Daniel Dociu: Eye of the North

[Josh]

Great art is where you find it - and the world of electronic gaming has always been the place to find it. The latest and greatest generation of technology has brought even more spectacular graphics to computer gaming - and a company called ArenaNet has ridden that cresting wave with a game series that features accessibility, elegant game mechanics, an insane level of customization - and stunning visuals.

The game is Guild Wars. Its first true expansion, Eye of the North - a dungeon-crawling maniac's dream aimed at high level characters who've already survived a previous game or two - is due out at the end of August.

If you like the way that game looks, Art Director Daniel Dociu is the man to talk to. Dociu has worked in the gaming industry since 1993, when a chance meeting with a friend aimed him in the direction of a new field that was building a reputation for big money.

"I hate to sound materialistic, but the smell of money drew me to the industry," says Dociu, who earned his degree in Industrial Design and worked as a product designer for several years. It didn't take him long to decide where the grass looked greener. "Within two weeks, I had my portfolio together and I was out the door." He landed a job at Squaresoft and never looked back.

ArenaNet's work on Guild Wars began with resource and technology development, but soon transitioned to conceptualizing the look and feel. "Once the tools were in place and the technology was mature, they brought me in to define the visual aspects of the game," Dociu says. "None of the art assets had been developed. We replaced placeholder art with new visuals that were in line with the style and vision that we defined."

Dociu, who worked as an Art Director at Squaresoft and EA, continues to bring solid team building skills to bear on the new expansion. "My philosophy on art direction and generating a style is that a style does not have to come from one person. I don't try to define the style by myself. We have a very open environment - physically and literally," Dociu says, describing large, open spaces in which seven to ten artists work collaboratively. This ethic "gives the project the depth, layering and complexity that makes it interesting."

Although ArenaNet considers Eye of the North to be the first true expansion in the Guild Wars series, they've released extensive new content twice since the game's original release: Factions in the spring of 2006, and Nightfall in October of that year. Each of these standalone additions to the Guild Wars mythos included new environments, character classes and creatures - major content creation for Dociu and his team. Now, less than a year later, Eye of the North is on the horizon. No rest for the wicked - or the overworked.

Dociu is placid about the workload - principally because he knows what his team is capable of accomplishing. "We've all had time to get to know where everybody comes from in terms of backgrounds and expertise," Dociu says. "We know each other's strengths and weaknesses. We live and breathe this style now. It's a really cohesive team."

[[url=\"http://www.spacesuitsandsixguns.com/dociuprofile.html\"]Read Entire Article[/url]]

[Tami]

A very good article find, Josh - I particularly like what he has to say about technique and what's important.

[Josh]

Found it through my mom, actually lol. She has a friend on IRC and that so happens to be his website <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... >/blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />