Weapons — Into The Deep Landing

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CHARACTER
WEAPONS
PROP/GRAPHICS
ENVIRONMENTS

Building an arsenal

With the machine horde around every corner, you’ll need quite the arsenal to help take them apart. Luckily, the facility on Keres is stacked with all sorts of tools and weaponry that you’ll find. Whether it be an abandoned black ops project, or a reliable pistol fresh off the fabricator, there’ll be a wide variety to choose from.
Below I’ll show you two of the earliest designs in depth and some of the process in creating them. Meet the Lotus Micropulse Laser Rifle. It isn’t cheap, but sports best in class maneuverability, ease of use, and flexibility. Popular with private security firms across the inner system because of it’s easy-to-use firing modes that work well across unarmored and armored targets alike.

Breakdown of the interior assembly, allowing for a greater look at the LAS chamber.

Material callouts help preserve design intent when moving from concept to asset. And the added commentary helps provide alternatives to foreseeable challenges in asset implementation.

I wanted to communicate not only the functions of different parts based on my research, but the manufacture process which in my mind was a molded shell around the internal suspended assembly.

The idea with the scope was that it would be a clever way to make use of a laser’s inherent design. Like a camera mirror, the user would see exactly where the laser will hit, before the shutter activates during the beam’s brief pulse.

The Lotus brand’s sigil is the Lotus flower. It’s namesake is stamped on all of their products and paraphernalia. I envisioned the brand as a sort of high quality-luxury option. Their tools are uncomplicated, easy to use, but ultimately expensive. The visuals had to reflect that exotic appeal.

I always wondered how helmets would work with weaponry in media when it so often would make optic use difficult if not impossible. One of the methods to address this was not only to add a digital scope on the Micropulse rifle, but an extended version that allowed for better visibility and ergonomic comfort for users.

Lasers are so often red, or any other arbitary color in media, but the Cyan range actually typifies one of the more effective options. In this case, it’s more visually distinct from other media, and also serves to be more realistic in that it suffers less absorption than other wavelengths. Which is great when we it to reach and cavitate on targets making small explosions!

Reload mechanic callout.

Early ideas for the laser weaponry included battery packs that could be stored out of harms way to avoid a meltdown on being hit. There are a lot of weapon visual hooks and gameplay opportunities with the separate pack idea as well. Ultimately for the first weapon design, I stuck with a more familiar form factor and focused on motifs that would be universal across the class like the lenses.

Messy 3d mashups and sketches from an early phase of the micropulse design considering different options.

I thought it would be great if maybe the lasers mirrored some of the loss and recurring technological progress present in the overall narrative. That is to say, what if some of the older lasers were unweildy and almost alien to hold? Much more akin to a launcher than a familiar sidearm. Still like this idea but it wasn’t right for the design at that time- and that’s a big part of what concept design is about. It’s about developing design solutions that solve the problem and criteria the best, not just making a pretty image.

The Сабитов Kimura Collective, or CK for short, has made a name for itself producing reliable, simple tools and weaponry. The Maika Impulse pistol is one such armament.

Instead of using a traditional magazine, the impulse pistol utilizes two barrels each acting as separate housing for stacks of rounds. When the trigger is pressed, the rounds are electronically activated and discharge in sequence from the selected barrel.

In practice, this means fewer moving parts and more flexibility in using multiple types of ammunition in tandem. Works as well in a vacuum as it does in atmosphere. Downsides include a more limited quantity of rounds overall and varying performance at longer ranges due to a functionally varying barrel length. But the flexibility across a variety of environments mean that the agencies which favor it for close quarter engagements don’t mind.

Callout detailing the heat exhaust mechanism. This allows it to fire in a vacuum for more prolonged periods than other sidearms. A mainstay feature for CK implements.

I wanted the silhouette to be clear and simple. This would be the starting sidearm for any player or character in the story, and as such had to include simple mechanics to complement a reloading system. This would be the training wheels essentially for a prototyped reloading system I have that requires players to manually cycle different controls on the weapon during a realod sequence.

Callouts for the back screen and unorthodox reloading mechanism.

And here’s one of the ideas for how some of the packaging might look for these rounds. These details are nearly as important as the design itself, because each lends believability and audience buy in for the design. I wanted to emphasize the tactile feeling of the packs overall.