I love Spyro more than anything else from my childhood. Spyro was my first 3d game and the first time I felt completely transported by a video game. The storybook art style, whimsical score, and massive (for its time) worlds to explore struck all the right chords with me as an 8-year-old just discovering my love for video games. I've carried that little purple dragon and his adventures through the Dragon Realms and beyond with me for all these years, never expecting anyone could recapture that magic. Toy's For Bobs 2018 remake of the original trilogy was everything I could have ever wanted in a remake and now, thanks to the new book The Art Of Spyro Reignited Trilogy, I have a much deeper understanding of what makes Spyro so special, and a cool way to share that love with others.
An Art Book, A History Book, And A Love Letter
The Art Of Spyro is so much more than a collection of sketches and concept art. It begins, appropriately so, at the beginning: Toys For Bob's seemingly insurmountable task of recreating the Spyro Trilogy from scratch, updating with current technology, and staying true to spirit and style of the originals. The book goes in-depth on the studio's artistic philosophy, their core beliefs about the design of the games, and the guiding principles they used to stay on the right track. The artists quoted in the book talk repeatedly about creating a game that looks new but makes players feel the way they felt when they played the originals. This is an oft-repeated sentiment about the Reignited Trilogy and is widely considered its greatest success, so it's incredibly satisfying to read about how much care and consideration when into that process, and the tools and strategies they used to make it possible.
Throughout the book, there are quotes, anecdotes, and explanations from dozens of artists that worked on the game. They provide a lot of context and interesting tidbits about a lot of the design decisions, but they also enhanced my understanding and appreciation for the game. There is so much thoughtfulness and care that went into the Reignited Trilogy. If it wasn't obvious that the developers were passionate about Spyro and capturing what makes the games so special, this book more than proves it.
I Fundamentally Misunderstood What Concept Art Was
I thought I didn't really care about concept art. I remember games that would reward concept art as a collectible and it was often rough sketches of characters are 3d model in a T-pose. Concept art seemed like a precursor to art in the way that ingredients are the precursor to a delicious meal. The Art of Spyro recontextualized concept art for me and made me appreciate this game that I love even more.
There's a real sense of process in The Art Of Spyro. Yes, there are line drawings and some simple sketches that are used in the book to illustrate the process of finding and nailing down character personalities and styles, but a vast majority of the art in the book is more along the lines of reference art. They're colorful, beautifully detailed characters and worlds that the 3d artists would base their in-game models and levels from. For every rough sketch in the book, there are 50 incredibly polished and stunning full-page works of art, each representing every facet of that would model or world that would eventually be made in the game. Color, shape, style, and tone were all established in this concept art and the quotes from the artists that made them give so much wonderful insight.
Comprehensive And Complete
Everything that exists in the Reignited Trilogy can be found somewhere in this 288-page art book. After the forward and fantastic introduction, there are 5 chapters to explore: Spyro, Heroes & Villains, Dragons, Friends & Enemies, and World of Spyro. Throughout those 5 chapters, you can find every single enemy type, every friendly NPC, every playable character, and multiple pieces for every single level (over 100!) in all three games.
By far my favorite part of the book is the Dragon's chapter. The biggest creative liberty Toys For Bob took when developing the Reignited Trilogy was in redesigning all 80 dragons that Spyro can rescue throughout the game. While the original only had a few different generic types of dragons, Toys For Bob wanted to create individual styles and personalities for all of them in the remake. There's a great intro chapter that explains how they looked to the voice lines, the worlds where they're found, and the theme of the overworlds to come up with a unique look for all of the dragons. Going through this chapter and learning about how much thought went into each dragon made me want to immediately replay the game. I knew they had been updated in the remake, but I had no idea how big the project was.
If there's one gripe I have about the book, it really breezes through the sequels. Particularly in the last chapter, concept art for multiple worlds Spyro 3 are crammed onto the same page with very little commentary at all. Year of the Dragon had some of my favorite levels in the entire series and they don't get the chance to shine in this book.
Ultimately, The Art Of Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a celebration of one of the best games of this generation. It gave me a better understanding and appreciation for all the work that went into making Reignited Trilogy into such an awesome game, and it gave me yet another wave of nostalgia for my favorite childhood game. Of all my coffee table books, this is the one I know I'll come back to again and again just to soak up a little more Spyro.
Check out The Art Of Spyro Reignited Trilogy when it releases this Tuesday, July 21st.