How Game Environments Support Gameplay

Game environments have to do much more than look impressive.

They guide the player, support gameplay, establish mood, communicate where to go, and provide a believable space for stories and encounters. At the same time, environment teams often need to build large locations and hundreds of assets within fixed production schedules.

Ching Lau spent 18 years at ZeniMax Online Studios, working on environment assets, structures, props, and major projects for The Elder Scrolls Online. As a Principal Environment Artist, he also contributed to director reviews, helped solve pipeline problems, and supported other artists.

In this interview, we explore how environment artists balance visual quality with gameplay, organize large amounts of work, reuse assets without making locations feel repetitive, and help teams deliver strong environments on time.

Main Topics:

• Gameplay-Focused Environment Art
• Modular Kits and Asset Reuse
• Building Locations on Schedule
• Interactive and Decorative Assets
• Team Collaboration and Art Direction

Interrview with Former ZeniMax Principal Environment Artist Ching Lau

Q: After working in environment art for more than 20 years, what has changed most in the way you approach a new location?

I think the biggest change to my approach to creating a new cultural set of structures, props, and other points of interest is that the base parts need to have a certain level of reusability while keeping higher fidelity.

In the old days we ran into a lot of lower resolution textures and lower overall tri count but over time we were able to increase details through the geometry while also using larger texture sets and in some cases even a second diffuse/normal map.

I found that working closer with world building and qa created more opportunities to strategically place assets so we could put more into what we have.

Also having a better LOD system allowed us to have better looking levels of detail the further away the player is and in some lower end settings retaining a stronger visual.

Working outside of our bubbles allowed us to work more efficiently and ultimately more freedom. This was the outcome of building up relationships and a strong pipeline over the past 18 years.

Q: How should an environment support gameplay instead of simply looking beautiful?

While yes the environment needs to be pretty, the functionality is above all else. If the game is pretty but miserable to play through then your game has failed.

Conversely when your game is ugly but fun to play you can still win over an audience. What is best is when there is mutual respect from both sides.

As an artist I am there to help sell a designer’s vision and if I have to change something to help them sell their gameplay I will change whatever is needed.

However that being said I have noticed that cases of push back from both sides stems from miscommunications which is why communication is crucial for a game’s success.

Q: When a team has to build a large environment within a fixed schedule, what helps the work stay manageable?

Again communication is crucial. In this case it’s is important to understand what the end goal is.

Let’s say you are tackling a large structure set the key first pieces need to be thought out most likely with blockouts. Once designers have gone through it and it works for their play space I tend to start working on what the concept artist called out.

Key pieces like pillars, trims, tilling stone, wood, etc are laid out and made into reusable parts. After that you figure out how much damage you need but that’s a detailed pass.

If you have a solid team this moves pretty quickly but again it is so important that everyone is on the same page.

The last thing you need is a table flip at the end of production but as long as all stakeholders are at the very least aware it limits issues in the long run.

Q: How do modular kits and reusable asset libraries help environment teams work faster?

Ha I feel like I am kinda answering future questions but everything is kinda tied in together.

Of course modular pieces save time. Anything you build can be repurposed and once you have your texture sets done it is so unbelievably fast to create variants.

Like damaged ruins are just core sets with a dirt pass in the 2nd diffuse and damage either modeled in or masked in.

One time I finished a damaged dungeon set almost 20 days ahead of schedule because I had planned ahead. With the extra days I went ahead and added even more content and those were basically like freebies.

Q: How do you decide which parts of a location need to feel unique and which parts can be reused?

These hero moments and points of interests are usually called out by concept or design.

Like the big reveals are so story driven that you have to realize that you are helping them create their moment.

But when I am given free reign to make something big I always talk to one of the world builders and ask what they think would be cool to wow players.

Again the more collaborative the environment is the more you can bring out in each other.

Q: Do interactive gameplay objects need a different production approach from decorative props?

Yes and absolutely. Interactive objects have their own rules.

Sometimes the collision is set up in ways to not block players and sometimes they might.

Sometimes things explode, sometimes they have special interactive animations you need to figure out.

They are almost always more on the collaborative side with the rest of the team because these ios unlock the next big reveal and so they tend to have more stakeholders involved.

Q: As a Principal Environment Artist, how did you help other artists improve their work and keep a location visually consistent?

Again communication is so key. You need to be able to talk to people and to try to bring out the best in your team.

One of my favorite advice I ever got was from an old friend who had been at this since Microprose. He told me just think what you would have liked to have been treated when I first started out and to remember we all started somewhere.

So in regards to that I love sitting down with people and figuring things out. I love hearing from other people’s perspectives and I love seeing what people come up with.

If they ask for feedback I like to be honest and direct without being mean about things.

Like what’s the point of demoralizing a young artist, as a principal I should be helping them grow.

Q: What advice would you give a smaller team that needs to build several strong locations without a large environment department?

Communication is key. Everyone needs to be on board.

Reusability is another one, the less draws the better. Keep a substance material library to keep things consistent as well as a parts folder everyone can share.

If you have younger artists work with them and build them up.

Above it all you all are a team, see each other as such and again keep communication open.

Talk often and share ideas and information.