Hi, I’m Peter Fries. Before joining the writing team at ArenaNet, I was an environment artist on Factions, Nightfall, Eye of the North, and Guild Wars 2. I wanted to feature the work the environment team does here at ArenaNet and draw some well-deserved attention to their efforts.

Maybe you’ve wondered, “What is an environment artist? Are they different from map designers or other game artists? Is an environment artist the same thing as a level artist?” The simple answers are, “Awesome, yes, and sometimes.”