FH3: Blizzard Mountain (2016, XB1 PC)
Developped by Playground Games & Turn 10, published by Microsoft.
This first expansion was my "baptism by fire" (or ice?) as a solo Art Director in the Forza Horizon franchise.
Together with a reduced team of amazing artists, we've developped the first drivable frozen ecotype in the franchise.
The challenge of making believable snow and ice was at the top of the team's wishlist and everyone was super motivated, which I think really shows in their artwork.
Attached images are in-game screenshots (using the "Photo mode" feature) from the media team at Turn 10.
"Beauty" is a crucial pillar of the franchise, so it was important for me that the image never look grey or monochromatic. Instead, we used the snow coverage as a blank canvas to paint the nuances colours of the sky across the land.
The expansion features 2 whole new skies filmed in Australia toward the end of the production of the main game. The sun arc was much different from the summer skies we previously had, and contributed to light up the world with a unique winter vibe.
We made 8 new cars, mostly focused around rally & offroad driving to explore the new mountain ecotype.
The environment is inspired from the Victorian Alps (local vegetation, architecture and vistas) blended with bits of French Alps and Antartica for the more extreme elevations around the summit.
The emphasis on extreme weather was an opportunity to explore different driving experience with a denser particle count and more intense screen effects, contributing to the sense of speed.
Dynamic material effects allow the snow and frost to build up on all our 500 cars in blizzard conditions
Now let's see what it looks when everything come together in motion: here's the in-game trailer!