo, the great church is surrounded by the spires and towers of adjacent buildings, but their presence is suggested in only the loosest sense. The church itself is emboldened by darker colors and committed linework, and the railings of the stairway that precedes its front doors have been gilded with a golden color as if to reinforce their climactic attribute. The Dark Souls series is globally noted for its tendency to communicate its narrative mostly through the environments presented to the player. Much is left untold and is up to the player to interpret. The environmental designs of Dark Souls III can be compared to the artistic movement of Romanticism in the way that they create generate largely melodramatic views of scenery. Satake: Yes, as design progressed he really turned into the type of king who would fight at the head of his troops.

Waragai: It feels like a place everyone will gather, so I think this location actually worked really well. Otsuka: I think it's a really unique area, I remember before travelling there I was excited to see what would happen. Miyazaki: As I said before, everything had its particular shade or tone; Blighttown, for example is the rawest, most disgusting area in the game, but looking at the area as a whole, I wanted it to both possess a deep sadness and feel bitterly cold, that's the atmosphere I tried to build on. You could say I that have a habit of working in this way, and I think you can really see that in Dark Souls' art direction.ANYWAY: All this having been said, I think it’s thought-provoking to refer to the game’s concept art (or what of it we were shown in the book Dark Souls: Design Works), because in certain ways it is atypical compared to the concept art for games developed by European and American teams, and it may suggest on a partial but significant level why Dark Souls’ level design is the way it is. My intent here is not to establish absolutes of value in creative approaches or make inherent nationalistic claims; it’s to make a selective comparison. What stands out to me when I look at a lot of Dark Souls’ environmental concept art, and then compare it to that of other games with relatable settings, is how they have a drama of definition. The imagery is just as much about establishing an atmosphere as it is about zoning in on memorable characteristics of the space, or making them memorable by restraining details, such as what the first image below (depicting the prison cell you begin the game in) does. There is an almost theatrical aspect to these images in how they consciously centralize or emphasize features while letting other details fade away. Waragai: I suppose it does. I've always liked fantasy but it wasn't until I started working on these designs that I really began to think about how the armour was put together. Then I started thinking, "how would you construct armour for someone who was really overweight?" and this design was the result. During the boss fight, if the player defeats Ornstein first, Ornstein's hand moves briefly before Smough crushes him with his hammer, implying that he was still alive. Additionally, Smough can be heard laughing after crushing Ornstein. Miyazaki: She joined us slightly later in the project, when we'd already finished the initial concept stage, so I had her work on those designs which had to adhere to a more rigid set of conditions. As Ms. Hatsuyama just said, the Gargoyles where one of those designs. This enemy would appear just before you rung the bell in the Bell Tower; this much was decided but I couldn't get a clear image for the creature. Originally the centipede demon from Izalith was here, but looking at the route you take through the opening stages of the game, to Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo and beyond, it didn't really fit. It's also the first large boss enemy you face so I wanted something a little more typical. So since it's a church and we have a relatively open space, we decided on gargoyles. It was one of your first designs, wasn't it, Ms. Hatsuyama? Miyazaki: We wanted his clothing to look ancient, he is an old king after all. I researched a lot of old clothing but I couldn't really find anything that looked cool. Short pants for example wouldn't create the image we wanted for the character. I'm happy with the final design though.

Miyazaki: Yes, but the artist had such a happy look on his face, I didn't have the heart to stop him. Miyazaki: The depths were based around the image of an underground aqueduct, but its aesthetics are very similar to that of the Undead Burg. It also shared the same lead artist so the two areas really fit well together. This isn’t dignified. Don’t rely on the gross factor to portray an undead dragon. Can’t you instead try to convey the deep sorrow of a magnificent beast doomed to a slow and possibly endless descent into ruin?" Miyazaki: In my mind, Sieglinde was always a cute character. I specifically remember asking for that.All demons are born from the fire of chaos, but he was the first, born so long ago, when the fire wasn't yet stable. He possesses it, but he can't control it and it burns him constantly. Despite his size, he's actually the youngest of Izalith's children, he stands gazing up at the ruins where his sisters live. The only source of comfort in his pitiful, painful existence is the belief that they are watching over him. Miyazaki: Ah, that pose was something I brought over from Demon's Souls, it belonged to a holy man. Miyazaki: That's right. We really had trouble with that. I've already talked about quite a few aspects of the game I'm not entirely happy with, but I'd have to say that my greatest regret is the Bed of Chaos. The artists and designers worked extremely hard and came up with some fantastic ideas, but it exposed a real problem in our production method. We had no way to find a common goal and work towards it when things went wrong. It's definitely something I want to correct in the future. In the end they never were, the four knights disappeared and the design work for knights A and B was transferred to other characters like Ornstein and Artorias. The Channeller was given a different role, so that left Smough. I'm extremely fond of the design so I wanted to do something special, turn him from one of four knights into something almost… heretical.

Hatsuyama: Can I ask aboutGwynevere, because compared to the other female charters she's very different, almost glamorous. The above example of a romantic landscape by John Martin explores the power of the environment. Figure XI places people into the painting and subjects them to an environment of an immense scale. Here, large shadows are cast within the scene that create a sinister and imposing atmosphere. The storm brewing in the distance and red colour of the mountains and clouds give the environment a presence within the scene, as if it were an entitiy and alive. John Marin uses the epic and destructive force of nature to express a unique form beauty in the emotions felt as one stands before it. The same feeling is captured as if you were really to stand before these huge plains and be in awe at the sight of forces beyond you. This is called sumblimity or the sublime. Depictions of the Virgin Mary, known otherwise as “Madonnas”, have been common within religious art spanning several hundred years of human cultural development. Mary, by western civilisation , has been turned into an Icon of fertility, maternity and youth and has been transformed into an iconographical theme herself. The mere presence of the Virgin Mary immediately raises themes that must be considered in any artistic context. Doré presents us with his own version of the Virgin Mary, much like the many artists before him, such as Michelangelo and William-Adolphe Bouguereau , who also worked during Doré ’s lifetime. The simple portrayal of Mary in an artwork is not merely an illustration of her and her baby Jesus, but a celebration of life, using the most ideal figure of maternity and motherhood. Miyazaki uses this symbolism that has been ingrained into western culture in Rosaria from Dark Souls III, but deconstructs the culturally accepted meaning and twists it to create a new meaning for himself and players of Dark Souls III. For example, instead of Rosaria being the mother figure to a child, she is the mother figure to an abomination. Her name and title also suggest that unlike the Virgin Mary, who is celebrated for giving birth to Jesus, she is the “Mother of Rebirth” thus not celebrating life but instead reincarnation or resurrection.

Dark Souls II Art Gallery

Miyazaki: Oh, there are many, for example Andre of Astora. Originally he played a far more important role in the story. When Ornstein left in search of the Nameless King, [4] Smough remained guarding the ruined cathedral, [2] [3] and was ironically, despite his unholy position as executioner, the last knight of any kind of status to do so.

Miyazaki: I wonder… Personally - this is also the case with the Ceaseless Discharge - I'm not entirely happy with the way she turned out, I think we could have improved both their behaviour and the way they are introduced to the player. Miyazaki: I'm sorry. Of course, If I don't get what I want, I start giving more specific descriptions and I might even start drawing things on the whiteboard, but even then I'd never go so far as to say "it has to be this colour or this shape", I don't want the designers to become my tools. It doesn't always go as I want, but I think that's probably due to me not getting the best out of the artists, and this is something I want to get better at in the future.Miyazaki: That's the truth… I regret that the fight turned out this way… Of course there are other designs that I really like, the Iron Golem for example, is a great, large powerful enemy. Not only does this vista from Dark Souls III visually resemble “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” but it also perfectly captures its many associated meanings and connotations. In Figure X we see a man gazing into the vast bed of clouds, mesmerised by the sight, and as Gaddis says, “suggesting at once mastery over a landscape and the insignificance of the individual within it. What is important is that this banner raising scene above, takes place at the beginning of the game, and instead of placing a human into contrast with nature, it places humanity into a parallel with decay and destruction, presenting a gothic beauty that thrives on the feeling of something great once having been but that greatness now fading. The scene is representative of the main characters insignificance within Dark Souls III where they are at whim of the decaying world around them, without the ability to make an impact much like the insignificance of the figure in The Wanderer that can only do as much as watch. Miyazaki: You can almost imagine it saying things like "you're too far away", "get over here, I want to eat you". Of course, these words never came up in the design process as I never imagined the creature would develop in this way, but I think it's a really incredible design. As I said before I love working together with the artists, I really think it benefits both of us. In fact I'd go so far as to say that it's my favourite part of the job. Spatial positioning, rather than dodges or counters, is at the heart of many NES games and at the heart of Dark Souls combat.”