Strap in to your acceleration couches, this one's a going to be a big one. - E
Hello there!
I’m Anton, the Art Manager & Producer on Stellaris, and I would like to welcome you all to this absolute monster of a Dev Diary we have prepared for you!
I just want to use this opportunity to mention how amazing it is to work with these fantastic artists on a day to day basis and how extremely proud I am of the team.
We managed to do a lot for this DLC, more than we’ve done for an expansion or DLC ever before.
In fact the total logged art work time (I just looked at our stats in JIRA) for The Machine Age is over 2 years and 41 weeks.
Truly spectacular. Great job Team!
In the last The Art of The Machine Age dev diary, we showed you (and talked about the process of) a lot of what we had been doing - but far from it all.
So get comfortable, take out your favorite snack and get ready to look at a lot of art. Almost everything we did for The Machine Age will be showcased - but first, some words from our Art Director.
Alright! Here we go! We hope you enjoy this!
Scott Austin - Art Director
As you have heard countless times already, our latest project, The Machine Age, is the largest pack we’ve ever put out for Stellaris. The reason that you’ve heard it countless times is because we think it’s worth repeating. We have well over double the amount of ships and FX, triple the amount of characters and animation, and probably quadruple the amount of 2D/Icon work. As daunting as that might seem, we pulled it off. And not just pulled it off, but did it without losing any quality and with an unbelievably tight schedule. Sure things were busy, but we can proudly say that we didn’t have to burn the midnight oil or resort to overtime or crunch. While I would love, as the AD, to just take credit for all of that hard work and bask in the amazing light of glorious praise, the real credit goes to our “Little Art Team That Could”. In the boundless expanses and the incomprehensibly infinite universe of game design, our small art team shines like a supernova of talent and efficiency. Though few in number, our art team possesses a galaxy's worth of skill and dedication, crafting the most awe-inspiring sci-fi visuals that breathe life into every pixel, every polygon and every frame of Stellaris. Each artist possesses a bewildering array of talents, with skills so sharp they could slice through space-time, creating shortcuts to other dimensions where deadlines don't exist and cups of caffeinated beverages never run dry. They churn out masterpieces with such alarming speed and regularity that one begins to suspect they've cloned themselves and are operating in shifts spanning multiple parallel universes (Please, do not let HR in on this…). I am ever thankful for the chance to voyage through the cosmos of Stellaris with such brilliantly unhinged minds. Their talent and relentless dedication are the warp drive to our projects, and their visionary artistry is the very soul of our games. I am ever grateful for their dedication and downright chuffed to navigate the nebulous realms of creativity alongside such splendidly imaginative life forms. Together, we continue to chart courses that boldly go where no game has gone before. And, as always, to the players, I say: “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” -Scott Austin- Art Director, Paradox Interactive [Note from your friendly Stellaris Community Ambassador: Steam will not allow us to include all 150+ images the Art Team has shared in this Dev Diary, so please visit the Paradox forums if you want to see it all!]Alec Beals - Concept Artist
Cybernetic Portraits
Synthetic Portraits
The Synthetic Queen
Lloyd Drake-Brockman - Concept Artist
Illustrations
Super Structures & The Synthetic Queen Ships Concepts
The Machine Age Ship Concepts
Felix Englund - Concept Artist
Cybernetic Portraits
Cybernetic Portraits - Part II
Synthetic Portraits
Illustrations
Concept Art - Ships
Tim Wiberg - 3D Artist
Cybernetics Ship Set
Machines Ship Set
Emma Quer - 3D Artist
Cybernetics Ship Set
Machines ship set
The Synthetic Queen Ships
David Strömblad Lindh - 3D Artist
Cybernetics Ship Set
Erik Forsström - VFX Artist
[Stellaris CA note: the GIFs that go here are too pretty to compress to fit Steam image limits; go look at them on the forums or click through to Erik's ArtStation page.]Erick Ramirez Mota - Animator
Stellaris - The Machine Age - Animations
Cassandra Lindquist - UI Artist
Achievements, Technologies, Buildings, Authorities, Traits & Civics
The Ruler Chip Relic
Synthetic Fertility Event Image
Gabrielle Rodrigues - UI Artist
The Machine Age UI Art - The Synaptic Lathe
The Machine Age UI Art - Cosmogenesis Crisis
The Machine Age UI Art - Tradition Trees, Achievements and Misc
Ingela Hallberg - UI Artist
Building Icons - Part I
Building Icons - Part II
