Ian's Art Blog 2: Isaac's Origins

I've got to tell you, this blog/forums thing is way cool. Making a game is a long process, and lots of times you don't know if something you're trying is really going to hit until after it comes out, and by then it's too late to really react or get a conversation going.

But here we are, months before the game comes out, having a conversation! Good times! By the way, that story you told was so funny. I'm glad we're friends.

One thing I see a lot in forums and websites is how Isaac looks like a space welder or something. Which, especially in that first Game Informer cover, he kind of does. However. it's pretty superficial and depends on what parts you're looking at. That gave me the idea, though, to do a blog about where Isaac's suit came from.

Isaac's look came about through a lot of thinking and designs. The key idea is that Isaac is an Engineer, not a Space Marine. His outfit had to look functional and utilitarian, basically like a space welder. He is very specifically not designed to be shot at, and he doesn't have macho armor plates all over him.

Isaac's suit and RIG are functional mining equipment designed to help him survive and augment his strength for lifting and cutting, not fight aliens. The idea is kind of like taking the loader from the end of Aliens and evolving it 400 years or so.

After a lot of iteration, here is the sketch that turned into the final design.

Now we had the outline, but we needed the color and feel of the suit. Two things we've keyed on from the start are horror and believability. Since Sci-Fi comes through pretty easily, we've tried to avoid the usual sci-fi color palettes (which tend to be green and black like Aliens or blue and shiny like Terminator 2). Our color palette is much more warm and decayed, like a horror movie.

So Isaac's suit was warm colored, instead of the super slick chrome/black suits you might see in Crysis or another Sci-Fi shooter. But we also wanted him to be relatable, not a superman. So underneath that metal, his suit has familiar textures. Leather, cloth, and stuff like that.

Lastly, we knew his health and important information would be on his back, and had to really pop against our warm background. For any color, the color that pops most against it and stays harmonious is called its complimentary color. The compliment to that warm, orange-bronze color is sort of a cyan blue, and that's what we chose for Isaac's light.

Keep those comments and forum threads coming. I read it all and will answer everything they'll let me. I've never been so excited about something I'm working on and can't wait to share it with you.

Talk to you later,
~ Ian

PS: Yes, we do know what he looks like under the helmet, and this is just one of several suits he has.