Bonus Content Disc/Creatures: Volus

The following are transcriptions of the artists' comments for the design gallery "The Creatures of Mass Effect: Volus" found on the bonus content disc of Mass Effect released in 2007.

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Matt Rhodes: The volus design was one of those fun ones that came about from an odd sort of direction. It came at us sideways. While we were working on one alien, it sort of, you know... one alien plugged into another alien and "hey, we could borrow from that pool." These sketches were originally environmental space suits, kind of like snow suits; suits that were meant to wrap around armor, that looked a little closer. People spend a lot of time in these icy environments and so they had equipment that suited that. They came into play a little bit later on, which was kind of fun. It's always great when stuff you didn't intend to use comes back.

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Matt Rhodes: These were more experiments with the space scavenger race, trying to mix and match pieces. Trying to come up with, you know, "oh I found a much better space boot on this derelict ship so I'll take that, sew it in or tape it on" or who knows what. But again, just trying to play with shapes, playing with what works.

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Matt Rhodes: Here was almost a more nomadic version of the volus. These were nomadic space scavengers, kind of like Bedouins from the outer fringes of the galaxy.

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Matt Rhodes: Here we're just trying to come up with different shapes for gas masks. What does an industrial, fringed, edge of the galaxy, stealing from junkyards gas mask look like?

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Matt Rhodes: This was a sketch that people liked. People really kind of dig that, but we needed a little bit more work on it yet. I like his little gas mask shooting out of that big long hood.

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Matt Rhodes: Here was closer to what we were talking about. This was something that started to work. The head was a little bit more articulated. The gas mask was intriguing because it's just these three circles. That's very simple but somehow your mind makes a shape out of that and you get attached to it.

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Matt Rhodes: Here was a little long-nosed version of this scavenger. It's kind of a different take on the gas mask idea. We kind of need to see these little guys lumbering around through the trash.

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Matt Rhodes: And here he is. This is one of the first approved concepts for creatures, one of the first guys ever built actually. Everyone liked this guy. It was one of those things that had appeal. It kind of softened the galaxy in a way, it softened this adventure. It's still serious, you can still believe in this thing; but at the same time, it showed the width and the breadth of our universe. We weren't going to be afraid to do different shapes to try some other stuff. We actually ended up having to build a skeleton for this guy all by himself, he wouldn't quite fit on the human skeleton. He was also the first real creature that we ever afforded ourselves. I like how the little details worked. Actually the model on this guy, the guys took it really far. The little scrapes in his armor shine when the metal is exposed underneath. If you can get a chance to look at him up close and get him to stand still for any period of time in the game, you really should have a look.

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Matt Rhodes: Here's a cleaned up version of him. This is the red and white, sleeked-out version; not necessarily the junkyard-inspired edition. A little guy that never comes out of his suit. You never quite know what he looks like. It seems pleasant enough, so no one really minds.