Hello Console Community!
It's less than two weeks until the release of the Aquatics Species Pack and the 3.2 “Herbert” free update!
We’ve discussed in DD#43 and DD#44 additions to previous species packs to bring them more in line with the current style of species packs - species packs that contain game-altering mechanics, and Aquatics is no different. The Aquatics Species Pack features a number of gameplay-altering features that we will discuss in detail next week.
This week we’re here to show off the art of the Aquatics Shipset and Portraits!
Aquatics Concepts
Our artists went above and beyond when designing the art for the Aquatics Shipset. The shipset features many design elements taken from marine life, but in a balanced way that gives the association of a particular element while still feeling like the ship was manufactured.
Aquatics, already benefitting from a strong theme, further benefited from style and material explorations done by our artists and animators.
Material explorations done by 3D artists Anton Hultdin(left) and Tim Wiberg(right).
Cruiser concept by Pavel Golovii. This is a work in progress showing all module designs. Orange lines represent seams between modules. The corvette drawings(left) are there to keep control over scale perception.
If you want to read more about the inspiration of the Aquatics Shipset, you can check out PC Dev Diary #230. This Dev Diary, written by the artists who designed the Aquatics Shipset, talks about all aspects of the design process from initial concept, through material exploration, design, and animation. It's well worth the read!
Aquatics Ships
First, we’ll take a look at the civilian ships:
The rotating element from the science ship is also a feature in the Research Station and the space station science module.
Rotating circular elements initially designed by Mattias Larsson for the science ship(center) became a distinguishing feature of other science-related structures like the research station(left, by Pavel Golovii) and starbase’s science module(right, by Anna Windseth).
And now lets take a look at the military ships:
Aquatics Portraits Concept Art
In the portraits for Aquatics, our artists have again done some of their finest work. Following the strong Aquatics theme again, there have been some beautiful pieces created. As with the Shipset, if you want to have a deep dive into the process, you can read PC Dev Diary #231, where our artists talk more in-depth about the process of creating portraits from inspiration to animation.
Here our amazing artists defined some identifiers and shared visuals between deep sea creatures, and what emotions they convey. This helps us understand how we can create unique species that also clearly tells the story of a "deep sea dweller".
Initial concept for Trent the squid by art director Frida Eriksson and artist Emma Jonsson
Aquatics Portraits
The Aquatics Species Pack features 15 new Aquatics-themed portraits, plus one Machine portrait for those who own the Synthetic Dawn Story Pack.
Finished Portraits
And the Machine portrait:
As you can see from the ships and portraits, we believe our artists have done an amazing job on this species pack, and we hope that these portraits and ship designs will rapidly become among your favorites to play with and discover. However, there’s more coming, and be sure to join us next week when we will talk about the new gameplay mechanics coming to Stellaris: Console Edition in the Aquatics Species Pack!
It's less than two weeks until the release of the Aquatics Species Pack and the 3.2 “Herbert” free update!
We’ve discussed in DD#43 and DD#44 additions to previous species packs to bring them more in line with the current style of species packs - species packs that contain game-altering mechanics, and Aquatics is no different. The Aquatics Species Pack features a number of gameplay-altering features that we will discuss in detail next week.
This week we’re here to show off the art of the Aquatics Shipset and Portraits!
Aquatics Concepts
Our artists went above and beyond when designing the art for the Aquatics Shipset. The shipset features many design elements taken from marine life, but in a balanced way that gives the association of a particular element while still feeling like the ship was manufactured.
Aquatics, already benefitting from a strong theme, further benefited from style and material explorations done by our artists and animators.
Material explorations done by 3D artists Anton Hultdin(left) and Tim Wiberg(right).
Cruiser concept by Pavel Golovii. This is a work in progress showing all module designs. Orange lines represent seams between modules. The corvette drawings(left) are there to keep control over scale perception.
If you want to read more about the inspiration of the Aquatics Shipset, you can check out PC Dev Diary #230. This Dev Diary, written by the artists who designed the Aquatics Shipset, talks about all aspects of the design process from initial concept, through material exploration, design, and animation. It's well worth the read!
Aquatics Ships
First, we’ll take a look at the civilian ships:
The rotating element from the science ship is also a feature in the Research Station and the space station science module.
Rotating circular elements initially designed by Mattias Larsson for the science ship(center) became a distinguishing feature of other science-related structures like the research station(left, by Pavel Golovii) and starbase’s science module(right, by Anna Windseth).
And now lets take a look at the military ships:
Aquatics Portraits Concept Art
In the portraits for Aquatics, our artists have again done some of their finest work. Following the strong Aquatics theme again, there have been some beautiful pieces created. As with the Shipset, if you want to have a deep dive into the process, you can read PC Dev Diary #231, where our artists talk more in-depth about the process of creating portraits from inspiration to animation.
Here our amazing artists defined some identifiers and shared visuals between deep sea creatures, and what emotions they convey. This helps us understand how we can create unique species that also clearly tells the story of a "deep sea dweller".
Initial concept for Trent the squid by art director Frida Eriksson and artist Emma Jonsson
Aquatics Portraits
The Aquatics Species Pack features 15 new Aquatics-themed portraits, plus one Machine portrait for those who own the Synthetic Dawn Story Pack.
Finished Portraits
As you can see from the ships and portraits, we believe our artists have done an amazing job on this species pack, and we hope that these portraits and ship designs will rapidly become among your favorites to play with and discover. However, there’s more coming, and be sure to join us next week when we will talk about the new gameplay mechanics coming to Stellaris: Console Edition in the Aquatics Species Pack!
