STACK November 2016 Issue 145

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space and it sounded perfect, so
I jumped aboard.”
Now in its 15th year, Infinity
Ward has been through seismic
changes in that time but have
remained at the forefront of Call
of Duty development, a series it
conceived for PC way back in 2002.
Horton is thriving in the environment and
says working at the studio is the “same kind
of depth” as Crystal Dynamics “but on a much
larger scale”.
“Now I have a much bigger art team of
around 60 plus. I just work through
the leads and whenever I have
an opportunity to, I talk to all
the artists that I can. The
leadership is very important
to me because the team are
my eyes and ears and they
can communicate the high
level goals. It’s an amazing
effort to see everyone so driven
and passionate to create this high
quality experience.”
So did Horton have a clear idea of what
he wanted to achieve with Infinite Warfare?
“I really wanted to just take some of the
sensibilities that we had for character and
storytelling to make sure that our worlds and
our characters were as believable as possible.
“The vision that they had for Infinite Warfare
was to tell a much more rich, character driven
story, so that feathered really well with what I
love to do, which is bringing these characters
to life in worlds that you can explore and learn
about.
“Some of my favourite stuff about Infinite
Warfare is we now have a story that you can
start from the beginning to end and there’s no
loading screens. You can just play the whole
spaceman
Brian Horton has enjoyed a long career in video game development. He
recently spoke to us about his work as studio art director on the latestCall of Duty, InfiniteWarfare
. Words Paul Jones
visit
12 NOVEMBER 2016
GAMES
FEATURE
W e last spoke with the
affable Brian Horton
when he was in the
employ of Crystal Dynamics,
having just finished work on the
Tomb Raider reboot. Surrounded by
concept sketches he had been working on
for what would become the follow-up title,
Rise of the Tomb Raider, we were struck by his
fervent enthusiasm for his craft. Some three
and a half years later and now working as
the studio art director on Call of Duty:
Infinite Warfare, that same level of
vigour remains. It’s infectious.
“You know, I’ve always
wanted to work with
Activision, and Infinity
Ward is the best,”
Horton tells us when
we ask how he began
working with the Call
of Duty franchise
progenitor.
“I grew up in the ‘80s
so the [Atari] 2600 was my
first console and I loved
Pitfall. To come to Activision,
the studio that made my
favourite game, was truly
amazing.
“When Dave Stohl
(studio head at Infinity
Ward) contacted me,
I had just wrapped up
Tomb Raider and it was
a great opportunity to
make a switch. They
pitched me this idea of
Call of Duty going to
Brian
Horton
It's an amazing
effort to see
everyone so driven
and passionate