Inside FURY’s TEC Esports Valorant Showdown: Designing a Virtual Production Set

Jigyasa, Marketing team | October 2026

An esports virtual set is a real-time 3D broadcast studio built in Unreal Engine. Learn how it works, what it costs, and why tournaments use it.

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Discover how FURY used Unreal Engine, Autodesk Maya, Substance Painter, and InfinitySet to create a Valorant-inspired virtual production environment for the TEC Esports Valorant Showdown.

Esports broadcasting is evolving beyond conventional stages and on-screen graphics. Virtual production enables broadcasters to create immersive digital environments that bring the visual identity of a game into the live viewing experience.

For the TEC Esports Valorant Showdown, FURY designed and developed a custom virtual production set inspired by the distinctive art direction, environments, and visual language of VALORANT. The objective was to create a stage that felt connected to the game's universe while meeting the practical requirements of a professional esports broadcast.

By combining 3D environment design, real-time rendering, cinematic lighting, and production optimisation, our team developed a stylised, broadcast-ready environment that brought the competition closer to the world players recognise.

The Challenge: Bringing VALORANT’s World Into Esports Broadcasting

Translating a game's visual identity into a virtual broadcast environment requires more than recreating its appearance. The environment must feel authentic to the source material while remaining functional for presenters, camera framing, lighting, and live production.

For the TEC Esports Valorant Showdown, the brief was to create a visually distinctive stage that reflected VALORANT’s stylised sci-fi aesthetic and integrated presenters naturally into the digital environment.

The set needed to balance three key requirements:

• Visual authenticity: Capture the atmosphere and design language associated with VALORANT.

• Immersive presentation: Make presenters appear naturally integrated into the virtual world.

• Broadcast functionality: Maintain clear composition, appropriate lighting, and real-time performance for production.

The challenge was finding the right balance between an immersive game-inspired environment and a practical virtual production stage.

Concept and References: Inspired by VALORANT’s Visual Identity

The design process began with research into VALORANT’s environments, architecture, props, and stylised visual direction.

Rather than reproducing a single location exactly, the team explored ways to combine recognisable visual references into a cohesive environment designed specifically for the TEC Showdown.

The virtual stage was positioned within the spawn area of the Bind map, with additional environmental elements inspired by other VALORANT maps. Mountains, statues, architectural details, and selected props helped establish a setting that felt familiar to players while supporting the needs of a broadcast production.

This approach allowed the environment to retain the character of the game while creating a distinct visual identity for the event.

The goal was to make the presenter feel as though they were standing inside the game world, rather than appearing in front of a separate digital backdrop.

Building the Environment: The Virtual Production Workflow

Developing a production-ready virtual environment requires a coordinated workflow across modelling, texturing, rendering, and real-time integration.

For this project, FURY used a pipeline built around four key tools.

1. Autodesk Maya : 3D Modelling

The process began with reference gathering, concept development, and 3D modelling in Autodesk Maya. Architectural structures, environmental assets, and set elements were developed to establish the composition and scale of the virtual stage.

2. Substance Painter : Texturing and Detailing

Substance Painter was used to texture and detail the assets, helping establish the materials and surface characteristics that supported the stylised visual direction.

3. Unreal Engine : Rendering, Lighting, and Assembly

The assets were brought into Unreal Engine, where materials, shading, lighting, and the overall environment were refined. This stage established the final look of the set, bringing together the different assets into a cohesive digital world.

4. InfinitySet : Virtual Production Integration

The environment was then optimised and tested within the InfinitySet virtual production system. This stage focused on preparing the environment for real-time use and ensuring it could function within the production workflow.

Together, these tools supported a structured process from initial concept to final virtual production integration.

Environment Design: Balancing Immersion and Broadcast Clarity

A successful esports virtual set needs to look compelling without distracting from the competition or presenter.

For the TEC Showdown, the environment was designed around VALORANT’s stylised sci-fi aesthetic, with careful attention to composition, depth, architectural forms, and the placement of visual elements.

The use of selected references from multiple maps helped create a richer environment while maintaining a consistent visual language.

Equally important was the relationship between the set and the on-screen talent. The background needed to establish atmosphere while leaving enough visual clarity for presenters and broadcast graphics to remain prominent.

This balance is central to esports broadcast design: the environment should enhance the experience without competing with the content it supports.

The Lighting Challenge: From Daylight to a Cinematic Night Scene

Lighting was one of the most important aspects of developing the final environment.

The initial daytime setup lacked the depth and atmosphere required for the desired visual direction. The team therefore explored a night-time scene, introducing a stronger contrast between illuminated elements and darker surroundings.

This change created new challenges. Dark areas needed carefully positioned light sources to preserve visibility and maintain the stylised character of the environment.

The final lighting approach used contrasting warm and cool tones, with orange highlights against blue night-time shadows. This contrast introduced visual depth, strengthened the cinematic atmosphere, and helped key elements stand out within the scene.

The process demonstrated how lighting can do more than illuminate a virtual environment. It can define the mood, guide attention, and reinforce the visual identity of an esports production.

Optimising the Set for Real-Time Virtual Production

A detailed digital environment must also perform within the technical constraints of a live production workflow.

Real-time virtual production requires assets, materials, lighting, and scene complexity to be considered together. Visual quality needs to be balanced with responsiveness and reliable performance.

For this project, optimisation and testing within InfinitySet formed an important part of preparing the environment for production.

The objective was to preserve the atmosphere and visual detail developed during the design process while adapting the environment for its intended broadcast use.

This integration of creative design and technical preparation helped turn a game-inspired concept into a functional virtual stage for the TEC Esports Valorant Showdown.

The Result: A Broadcast-Ready VALORANT-Inspired Environment

The completed environment brought together stylised architecture, game-inspired assets, cinematic night-time lighting, and a carefully composed virtual stage.

The result was a distinctive esports broadcast environment designed to connect the TEC Showdown with the visual world of VALORANT while supporting the needs of professional production.

More importantly, the project demonstrated how a recognisable game aesthetic can be adapted into a new visual experience through thoughtful environment design, real-time rendering, and virtual production integration.

Creating the Future of Esports Broadcast Experiences

As esports productions continue to explore more immersive visual formats, virtual production offers new opportunities to connect game worlds with broadcast storytelling.

At FURY, we bring together creative direction, 3D environment design, real-time rendering, and virtual production workflows to develop distinctive visual experiences for esports, broadcast, and live production.

The TEC Esports Valorant Showdown is an example of how these disciplines can work together to transform a creative concept into a production-ready virtual environment.

Explore more of FURY’s work to discover our approach to virtual production, real-time graphics, broadcast design, and immersive visual experiences.