This article is written to explain and showcase the art style in Apex Construct, the so-called Stylization in Realism we developed to fit a story driven action-adventure VR game.

As we wanted to cover as much as possible of our techniques and methods, the article is split into two parts, where the first will cover the visualization, design, and style for creating stylized art with roots in realism. Part 2 will focus on the technical details and how to achieve this stylization in VFX, animation, and lighting to fit the technical details for VR development.

During the development of Apex Construct the key has been to find an art style that would immerse the players in a unique VR experience but also be appealing to the eye. The visuals are the primary channel to your mind when playing a game, even more so when playing a virtual reality game where you are surrounded by the in-game world. We found it important to arouse the curiosity of the player by having a world that is grounded in real-world rules, yet make the surrounding feel surreal.

The idea of a stylized art direction arose not only for appeal but also for overall production speed for a small sized team as well as hardware limitations. Finding a design that would work has been an ongoing progress throughout the whole development time with many iterations in order to find the right style in all areas of art and create a world the player like to explore and escape to again and again.

Fast Travel Games (FTG) develop simultaneously for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift; HTC Vive and Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets, all platforms with their own setups, strength, and limitations; for us, it was important to find the right balance and a beautiful end product.

Setting and Visualization