A lot goes into the creation of a video game's box art. Rightfully so too because as trivial as it may seem, Insomniac Games makes a good point when they say it's "the only physical representation of a game you own and love." To that end, they've shared with fans the creative process and thought process behind the box art for Sunset Overdrive, which was created by England-based studio ilovedust.
"Weve loved their work from a distance, and thought they fit the games art style. When we met them, it was clear they didnt just understand Sunset Overdrive, they truly got us and our mindset. It was a perfect match," said Insomniac Games community lead James Stevenson.
"When we all set out to create a box art for Sunset Overdrive, we knew we had a major challenge ahead of us. First, Sunset Overdrive isnt a character-forward game. The character in Sunset Overdrive is YOU. Youll customize your character and play as yourself. So the cover couldnt really solely focus on just a game-style rendered character and weapon [today's standard videogame cover].
"That presented the second challenge how do we present not just the world of Sunset City, but also the characters and factions that inhabitant it? Now, for all you minimalism loving folks, this will hurt, as we quickly decided the best way to show all of the variety and build the world was to go for a dense, detailed illustration.
"ilovedust set out to create a densely layered composition that not only showed a hero character/weapon but also the rest of the world of Sunset Overdrive (And theres actually additional hero characters traversing!). This is the result, one that uses dusts unique style, while also staying true to Sunset Overdrives color palette and world," Stevenston said.
As you can see from the screenshot above, there is a ton of detail packed into the cover of Sunset Overdrive. Below are a few fun facts about what's shown:
Hero Character with Roman Candle gun. This was one of the tougher parts, as showing any sort of hero in a game where YOU are the hero and can play as male or female, various body types, and tons of customization options, means you probably wont see this guy in your game much.
OD, Overcharge Drinkers. Multiple varieties of OD in the mutant OD horde.
Survivors. Other residents of Sunset City who didnt drink Overcharge Delirium XT that youll meet during the game.
Scab. The human neer-do-wells who are taking the opportunity to loot and plunder Sunset City.
Effects. Fourth wall breaking effects from the Scabs gun.
Fizzie. Fizzcos corporate mascot insisted on being on the box cover! Hes impossible to resist, as youve seen on Twitter so far. Check out his robot blimp hovering menacingly in the clouds.
Game logo. ilovedusts logo for the game, in bright Overcharge Orange.
What do you think of the box art for Sunset Overdrive?
