Strix - Environment concepts
Strix is a student game made in four months in a team of four students. It is set in a dieselpunk universe where human populations are going through a nuclear winter and spend most of their time on airships. The player must repair and defend their ship against a gigantic flying creature. We had half the usual time (4 instead of 8 months) to create the game from scratch. So we had very limited time to create the environment, characters, and props. It was pretty challenging but we learned a lot during the process.
I was the only concept artist on the project, so my task was to design the main character, the monster, and the overall look of both the exterior and interior environments. I had to work very closely with the modeler who provided me with tons of blockings in Unreal 5 that I had to paint over. Once my work was done, I moved to texturing and textured several assets in the games, such as the weapons. I also modeled the owl figurehead. It was a fun experience, especially since hard surface was not my cup of tea in the beginning. But I learned to be more comfortable with it, and I'm pretty happy with the look of the game.
Special thanks to my mentor Victor Lahlou, who provided advice and feedback on the concept art throughout the semester!
Go check out the magnificent work of the artists who modeled and animated the environment of Strix!
https://www.artstation.com/francoischiasson
https://www.artstation.com/amphybius
Team:
François Chiasson (3D modeler)
Alexandre Ruel (Character modeler)
Virginie Juteau (Concept artist)
Nickolas Ménard (Technical artist)
Paintover for the front exterior of the ship. I wanted to show the size and look of the creature in the environment and showcase the overall mood. The environment is winterly because, in the story, the world is going through a nuclear winter.
The sides of the ships have anti-air gun stations.
The interior of the engine room is a bit darker and more industrial.
The character's workshop is warmer than all the other rooms. It is a more personal space and we can learn a bit more about the character's personality.
The workshop exit is linked to the corridors heading to the deck.
Strix is the airship. It used to be a warship but Nickela modified it. We went with a green color so it's more visible in the dark blue foggy environment.
Here are some early silhouette explorations for the ship.
For the ship paint, we explored several palettes based on real warships.
Strix has multiple weapons that the player can use to take down the creature. Those were sketches done over early blockings.
The terminal is an important gameplay prop since the player must interact with them to control the guns. It had to be very visible in the foggy environment.
Some concepts of props I have helped design. The figurehead is a paintover of my Zbrush sculpt.