Hey everyone,
This blog is the sixth in a series on the creation of the Umbral Choir. We’ve covered the game design aspect, the 2D and 3D art, and the lore, and we are excited to finally bring the Umbral Choir to you! But now that they have joined the Endless Universe at last, it is time to take a step back and take a look at all the aspects our awesome community was involved in. This is also a great opportunity to go Steam and let us know what you think of Penumbra in a review.
Vote 1: Species Type (March 2018)
We started the community creation process almost a year ago, in the ancient times of 2018. Back then, the Umbral Choir was still known by the evocative name of “The Spy Faction,” an apt name considering that even the community’s best infiltrators knew no more than that. On the other hand, we were armed with the knowledge that we really did not know much more than that, either, as we wanted all of you to shape this new faction as much as possible. To give you a chance to do just that, we opened our first vote on a fundamental feature of the new faction: their species type.
The alien and technological species left the humanoids in the Dust, though the alien still won by a noticeable margin.
Vote 2: Species Origin (March 2018)
Once we knew what “The Spy Faction” was, we had to determine where they came from. With so many more decisions we wanted to share with the community, we were not ready to take a deep dive into the lore just yet. However, we still needed to narrow their origin down, so we decided to describe them by their relation to the Endless: Were they a subject of their experiments, or did they rise long after or perhaps even before them?
Clearly, you want to know more about a time before the Endless, and “Ancient” won with a score four times its closest contender.
Vote 3: Species Morphology (April 2018)
Okay, we knew at this point that our new faction were ancient aliens who had emerged as early as or even before the Endless. While this gave us a few (or many) ideas for their background, it hardly solidified a mental image of their people. Once again, we provided you with three options, though no images this time, as we wanted you to decide based only for the concept.
The Arachnids were unsurprisingly unpopular, but both Parasite and Wraith gather a significant chunk of the votes. We hope that the design we settled on will please supporters of both options.
Vote 4: Visual Design (April 2018)
It was finally time to put some meat on the bones of our faction design, even if they technically have neither. Designing a body for an incorporeal creature is by its nature a tricky proposition, but our artists created three designs for you to choose from.
Once the vote ended, two of those options found themselves overshadowed by the winner, which had garnered about two thirds of the votes by itself.
Vote 5: Faction Icon (May 2018)
Every faction in Endless Space 2 should be identifiable by their unique icon, but how could we capture the essence of our new faction? For lack of a Vodyani training manual to consult, we once again turned to all of you and provided you with three options. While some found all of them to be quire abstract, others drew many different associations, from watchful (or concerned) eyes, to snakes, ghosts, and spirits.
Faction Naming Contest (May 2018) and Vote 6: Faction Name (June 2018)
Calling them “The Spy Faction” or “The Upcoming Faction” all the time was getting tiresome, so the time had come to choose a proper name for the faction you had been shaping, and once again we provided you with three options: The Whisperers, The Unseen, or The Wraithkin.
Never mind those options, though. We quickly realized none of them were terribly popular, and had to admit that they were not our best work. The vote was closed and replaced with a quick community contest. All of you could post your ideas in a dedicated forum and upvotes the ones you liked most. A week later, we took the top ten most popular ideas and picked three of them to participate in the vote. Our choice sparked some debate on the vote, but Slowhands jumped in to illuminate the selection.
Vote 7: Ship Design (June 2018)
Between their alien, wraith-like appearance and their shadowy name, the new faction was shaping up to be an ominous presence. Consequently, when we asked our artists for ship designs you could vote on, all three of them turned out to be quite imposing. Even in this selection, however, the power of the monolith was unparalleled. One can only guess if that cloud at the core of Umbral Choir ships is full of stars.
Votes 8 to 10: Home System Name, Hero Names, Expansion Name (October to December 2018)
After a several months break, and with the visuals of the faction settled, only their names remained to be decided. We needed to pick a home system name, a naming scheme for their heroes, and even a name for the expansion itself! Between “The Nexus” at the center of the Choir’s spy network to hero names based on musical notation, your desire to stay on theme with all names was quite clear (in spite of all campaigning for “The Lööp, brothers”).
Vote 11: Leader Name (December 2018)
After the other votes concluded, only the name of the Umbral Choir’s leader remained to be decided. Many arguments in favor of one or another name were shared on the vote page and on Discord. In spite of the campaigning, the final results turned out to be the closest Games2Gether vote in a long time, possibly since the beginning of Games2Gether. While Orchestrator Solmire Prima has become the official name of the Umbral Choir’s leader, we have included The First Refrain and The Voice of Many in the game as potential names for AI leaders, so you may still encounter your favorite!
This Community Creation project has been a long journey, but now the Umbral Choir have finally arrived. They are unique in many ways, and we hope you will enjoy playing them.
Have fun with Penumbra!
