Faction Leader Design: Duke Exeter, Sentinel

Our games noble hero and leader of the Sentinel faction, Duke Exeter, was one of the first faction based characters we started playing around with. His look went through many a' change...

Final approved concept for Duke.

At one point Duke had a lighsaber-ish sword AND a laser gun. Oh, and a beard.

Getting closer, anime larp'ing sword and all. :P

Flowing brunette hair and killer mustache? I liked it.

Yes, Sentinel was also red at one point.

Rough sketches for Duke.

Faction Leader Design: Doc Overbuild, Assembly

Leading up the Assembly faction is odd-ball scientist Doctor Overbuild. Originally called Doctor Brickmaster, he was supposed to be a solid mix of Doc Emmett Brown from Back to the Future and Egon Spangler from Ghostbusters. Later, we moved him in to a much more tech feel to get cooler accessories, also taking some cues from Spiderman's Doc Oc.

Final approved concept for Doc Overbuild.

Plan sheet for Doc's torso accessory.

The tech re-design. We ultimately eliminated the two lower mechanical arms due to technical limitations. The colors of the Assembly faction also switched from a red theme to the final orange. This sheet also shows plans for various head accessories for Doc.

Early color design for Doc Brickmaster.

Rough Exploration sketches for Doc Brickmaster.

Faction Leader Design: Hael Storm, Venture

Hael Storm, fearless adventurer and leader of none other than The Venture League faction. What else could he be but a pirate? I bet you didn't know that once upon a time Hael was a female pirate named Gail Storm... This changed when we added Vanda to the line-up. Notice the various spellings of 'Hael' in the concepts - we were not sure how we wanted to spell his name once I started re-designing the character to be a male. Also, Hael holds the same last name as LU artist Nate Storm.

Final approved concept for Hael.

When we decided to make this character male I had to re-design his head - the body was easy as we just removed the curves. :P Also, I based these head designs on LU concept/character artist Brett Nienburg - our very own scruffy, dread-headed dreamboat.

This was the final design for Gail...

Development sketches for Gail.

Faction Leader Design: Vanda Darkflame, Paradox

Vanda Darkflame was our replacement character for Baron Typhonus - who ultimately becomes the Darkitect. She represents the Paradox faction, which served as the closest a player could get to joining an 'evil' faction, as they dabbled and experimented with the energies of the Maelstrom. She is, of course, a kick-butt ninja-type character...

The final approved concept for Vanda.

Thought we were there - still too dark. Notice the older Paradox branding.

First color pass - we decided this design was way too aggressive.

A couple sheets of rough explorations for Vanda.

Map Quest

Hello, Jerry again. One of my most favorite tasks in LU was the creation of detailed maps and environments that helped encompass broad areas of gameplay. These images tended to be helpful to the designers so they can, at a glance, see a large area of content and how the story/gameplay interrelates.

The best three years of my life so far, Lego Universe. I was truly fortunate enough to work under talented Jerry Meyer and Jim Stigall. I will be talking about this for the rest of my life.

The best three years of my life so far, Lego Universe. I was truly fortunate enough to work under talented Jerry Meyer and Jim Stigall. I will be talking about this for the rest of my life.

The best three years of my life so far, Lego Universe. I was truly fortunate enough to work under talented Jerry Meyer and Jim Stigall. I will be talking about this for the rest of my life.

The best three years of my life so far, Lego Universe. I was truly fortunate enough to work under talented Jerry Meyer and Jim Stigall. I will be talking about this for the rest of my life.

The best three years of my life so far, Lego Universe. I was truly fortunate enough to work under talented Jerry Meyer and Jim Stigall. I will be talking about this for the rest of my life.