Mafia II Community

MAFIA II CONCEPT ART
SEPTEMBER 11 , 2008

Roman Hladik, Lead Artist at 2K Czech, is back to talk about some more Mafia II concept art. Today he discusses how the team goes from quick sketch to a final, more polished piece of art.
Click the image to enlarge.

Here is an example of how we realise our concept art by Mikulas Podprocky, another of our character artists. First we make quick sketches to capture the mood and composition. Then we select some to work up to ingame quality – not everyone can relate to rough drafts so easily, so by creating these dramatic images we tell a story that everyone who has ever seen a crime movie can understand (plus we set a benchmark for the art quality of the final game!). Working from the sketch Mikulas poses models using our ingame editing tool then touches up the details using Photoshop to create the final look.
In the picture Vito is taking cover in a side street. As you can see Vito has a tough job and sometimes he takes a hit, he is angry to be injured and hiding. He could choose to be a dock worker of course, but I’m sure you don't want to play game where the only gameplay is to carry crates! ;) So Vito has to sometimes endure a little pain for you…

- Elizabeth

GET TO KNOW YOUR DEV:
ROMAN HLADIK: LEAD ARTIST
AUGUST 27, 2008

Roman Hladik, Lead Artist at 2K Czech (who you already know, as he's been commenting lately on Mafia II concept art) sat down with my today and chatted about art, his inspirations, and his plans for celebrating after Mafia II ships.

- Elizabeth

What were your inspirations when you started creating concepts for Mafia II?
I don`t remember exactly. It wasn`t just one thing. I like the era, design of fifties, old movies. So this all was inspiration. Based on this I made my own vision about Mafia2. Our game won`t be strictly realistic, we want to have strong atmosphere in it so we have to stylize rough facts. Work with them but distill only the important and interesting stuff of them.

Who are your favorite artists? Can be any type of artist…comic books, traditional painters…anything.
I like Frank Millers comic books. His drawings are really amazing and stories are dark romantic and breath-taking. Also I like impressionist paintings and one picture by Amadeo Modigliani, Sleeping nude.

When you’re not creating gangsters and mob boss characters for Mafia, what do you do in your spare time?
When I`m not creating gangsters… I draw naked women. Just for anatomy and drawing study of course. Or I go to pub. This is my the second most favorite activity. Drawing in a pub is fine too. ;-)

If you had to choose a character from any gangster movie, which character would you be?
Sin City isn`t gangster movie, but I like its dark atmosphere and I like Marv character. I don`t want be like him, but his is likable. If I think about the question I don`t want to be as any character of movies. I have my own life. I had never have an ideal or beau-ideal.

What will you do when you finish Mafia II?
I`ll take a long holiday. I have a dream few years already to ride Route 66 by motorcycle. Whole journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.


MAFIA II CONCEPT ART AUGUST 15, 2008
Roman Hladik, Lead Artist at 2K Czech, shows off some of the Mafia II concept art and gives us some insight into what went on behind the scenes to create each design. Click the image to enlarge.
		This is a moodboard of Joe Barbaro, Vito’s best friend. A moodboard like this isn’t necessarily taken from a scene in the game, it is created to communicate Joe’s personality to everyone on the Mafia team – a picture speaks a thousand words. Here we see that Joe is a gregarious young gangster enjoying his life of dirty money. The girl on Joe’s lap definitely isn’t his girlfriend (if you get my meaning). The author of this sketch is Jiri Svetinsky, one of our character artists.
		Another moodboard of Joe by Jiri. This is Joe’s flat in Little Italy, he likes to party and keep his neighbours up all night. Joe himself sleeps through the day, usually with some of his “girlfriends”. Maybe this scene is the morning after the night shown in the first sketch?
- Elizabeth

GET TO KNOW YOUR DEV:
LUKAS BERKA: AI DEV MANAGER
AUGUST 6, 2008

Today I have a small question and answer session with Lukas Berka, the AI Dev Manager at 2K Czech, and touch on subjects from the best parts of his job to why listening to Britney Spears made him appreciate all kinds of music.

- Elizabeth

What is your role on the Mafia II team?
I am responsible for all AI features to be completed in the proper quality and proper time. This is a good manager-answer, right?

What is your most favorite thing about your job?
It’s great when a person can see how a game gets created from the very beginning and even better is if a person can contribute with his own ideas or feedback. I am really glad that I can be part of this project with all these great people.

What is your least favorite thing about your job?
Maybe waking up in the morning (I find waking up before 9am rather weird) or the coffee machine that sometimes forgets to return the coins properly.

What types of music do you listen to?
I listen to good music but sometimes also to a worse one, so that after that I can like the good one even more. Although there was this one time when I listened to Britney Spears and since then I like generally anything.

Any hobbies? … girls…cars…toy collecting…comics?
I do collect toy figures of girls in cars or something like that.

What is your favorite game?
All right, it is Mafia II. Other than that its DoTa (Defense of the Ancients – mod W3 ), there is nothing like a little ownage after the work.


MAFIA II CONCEPT ART JULY 29, 2008

- Elizabeth

GET TO KNOW YOUR DEV:
LUBOMIR DYKAST, LEAD MISSION DESIGNER
JULY 21, 2008

I have been writing with some of the 2K Czech development team over the past few weeks, asking them questions that Mafia II fans have emailed me. Today we debut the first chapter of "Get to Know Your Dev" with Lubomir Dykast, the Lead Mission Designer for 2K Czech.

- Elizabeth

As a lead mission designer, what is your mission at 2K Czech?
My main responsibility is to ensure that the final look of all the missions of Mafia 2 is as best as possible. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to stick to fixed regulations and, if possible, try to reach all the goals that have been set. In practice this means that I am primarily in charge of assigning tasks to each of the designers from my section, and I also need to make sure the first drafts they create can be used and look as best as possible. Naturally, I take care of what the missions should look like concerning both visual and gameplay aspects. In case any problems emerge, I try to resolve them immediately so that the time spent on production is as effectively used as possible and that the things do not have to be reworked several times. If something is unclear, I immediately go discuss it with my seniors, mainly with Pavel Brzák – the lead designer – and Petr Mikša – the game producer.

When you sit down to create a new mission for Mafia II, what are the first things that run through your head when designing that mission?
First, it is very important to create a list of actions and game mechanisms I would like to use in the given mission. It is crucial to count from the very beginning on using an interactive environment and consider the designed level a unique thing which should attract current modern players (create a diverse environment, try to have some dominant thing in each level, have an animated environment etc).

Next, I need to prepare references and materials in order to create game sketches; in this phase, it is necessary to collect as many photos and film clips as possible as references for the designed location. Then, I create a rough sketch, i.e. a very simple game map including only basic geometry; now, it is good to use art workers and their visions. The last thing to do is to produce a game 3D sketch, which is a rough model containing only a few textures, basic lighting, and several simple scripts necessary to test the primary gameplay. Now, from the perspective of design, the mission should be ready for graphic production. If all this passes through the process of approval, then the 3D sketch goes to the graphic team whose members then only deal with creation of graphics and do not have to invent the game, as it usual in other development teams.

Have you run into any situations in your career where you said to yourself “Mission Impossible”? If so, can you tell us a little about that situation?
As a game developer, I must admit I have to answer this question every single day. It is necessary to realize that even these days there are lots of things that cannot be processed the way we would like to do them in terms of technologies; physics of liquids is a good example. This issue may apply to individual locations and their launching on consoles (PS3, XBOX360), be it connected with the number of polygons in the view and connected FPS, then a number of lights per scene, size of textures and a collision scene etc.

Talking about any game that you have played in the past, has there been any mission you played and said, “WOW, that was a great mission from a design standpoint”?
This definitely happened to me after I finished the sniper mission in the last sequel of Call of Duty. I don’t get surprised very often, but I must admit that this game impressed me very much in terms of its design. The authors managed to implement most ideas and innovative features other games are not able to offer now. Almost perfect.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring mission designers out there…what would it be?
Don’t be afraid to create things on your own. If you think you have some potential, I would recommend that you start with game maps for games and modes with the help of free editors (UnrealEditor, Sandbox). To advanced ones, I would recommend Maya or 3DS Max, and if you succeed, then there is nothing to be afraid of. That’s the way I began.

What is your idea of the term “game”?
Lately, I have found out that each of us has a totally different idea of what game really is; some of us see only a box with a DVD in it, some see nice graphics, others see hours and hours of nights spent playing, lots of people find games relaxing, and some others can see never-ending work and T-shirts drenched in blood and sweat. However, it is also important to realize that it is never-ending fun, and that’s what it’s all about!


MAFIA II CONCEPT ART JUNE 27, 2008

- Elizabeth


MAFIA II CONCEPT ART JUNE 20, 2008 Here are two more pieces of concept art for Mafia II. Click on the image to see full size. - Elizabeth


				MAFIA CONCEPT ART JUNE 12, 2008 We have more concept art today straight from the 2K Czech studio. Click on the image to see full size. - Elizabeth

MAFIA II WALLPAPER
JUNE 5, 2008

Our third wallpaper shows Vito and Joe indoors: They might already be like family to you. Think of this as a desktop-sized portrait.

Click to download your desired resolution.

1024x640 1024x768 1280x800 Blackberry
1280x960 1600x1000 1600x1200 iPhone

- Elizabeth


		CONCEPT SKETCH III MAY 29, 2008 This sketch from 2K Czech may not be from any particular scene in-game, but could be from many of the missions you'll be sent on during your time in Empire City. Click on the image to see full size. - Elizabeth

MAFIA II WALLPAPER
MAY 21, 2008

Not everything in Empire City is beautiful. In fact, quite a lot.

Click to download your desired resolution.

1024x640 1024x768 1280x800 Blackberry
1280x960 1600x1000 1600x1200 iPhone

- Elizabeth


		EXCLUSIVE SCREENSHOT FOR DELUCA'S RESTAURANT MAY 14, 2008 Vito is again hiding out in a warehouse in our latest screen, poised to take out his unsuspecting enemies. Click on the image to see full size. - Elizabeth


MORE CONCEPT ART MAY 8, 2008 Our second sketch from 2K Czech may be familiar to some of you. Check out the screenshots section for an in-game image that is eerily similar to this piece of concept art. Click on the image to see full size. - Elizabeth


		NEXT EXCLUSIVE SCREENSHOT FOR DELUCA'S RESTAURANT MAY 1, 2008 Our second exclusive screen shows some indoor gunfighting action, with Vito in a warehouse somewhere in Empire City. Click on the image to see full size. - Elizabeth

MAFIA II WALLPAPER
APRIL 23, 2008

Our second official wallpaper shows Vito and Joe out for a cruise.

Click to download your desired resolution.

1024x640 1024x768 1280x800 Blackberry
1280x960 1600x1000 1600x1200 iPhone

- Elizabeth

MAFIA II CONCEPT ART
APRIL 17, 2008

2K Czech has heaps of concept art for Mafia II, everything from weapons, to cars, to whole character evolutions. We'll be releasing these in a series over the coming weeks. To start you off, here's a sketch of Mafia II's main character, Vito.

Click on the image to enlarge.

- Elizabeth

MAFIA II IS THE MAY COVER STORY FOR
PLAYSTATION: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE
APRIL 15, 2008

Mafia II takes center stage in the May issue of Playstation: The Official Magazine. While you'll have to wait for the magazine to check out the full story, here's the cover and one of my favorite quotes to tide you over:

     "Mafia II's gameplay feature set is vast, its story is shaping up to be a real standout
     in the crowded open-world crime genre, and its visual impact is right up there with
     the best on the PS3."

- PlayStation: The Official Magazine, May 2008

Click on the cover to enlarge.

- Elizabeth


		EXCLUSIVE SCREENSHOT FOR DELUCA'S RESTAURANT APRIL 7, 2008 The first in our series of exclusive screenshots for the clientele at DeLucas's Restaurant. Check back often for more glimpses into the world of Empire City. Click on the image to see full size. - Elizabeth

NEW INFO ABOUT MAFIA II
APRIL 7, 2008

From the developers of the groundbreaking action game Mafia comes Mafia II, a dark and seductive story about one man's journey through the unforgiving world of the Mob. Set in an open-world environment, Mafia II ushers you into Empire City during the 1940s and 1950s.

Mafia II will be available on Xbox 360®, PLAYSTATION®3, and Games for Windows, with gameplay being virtually identical across all platforms.

Stay tuned for more information about the Mafia II storyline. We'll be updating regularly with new insights into the world of Empire City.

- Elizabeth

FIRST OFFICIAL MAFIA II WALLPAPER
APRIL 7, 2008

Download the first of our series of official Mafia II wallpapers, offered in a number of different resolutions for both widescreen and 4:3 monitors, as well as Blackberries and the iPhone.

Click to download your desired resolution.
1024x640 1024x768 1280x800 Blackberry
1280x960 1600x1000 1600x1200 iPhone

- Elizabeth

GRAND OPENING OF DELUCA'S RESTAURANT
APRIL 7, 2008

Welcome to DeLuca's Restaurant, a little-known bistro nestled on the east side of Empire City. We here at DeLuca's cater to the upper echelon living in the city. Become a regular face around here, and I assure you, we'll treat you right.

Who's DeLuca? Well, if you don't know... Maybe you'll see him around.

- Elizabeth