About me
Bonjour,
I'm Damien LAURENT, a video game environment art designer with 20+ years of professional experience.
Here's a bit about me.
What began as a hobby — designing Half-Life 1 levels as an amateur — evolved through winning several level design contests, including Epic Games’ prestigious 'Make Something Unreal' as well as Ubisoft’s mapping competitions, which led to my first professional role on the Splinter Cell series.
Nearly 20 years ago, with an artistic background from the Supinfocom school, I began working at Arkane Studio Lyon, where I served as the Lead level architect for the creation of the cities and layouts in Dishonored 1 & 2, in addition to working as an assistant Art Director and Lead lighting artist.
These roles allowed me to design or oversee the architecture and layouts of these games, giving me the opportunity to contribute to Arkane’s acclaimed level design.
I also had the chance to work on various licenses, including Bioshock 2, Wolfenstein : YoungBlood, and Counter-Strike : Global Offensive.
In recent years, I have served as Art Director for environments at Arkane Studios Lyon, having previously worked on Deathloop and now on Marvel’s Blade.
My areas of expertise cover
Environmental art direction: maintaining high-quality standards, modularity, consistency, stylization, good performance, and gameplay compatibility in content creation
Level architecture & layout creation: developing a logical and intuitive flow for players while offering high flexibility in terms of circulation options for mission designers
Urban planning & world-building: creating a coherent and iconic urban foundation, drawing inspiration from real cities and blending them with powerful fictional elements
Lighting: magnifying the game's content, helping to guide the player passively, and highlighting important gameplay elements
Environmental storytelling: telling a story and infusing it with soul and his own spirit, with the key focus on conveying the dramas of the inhabitants and presenting the right point of view
Visuals for marketing: showcasing the game at its best, using the game engine as well as actual content
Team workflows: aligning efforts where needed and encouraging interdisciplinary synergy, fostering a productive, transparent, and stimulating atmosphere for the teams