Raymond Swanland

A game which really inspires me in the area of concept is 'Oddworld: Strangers Wrath.' Raymond Swanland was the man responsible for this, and his work also spans across previous Oddworld games. The thing I really love about the whole 'Stranger's wrath' concept, is that it takes a classic western approach, and applies it to a completely alien and fictional world. Many of the environments have a very familiar wild west desert feel, yet are inhabited by weird and wonderful creatures. Below is an example of one of Swanland's fantastic environments:

What I like about this image is the fusion of concepts. To the right, you can see small stone houses, similar to the small mexican stone houses that are sometimes seen in old western movies. To the left however, a very industrial looking landscape can be seen, more reminiscent of modern times. This combination of themes is done so very similarly in 'Blade runner' and also reflects my classic film noir/ science fiction concept.