Welcome to Imagining LEGO Universe!



In 2006 the vision of bringing the iconic LEGO brick to the virtual world of MMO gaming - started some years earlier by key members of The LEGO Group - began to take shape with the partnership of a small and little known Colorado based video game development studio called NetDevil.

During the five-plus year journey of development, the team at NetDevil was faced with many difficult technical and design challenges in order to bring LEGO play to the virtual space. Working along side the designing minds and programming wizards, the LEGO Universe art team, lead by Art Director Phillip Atencio, molded a visual style unmatched in the world of MMO gaming, seamlessly melding existing LEGO themes with original story developed in-house by the minds of NetDevil developers who also happened to be life long fans of the timeless plastic toy.

The conceptual design team tasked with bringing the vision of LEGO Universe to life boasted some of the most incredible talent the video game industry has to offer. Lead Concept Artist Jim Stigall guided a team of seven concept illustrators during the life of the project. Along with the help and incredible visions of Jerry Meyer, Dave Kang, Brett Nienburg, Kyle Wheeler, Richard Tran, Peter Coene, Nathan Storm, and Mike Rayhawk many many worlds and literally thousands of drawings were explored to assist the world builders, animators, character modelers, and visual effects artists bringing the three-dimensional world of LEGO Universe to life.

Millions of fans logged in daily and assumed the identity of their Minifigure avatar, virtually interacting, building, and exploring with their friends in the LEGO Universe.

Sadly, in January, 2012, after little over a year since its initial public launch, LEGO Universe was closed for good.

This blog is for you, the fans. It is a place where we, the Concept Art Team from LEGO Universe, can share with you the passion and love that was put into this wonderful game - much of it never seen before, some never meant to be shown.

Please enjoy Imagining LEGO Universe...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Chunk O Rama

Jerry here again. I had an awesome time drawing these images that represent an entire content zone sitting on a planet chunk. Since the back story stated that Planet Crux (which was actually shaped like a cube) blew up and dispersed planet chunks everywhere. The goal was to explore different chunks and unlock passage to other chunks. I always found myself wondering if a planet really blew up, what would happen to the gravity? Would it divide itself equally amongst the chunks? And if so, would gravity continue to be directed to the tip of the chunk where the core used to be? Or, would the source of gravity stay put, and create a black hole of some sort? Am I totally over-analyzing this?









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5 comments:

  1. jamessterMarch 23, 2012 at 11:10 AM

    Oh wow, I love that Forbidden Valley art! Cool blend of the early brighter style, and the sheer cliffs of the finalized world.

    What worlds are the third and seventh pictures from?

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    Replies
    1. Jerry MeyerMarch 28, 2012 at 9:28 AM

      Thank you Jamester, good question.
      The Third world is an early prototype for the Ninjago content zone. It had a variety of mini islands that had a bamboo forest, a Skulkin town, a burning village and the Fire Temple. There was even a dragon taxi service.

      The seventh chunk was an idea for a fishing game in which the player designs and builds a fish concept. The fish would then be showcased and voted upon by the LU community. The winning fish were added to the giant lake for everyone to try to catch. This, along with many other ideas were set aside for development later on.

      -Jerry

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  2. Sim533March 24, 2012 at 8:07 AM

    Well done with the pics! I love this artwork (just like I loved the game. )

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  3. inkblobMarch 25, 2012 at 10:24 PM

    Thanks for sharing this wealth of creativity, this is such a treat!

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  4. jamessterApril 3, 2012 at 9:37 PM

    Thanks for the reply! This might sound a bit weird, but would you happen to have concept art and/or screenshots from early worlds, like Port Plunder/Swagger Town, that never made it into the final game? We know of a couple - Creepy Crawly Forest, Tarrano Forest (heh, you guys sure liked forests), Brick Mesa, Spikes Peak, etc, but we don't know that much about them. There's also this world we don't know the name of, but some concept art was posted on the LU website, it had a castle wall, and a giant spike that had crashed through it:

    http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110311002945/legouniverse/images/7/79/Castle_concept_art_1.PNG

    Would you happen to know anything about that? Thanks a ton!

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