Bringing Azeroth back to life in Warcraft III: Reforged!

November 10, 2020

Lemon Sky has had a strong ongoing relationship with Blizzard for several years now, culminating in the ambitious undertaking of completely remaking the original Warcraft III!

Our past collaborations with Blizzard include projects such as StarCraft Remastered, HearthStone and Diablo III: Eternal Collection (Nintendo Switch Version). Thanks to our track record in these projects and our reputation for specializing in remastering RTS titles, Blizzard assigned us the task of recreating the art assets in the original game from scratch for Warcraft III: Reforged. This marks the second title that Lemon Sky has successfully remastered with Blizzard, with the first being StarCraft: Remastered which was released in 2017.

The art and project management teams at the studio were very excited to have the opportunity to help recreate such an iconic and historic title, and we were able to deliver on all production milestones thanks to the dedication of everybody involved. Over the course of the 2 year project, the project team produced over 1000 pieces of concept art, 1000+ 3D modeling assets and 5000+ In-game animations, with over 100 artists contributing their efforts to the finished product.

All in all, Warcraft III: Reforged is one of the largest projects where Lemon Sky has been involved in all aspects of the artistic production from start to finish. The scope of the project involved creating more than 80% of the graphics/visuals seen in the final game, and we were closely involved with the creative input throughout all the stages of the art production, including concept art, modeling & texturing, and rigging & animating.

“We had a strong sense of the art style of the Warcraft franchise, which allowed us to catch on to the art direction well and fit our work to the IP (intellectual property).

As die-hard fans of the IP, our art team was very familiar with the essence of what made the original game so special, and we were able to use input from our own creativity to take the original art assets to the next level.”

– Kevin Lai (Head of Production, Games Division)

“This time round Lemon Sky is the main art studio on Warcraft III: Reforged, and this is by far the largest project that we have taken on.

As an independent Malaysian studio that was able to take on one of the greatest and most famous RTS games of all time (which also happens to be my personal favourite), we couldn’t be prouder of the fact that we were able to recreate stunning art & animation together with Blizzard Entertainment for all the Warcraft fans around the world!”

– Cheng Fei Wong (Chief Executive Officer)

“The studio is proud to be able to work with a top game developer like Blizzard, but we are also proud of our artists for the work they have done on Warcraft III: Reforged as it really demonstrates the passion and dedication that is at the heart of our studio.

We are really touched by the amount of care that the artists have put into this project. We’re truly grateful to them as well as our production co-ordinators and team leaders for seeing this massive undertaking through to the end. We’re also very grateful to Blizzard for believing in us all this while and giving us the opportunity to work on such a special project.”

– Ken Foong (Chief Creative Officer)

Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Blizzard Entertainment for entrusting our studio with such an ambitious project related to a truly historic and iconic IP!

Be sure to visit our ArtStation profile to see our full gallery of art for Warcraft III: Reforged!