The last project I worked on at Jagex was The Lords of Vampyrium, the last part of a long standing saga set in the vampires’ city of Myreque.

In hindsight, that was actually quite peculiar for me.
The city of vampires was the first project I worked on when I joined the company (I think it was the 4th quest of the series back then), and wrapping up the story was the last thing I did.

As a matter of fact, I made the first concepts and mood studies, whereas my colleagues still there completed the rest of the details.

Working on the quest was quite entertaining, the design was just in its infancy by the time I started, so most of the ideas we got when drawing the environments made it into the story.

These are the first mood studies I made.

The last one was the winner.

As some of you might notice (I doubt it because he’s not a main-stream artist, but if you know him we’ll be instant buddies), the visual language heavily references the messed up aesthetics of Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński.

I remember it was my old AD Pascal Blanche’ who introduced me to his work some 6 years ago, and I had been immediately blown away by the nightmarish visions Beksiński managed to summon.

When it turned out I had to design a city that was a mix between a nightmare and a glimpse of hell, all those images popped up to the surface from the depth of my very inefficient memory, and all the rest fell into place quite easily.

What I really, really wanted to avoid was any cliché about vampires.

Gothic buildings, fancy clothes, black capes, you name it.

Vampires have been depicted in pretty much on every possible media in every possible way, so it’s not like it was an easy task.

This almost-alien, twisted and infernal view was quite new to me, so I think it worked pretty well.

I actually don’t know how it eventually turned out in game, the concepts were quite ambitious for what Runescape’s engine capabilities.

I guess I’ll dig up some Youtube videos now:)

by Paolo Puggioni