Split Fiction - .exe-QT-3.14

Hi everyone!

I’ve had the pleasure of working as Character Art Director, Lead Character Artist, and Lead Concept Artist on Hazelight’s latest and most ambitious game to date - Split Fiction.

This project has been a massive step forward for us, both in scale and complexity. Not only did we create more character assets than ever before, but each one came with increased demands in terms of design, style, and technical execution. From humans to creatures to mechs - big and small - we did it all! And to make that possible, we brought together an amazing team of talented artists. It’s thanks to their passion, creativity, and collaboration that the vision behind Split Fiction’s characters came to life. I couldn’t be prouder of the team and the way they fearlessly tackled every challenge that came our way.

This was also the first time we dedicated an art director specifically to characters, a role I was incredibly excited to take on. From day one, I set out to ensure that the direction would shine through in the final result. As Character Art Director, I was involved in just about everything character-related. Naturally, I had to take a step back from hands-on production and focus more on concept, design direction, and the overall vision, but whenever I had the chance, jumping back into the production side of things was always a joy.

Over the course of nearly three years, we worked closely as a team to shape a cohesive and polished character style that would carry across the entire game. It was a huge undertaking, but I genuinely believe the result speaks for itself.

I also want to extend a special thanks to our external partners, who worked with us over a long period to help us reach the quality bar we had set for ourselves. We truly couldn’t have done it without you. Working closely with outsourcing and supervising the entire process was incredibly rewarding, and I learned so much from the many talented teams we collaborated with across the globe. Their contribution made a real difference, and it was a privilege to collaborate with such skilled teams.

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Throughout the production of Split Fiction, I was responsible for creating one of the game’s main bosses - .exe-QT-3.14

For this model, I wanted to explore a design that felt both intimidating and playful, something that wouldn’t take itself too seriously. My goal was to create a fun and striking silhouette, with oversized shoulders and hands, a look that would stand out from the rest and be instantly recognizable. Together with concept artist Josefine Persson, we landed on a design that felt perfectly at home in the world of Split Fiction. And if you’ve played the game, you know that this guy ended up with quite a bit of personality in the end, which I absolutely love!

Building on Josefine’s great final concept, I took full responsibility for creating the blockout model and defining how the character should move and function. This part of the process is always one of my favorites, it’s where you can inject personality and attitude into the design and really start to bring it to life. A special shoutout as well to Carlos Lundhall, who helped block out several parts of the model during a particularly busy phase of production.

Once everything was set up and implemented in-engine, Rustan Curman did a paintover on top of the 3D model, adding lots of fine detail that really elevated the design.

I also contributed to some of the high-res modeling, but the final high-res version, including the most complex parts, was handled by our external partners at Mindwalk, who did an excellent job bringing it all together. Since we were on a tight schedule, I assembled a small team of artists to help out, and they all did an incredible job working closely with me and responding to direction and feedback. The result was exactly what I had envisioned from the start.

The low-res model was mostly handled by Mindwalk, and the final textures and materials were created collaboratively between me and their team. In the final stages, I handled implementation and lookdev to make sure everything landed as intended.

I’d like to extend a huge thanks to everyone at Hazelight. This was a truly collaborative effort, and the whole team worked incredibly hard to bring this game to life.

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Last but not least, I want to highlight all the amazing artists I had the privilege of leading during this project. Truly, none of this would have been possible without you guys. Make sure to check out their profiles and their work. They’re incredibly talented and absolutely worth your time. ❤️

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Character Art

https://www.artstation.com/linlinmono
https://www.artstation.com/carlos_lundhall
https://www.artstation.com/davidkong
https://www.artstation.com/hvile

Concept Art

https://www.artstation.com/biffentsoi
https://www.artstation.com/stringmaker
https://www.artstation.com/josefinemkpersson