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CHARACTER
WEAPONS
PROP/GRAPHICS
ENVIRONMENTS

Foreword



As an artist, I think one of the most statisfying opportunities is to build a world. Transporting someone from reality to the place you’ve created in service of something. That’s our job after all. This world - Rotika,  (working title!) is mine, and serves as a way to explore humanity’s future- not just here, but among the stars and what that entails. Truthfully, I don’t expect what you see here to fully describe that yet, but it’s a start, and my hope is that some of what’s here can help you immerse yourself in the first steps of what I’m building.  If I’ve succeeded, then even if for a moment, it might transport you to another place much like how all the books I stared at growing up did. The images you’ll see here represent  months of hard work and rather than serving as a culmination- are merely the first steps in this project. Going forward, development will lead towards a playable project and other printed media. Without further ado, I present Into The Deep, a sneak peek at my forthcoming project.

-Hunter Hewitt


Welcome to the 23rd Century.

    


    Things might be a little different than you expected. Sure, there’s flying ships, walking machines, and some of the most advanced weaponry this solar system has seen- but it’s a far cry from the hypercomplex utopia you might have imagined. What happened?

    Over a century ago, humanity was on the cusp of controlling this system, establishing new colonies across planetoids at an astounding rate, and leveraging every aspect of their nascent hypertechnology. Highly capable artificial intelligence, new material breakthroughs, developments in consciousness- you name it. But it didn’t last. There was no giant fireball or invasion.  No, It was something much more mundane- but complicated. The truth is few really understand what caused the cataclysm then- but it’s left irreparable effects on humanity even now. 

    Among them, a persistent, and hither to unseen background signal makes long distance communication between the colonies nearly impossible. Ships take months and in the best cases, weeks to traverse between points. Much of the developments of the previous century are lost to time, or in better cases, remain, but with few who can understand their machinations. Nearly a century later, on the back of a new charter, humanity is slowly picking up the pieces. An array of groups and factions, cautiously reaching out to rebuild what was lost. But with the time that has passed they’ve grown more disparate than ever. The future is uncertain. 

    Now, from the fringe of the system on an unlisted planetoid,a new development threatens this new and fragile peace between humanity’s rising remnants. Machines, twisted by an unknown machinistic plague roam the halls of the facility on Keres destroying anything in their path. But there’s hope. There’s you.

Suiting up

Our hero of sorts needs some gear to get started- the SOV Suit- A bespoke kit consisting of an off-the-shelf medium weight EVA suit and some borrowed armor. The armor shell is typical of Security Operations Veritae- an interstellar policing unit in the new government. But In this case, the user certainly doesn’t bear ties to the organization themselves.  Various tweaks and personal touches include extra attachment bands, a heat filament blade, and an overslung multiuse terminal.  An embedded comms unit, extra tools, and padding round out a functional, flexible loadout capable of a multitude of tasks. 


 There were a lot of different considerations for development of the SOV suit. It had to look capable, but avoid the appearance of a walking tank. Not quite a space marine, but somewhere between space police and a janitor was what I had in mind. The materials and forms were supposed to suggest a combination of self-assembled armor- but avoid the typical junky scavenger look that typifies that aesthetic. This is more akin to someone choosing from a wide selection of equipment for their needs. Small details like the hood being unable to fit with the helmet were all part of an effort to hint at these pieces being from several sources, but ultimately work in harmony on a visual level at a glance.

 I wanted the helmet to be relatively simple but iconic- and as the face of the project it had to exemplify much of the form language and visual hierarchy present in the art direction.  The hook of the double visor proved readily recognizable and unique enough to build around as a distinguishing feature. 

I tried to include additional details by making a list of real design considerations, like air supply, in this case. Additionally, the antenna behavior helps supplement not only visual interest, but informs and reinforces gameplay as well.


I love to include animations like these with my designs because they help communicate some of the function more clearly than drawings on occasion. Reducing that friction between the conceptual stage and production is an oft-forgotten but crucial part of my work. 

The rough sculpt for the SOV Suit. I love working in both 2D and 3D. In this case, one of the benefits of working from a rough 3d model for a character is that it speeds up the flow throughout the production process and helps ensure consistency- something that can be a a little challenging when relying on automation or callout drawings. 

Material callouts and descriptions for the suit. Useful for production or clarifcation when I take assets further in the pipeline and reduce confusion for how materials should read. 




I considered adding livery denoting the source of the white armor more clearly, and loved the results! Ultimately, I decided that the cleaner read and resting point of the armor would be less cluttered and a more iconic design overall. Still love these though. 



This unit was designed to be a diagetic window into the player’s inventory. They could pull it out and through a quick move of the camera- the player would operate the contents to manage their own collection of items and utilities. In comparison to other suits, which would have a system like this built in- this separate unit helps to highlight the independent background and assembled story behind the SOV Suit. It’s not like other suits- an off the shelf solution-instead it’s more of a collection of tailored pieces suited to a particular taste.


Some of the decals used on the suit. On the left is a simplified insignia of the SOV unit that the suit earns it’s namesake from. 
Some of the reference and influences for the SOV Suit design. I spent a lot of time looking at some of the Japanese masters of sci fi from late 20th century works  and old pulp style book covers as well. Note the mixture of utilitarian elements and big shapes. I wanted it to feel like a rough and tumble design, but far from the junky look typical of scavengers and independent setups.
Showing some of the developmental work behind the suit is a great opportunity to showcase some of my process.

I really like to explore ideation through different processes because each one has different strengths. A good example of this flexible approach would be the bottom right helmet designs. I knew I wanted to imbue it with utilitarian elements but maintain a sleek appearance- so I decided to pull from different cars that captured elements of the form langauge I wanted and morph parts from them to explore different shapes. 


Some of the early sketches for the SOV Suit. At one point, I really considered the idea of having a type of active camoflauge cloak the character would wear when infiltrating the base. The idea was that while normally a dull, warm tone, it would coalesce into spots and eventually a rough pattern matching the background much like an Octopus. Ultimately it ran counter to other priorities and requirements for the design so I cut it.



More material and mood explorations. These quick bashes of photos and overpaint hardly constitute finished images, and are quite messy, but serve as a valuable means to inform how the final suit should feel.  I love leveraging texture as an element to embue more tactile depth to the designs- but they’re no substitute for good shapes. 




Of course, more traditionally styled by the book sketching is valuable too! I remember looking at the old Star Wars sketchbooks by Joe Johnston and company for hours. It led to me doing a lot of marker sketching growing up. So naturally, I still love to incorporate and mix that approach with other avenues digitally as well. In my experience, this kind of sketching can offer quick, unparalleled clarity in definining shapes for a design. Paired with the material sketches and photobashed explorations, both contribute to a more holistic design approach.
 Through the design process there are often times where a new issue, req, or question may pop up. I find that it’s easy to do a quick sketch over the blockin to test out new directions, clarify, etc. That’s one of the great benefits of quick line drawings. 

You can see one of several different designs I tested for the inventory system. Ultimately, I decided to go with the separated terminal on a  sling for a few reasons- one of which being how easy comparisons to a pip boy were to draw. But that’s one of the reasons I do these quick sketches! It’s just as valuable to establish dead ends as it is to find the right direction ahead.

Underneath, one of many spreads exploring different boot designs. The end design was pretty similar to what you see the on the right side. 


 Some more of the spreads detailing adjustments I had to make throughout the design process- adjusting proportion, details, etc.


The Machine Horde

Any good adventure needs enemies, and this is no exception. You’ll find the station on Keres overrun with bots of all kinds and sizes. The inhabitants spared no expense in securing a fleet ranging from small repair bots to lethal military variants, and each one has it out for you.

Meet the Л Type Security Mechanoid, built by Echelon. The base secured many of these units for testing and security purposes in restricted areas. The bot’s limited capability usually requires working in tandem with at least 1 handler for best effictiveness- but now they run rampant across Keres, posing a threat to any survivors in the facility.

I wanted to suggest an older construction in these as opposed to some of the forthcoming designs for militaristic units. So I kept the forms bulky, emphasizing a simpler construction while future models will keep the same design language in their shell, but be much sleeker in appearance.


I explored a variety of options for this design but knew that I wanted something that felt dangerous and utilitarian. Long arms and a wide stance to complement a more stable center of gravity were used to enforce the believability of the design.  While I did a number of sketches for this one- the one that stuck was actually just a pen and paper design I did over lunch one day (pictured left here) that really hit the mark of what I wanted. Something simple, but intimidating. 

There still remains a lot of developmental work here to be done for accessories, movement, variants etc. but I’m happy with the base that’s been established. 



A small, bipedal mechanic bot- designed with the idea that the extensions on the end of the arm could be swapped out- not only for story reasons, but to create a wider variety of gameplay possibilities.

A painting of one of the older exosuits used by workers in hazardous environments. The idea was that maybe these cheaper, bulkier suits were phased out mostly in favor of supervised bot labor, but the shells could be possessed by the malevolent force that’s infected everything else. 

Larger multipurpose repair bot capable of carrying some degree of cargo and making various repairs on base. Much like it’s bipedal cousin, I envision the ends being fitted with different equipment, and by extension, hazards to the player.

An exploration for a more modern military bot. In contrast to the earlier unit I wanted to keep the same form language but emphasize a sleeker more humanoid form factor. Lots of work to go on these, but these paintings serve as a springboard for further designs.