Project Brief
This was a group project, the prompt was drawn out of a hat at the beginning of the project, ours was:
Bone Ship Captain, Necro-Organic Mechanical Realism. Ships made out of sinew with organic mechanical structures. Grotesque bio-matter combined with vehicle design.
I was the Creature Designer and Project Manager.
The General Game Idea
Single-player, over-the-shoulder third-person game set in space. You are a scavenger and see a massive abandoned alien spaceship which you decide to board in order to look for resources.
After exploring you realise that there is a necrotic infection all over the ship, infecting monsters that are residing inside. You are trying to gather resources and make it out alive.
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Initial Ideas For The Monster
I looked at lots of different creature designs that I thought would be good inspiration for this project. This is a moodboard of my favourites.
We looked at many different games and films, one in particular being Alien. We looked a lot at HR Giger's work, but wanted to make sure that we didn't lean too much into his art-style as it is the main inspiration for most space horror.
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Real Life Creature Inspiration
I also had a look at some real life creatures that had similar features to those I was thinking of.
I looked at many different insects due to their unique structures. I also looked at leaches for their teeth.
I also thought the goopiness of the larvae was a really disgusting interesting, and would serve as good inspiration for the creature.
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Initial Sketches
Looking Into Predatory Animals
There are a few different types of predators in nature:
- Ambush
- Ballistics Interception
- Pursuit
Ballistic Interception Predators have a similar approach to ambush predators, but instead they stay still and track prey, waiting for the moment to strike, however instead of moving their whole body, they strike with a small but extremely quick and forceful movement. Animals which attack this way are; chameleons, colubrid snakes, archer-fish and others.
Ambush Predators are carnivores that hide and wait for their prey to appear. Once the prey is in reach, they attack extremely quickly. Animals which attack this way are; some lizards, spiders, angel sharks, mantis shrimps and others.
Pursuit Predators chase prey, often in a straight line. Many pursuit predators are also pack animals. Some animals which attack this way are; humpback whales, hyenas, lions, wolves and others.
I wanted to mainly focus on pursuit and ballistic interception as I felt it would be the most interesting for game mechanics, and fit the setting very well. Meaning players will need to be strategic when navigating levels to avoid detection.
Looking Into Predatory Animals
The chameleons tongue is really interesting due to the speed and power they use to catch their prey. I think this would make a really good game mechanic of making sure you're not in direct line of sight or it will get you.
I also really liked the uneven teeth of the hyena, and the many limbs of spiders and octopus. They have a certain level of uneasiness to them when viewed.
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Further Sketches
Current Idea
I was really liking my current idea, I felt it looked really unsettling and creepy, however there were some things that weren't quite looking right.
I l felt the head needed to be edited, as well as the general structure of the limbs. The head was more unsettling when the jaw opened sideways, as well as without eyes. And there needed to be more limbs with more structure to have a faster looking form.
More Animal Inspiration
The chameleons tongue is really interesting due to the speed and power they use to catch their prey. I think this would make a really good game mechanic of making sure you're not in direct line of sight or it will get you.
I also really liked the uneven teeth of the hyena, and the many limbs of spiders and octopus. They have a certain level of uneasiness to them when viewed.
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Further Sketches
Finalising The Idea
I was very happy with where my developments were going, but was struggling with mapping out the limbs for the body.
I decided it would be best to create a sort of skeleton for the creature in Zbrush using Zspheres.
I made it originally with five legs, but changed it to nine as I felt it was much more unsettling.
Zbrush Skeleton Angles
Illustration Progress
I used the skeleton as a base and traced the general shape on Adobe Fresco.
This is where I started to draw the creature, starting with the basic light and dark values, adding colour, and building the depth and textures as I went.
This process took about 12 hours in total, shown in the time-lapse below.
Creating The Sculpt
I then spent the next few days working in Zbrush to create a sculpt of the design.
This is my first 3D sculpt for creature design.
I followed a few tutorials and had some advice from another member of the team, however after the first couple days I was managing fine. I really enjoyed the sculpting process.
Zbrush Sculpt Process
Final Design
