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MacGamer has posted a feature by Rantz Hoseley, Creative Director at Quicksilver, which the art of their upcoming space strategy game, Master of Orion III. The article covers the different stages Quicksilver went through in creating the artwork for the game, from conceptualization to completion.

Here?s a snippet of the article:

My personal preference in science fiction has always leaned away from the alien-as-human-in-costume approach. Especially in this day and age, when CG affords you the capability to create believable characters that never have to exist in the real world, on a movie set. The whole anthromoporphication of aliens has always seemed a bit silly, at best. Wanting to make the MoO universe have a truly epic feel to it, we decided to look carefully at the races which had played roles in the previous MoO games and evaluate them. Deciding whether they should be revamped, or discarded in favor of a race that worked similarly or better from a game balance stance, while helping create the feel that they live in an inhabited universe.

Prior to making any choices or cuts I spent weeks going over books on Biology, geology and environmental behavior. Books on speculative Xenobiology (which, yes they actually exist, believe it or not) and theories of evolution and adaptive reaction. After my eyes stopped glazing over from data overload, the task at hand was to sit down and play what (speculatively speaking) could really exist as an alien lifeform, versus the creatively satisfying player experience. Using that balancing process to create races that would add drama and personality and have logical reasons for their pre-defined game stats.

IMG: Master of Orion 3 Preview

MacGamer: The Art of Master of Orion III

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