Mission ->To design the environments and props of the world of Rukus.
Raising A Rukus tells the story of Jonas and Amy, a pair of bickering twins who are swept away into a wild adventure with a mix of kid-friendly action, dinosaurs, loving parents and an adorable, charismatic dog named Ruckus.
VR Game
Executive Producer | Steven Spielberg
Directors | Robert Stromberg & Josh Wassung
Art Direction & Illustration | Me
Development | The Third Floor & VRC
Gameplay / The story follows a newly adopted family dog who discovers a secret path to a fantasy world through his doghouse.
Gameplay
Gameplay Footage / YouTuber takes us through the game.
Production Art
Concept Painting / The camera slowly zooms into the top floor of the little yellow house.
Concept Sketch / To make it easier on the teams when building assets, I create detailed sketches to help reduce ambiguity.
Cel-Animation / At times, I’ll make cel-animations to explain moments more clearly.
Cel-Animation / I find this method to be extremely helpful when conveying more elaborate scenes.
3D Animation / Other times, I’ll create rough 3D animations to further supplement the cel-animations.
Designing The World’s Plants
Since this world is set in a jungle environment, ordinary plants just wouldn’t cut it. Using the character height silhouettes for scale, I designed a diverse range of “signature plants” unique to each major region. Every plant was carefully designed to reflect the characteristics of its specific habitat.
Concept Painting / See the silhouettes of the kids? Compare them with the size of the bushes and trees.
Crystal Falls
Years and years of mineral deposits pouring from the cave entrance has created this wondrous cascading waterfall.
Concept Painting / The kids are washed out from inside the mountain and exit through the mouth of the skull.
Concept Painting / To see if the assets visually work together, I’ll sometimes paint little vignettes of them to test if they harmonize.
Crystal Caves
Covering the walls are colonies of bioluminescent life—giving the cave a calming, blue-green glow. The flora and fauna here resemble those from the deep sea as no sunlight reaches these caves.
Concept Painting
Lake Shoreline
Plants here show off their vibrant colors due to the types of minerals from the lake water. Lake minerals intensify the plants’ colors, enhancing their survival by increasing their toxicity.
Concept Painting
The Ravine
Long ago, this area was carved out by water erosion. What remains now is a dry, deep river bed littered with remains of animals and footprints.
Concept Painting
Stegosaurus Arch
Lit by a path of fireflies, this area begins the graveyard of the dinosaurs as we descend deeper down the world.
Concept Painting / It doesn’t look friendly up ahead for the kids.
Concept Sketch / Working with the 3D team to layout the space before I sketch over it.
Lava Toilet & Dead Forest
Rivers of magma underneath the surface has caused the ground to collapse, revealing a swirling lake of lava below. The air above shimmers with heat.
Concept Painting / Super hot magma with an attitude.
Concept Painting / Everything in this area has been scorched by the heat, if not the lava itself, leaving only the skeletal remains of life.
Finale
One of the most dangerous and aggressive areas of the world due its highly active and volatile geothermal activities.
Concept Painting / A towering beast amongst steam awaits.
Concept Painting / Kids run up a dangerous path that’s splitting apart with every second.
Edmund Liang 