rpgU campus design process - 4th design

Hi! This is the most recent stuff I worked on at Red Pepper Games Studio - the School Campus Design V4, created in a Chinoiserie-inspired style.

We developed the environment from initial thumbnails to Blender, then from Blender to Photoshop, with every design decision driven by the story and the traversal needs of the game.

The reference images on the side show some of the architecture studies, along with my paintings of different locations throughout the campus.

On my callout sheets, I really enjoy using white lines to hide the objects in the foreground and reveal the full architectural design.

Sometimes, I’ll also add a quick front-view sketch of the architecture on the side. It helps me understand the structure and proportions of what I’m drawing before I dive into the details.

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Another whimsical environment I worked on at Red Pepper Games was the forest exploration panorama, where players would explore the forest and encounter enemies along the way.

Here’s a video showing some of my thinking and design process. These are just the first-pass concepts for the forest, exploring the 2.5D environment, mood, and how the modules could support the gameplay.

Designing forests is always fun. I usually need to find the right music to engage my other senses, even my sense of smell.

I picture myself standing inside the environment with my eyes closed, imagining the smells, sounds, temperature, and humidity I would experience before opening my eyes. What does the air smell like? Is the ground damp? What can I hear in the distance? How does the air feel on my skin?

That’s how I paint moods.

And mood plays such an important role in designing forests. It’s not just about what the player sees, but what they can imagine experiencing within the environment.

Hope you enjoy it!

 haven't updated for a while...

Since 2025 June, I've joined Red Pepper Games as an art director / co-funder with 4 friends to develop our own game. The demo is out, and we are working on more contents to get onto steam. 

finger cross <3

RedPepperGames.com