Beamdog, creators of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition, are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the original game. Holding a contest (opens in new tab) Transform two fans of the series into in-game character portraits drawn by OG BioWare artist Mike Sass. Potential Sword Coast residents are encouraged to provide reference photos, character notes, and other supporting material to social@beamdog.com.
The graphical fidelity of our games has improved tremendously over the past two decades, but in the process we’ve lost something important: the art of RPG character portraits. When he led and clicked through the blurry sprites and chunky early 3D models of Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, what really brought them to life was the hazy, fantastic fantasy novel cover art style of the character sheets. It was a portrait.
Beamdog’s announcement also included a letter from Mike Sass himself, with some nostalgic musings about the early days of BioWare. “When we were a Canadian-based start-up in the 1990s, most of BioWare’s employees were generalists, and they were all learning on the job,” he writes Sass.
“No one was an experienced artist at that point, so it seems that none of them could draw professionally. Using Photoshop version 3, my attempt seemed passable. , I became a portrait artist, and if BG becomes a hit, these images will resonate and I will have a 25-year career painting video games!”
Sass’ early work still retains that great paperback quality, and I love it —it reminds me of Dave Mattingly’s moody subway rides. beer shotgun wizard (opens in new tab)the art of erminster saga (opens in new tab)or the cover of an old Star Wars Expanded Universe novel.
Version 2!! Probably the last version. Thanks @kalvinlyle for the tip!! @BaldursGate @bioware pic.twitter.com/kYDCswzbVNMarch 3, 2022
Last year, a Twitter user with a handle @perowish (opens in new tab) We got in touch with Sass for some portrait forensics, identifying and assigning appropriate credits, as well as original reference images for some of these classic CRPG histories. You too can join the rare company of his BioWare employees circa 1998 and various Edmonton residents!
Until March 6th, you’ll have to play yourself in the CRPG immortality. If all the early stories of BioWare made you nostalgic, check out Graeme Mason’s 2021 feature on the history of Baldur’s Gate. (opens in new tab)?
