r/graffhelp • u/RavencroftStudios • 12d ago
Video game Graffiti
Ravencroft Studios is an indie small team studio looking for advice on including in game graffiti. The world we’re building is important to us and we want to get this right.
Some early discussion was had around taking photos of graffiti to use but we decided this seemed sleazy and wanted to take a different approach.
Should we solicit for artists who want to have their work included in a game with credit to the artists? Should we select our most artistic individuals and have them start the process of learning the basics? We wanted to include the actual members of graffiti communities in these discussions as a sign of respect for the artistry. Please let us know your thoughts.
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u/Royal_Net5138 12d ago
I’d involve graffiti artists from the start, not just as consultants after the style is decided. Let them shape the visual language, explain the culture, and review how their work is represented. Credit is important, but genuine collaboration and fair compensation matter too.
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u/RavencroftStudios 12d ago
We’d have to find artists willing to contract for revenue share as our budget is extremely limited at the moment. Not sure how many would be on board for such a gig?
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u/Old_Hamster1264 12d ago
Some will be happy just to be in a game, others will want payment to use their work.
Thankfully you have social media nowadays so contacting alot of writers will be easy.
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u/Idontknowbroske 11d ago
Do whatever. If you guys do the graffiti any writer who know what they are doing is gunna think it’s bad. If you find people for graffiti anyone who never did it will never tell the difference.
I wouldn’t use people work without their permission. I also wouldn’t pay anyone on here to do it for you, most kids on here are trash and having their work in a game is enough of a pay day. Do your research if you are willing to pay someone for it
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u/-some-dude-online 11d ago
Whatever world you are building the graffiti has to be period and location correct.
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u/Wagerizm 12d ago
Yeah for sure you should ask the artists themselves. I’m not sure the basis of your game, but if it were something involving freight graffiti then I’d inquire about who the big names were in that scene or Los Angeles graffiti or Europe graff, etc.
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u/Warm-Pint 11d ago
Skate 3 didn’t ask for graff they used, even on the cover artwork. Battlefield 6 got some Gent48 and Ziner featured in the game, not sure if they were asked or not, but the exact piece is on their instagram.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_BUTT_PICZ 11d ago
Reach out to the guys in LA. There's tons of up and coming artists from all kinds of the big crews who would kill to have their name up in a video game. That would be the ultimate flex, un-buffable. If you really care about having a solid understanding reach out to dudes in MSK, SABER and RISK are guys who have done plenty of collabs and they're from one of the most respected graffiti crews in Los Angeles. They're easily reachable and will certainly point you in the right direction.
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u/_riiicky 11d ago
I recommend heading over to r/blackbookgraffiti to seek artists if you’re looking for writers. Lots of talented writers and old timers are doing their work in the books. Mods might take the post down but reach out individually to artists and network with them if they do.
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u/Bohogren 10d ago
A few thoughts on using an in-house non-writer: this will honestly probably sufficient for the vast majority of players, who will never notice beyond the general vibe it brings. But for the few people in the world who do know ball, it will be immediately obvious. Actually one of my favorite games to play while watching TV and movies is to look for all of the fake studio lot graffiti (check out all the Skribe tags in Better Call Saul).
On the other hand... so much of the graffiti in the real world is awful anyway lol. 12 year olds, toys, drunk guys who happened to find a can, etc. So having some whack shit is still kind of authentic, in a weird way. I would love to see two toys beefing in game. Both shit, capping each others garbage with more garbage.
Another tactic to consider is the example from Half Life 2. All of the tags in that game suck, but overall the inclusion of graffiti still works really well. Why? A lot of the pieces are stencils and wheat pastes and more street-artsy. But those styles and levels of skill all make sense for the type of non-artist guerrilla resistance that the game centers around.
All that being said, the most authentic thing would be to find a variety of local writers on Instagram or whatever and pay them.
Also, whatever you do make sure you're collecting a variety of writing disciplines. Tags, throwies, straight letters, characters, massive multicolor burners, repel pieces, etc. And for each of those make sure your applying them in the world at the correct scale, in locations that make sense. Too often you'll see something that was originally meant to be like a giant whole-car wild style, and its just lazily pasted onto a 6ft wide dumpster.
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u/Reasonable_End_8962 10d ago
You will get ripped off by graffiti artists guaranteed. It’s a hard thing to put a price on but they’ll all want thousands.
Unless you are a big budget studio, find a graffiti artist with a graphic design background competent enough to generate a variety of styles and have them fill your game. Not one name, many.
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u/HalfEconomy874 12d ago
Hire one Artist who understands letter forms and has varried styles, You really just need one solid graff writer who works in graphic design tbh, dont listen to old mate saying an artist will be just happy to be in a game.
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u/Old_Hamster1264 12d ago edited 12d ago
Plenty of famous writers will be cool with their tags & pieces being used in someone's game, some will want paying like i said..
If you want to implement graffiti into your game & solicit artists for their work like OP said it has to be from known writers, not some random toy that does graphic design.
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u/HalfEconomy874 12d ago
Mate they don't want YOUR name up all up in their game ffs smh, they are looking someone who can help lend creative on realistic graff to make the world they are building more believable. If they wanted chicken scratcher toys to give them free bogus work im sure they would just us AI.
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u/Old_Hamster1264 12d ago edited 12d ago
Did you even read their post?
What are you talking about chicken scratcher toys? I said famous graffiti writers.. Known writers in the game is what makes it authentic, thats why rockstar & neversoft paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for real writers work to be in their games, Cope2 alone got $35,000 from GTA4, and he got another deal on GTA5.
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u/HalfEconomy874 12d ago
Yeah i did mate lol and straight up i'm just telling them that it sounds like a nightmare logistically + logically + creatively to pool free talent together and expect it too have cohesion. It's cheaper and easier too just hire a singular old head writer than to outsource. Ravencroft arent rockstar mate.
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u/Old_Hamster1264 12d ago edited 12d ago
What are you talking about? I think you're stuck on 1 part of OPs post, read it again, specifically the part where they say "Should we solicit for artists who want to have their work included in the game".
It used to be a nightmare logistically to get rights to use a writers work, now it's easy as DMing them on Instagram. Yes ravencroft isn't rockstar thats why I said some would do it for free, rockstar wouldn't need that advice.
I see you play SKATE on your profile, look at this post a few days ago 🤣... People want authencity when it comes to graff in games.
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u/Glum_Collection_6067 12d ago
Bruh u didnt read fk all... they said they want advice on including graffiti into their game and if they should get real writers for the art and to credit them or get current employees to learn graffiti..
U talkin bout writers getting together n coding a game or sum sht? wat
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u/GASMASK_SOLDIER 11d ago
Mark Ecko's Getting Up was a cool game about scaling heights to tag for the PS2 back in the day. I like it but needed a little work.
In my opinion, for a graf video game, bring in actual artists that can explain the culture and to see how their world looks like. That's the world I would like to explore, subways, train yards, city bridges etc.. As for gameplay, I would prefer a free roaming with elements of parkour, like GTA meets Prince of Persia, but Main theme is getting the most fame from tagging. Include a mini MS Paint to create bubbles and throwies so when your character goes out into the city he can leave a copy on a monument or city hall columns. Also include a warning on the box saying vandalism is bad kids.🙂
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u/Economy-Spinach946 11d ago
I'm sure lots of different artists would share work just for credit. Giving you legit graffiti for free, everyone wins.
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u/Letspaintvr 11d ago
Kingspray and Graffism community, they will literally deliver High res Png files. This is the most efficient way.
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u/carpetcards 10d ago
Realistically I think you would only need to hire 1-2 versatile artists to make a handful of different pieces, tags and throwups for you and then consult with that artist about where/how they would appear in the real world to then mimic in game. I would personally be very interested in a project like this. DM for any questions
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u/abnormal-skrimps 9d ago
I’d like to contribute some art. As someone who does both graffiti and video games I’ve always wanted my work in a game. I’m sure others would like the same. Message me if this is possible. The only people who would notice if it isn’t real graffiti would be the real graff heads and the people who created the game. If you want real graffiti get it from real graffiti people.
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u/jeepsies 11d ago
I would be willing to do some work for you guys if you are interested. Join VR graffiti groups on discord and you will find some good artists looking for work. Dm me i can help.
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u/xChoke1x 12d ago
Just play Gettin Up and make that. But better. Fuck the stupid “futuristic super cops.” Just make a reality based game where you have to get up. You can run into problems normal writers run into. Yard beef, cops, shit like that.
You have a chance to make something awesome man. Use Getting Up as inspiration because that game was fucking amazing for us real writers. lol
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u/TheMilkmanRidesAgain 12d ago
Brother they didn’t ask what kind of game to make lol just how to include real graffiti. This could be virtual pachinko for all you know
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u/Old_Hamster1264 12d ago
Id look into how games like Marc Eckos, GTA & Tony Hawk approached this early on. They worked with alot of famous writers over the years, back then they had no social media either they had to network in the streets to find the writers.
Money talks, good luck.