Otherside is Yuga Labs' big platform play, its promise is to become the living of web3 where all the NFT projects can participate, build, and socialize. Defining the art direction for the game is a challenging project, as it features multiple (29) worlds with completely unique aesthetic and story. Functionality, it needs to be optimized to scale for mass concurrency. As the creative director for Otherside, I led a team of concept artists and narrative writer to form the universe, its characters, and develop in-engine art style.
YUGA LABS CREATIVE TEAM
Long Vu - Creative Directors
Lea Dickert & Ingram Schell - Art Directors
Calder Moore, George Brad Catalin, Nevena Nikolcheva, Tyler Edlin - Concept Artists
Jessie Bustin - Executive Creative Director
Otherside (OS) is a metaverse that is a mix of virtual social space and gaming experience, built in Unreal. It started out as a collection of NFT called Otherdeed for Otherside from Yuga. Within this collection, there are 29 different biomes — each with its own distinctive aesthetic. Holders of these NFT tokens get access to all Otherside events, and will be granted a private virtual space per deed. They can hold their own events, play, or build content of their choice on these deeds. OS public events, called Trips, are mass concurrency events where thousands of players can appear together in the same virtual space. Given all these considerations, there were a lot of opportunities but also plenty of challenges in developing the art direction for OS.
OPPORTUNITY SPACE
Abstract genre that is a mix of scifi and dark fantasy leaves a lot of freedom for world building
Psychedelic undertone is an unique twist that sets itself apart from other metaverse
CHALLENGES
Sheer number of variation in biome vs production timeline
Level of details need to be optimized for such large player scale while retaining quality.
The art style needs to compliment wide range of IPs
Given the scale of the project, I only feature a sample size of the concepts and designs that went into developing the world and its art style.
There are so many questions and curiosity that arise when viewers look at the Otherdeed NFT, and its strange otherworldly subjects are its strength. Therefore, we leaned into soft world building approach, developing visually engaging content but not forcing ourselves to answer every logic and choices in this world. We wanted the viewers to be challenged and intrigued...their imagination should fill in the gaps as opposed to answers being given to them.
Through initial studies and discussions, we identified 3 pillars that best represent the world — Otherworldly, Surreal, and Grand. All concepts and designs are measured against these 3 qualities. Players should feel like they are being immersed in a vast alien-like world.
