I hope you liked yesterday's announcement! Today, we will focus on how we worked on adding more life in the galaxy map. Here's an interview of Mathias, our Lead Artist!
MEET THE LEAD ARTIST, MATHIAS
What is your job at Amplitude? Can you tell us about your past experiences?
I’m Lead Artist at Amplitude since 2010. In Endless Space, I’ve worked on galaxies, special effects, and a few spaceships. Before Amplitude, I’ve worked on many small projects, my resume is a bit ridiculous compared to Mathieu and Romain but I’m proud of many of these projects!
What was your work on this second Add-On?
For this 2nd add-on, I focused on adding more life to the galaxy. It deals with more or less realistic stellar events such as black holes, planetary nebula, pulsars, comets, galactic winds, cradle of stars, Dust tempest…
More life in the galaxy
Right now, I’m working on Endless and Natural Wonders’ special effects. And, I also followed, with Corinne, the production of illustrations for victory/defeat and interactive random events.
Which software/tool did you use and who did you work with?
I’m working with 3ds Max for 3D elements, Photoshop for textures, and Unity to combine all of this and make special effects! I often work with Kévin, my favorite 3D programmer (he’s actually the only one at Amplitude ^^). I’m always asking for new shaders, scripts and tools, and he provides me with all I need. Moreover, he’s a great football mate!
Kévin and Mathias
We often have meetings with Romain (Creative Director), Jeff (Narrative Director), and Corinne (Art Director) to discuss any game element.
When Endless Space came out, reviews and players criticised the lack of Ambience. Do you think that we’re getting closer and closer to what gamers are expecting with this Add-On?
Well, I hope we are getting closer! It’s quite complicated to represent a galaxy with its systems, in a comprehensive and attractive way. We aim at representing elements at a scale that’s totally out of our understanding.
Besides, when we work on an Add-On, we really want to improve things, but also add new features… When I read the reviews, I was wondering if the criticism was meant for the lack of abstract elements to illustrate Jeff’s writing. I think our recent additions will give more life and personality to the galaxy map, systems and planets, especially the new illustrations that will give some more material to feed our players imagination.
We still have some interesting ideas for a near future; I cannot tell for sure we will get to implement those, but for instance, I would really like to represent trade routes with luminous lights going from one system to another…
That's all for today.
More info on "Echoes of the Endless" soon!