Controlled Chaos Coming Soon

“Sunset Overdrive is all about fun in the end times and I wanted to reflect that in the art style,” notes art director Jacinda Chew 99 IL in a recent interview. She’s speaking about the latest computer game she has been developing with the team at Insomniac Games in California.

The Insomniac team is in overdrive itself as artists and developers work to finalize a bazillion details before the game releases this fall. In this video (below), Chew talks about street fashion, the thinking behind the character development, questions of diversity and why she feels Sunset Overdrive will appeal to an international audience.

Chew also says that in developing the apocalyptic environments, she looked to some of Havana’s old buildings for inspiration, noting that she loves “how the peeling paint and plaster would often reveal other colors underneath. This eventually made it into our game as brushstrokes that are splashed onto the asphalt, buildings and even clothes. Not only did I want the world to be a happy place full of vibrant color, but a place where you didn’t have to follow any rules. This is why we didn’t bother to paint within the lines. It’s controlled chaos.”

When asked which game character she’d most like to be, Chew doesn’t skip a beat before responding: “I’d be Bunny Girl all the way.”