Black Prophecy Art Director Nick Ebenhoch has written the fifth and final part of his Art Direction Developer Diary, and this one focuses on the design of the Genide faction. His third and fourth entries presented the Human and Tyi factions, respectively.

According to Ebenhoch, "the Genides are a biogenetic advancement of the Humans. Progression in genetics, medicine and research are the animating spirit of the Genides, which is reflected in their faction logo." The faction utilizies smooth and calm design elements in its ships and stations.

You can read the full dev diary entry after the jump. Technical Director Cyrus Preuss will be writing the next series of dev diary entries, which will focus on the technical side of Black Prophecy. For more information on the game, check out our recent interview with Creative Director Timo Krahl.

The faction logo

The Genides are a biogenetic advancement of the Humans. Progression in genetics, medicine and research are the animating spirit of the Genides, which is reflected in their faction logo. The basic form of the logo is a metallic DNA strand, respectively a rod of Asclepius in which the color green is embedded within a glass form to outline life. The pure metal combined with the technical form of the green glass body, as well as the luminous elements are meant to represent the faction’s technical progression. Progression, knowledge and mental strength are suggested by the three embedded symbols.

Space ships and stations

Even if the Genides put very much emphasis on the practical use of their ships and stations, a certain aesthetic is not unimportant to them. This is reflected especially in the upward built, impressive stations that are reminiscent to the tall bodies of the Genides who are a result of their perpetual genetic manipulation.

By contrast with the Tyi, all forms appear rounder, the surfaces cleaner with a metallic glance. Altogether, the design of the Genides is significantly smoother and calmer and is defined by the overall form of the single modules.

During the design of the Genide space fighter, the requirements of the modular system have shown as an aggravating factor. The objective was to design an upward built ship which still has two wings and engines. The result is a fighter in a V-form whereby the wings are attached above and below the cockpit. This form appears much more elegant and less aggressive. Despite those different ways of construction, the Genide space fighter is reminiscent to the Tyi fighter up to a certain point with regards to the look. Technical details like e.g. pipes and air slots are to be found again, while the overall design appears rounder.

The cockpit of the Genide space fighter was a little challenge in every sense, as it was supposed to still look like a Human cockpit but appear much more technologically advanced. The Genides utilize holographic displays for information display and entry. Luminous conductor paths run over the instrument frames on the control panel. The cockpit looks much rounder overall.

The capital ships are constructed similar to the fighter but don’t appear harmless in any way despite their aerodynamic and elegant form with rough surfaces. Due to the size of the ships, we did refrain from using too smooth surfaces, but they become significantly calmer on shorter viewing distances. As with the ships of the Tyi, they have only a few windows because they are deemed as a weakness in combat situations. Though the Genide ships are modularly only extendable upwards, it is possible to link two ships sidewise with massive connectors to make one single big ship.

That’s it for my Art Direction Developer Diary. I hope I was able to bring Black Prophecy a bit nearer to you with regards to its visual appearance. While playing video games I often ask myself: “Why does it look like this or how does this work at all?”, as I personally put very much emphasis on environments that seem technically sound, because I can dive into the game much easier then.

I will now hand over the helm to our Technical Director Cyrus Preuss who will introduce you to the technical side of Black Prophecy in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading and see you in-game at release!