EXPERIMENT 18 - CONCEPT ART PROJECT
Experiment 18 received the third place IDSA award at DAAPworks 2015
Experiment 18 is a proposed 3rd person action role playing video game set in the near future: the year 2075. I am developing the game in conjunction with a writer, Blaise Jones. We are creating a rich and engaging universe filled with various alien species and technologies.
The leaders of the world discovered humanity’s true purpose: to serve as the weapons in an ancient alien war. Some accepted their destiny. Others refused to believe that this was humanity’s sole purpose. War looms as mankind struggles with the discovery, forcing humanity to look towards the stars for salvation. You and a few others suddenly find yourselves trapped in an alien galaxy, far from home. Now locked in a struggle for survival, your mission becomes getting you and your people home to Earth. As you make your way through the galaxy, you are hounded by an unknown enemy and his vicious assassin, while making discoveries that could change the course of the galaxy.
Trapped on a dying planet, humanity seeks salvation in the stars. But after every effort ends in tragedy, it looks like all hope is lost. Until one day a forgotten experiment suddenly activates, sending a handful of scientific and military personal halfway across the galaxy. Throw into worlds of alien life, both civilized and savage, our protagonists seek the answer to one questions, "If so much life was just beyond our star, why have we never heard from them? Or them from us? With more being manipulated than just politics, will Humanity find a new home amongst the Galaxy at Large, or be relegated to extinction on their blighted world?
RYNYX
The Rynyx has pits under the skull plate that allow it to sense heat and detect the lights of other Rynyx. The plates on it's back open up to reveal a bioluminescent organ, these lights are used as communication and to intimidate others. The lights allow Rynyx to identify individuals, the heat and light that the organ puts off is unique to each Rynyx, similar to a fingerprint. Tendrils in the mouth function for communication and rattle together as a form of language. Their hands have evolved to be able to flip onto complex surfaces in the tunnels.
Thick hides of layered, keratinized plates protect them from the scoring winds, searing heats, and high levels of atmospheric radiation of their planet.
The other adaptation the Rynyx developed was an emerging subterranean nature. The conditions on the surface of their planet have been steadily deteriorating over the passing millennia, so much that even the Rynyx have been forced underground in a mass event known throughout their culture as The Submergence. Though this is a relatively recent development in their evolutionary history, already they are beginning to show morphological changes.
Their eyes have become highly reduced, and recent generations have begun seeing individuals born without eyes. Effectively, the species is blind. Instead the Rynyx navigate through vibro-sensation, and thus are covered in thick bristles of hair that can sense the slightest vibrations in both the ground and air.
ELORDEN
The Elorden sport a large crown of antlers that it used for territorial displays and to fend off predators. The Elorden has Proto-pharyngeal jaws that helps it hold onto its meals. The Elorden has antlers that run down its back to protect itself from large predators native to its planet.
GREATER ESHIRAPODA
The Greater Eshirapoda use the many appendges along it’s body to propel itself through the earth. Greater Eshirapoda’s front nose protusions vibrate to help break up the ground directly in front of it and use the mandibles on the side of the face to throw dirt behind itself. This creature would live on the same planet as the Rynyx and the Rynyx would use tunnels left behind by the Greater Eshirapoda to live in.
IRIKARI
The Irikari are able to reach speeds up to 85MPH when in a full sprint using its 5 limbs. The hood along its neck can extend in territorial displays and to regulate body heat. Stripes along its body help it to camouflage in its environment. The Irikari uses the long talons on its forearms to quickly take down their prey. It uses it's fifth limb as support when at full speed and taking tight turns.
MYRETAKA
The Myretaka is an ambush predator, it buries its massive body under the sand, exposing only the top of its hood and eye stalks. Once prey has entered the strike zone, the head springs forward from the shell to make the capture. The texture along the carapace allows the Myretaka to camouflage against the surrounding ground. It also uses its powerful claws to dig into the earth.
ZOARASSARI
The Zoarassari are fiercely territorial, males in particular are prone to high levels of aggression and will attack each other, often to the death. They have a nearly 360 field of vision, two pairs of eyes face forward and two face to the sides. Their spines are serated and will detach, sticking into its attackers. These spines quickly grow back.
MUKUNGA
The Mukunga is blind and uses heat sensing pits on its nose to detect prey. The caverns on its planet are large and it is able to use its four limbs to navigate in the tunnels. Its limbs can rotate in nearly all directions in socket. The small grasping limbs allow the Mukunga to hold onto it's prey while maneuvering around the tunnels.
CALAID
The Calaid are a bit of a nomadic species, stowing away on ships and spreading throughout the galaxy. They are naturally curious and can be quite destructive because of their curiosity. Calaid are Insectivors and have sharp beaks to be able to break through the hard outer shells of the indigenous insects. They also have soft hoof like pads on the ends of it’s toes and fingers that allow it to easily grip trees and rocks for climbing
Ildnar is an extremely hostile environment. Its surface reaches scorching temperatures, forcing most of its indigenous life underground. Ildnar is ruled by a singular massive creature that roams the surface. The creature is so massive that as it walks it causes earthquakes and storms, as it walks it causes massive storms and other natural disasters due to the friction with the atmosphere. Much of the indigenous wildlife call this massive home, many others retreat underground as it passes above.
As it passes the land behind it becomes fertilized, as it destroys it also reseeds life along its path.
ILDNAR
ILDNAR FAUNA
The surface of Guinvale is covered by gargantuan trees. Guinvale is smaller than Earth and has lower gravity, allowing some of the trees can grow to heights of 30,000 feet, rivaling the tallest mountains on Earth. Their roots reach deep into the crust of the planet and use the heat of the core and pressure below to fuel biological functions. This gives them a massive amount of energy and allow them to grow so large. These trees have such a thick canopy that much of the ground below is covered in darkness. All other plant life would either have to be symbiotic or parasitic to these trees. The Salticere have utilized the indigenous plant life as a basis for their technology.
GUINVALE
GUINVALE FAUNA
SALTICERE
Salticere are an extremely intelligent & curious species they are very technically minded and are able to manipulate mechanical devices to a degree higher than most other species.
Having evolved on a planet with extremely dense vegitation this species developed several jointed appendages to both maneuver & hunt in the lush forest of their world. Each of these appendages has sensory organs and a rudimentary brain, allowing the salticere to focus on multiple tasks at once. The limbs ‘sprout’ from the shell, similar to snail eyestalks. once deployed they can form into a variety of different shapes. By changing the shapes of their limbs they can also mimic other species.
Salticere have evolved used to a much higher O2 content than most other species, and thus wear specialized suits whenever they are outside their own ships and planet. These suits concentrate the surrounding oxygen to acceptable levels for them to breath.
GUINVALE FAUNA
THERACERE
Theracere and Salticere share a common ancestor. their appendages are able to retract fully inside of its body and the limbs can change their shape in order to squeeze into tight places. The Theracere extends a long flexible tube called a proboscis from its mouth and uses a radula tooth as a harpoon-like structure for predation. The end of the Theracere’s tail has claspers that allow it to hold onto prey. The many segments gives it incredible control over the tail.
GUINVALE FAUNA
DACHIATA
The Dachiata is an alpha predator on its planet. It lurks high in the canopy and then glides down on unsuspecting prey. It uses the claws on its abdomen and claspers on its wings to subdue prey as it infects venom.
GUINVALE FAUNA
ECHOBI
Echobi use their forelegs to stabilize themselves while running, allowing them to change directions suddenly. Echobi live in complex tunnels in large colonies and their slender bodies allow them to squeeze into tight spaces. They are extremely agile, using their strong legs to leap long distances. They live on the planet Guinviale. The vegetation on the surface grows to enormous sizes, creating tunnels in the roots for them to make their homes.
GUINVALE FAUNA
ECOATHI
The Ecoathi are incredibly climbers, able to use its large padded fingers and prehensile tail to grip onto trees and sides of cliffs. The males have tusks that they use to challenge other males of the species.
GUINVALE FAUNA
GORGANIRI
The Gorganiri are an extremely large species that live on the planet Guinviale, the same planet that the Salticere live on. The vegetation on the surface grows to enormous sizes, allowing the gorganiri to thrive. The planet also has very light gravity, which allows the creature to effortlessly and gracefully move on it’s long toed feet. It almost floats along like a specter through the forest.
guinvaleFAUNA
THAUXIEL
Thauxiels, also known as root fiends, spend most of its life lurking within the roots of the giant trees on Guinvale. Thauxiel’s tails are covered in bio-luminescent spines. It will use it’s tail like a lure to attract unsuspecting prey and will constrict its prey and use its powerful beak to deliver the final killing blow.
SEPCAUDAMUS
The Sepcaudamus is another creature in the Experiment 18 universe, they have 6 prehensile limbs that can tuck in to stay low profile and get into tight spaces. It can also use these limbs to make quick getaways and to secure themselves in the canopy.
Their diet consists of mostly fruit and some small insects. The Sepcaudamus also has iridescent fur that glimmers in sunlight. This helps to attract mates and disorient predators. Most mammals on Guinviale would be hexapods, most of them would live high in the canopy, so the extra limbs would allow them to maintain control high above the ground!
COLEOBRIZI
The Coleobrizi are a species of gliding mammals. The long middlefingers are “spring loaded” and can be used to capture prey, like a preying mantis, or to give them an extra boost when jumping into gliding. The underside of their belly is colored blue and white to help camouflage with the sky as it glides.
TAUGANS
Taugans use naturally buoyant gasses to effortlessly float through the forest. They are known to flock in groups of up to 50 individuals. Taugans use their long bioluminescent tails to attract insects for them to capture and eat, they also use their tails to wrap around tree branches to stay in place while they are sleeping.
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APOCRONOS
The Apocronos are refugees from their own galaxy, which was utterly destroyed in a civil war. Two remaining Apocronos reside in the milky way galaxy and were responsible for the seeding of sentient life in the galaxy. The Apocronos created the Rynyx, Salticere and Humanity, each of which took different traits from their creators. Most major religions can trace their inspiration for their gods back to the Apocronos through genetic memory. The halo around the neck of the Apocronos became angel halos. Multiple arms was the basis for Vishnu. Apocronos teleportation tech has the appearance of lightning, which became Thor and Zeus. Etc.
EXPERIMENT 18 - PROCESS
As part of my capstone project, I made a book showing the story and process for the various creatures and characters in Experiment 18. Since then I have expanded and redesigned many of the characters and have continued to improve and deepen the lore of the world.
I have been working on this project since 2014, these images range from 2014-Current
SKETCHING
PHOTOSHOP PAINTING
DIGITAL SCULPTING
I sculpted these in Zbrush, some were rendered in Zbrush, others were rendered in Keyshot. I then brought some of them into photoshop for additional detailing.
