"It's been hell," Volume creator Mike Bithell says about working with his friend, concept artist Daz Watford, over the past six years.
"You love it," Watford replies, laughing.
It's clear that they both enjoy working together, even though they admit to having disparate views on minimalism, concept art details and caricature styles. Bithell calls it "fun fighting," when he and Watford go back on forth on a character or set design, until one of them gives in and admits the other was right all along.
Watford describes the art of Volume as reminiscent of classic American artist Norman Rockwell, realistic yet with details exaggerated in a cartoonish way. Bithell, on the other hand, notes the game's call-back to British heritage, with a skinny, smart protagonist instead of a hulking meat box, done up in monochromatic tones against a colorful environment. They both agree on the geometric roots of Volume's art - diamonds. Even the rivets in the metal beams of Volume's world are shaped as diamonds, rather than circles, Watford points out.
Bithell has an affinity for geometry, it seems, since his first game, Thomas Was Alone, revolves around shapes as characters. Volume is a different beast, with all of these diamond ideas incorporated into a vast, top-down, stealth universe with a distinct Robin Hood twist.
