Simon Hughes
Associate Lead Environment Artist @ Playground Games
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Forza Horizon 6 - Tokyo - Modular Buildings

I am incredibly proud to have worked on Forza Horizon 6. I co-managed the Assets and Outsourcing Teams within the Environment Art Team at Playground Games alongside my colleague Nathan Doye.
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I was responsible for managing the quality and delivery of the work produced by the Internal Artists on my team as well as for one of our Outsourcing Vendors at Glass Egg (a Virtuos Studio).
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During Concept and Preproduction, I was responsible for building the Assets & Outsourcing Teams at Playground Games and creating and maintaining a high-level vision for the workflows and quality which we wanted to ultimately deliver on. I assisted in planning and scoping as well as onboarding our Outsourcing Teams.
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During Production and Shutdown, I worked with my direct reports and Glass Egg on behalf of the Environment Art Lead and Art Directors to deliver on their vision for the project.
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Within this post is a collection of the work that I was responsible for and contributed to with regards to Modular Buildings within Tokyo. As with any project of this scale, it was highly collaborative with lots of support in many areas so thanks to all who worked on FH6!
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Associate Lead Environment Artist – Partner Team Lead – Assets & Outsourcing
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https://www.artstation.com/nathandoye

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The Assets & Outsourcing Team - My Direct Reports
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https://www.artstation.com/kieranbone
https://www.artstation.com/mihaelaelka
https://www.artstation.com/ryandidcotehayward
https://www.artstation.com/zachel
https://www.artstation.com/willkitchen
https://www.artstation.com/callumpatoncopley
https://www.artstation.com/chrisrhodesart

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The Assets & Outsourcing Team - Partially Responsible For
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https://www.artstation.com/mayahigdon
https://www.artstation.com/jwentart
https://www.artstation.com/tanjaberkus
https://www.artstation.com/ryanthomasonjones

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Assets & Outsourcing Team – Partner Team Members
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https://www.artstation.com/delsworth
https://www.artstation.com/jmarston
https://www.artstation.com/anyavonti
https://www.artstation.com/brexdz

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Outsourcing Vendors – My Responsibilities
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Glass Egg a Virtuos Studio - https://www.glassegg.com/
https://www.artstation.com/virtuosgames

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Outsource Partners – Partner Team Responsibility
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https://www.artstation.com/mindwalkstudios
https://www.artstation.com/room8studio

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Outsource Partners – Preproduction Support & Signage
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https://www.artstation.com/rabcat_gameart

Creating a city of this scale, variety and complexity was a new challenge for FH6.

Creating a city of this scale, variety and complexity was a new challenge for FH6.

We created the majority of buildings using a modular approach, utilising Houdini for placement, which had a direct implementation in the game engine.

We created the majority of buildings using a modular approach, utilising Houdini for placement, which had a direct implementation in the game engine.

During Concept and Pre-Production I had the exciting job of working with my (then) small team, Tech Art and Engineering to come up with workflows for creating and placing Modular Buildings, along with planning the scope of the work for the project.

During Concept and Pre-Production I had the exciting job of working with my (then) small team, Tech Art and Engineering to come up with workflows for creating and placing Modular Buildings, along with planning the scope of the work for the project.

I led the vision for Modular Buildings and the city itself (from an Assets perspective) in the early stages. I was very proud of the work we all created together during our “beautiful area” test area. Content was used in the final game from these tests.

I led the vision for Modular Buildings and the city itself (from an Assets perspective) in the early stages. I was very proud of the work we all created together during our “beautiful area” test area. Content was used in the final game from these tests.

A particular shout-out to Maya Higdon and Chris Rhodes, who did some excellent problem-solving to come up with the workflows which we used for the project. I was especially proud of our shader solutions, which Tech Art produced with our input.

A particular shout-out to Maya Higdon and Chris Rhodes, who did some excellent problem-solving to come up with the workflows which we used for the project. I was especially proud of our shader solutions, which Tech Art produced with our input.

Maya Higdon and Mihaela Ciora did an excellent job at supporting our Outsourcing Partners as our "modular building specialists" during Production. Nathan Doye and I found them invaluable through Production and Shutdown for their expertise and efforts.

Maya Higdon and Mihaela Ciora did an excellent job at supporting our Outsourcing Partners as our "modular building specialists" during Production. Nathan Doye and I found them invaluable through Production and Shutdown for their expertise and efforts.

Image credit - Zach Hasan

Image credit - Zach Hasan

I was also heavily involved in the planning for signage within the city and beyond. This was a huge challenge! It was a monumental effort from start to finish for many people at PG and our Outsourcing Studios.

I was also heavily involved in the planning for signage within the city and beyond. This was a huge challenge! It was a monumental effort from start to finish for many people at PG and our Outsourcing Studios.

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