Valve's artists discuss the connection between art direction and gameplay in two very different titles: Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead. One of the biggest hits of 2007, Team Fortress 2 features an illustrative rendering style that serves critical gameplay goals, most notably facilitating the ability of players to easily identify each other in a variety of lighting conditions. Drawing on lessons learned from key historical artistic influences, Valve's artists describe how the interplay of art direction and engineering allowed them to serve gameplay while achieving a distinctive visual style. In the second half of this talk, Valve's artists describe the unique aspects of the art direction of Left 4 Dead, one of the most anticipated games of 2008. Left 4 Dead features a gritty realism that is very different from the bright illustrative world of Team Fortress 2, yet both titles are built on the Source engine developed by Valve. The differences lie in the goals of the art direction and the way in which the artists employ the shared technology underlying both titles.
