Highguard - Cloudreach Base

Cloudreach was a challenging base to take on since it went through a lot of design iterations, but I was happy with the result and it was a fun base to play on in the end. We wanted to mix some of our old fantasy tech, with the big zeppelin model my coworker Jake Virginia had created to give the base its own identity. I consulted with him and my coworker Paul Tran who authored the base kit set so we could keep the visual language consistent and be mindful of time constraints.

I was responsible for set dressing, modeling, creating some new unique assets (like the folding stool prop, and green metal floor gratings in the ship), reworking some existing assets to save time, bug fixing, plus making and vert painting the terrain. The terrain materials were made by other artists with some tweaks done by me in Unreal shaders, rocks were made by Derek Bentley and Jason McKenzie.

Working closely with Concept Artist Gabriel Brandt, we fleshed out areas to feel functional and Environment Concept Art Lead Gabriel Yeganyan lent a helping hand with extra paintovers and consultation. I checked in a lot with level designer Alex Graner on this assignment. My Art Lead Jose Zavala made the destruction walls kit and answered technical questions about terrain blends, our Art Director Robert Taube did the lighting, and they both provided great feedback. Character Art Lead Patrick Yeung provided the giant spear prop underneath the blimp which we repurposed for the level. This was a team effort with many items utilized from the Highguard asset library which was shared and contributed to by all the environment artists.

Highguard shipped in January 2026 for the XBox Series S/X, PS5, and PC/Steam, and the Cloudreach Base was part of Season 2.
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Art Director / Lighting:
https://www.artstation.com/rtaube
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Environment Lead:
https://www.artstation.com/jzartist
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Environment Art:
https://www.artstation.com/jobyek
https://www.artstation.com/paultran
https://www.artstation.com/jakevirginia
https://www.artstation.com/artkristen
https://www.artstation.com/shong1123
https://www.artstation.com/dbentley3d
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Environment Concept Art Lead:
https://www.artstation.com/gabe-11
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Concept Artists:
https://www.artstation.com/gabberwocky
https://www.artstation.com/nicholasschumaker
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Character Art Lead:
https://www.artstation.com/patrickvdk
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Level Designer:
Alex Graner
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FX Artists:
https://www.artstation.com/mreberg
https://www.artstation.com/ryanbartonvfx
Christopher Shepherd