[Adobe Summit] Helldivers 2 - Big Worlds, Small Team
“A big world can be created with a small team.”
The rich, immersive environments of Helldivers 2 were really created by just two artists.
At the Developer Summit hosted by Adobe during GDC 2025,
Romain Lemaire, Senior Materials Artist at Arrowhead Game Studios,
shared how his team tackled the challenge of building Helldivers 2’s biome-based material system—under major constraints.
With over 100 art assets to create and only two artists on the task, the team developed powerful color matching logic and a layered material system to craft realistic planetary terrains to life.
##Color Matching & Material Guidelines
To address challenges like inconsistent material quality and lighting discrepancies, the team implemented:
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A custom color balancing algorithm
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A set of guideline systems to maintain visual cohesion across different biomes
This helped prevent oversaturation and maintained color consistency within each biome, resulting in a more unified visual identity and improved visual clarity across all environments.
But this was no quick fix. Building the foundational system alone took over 4 weeks due to its complex nature.
Adaptive Biome System
What made their material system next-gen was its flexibility. It supported real-time changes in:
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Lighting and color setups
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Terrain elements
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Environmental hazard
By adjusting material combinations to fit each planet’s characteristics, the team amplified immersion. For example:
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A desert planet uses fixed sand-based textures
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It also supports dynamic transitions like snow-to-sand changes
Optimization Without Sacrificing Scale
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Material layering: separated high-frequency details from and low-frequency base color elements
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Automated deformation logic: reused same materials across different environments to achieve resource efficiency and performance gains
In Summary, Small Team, Big Results
- Introduced material guidelines for consistency
- Used color matching to ensure visual consistency throughout
- Employed layering and reuse for optimized performance
They’re even considering a system where materials change in real time based on player actions, such as explosions or destruction — exciting things ahead!
Hashtags
#Helldivers2 biomematerial adobesummit gdc2025 gameartoptimization