Meet the Team #14 - Jon Bottone (Assistant Art Director)
Welcome back everyone to our Meet the Team interviews! For this edition we talked to Assistant Art Director on Elite: Dangerous, Jon Bottone. As usual, we started by asking Jon how long he has worked at Frontier and what other projects he worked on:
I started here over 5 years ago, initially working on The Outsider which was a gritty open-world city environment and then completely changed art styles to work on the loveable childrens title, Kinect Disneyland Adventures. After which we squeezed in a variety of Microsoft projects and since March last year, I’ve been working as Assistant Art Director for Elite: Dangerous.
What are you working on right now?
We’re currently improving and polishing the release that we put out for Premium Beta. It’s exciting that so many people get to see the work as we develop it. It's also great to hear the feedback from our backers and then try to respond to that in future releases. Today I’m looking at improving the visuals for stars by creating the solar flares with Thomas Wiggins (render), working with Oscar Sebio (coder) to improve procedural craters on the moons and improving the clouds and atmospheres for the Earth-like planets with Nick Timmons (render). Throw in a few moments to pre-vis the endless ideas that we want to add in to the game and you'll find there’s never a dull moment!
Have there been any unusual challenges mixing traditional art with procedural techniques? (Slawkenbergius)
Coming from games which haven’t used procedural techniques, it’s been a steep learning curve for the team to adopt this new way of authoring. For example, we can easily author a handful of beautiful planets with traditional techniques but the real trick is to create a system that can give you unlimited variety and procedural does just that. Once you have the tools that allow you to create the procedural content, you have the gigantic task of trying to create rules for the random generation to follow that keep the aesthetic style of the game while also remaining scientifically accurate. All of this extra work makes procedural creation quite time consuming and so we’ve been careful to strike a balance for what requires unlimited variety and what requires traditional authoring methods. It’s a constantly evolving project though so I’m sure that balance will keep on shifting with every new feature we create!
How much variety can we expect to see from the space stations? Will there be any variation between different space stations of the same type? (wtbw)
Stations are a fantastic opportunity for us to telegraph the local economic situation to the players. The multiple antique and iconic Coriolis stations in Alpha 4 were just the beginning of the variety to come and the premium beta has now unveiled the gigantic Orbis Starport with its huge habitable ring and large elegant silhouette. The modular nature of these stations promises to bring huge variety and we’re also exploring the possibilities of ageing stations and making them feel more lived in.
Eventually I’d love to see more life being injected into the docking cylinders and outfitting bays where drones carry out repairs on derelict stations. You might even find those drones are older models, clumsier and less fastidious than ones you might find in a pristine Imperial station. It’s actually a lot of fun dreaming up the ways in which we can make each element in Elite: Dangerous feel unique.
Do you envisage any systems with no value other than a beauty spot that people just have to visit to see? (Slawkenbergius)
Without doubt in such a huge procedural galaxy, players will be exploring systems that we ourselves might not have seen. The scientific accuracy of the system should be such that the players truly feel like pioneers stepping out into the unknown. It’s going to be exciting to see screenshots and footage of what people find!
What has been the most time-consuming part of the process? (JohnStabler)
So many of the features that we’re putting in to Elite are pushing the bounds of what a game engine can currently do, from simulating the Milky Way in real time to making procedural gas giants with storms and swirling vortices between the bands. Not to mention making the game multiplayer! All of which requires custom code support and tools to implement in-game.
Apart from the previous games, what have been the greatest influences on the Elite Dangerous aesthetic? (JohnStabler)
It’s a fantastic time for the sci-fi genre. We’ve heavily based Elite: Dangerous in realism and science where possible but we’re also striving to achieve a cinematic feel for the players to immerse themselves in. With the original Elite games being so much more simple, we’re taking on that legacy and going way beyond, filling in the detail that was previously only in people’s imaginations. Taking influence from real world vehicle and weapon designs and working within the rules of the in-game ship manufacturer styles, this has given the concept team the freedom to design some gorgeous ships and stations unique to Elite.
In the development of the art design how closely do you work with other departments and developers at Frontier? (Jumpin’ Jack Flash)
Every step of the way with this project we’ve had fantastic communication between departments. It aids good design and we explore ideas that have come from brainstorming discussions. Without the great communication that happens between all departments, we couldn’t have made it to this point where the concept is ready for the artists, the tools are improving all the time, the engine keeps looking better and better thanks to the Physical Based Rendering we’re now using, the audio reflects and supports the game perfectly, the designers are making it exciting and fun to play and the vfx make it stimulating. This is a seriously great bunch of people Chris Gregory and I get to work with and it’s a pleasure to unify the vision for the game.
What elements of ED are you most excited about?
Seeing all of the elements in the game come together into a seamless experience. I really can’t wait to spend time losing myself in the fun of the game while kicking some of my colleagues butts. (In game only of course! 
)
What is your proudest moment? (JohnStabler) )
In life - surviving a poisonous spider bite while working as a Jackaroo in the Australian outback... long story! In Elite: Dangerous - Although I’m overwhelmed by the support for the game, I still feel like the best is yet to come so ask me again at the end of the project!
That's it for this interview! Thanks very much to Jon for taking the time to answer the questions, and Jess for putting it together. The next interview will be with our Head of UI (User Interface) for Elite: Dangerous- Jon Pace. If you have any questions that you would like to put to him let us know below. Thanks!
Last edited:
