Oliver Guiney, Environment Concept Artist

I grew up as a fan of the Black Ops series. Playing online casually with friends was a core experience on the PS3 and PS4. I always enjoyed the sci-fi flavor that the series grew into by its third entry.

I was learning concept art and trying to break into games when Treyarch hired me in-house in the spring of 2018, 7 months before Black Ops 4 shipped that October. This was my moment to prove myself as an artist.

Multiplayer

I initially worked on the multiplayer maps Payload, Arsenal, Gridlock and Nuketown. I designed props and vehicles, researched and organized reference images, painted vista concepts, and drew redline corrections: paintovers with notes for the environment artists suggesting additional storytelling and set dressing. Below are some in-game screenshots of areas I designed in multiplayer:

A yellow snowplow beside a snowbound road on Payload — Payload. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

Snowbound mountains seen from Payload — Payload. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

The Guardian armored truck on Gridlock — Gridlock. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

A jeep at the red-star gate on Nuketown — Nuketown. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

Blackout Battle Royale

Early into my time at Treyarch I was placed on a tag team to explore a new game mode: an 80-player battle royale in the vein of PUBG and Fortnite. I worked alongside Ace Carman under art director Shaun Bell. Jason Louie and Khan Pham also created key art for Blackout.

Here’s the Blackout reveal trailer.

“I had the great pleasure of working with Oliver at Treyarch on Call of Duty Black Ops 4. Oliver was one of the concept artists on my team. He was new to the industry; however, what he lacked in experience, he made up with his positive can-do attitude. He played a vital role in our development of Blackout, a new Battle Royale experience. Oliver created a few key images that I used to sell the core visual experience to our stakeholders. He also crafted some of the iconic landmark destinations that our fans have come to love. The project timeframe was tight, but Oliver embraced all of the changes and maintained good spirits without letting his work waver. I am sure our paths will cross again. Until that day, I look forward to seeing his talent mature and grow.”

Shaun Bell, Art Director

The original Blackout map was inspired by the coastal landscapes of Southern California. It was a love letter to the Black Ops series. Each POI was inspired by a previous location in multiplayer, campaign or zombies throughout the history of the Black Ops franchise. The areas I concepted include the lighthouse, the asylum and graveyard, the hydro dam, the river town and the factory. Some in-game shots of the POIs I concepted:

The red lighthouse against a blue sky, seen from its base — The lighthouse, drawing on Call of the Dead (Black Ops zombies). Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

A generator room with brick walls and a doorway onto the water — The generator room at the lighthouse. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

The spiral stair inside the lighthouse, lit by a single lamp — Inside the lighthouse. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

The asylum gate, its name in iron letters over the arch, the building beyond — The asylum and graveyard, drawing on Verrückt (Black Ops zombies). Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

The hydro dam and its spillway gates from the canyon rim — The hydro dam, drawing on Hydro (Black Ops 2 multiplayer). Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

The turbine hall inside the hydro dam. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

The factory’s smokestacks over a road and rail yard — The factory. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, in-game. © Activision.

Zombies

As we got closer to our shipping date and the Blackout mode was more fully formed I pivoted to one of the zombies teams, tag teaming with Aaron Kohn under the direction of Peter Lam. I worked on the Classified map, a remastered version of the classic Five map from the original Black Ops. My work included lighting paintovers, redline suggestions, prop design and set dressing.

I also created the jump scare key art featuring the Shadowman character for the zombies level Blood of the Dead.

That fall I kept working on Black Ops 4 zombies through Gadget-Bot Productions: environment concepts, rapid sketches, VFX designs and architectural 3D renders for the fantasy side of the zombies mode.

Black Ops 4 Concept Team

Concept artists: Hemal Patel, Hakob Minasian, Aaron Kohn, Ace Carman, Jose Borges, Oliver Guiney, Ji-hye Lee, Yefim Kligerman, Michael Lacek, Chris Miller, Jonathan Guzi, Quentin Stipp, Kevin Jick, Mike Garn, Mickie Camua

Concept leads: Daniel Cheng, Peter Lam, Khan Pham, Jason Louie

Art direction: Ken Harsha, Alan Jarvie, Bruce Hall, Shaun Bell

2018 was a whirlwind year for me. Joining the internal concept team at Treyarch was like going to school for gamedev. I went from freelance work to shipping a major AAA title in a matter of months, a full circle moment for me as a fan of the Black Ops series.