Hi, I’m Lloyd Drake-Brockman, Concept artist on the Stellaris team. I worked extensively on the First Contact DLC and I'm excited to share some of the artistic journey that this pack took me and the art team on. Specifically we're going to be discussing the development of MSI, a new, non-player faction with a really interesting visual style. I was involved in designing most of their visual elements. I think we have ended up with a great set of designs that are quite unique in the world of Stellaris. I'm going to take you through some of my design journey working on various elements of this faction.
MSI Flagship
The flagship was the first element of MSI that I worked on. It was a complicated design challenge and it informed the aesthetics for MSI as a whole. Not only were there quite a few gameplay requirements which restricted the design, it has a unique visual language which gives the player insight into the nature of MSI themselves.
‘Corporate Vaporwave’ was the brief for the ship’s general aesthetic. A combination of bright neon, classical architecture and modern corporate sensibilities.
MSI flagship early sketches by Lloyd Drake-Brockman The first thing I had to nail down was the overall shape. It had to be imposing, beautiful, mysterious and ruthless. You can see here the sketch on the bottom right pretty much became the design of the finished ship, when viewed from above.
MSI flagship chosen sketch by Lloyd Drake-Brockman From the top-view I worked out a side view of the design. I was very keen for the ship to involve some sort of central rotating element. This ship would move around quite unlike most of the other ships in the game and I wanted to show that it had some sort of unique drive system.
MSI flagship design development sketches over 3D by Lloyd Drake-Brockman Happy with these sketches, I mocked the design up in 3D. Here you can see three stages of refining the shapes of the ship. Then it's time to take the concept to final.
MSI flagship final concept by Lloyd Drake-Brockman Here's the final version of the concept art for the ship. The purpose of this image is to give the 3D and animation teams all the information they need to build the ship in-game. The concept was mostly built in 3D with certain elements such as the gold detailing around the edge of the marble panels added afterwards in Photoshop.
MSI Flagship In-game, modeled and textured by Tim Wiberg
MSI Uniform
After the ship the next thing I looked at was the MSI portrait. It was decided early on that we were going to use an existing species from the game and dress them in a unique outfit, therefore the only thing I had to concept was the uniform.
Initial sketches for the MSI uniform by Lloyd Drake-Brockman I began with some sketches. I chose to sketch the outfits symmetrically, even though all the portraits in Stellaris are angled to the right. This helps me sketch faster and I have to think less about the process of drawing. I knew I wanted some kind of mysterious head-covering but I did not know whether to go down a more mystical, or corporate route. In the end the design for the robes was taken largely from a different piece of art, and the helmet that I sketched above was added to make up the whole uniform.
MSI uniform approved sketch by Lloyd Drake-Brockman Once this sketch was approved I continued to refine it. We also required male and female variants, so I added another version of the outfit.
MSI uniform final concept by Lloyd Drake-Brockman This is the point where I handed these concepts over to another artist who finalized the painting and prepared the asset for animation. A lot of work goes into each of these portraits, to bring them to a high standard and ensure that they work properly with all the game’s systems. I couldn't be happier with the final result.
MSI uniform finished portrait by Alec Beals
MSI Diplomacy Room
These characters needed somewhere to take their video calls of course, and it was also my job to work on the MSI Diplomacy room. This asset I worked on all the way to its final in-game state.
I imagined that the MSI representatives would be calling from onboard their flagship, but I didn't want to make it too specific in case they were somewhere else. Either way, given the design of their ship and outfit, an over-the-top opulent hall seemed to be fitting. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted the scene to look like. So my initial sketch was extremely rough. Just enough for me to see that it was going to work.
MSI diplomacy room initial sketch by Lloyd Drake-Brockman From here I went over to 3D and built the whole scene, paying attention to the materials and lights to give the space the feeling of grandeur I was after. I also made sure that the pillars at the top of the room disappeared off the top of the image towards a distant ceiling, making the space feel larger than what you can see. The busts that flank the hall are not playable species - other than the human of course - but they do appear in other places in first contact, which I felt was a fun way to tie some of the elements of the story pack together.
3D development of the MSI diplomacy room by Lloyd Drake-Brockman From this point it was back over to Photoshop for the final cleanup. As you can see most of the bright reflections on the walls and floor have been painted out. Although they were accurate they ended up being too distracting in the final image.
MSI diplomacy room final image by Lloyd Drake-Brockman
Payback Event Image
This is the last piece of art I did that involved MSI. It was great fun to be able to show the ship I had concepted in a scene. Some of you might recognise this as being similar to a shot from the recently released teaser trailer for First Contact. I'm proud to say that this image came first!
The brief I was given for this image asked that we see the MSI Flagship looming over a city in space. There was some confusion as to whether the ship should be out in space or lower over the city. Here are some of my first stabs at the composition.
Payback event image thumbnails by Lloyd Drake-Brockman We settled on a variant of (A), as we could show the ship in space, but from the perspective of someone on the planet.
For this image I knew I was going to need some buildings. To make them I chose to use a new technique of projecting satellite image textures from real-world-Earth cities onto simple geometry, resulting in some pretty convincing looking buildings
Creating buildings by projecting satellite images onto geometry in 3D by Lloyd Drake-Brockman As I already had a 3D Model of the MSI flagship, I rendered it with matching lighting and combined all the elements in Photoshop.
3D renders used to build up the final image by Lloyd Drake-Brockman I had fun creating some alien script to add some life to the signs on the buildings. Most of this can't be seen in the in-game image as it's too small. But I feel it's still necessary to put in so that the final image has the right “feel” to it when it's scaled down. I was very happy with how the ship looks in the finished piece. All the dark areas are obscured by the blue of the sky, just like how you can't see the dark side of the moon when you look at it during the day.
Payback event image by Lloyd Drake-Brockman Well, that's all the shiny things I have to show today! Thanks for reading, and if you play First Contact I hope you enjoy seeing some of my art in there!
BloodAltar: Reduced the blood consumption of <Improve the initial amount of superior equipment>. BloodAltar: Reduced the blood consumption of <increase the initial amount of perfect equipment BloodAltar: Reduced the blood consumption of <increase the initial amount of flesh>. BloodAltar: Reduced the blood consumption of <increase the number of backpack compartments>. *Since the game does not record the upgrade level of Blood Rituals, but only the amount of blood that the player has spent on the relevant upgrade, the level of the relevant item may be automatically upgraded when the blood consumption drops.
BloodAltar can be upgraded continuously by pressing and holding
Reduce the strength of marshals. Increase the strength of low level demons. Fix the problem that there is no achievement for defeating low level demons with 1/2 demon soul crystals.
>>>> Star Coin Carnival | Special Recruit <<<< Period: Feb. 17 - Feb. 24 Rate UP Rare S Angel: Phantom Blade - Chiyo Kinjo Brief Intro: Chiyo Kinjo, an Angel from the East, is even-tempered but the most inferior of the East with agile skills. She has short silver hair wearing bright red shirt jacket with rolled up sleeves and black gloves. The double knives in her hands are flexible and sharp like alive. Notice: 1. The Special Recruit has the same guarantee system with the Adv. Recruit. (If commanders fail to get an S angel in 30 consecutive draws, you can definitely get an S angel in the next draw.) 2. S Heroes obtained are limited to the Heroes shown in the picture. 3. If an Angel with a combo skill is recruited from the Special Recruit, it must be Phantom Blade - Chiyo Kinjo. 4. Special Recruit will consume a specified number of event item E Star Coin. How to get E Star Coin: 1. Commanders can obtain free E Star Coin for Special Recruit by claiming the Botting Loot, battles in the Adventure, completing Star Coin Adventure missions. 2. Commanders can tap the Star Coin for sale tab in Event to purchase more E Star Coin.
Package Name: Star Coin Giftpack Price: 88 Star Dollar Purchase Limit: 1 Preview: E Star Coin(10 Summons in Special Recruit), Yellow Crystal
Package Name: Rare S Angel Package Price: 198 Star Dollar Purchase Limit: 1 Preview: Random Rare S angel
Package Name: Fashion Box Price: 68 Star Dollar Purchase Limit: 1 Preview: Bunny Fighter (Red), Diamond
>>>> Artifact Dungeon <<<< Period: Feb. 17 - Feb. 24 Event Detail: Commanders can click the Event button to enter the Artifact Dungeon interface. Strive for a better ranking to receive more ranking rewards! =TIPS= 1. Artifact Dungeon will be closed one day before the end of the event. 2. The ranking rewards of Artifact Dungeon will be released 12 hours before the end of the event.
Loretta is a psychological thriller that makes the player an accessory to the heroine’s crimes, leading her through a self-crafted nightmare. This story revolves around a woman handling betrayal, her husband’s infidelity, and reclaiming her agency during the socially tumultuous 1940s.
I sincerely thank everyone who took part in the creation of this game, my friends, colleagues and each of YOU for continuing to follow my work!
I sincerely hope you enjoy Loretta as much as I enjoyed working on it. Please feel free to leave feedback, write comments, share it with friends and help others learn about our humble game, and, of course... play it! :)
Attention all gamers! Get ready for the ultimate challenge in Refund Me If You Can: Lexy's Story, coming to you next week. We're calling out all gamers to put their skills to the test and make their mark in the Hall of Fame.
We're excited to announce that the first player to complete a challenge will have their name forever engraved in the game. Are you up for it?
Challenge one: Be the first person to finish the game.
Challenge two: Be the first person to get all the achievements.
Do you have what it takes to be the first to achieve these challenges and claim your place in history?
Don't miss your chance to show off your skills and make your mark on the game forever. Join us for the ultimate gaming challenge and let's see what you've got!
Hi Researchers! While I've been quite busy this past month, I just wanted to share a few words with you as we get closer to launch.
About Early Access
Now that Research Story is less than a week away from launch, I just wanted to take some time to say a big thank you to the community. Whether you've been following the game since we started posting on Twitter, or just found out about us, I'm just very thankful knowing that people look forward to this little game.
With the release date being so close, we are announcing our exact time of launch! Research Story will be released on ✨ Feb 20, 2023, at 5:00PM (PST) ✨ on Steam. It'll be released at the same time for all countries, so some of you might only see it in stores on the 21st Feb of your timezone. You can wishlist the game to get notified on launch. Wishlisting would also help us a lot by making the game get more visible on Steam :)
Being Early Access, there's certainly a lot of room for Research Story to grow and develop! One of the main reasons for putting our game in EA is so that we can develop alongside community feedback and suggestions. The feedback from our demo has certainly made the game a much smoother experience: there were things I thought were fun but turned out to be troublesome for players; and there were ideas that I'd never have thought of myself! Without your feedback, Research Story would not be where it is today. And I want to keep building the game alongside you during Early Access. If you're interested in being a part of this journey, you can check our our Discord server - I'll be there!
At launch, I'll also be sharing an Early Access Roadmap, with features and content that we want to add to the game before 1.0. The roadmap may shift depending on the feedback we get, but our key ideas would be there - so stay tuned for that! ^_^
I also want to take this chance to thank everyone who has worked on and contributed to this game. We wouldn't be here without them! You'll also see them in the credits: 🎵 Composers & Sound Designers: Tomás, Mickey, Tyd, Shevone, Bobby, Heedo 🎨 Additional artists: @joojabirra, @kookab_, @empathique 💻 Additional programmer: cyberfirex 🎮 QA: Close friends & family of mine <3
About our free Demo
We also have a few updates about our demo: 1) The demo will stay available even after launch, however, you won't be able to use the saves from the demo for the Early Access version.
2) Chinese Localisation for the Demo: I've also been working with Electronic Sheep Games to include Chinese localisation in our demo. We hope that this lets more players try our game <3
See you soon~
Once again, thank you so much to everyone for your kind support, I'm forever grateful <3 Can't wait to see your farms soon!
