MotorStorm: PlayStation Home

I art directed this project, which had a core team of 8 artists and a Dev Manager with additional art, character, code, video and audio resource as necessary. After joining the project solo in early 2009 and alongside my remaining Pacific Rift responsibilities, I started to plan out what I wanted MotorStorm’s presence in Home to be, which was basically to take the festival work I’d done on the first two titles and create a rich visual environment within Home, faithful to the games, that conveyed the festival elements whilst maximizing Home’s social networking potential for current and prospective MotorStormers.

After initially using a very beta Home Development Kit, or HDK, I realised that this could be an uphill struggle, both to deliver the level of quality I wanted and to maintain morale within the team, who would all be moving off dev projects. Thankfully a combination of an improved toolset, close working relationship with the Home team in London, a very skilled team of my own and ambitious plans for the spaces, it proved a welcome break for us all from the traditional game development cycle and a project where I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to art direct a tight team.

The Carrier

In the end, we delivered:

The MotorStorm Carrier – the ‘Game Space’, basically a big industrial rave on the aircraft carrier HQ, and amidst ‘The Raft’, both of which I’d introduced for Pacific Rift. It contained a multi-level hangar, interactive and very accurate decks, a chill-out area with Lunatic Launcher arcade machines, animated lasers/smoke machine/lights, a treasure hunt with various clothing rewards, two video screens and a TV wall in front of the decks, complete with random microwave/fish tank/oscilloscope and an exterior night-time view of the Island with smoking volcano

MotorStorm: Monument Valley Campsite – the first ‘Apartment’, clinging to the edge of a mesa and overlooking part of the festival

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift Campsite - a second ‘Apartment’, an improvised bamboo/parachute structure situated on the beach at the edge of the Festival, complete with sharks

MotorStorm Sphere – a temporary promotional space that preceded the Carrier, initially built by Outso with some heavy in-house modifications

MotorStorm Furniture – Sixteen premium, themed seats and other assets built to complement the apartments, built from scrap and other materials

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift race outfits – male and female five-piece (goggles, head, torso, legs, gloves) clothing items for MotorStormers, rebuilt to Home specs

MotorStorm: Arctic Edge outfits – male and female snowboarding inspired outfits themed with MS:AE graphics and used to promote the launch of the PSP game in Home

MotorStorm Festival Gear – male and female Carrier treasure hunt rewards, four MotorStorm t-shirts/festival passes, MX helmets, record bags and headphones