Shadow Star Environment Concepts
Shadow Star takes place in the Velas Nebula hundreds of millions of years from now, after Sol has taken a trip through the galaxy and come to rest in a hot stellar nursery.
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As the player progresses through the story they will jump from start to star in search of fuel and supplies, fighting factions who control each star. Never visiting a planet, the game would focus on creating a beautiful starscape that changes as you travel, the background always giving you a sense of where you are by the natural stellar landmarks -- the like mountains in Skyrim, but in space.
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Tim Barton took a quick commission and helped me out to give us a more solid idea of where to go with that design, and serve as promotional material for funding.
Tim Barton ultimately ended up handing me the BEST concept art for the Velas Nebula where Shadow Star takes place: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/mldba
This was my own art concept for Velas on a grand scale. A central pillar and lots of nooks to explore around it.
Build up.
Lots of this feeling of being blown by wind from the center.
Where in the galaxy is Shadow Star?
A more local map in 3D concept.
A test render of 3D nebula using traditional meshes and alpha channels in unreal.
I wanted the UI for the player jumping between stars to be natural looking.
Each star the player can reach within jump range highlights in blue, and data on the star would pop up when selected.