A look at the enemies you will face in Momentus
One of the first things our team at Mom Studios did during pre-production was discuss enemies and their design. The enemies are a very crucial part of Momentus, considering combat is a focal point of the game.
We knew that we wanted a variety of enemy types, including a flying, stationary, and bipedal enemy. This variety would allow the player to approach battle in many ways and give them reasons to use their different abilities.
Our group of artists - Camille Otto (myself), Lindsey Brown, Malcolm Howard, Mitch Winebrenner, Jaden Stock, and Kong Vang – all worked together to develop the appearance and affordance of the enemies. We wanted a “biomechanical” feel to each design, to match the living planet aesthetic of the world. Starting out, we didn’t have any other rules for design – so those of us tasked with concepting sketched out some rough ideas.
Initial Concept Sketches – Lindsey’s (Top) and Camille’s (Bottom)
Both Lindsey and I came up with some initial designs for potential flying, ground, and bipedal enemies. After receiving feedback from other team members, we each made some revisions.
Lindsey’s Designs – We really liked the flying enemy concept, so she went ahead and created more revisions, and then finalized the design with orthographic drawings.
Camille’s Designs – A revision to the bipedal enemy, with orthographic drawings
After creating the revised bipedal enemy, as a team we decided to use hexagons in future designs. The hexagon is a simple shape that fits well with the hive-like biomechanical planet that Momentus takes place on. Any finalized design was given orthographic drawings as well. While not always necessary, orthographics can speed up the modelling process and make it easier for a character artist to create to-scale models.
Lindsey’s Designs – A quadrupedal enemy & orthographics, based on the bipedal enemy design
Lindsey’s Designs – A small bug-like ground enemy
Camille’s Designs – Revised flying enemy & final orthographics
Camille’s Designs – A stationary turret enemy
All our finalized designs incorporate a hexagon shape in some way. This helped us keep each design consistent with one another, so they all look like they belong in the same world. Another decision we made was to give each enemy only one eye – a black void with a singular dot in the middle. This gives each design a creepy, mechanical feel.
Despite their similarities, each design is unique with different silhouettes. In any game, it’s important that the player can differentiate between enemy types. We want to make it clear that each enemy has a purpose, with different attack and movement styles.
Enemy design and concept art was critical to the development of Momentus. After all, what is an action game without its enemies?