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Fable 3 art team working on a menagerie of animals
You may not have been too disappointed by Fable 2's lack of animals (filthy, stinking animals), but Lionhead's Lead Artist John McCormack was, and he tells Beauty of Games that he's making up for it with the next game. "The lack of animals in the Fable franchise is always something that has bothered me," he says, and so in Fable 3, "we've built bats, crows, rabbits, ducks, robins, vultures, lizards, rats, butterflies, moths, insect swarms, dogs, fireflies, geese and we even started on a cow." Rest assured that animals won't be the only new part of the experience, though -- McCormack also says his team is hard at work on incorporating the new Industrial aesthetic into the game's buildings, morphed weapons and NPCs as well. He's not sure whether all of those animals will eventually make it into the finished product, but we hope so -- vultures need to be Touched, too.
Massively's Black Prophecy Q&A: Character Creation
Black Prophecy is one of the hotly anticipated games on the horizon that sci-fi MMO fans have been wanting to hear more about. Until recently though, Reakktor Media wasn't quite ready to reveal many of the specifics of what the game will offer. We've known that Black Prophecy's gameplay will differ from titles in the genre like EVE Online -- with Reakktor's game a bit more accessible in terms of learning curve and with a more dynamic feel to piloting space ships. Plus, if the screenshots and video footage are an accurate indication, Black Prophecy will be visually stunning as well. Business-wise, things have recently changed for the better at Reakktor Media and the Black Prophecy project is once again moving ahead at full speed. More info about this title is on the way as well; Reakktor was kind enough to agree to do a series of focused Q&As at Massively about various facets of the game. Over time, this series will cover topics ranging from Black Prophecy's modification system to details about how players will build space stations. Since we're going to look at some of the fundamental aspects of Black Prophecy, it makes sense that we'd begin this series where the players themselves will begin -- at character creation. In our first Q&A in this series, Massively spoke with Jens Kortboyer, Lead Artist on Black Prophecy, who walked us through the design decisions Reakktor made in creating the look of the Genides and Tyi characters, as well as the visual choices players will have when starting out.%Gallery-46991%
EVE illustrator breathes a dark, gritty life into the game's setting
Writer Annalee Newitz from the sci-fi centric io9 blog recently took a look at some of EVE Online's memorable artwork, by Icelandic concept designer B. Börkur Eiríksson (apparently also known as "Nag" according to The Art of EVE book). Börkur has been the Lead Artist/Illustrator at CCP Games since 2004, imbuing New Eden's futuristic backstory with his very dark, gritty style that really helps set the tone. On Börkur's "Industra" -- a depiction of a gloomy, burn out industrial city -- Newitz writes, "This image of a future city... feels to me like some anachronistic mashup of impressionist art and science fiction. The people in their hats and bonnets look almost nineteenth century..."io9 has a sampling of Börkur's artwork, but his online gallery -- Björn Börkur Eiríksson: Industrium -- is the prime place to find numerous examples of his work, divided between Concepts/Illustrations and Sketches/Speedpaints. EVE Online fans will recognize much of this artwork, which has been featured alongside fiction appearing in E-ON magazine and the official site's Chronicles over the years. If you're a fan of unidealized depictions of the future -- hell, if you just liked Blade Runner -- you'll probably appreciate the artwork of B. Börkur Eiríksson. [Via CrazyKinux]
