Wish to see your local street playable on one of the popular online games like the Overwatch? Well, that would likely to happen as one of our fellow Filipino gamer and concept artist, Alben Tan from Davao City was selected as one of the finalists on the 2020 Overwatch SEA Map Design Contest.
Inspired from the city of Davao, one of the largest city in the southern part of the Philippines, his map entry dubbed as Control Map: Davao. It showcased the Filipino cultures and local establishments – like the Food chain Jollibee as “Jollibei”, neighborhood sundry store, well known to Filipino as “Sari-Sari” store, and government offices like the Davao City Hall and its iconic Clock Tower.
Also seen in the art showcase is the Philippine pedicab “Tricycle”, 7-Eleven as “1-elven”, Palawan Pawnshop as “Polowan Pawnshop”, and Davao Convenience Store.
Though the maps is not playable and just a concept art right now, it also does not guarantee that winning this competition will feature the map on Overwatch. But if he wins, It will give a big impression to the Blizzard team on how popular their game are in the Philippines and the wishes of many fans to make a Philippine inspired map for Overwatch will be finally heard. Last year, fans also requested for the Manila inspired map in Overwatch to be their next new map but didn’t reach enough to get the attention of Blizzard.
The 2020 Overwatch SEA Map Design started accepting entries last March 26 to April 30. On these dates, all creative talent across South East Asia region are eligible to join including Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Today, after throughout verification for all submitted entries – Blizzard announced all of the finalist for the contest and started the public voting for the Popularity Award criteria. The top 8 winners will be announced on June 12, 2020.
Take a look of his entry below.
We also had a chance to interview Mr. Alben Tan and get to know more about him and his concept art Control Map: Davao. He also shares some tips for all aspiring concept artists.
Who is Alben Tan?
“A Freelance concept and game artist, currently working with Landshark Games Studio Singapore and other undisclosed projects. Previously worked with Tropa Entertainment, Mighty Bear Games Singapore and Studiobound Singapore. Started professionally way back in 2012. Previously did some work for Heroes of Newerth, Dire Wolf Digital’s Eternal Card game, N3TWORK Inc.’s Legendary: Game of Heroes and more.”
What is the story behind the Overwatch Map and why you choose Davao as the map concept?
“I’ve been playing Overwatch since it’s in early release. One of the things that I noticed is how beautiful the environment design is. It’s very impressive how they build the world. The attention to details of making the maps culturally distinctive is just amazing. Since then, as a fan, I’ve been wanting to make one that is somehow related to my hometown.”
How long does it take to create or conceptualized the map?
“The whole process can be done in a week or less. Maybe 5 days tops.
But for this one, I only have time to do it after work hours or during weekends. So it took almost 2 weeks.”
What are your tips to all aspiring fellow Filipino artists?
“The immense amount of digital resource today is greatly helpful as a start. I started learning from free tutorials online which were very scarce a decade ago. Accompany hard work with patience and discipline. And always start with the fundamentals. There are no shortcuts if you want to get good in art.”
If you want to find out more about Alben Tan, you can check his Social Media and Art Showcase platform accounts below:
- Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/alben_tan/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alben.tan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/albentan/
Aside from the street of Davao City, there is also an entry from Carl Kho that features the Simala Sanctuary of Cebu in futuristic and snowy environment.
For now, the voting for the Popularity Award is ongoing and it contributes 10% for the overall winning criteria. If you like Alben and Carl’s work, you can vote for their entries at https://goblizzard.tw/overwatch/2020/fan-art-contest/en/vote#1.
amazing!!!
you practically moved the overwatch map to the center to the city hall….coool..hehe