frost giant studio, Co-founded by former Blizzard real-time strategists Tim Morton and Tim Campbell, it has finally revealed a trailer for its first game, Stormgatewill enter the beta phase on Steam next year. Trailer offers a peek Feel the return in the upcoming real-time strategy.
However, this was just a teaser at first glance, so I sat down with two key Frost Giant employees, writers Mitch Nelson and Assistant Art Director Jonathan Ryderdive into the game’s backstory and see how Frost Giant plans to follow in Blizzard’s footsteps without repeating the same mistakes.
lo-fi sci-fi
the first moments Stormgate The feeling the trailer evokes Starcraft. It’s the spooky blue hue of a holographic projector, the subtle murmur of an AI assistant, and the thunderous arrival of a chunky sci-fi mecha suit.However, instead of going for a pure retro aesthetic, the trailer blends modern high-resolution art with the definition Starcraft Franchise. This carries over to the game itself built on Unreal Engine 5.
“When it comes to design and art, when we see something futuristic on the map, whether it’s a vehicle or a gadget, you should be able to judge what it does by looking at it,” Nelson said.
human technology Stormgate Defined by bulky armor, pouches, and useful but imperfect holograms. Weapons fire bullets, not lasers, and armor suits fly the old-fashioned way: with rocket packs. Not only does this capture the feel of earlier Blizzard games, but by extension, inspiration for that studiosuch as tabletop war games Warhammer 40KThis alien Franchise and 1997 Science Fiction Movie starship cavalry.
That’s not to say, however, that Frost Giant’s approach is stuck in the ’90s. According to Jonathan Ryder, assistant art director at Frost Giant, the team updated the lo-fi aesthetic by guessing at the impact of recent scientific breakthroughs.
“MIT is creating this bacterium that can generate a charge for the battery,” Ryder said. “So, we thought, what would 50, 60, 70 years of innovation look like if we were to use it for clean tech?” This speculation helped the team change the rules of physics without straying too far from reality.
The trailer also revealed a distinctly different second faction, Hellfire, for Stormgate. These creatures take inspiration from another Blizzard series, Diablo, and bring unexpected high fantasy.This seems to run counter to the speculative realism of the human faction, but Stormgate The hope is that Infernals is rooted in the same logic by walking a line between sci-fi and fantasy.
“They use magic, so there are always these issues,” Nelson said. “How much is artifact and how much is innate? Sometimes magic and science can come together a little bit. If you’re casting a cold spell, does it draw from the moisture in the air to create that spell?”
it’s a toy box
Courtesy of Frost Giant
Stormgate’s mix Starcraft and Diablo Reminds me of the random action figure boxes I used to sneak into as a kid.yes, I Can Play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Transformers on your own – but it’s more fun to mix them up.
