The Queen’s Gambit Chess: How We Created the Game’s Chess Sets

Making Of / 07 September 2023

We’re back! This week we’re zooming in on the many spectacular chess sets of The Queen’s Gambit series and detailing how the Rockwater Art Team adapted them for our game.

After all, a chess game is only ever as good-looking as its chess sets! Once they had established the game’s period environments, our teams set out to faithfully adapt the show's many timeless chess sets for players to experience for themselves in The Queen’s Gambit Chess.

How We Adapted Chess Sets for The Queen’s Gambit Chess

At launch, the game features 7 sets, each of which with 4 material variations for players to unlock and customise themselves as they progress through Beth’s Journey. Let’s explore our team’s inspirations and the decisions that went into creating these sets for the game!

Initial Inspiration: Studying The Queen’s Gambit

As with the environments, our recreation of The Queen’s Gambit’s chess sets began with our Rockwater artists studiously watching the show's chess scenes to capture screenshots to analyse.

In many cases, our teams also had access to Netflix’s behind-the-scenes shots that massively helped us in making our sets as close as possible to those seen in the show.

Additional Research

Once we’d identified the exact chess sets featured in the show, our artists would then conduct additional research, scouring the web for unseen angles and close-ups to help make their in-game adaptations as close to the original as possible.

In some instances, however, detailed reference material was simply not available. Here, we had to get creative. A good example of this is the ‘Park’ chess set which, within the context of the show, appeared to be a mishmash of many sets used in a public place. Knowing this, our artists ensured that every single piece felt worn - no piece was the same.

The Process

Upon completing their research, our artists set to work, using images gathered as a jumping-off point to create the optimised 3D meshes that would eventually be used in the game. All of these meshes remain faithful to the show, with our Artists using a plethora of tools including 3ds Max and Maya.

Once these initial meshes were complete, a lot of time and effort were put in to refine them further into high-detail meshes. It is this step that allowed us to include lots of little details and add tonnes of character into the sets, all while being able to hit performance targets for mobile.

Then, our Rockwater artists would bake high-poly detail onto the game meshes and create richly detailed textures and materials all within Adobe Substance Painter. This is where we’d also look into alternate looks for each set, always ensuring that they remained true to the wider art style of the game. Every set had to look relatively at home in every environment.

The final step involved importing the more-or-less finished set into the project and making minor tweaks inside the Unreal Editor to ensure it melded perfectly within the game world.

A Closer Look at the Chess Sets from TQGC

Lardy

Latvian

Liberty

“I’m really pleased with how the Liberty set turned out. It really evokes that 50's Americana vibe. It’s a great fit for Alma’s house.” - Matt Beech, Rockwater Artist

Park

“We couldn’t find enough reference material to create an exact match here, so we used a mixture of show screenshots and inspiration from 1950s Russian sets - it works really well within the scene. Each of the material variants, even the hard-wearing plastic pieces, have been worn in through years of use.” - Matt Beech Rockwater Artist

Staunton

“No chess game is complete without a classic Staunton-inspired set. I love the variety of the material options that players can unlock.” - Matt Beech, Rockwater Artist

Vegas

Williams

“With the Williams set, we wanted to create something to reflect that funky 60's vibe that Beth brings to the decor of her new home - it’s a little out there compared to the others, but it works!” - Matt Beech, Rockwater Artist

Up Next on Ripstone’s ArtStation

As always, we’d like to thank you for joining us on the Ripstone ArtStation! If you've enjoyed this look at the methods we used to create the chess sets of The Queen’s Gambit Chess, you may also enjoy some of our previous articles including more deep dives and behind-the-scenes insights:

Mark your calendars - next week we’re heading to Vegas to explore one of the most extravagant environments in the game!