Atomhawk spent over three years working with NetherRealm from helping to set the visual style at the very start of the project through to the creation of concept art for fightlines, story modes, characters, breakouts and animated endings.
Injustice 2
Client
NetherRealm Studios
Service lines
2D Game Art
Animation
Concept Art
Production Art
UI/UX
Platforms
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Microsoft Windows
Release Date
May 2017
Overview
The overall style for Injustice 2 focuses on hyper-realism, bringing a more cinematic quality to the game through the use of lenses, realistic rendering and non-linear fighting.
The key shots and cinematics were a key part of the art process, helping to set the mood and look of a place or moment without having to take into account the constraints of a fightline.
Fightlines
Fightlines are a key part of the Injustice universe; various locations where the game’s heroes and villains go toe to toe.
We created fightlines for an extremely diverse selection of environments, from the Arkham Asylum to Swamp Thing’s Swamp and the bleak Fortress of Solitude.
Characters
The characters we created for the game come from the vast roster of DC Universe heroes and villians, from the many-times reincarnated Superman, Cat Woman and Wonder Woman to the less familiar Starfire, Nightwing and Captain Cold.
As well as a large selection of prime characters, we also enjoyed creating a series of Alt versions, where the characters took on different looks and costumes.
Breakouts
Most of the breakouts we created for the game are detailed renders of objects of interest or usable items that the player find along the fightline. Our designs are used as the basis for 3D models of the assets that can them be interacted with as part of the gameplay.
Animation
As part of our epic Injustice 2 adventure we created animated character endings for almost forty of DC’s best-known heroes and villains.
Our animation and concept art teams worked closely together to craft animated sequences that not only tell the story of each character but also look amazing and retain the style and quality of the overall game.
Based on scripts and initial direction provided by the NetherRealm team, our concept artists created sketches that informed our animation teams’ animatics, helping to establish key elements such as timings, camera movements and any additional effects needed to support the narrative.
The animatics were then passed back to the artists to create final colour artwork before the full animation was produced in After Effects, complete with 3D parallex and VFX.
Screen Graphics
Combining our animation and VFX skills with our background in designing user interfaces for “real” world experiences was a great advantage when creating screen graphics for Batman’s AI intelligence system, Brother Eye.
In-game Cinematics
The animated UI elements have been adapted by NetherRealm for use throughout the game’s cinematic moments.
Animated UI Elements
Once we had completed designs for all of the required panels, we then selected one screen to be taken forward to the animation stage. The example below showcases an animated concept of what a ‘boot up’ sequence would look like.
Client Credits:
Steve Beran, Director of Art
Joe Berger, Art Development Director
Brendan George, Character Art Lead
Thiago Gomes, World Art Lead
