The following contains the text found within The Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy, 2021 edition, relating to the first Mass Effect game. Unless otherwise stated, the text was written by Casey Hudson, Derek Watts, Chris Hepler, Karin Weekes and Ryan Cormier.
Preface[]
The Mass Effect Team at BioWare: The Art of the Mass Effect Universe was originally published in 2012, covering all the games of the Mass Effect trilogy. Since then, the series has continued through multiple expansions; a fourth game, Mass Effect: Andromeda; and a completely remastered edition of the trilogy, Mass Effect Legendary Edition. We celebrate the art and craftsmanship that went into those three original games with this new edition of the book--The Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition. With additional material from downloadable expansions, multiplayer missions, and extended endings, we hope you'll enjoy the most complete collection of Mass Effect trilogy artwork ever published. Thanks for continuing to share this journey with us.
Introductions[]
Casey Hudson, Executive Producer: Mass Effect 3 represents the achievement of an incredible goal: a major video game series that was envisioned as a trilogy from the very start. More importantly, it is a trilogy where players decide how the story unfolds--the consequences of their decisions impact not just one game, but the entire series.
The two biggest challenges in accomplishing this ambitious plan were that each game had to become popular enough to warrant a sequel, and--even harder--that each game had to get finished; both things are rarities in a winner-take-all industry where games are often delayed or canceled altogether. Not only did our team at BioWare drive each game to completion, but each installment went on to became a commercial and critical hit. This is a testament to the talent and professionalism of the artists at BioWare, and to their creative vision for the Mass Effect universe.
In the eight years that we worked on this trilogy, we watched the Mass Effect universe take shape, from the first tentative brush strokes in 2004 to the spectacular realism of the worlds experienced in Mass Effect 3. While we always intended to give players an expansive new universe to play in, we never could have imagined the response we've had from fans around the world. For them, and for us, Mass Effect is more than a video game--it has become a place filled with the memories of friendships, rivalries, wondrous visions, and thrilling adventures.
It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with the art team in the creation of the Mass Effect universe. This book is a record of that artistic journey, and I hope you enjoy it.
Derek Watts, Art Director: When Casey and I sat down and started talking about Mass Effect, the project's code name was SFX, and the rest was open territory--a scary thought when presented with the task of visualizing a new universe that needed to resonate with the audience, stand out from the crowd, and be rich enough to carry the license long after the completion of the original game.
When conceptualizing the Mass Effect universe, we kept a few artists and architects in mind. We drew inspiration from Syd Mead, John Harris, John Berkey, and Santiago Calatrava--just a few of the visual mavericks we looked to. We pored over thousands of images and countless movies to draw every bit of reference we could obtain.
It has been fascinating to see Mass Effect grow over the years. In the beginning, we were constantly compared to other games and artists, and then, as the series grew and matured, we started hearing how other games were looking like ours. People are looking at products coming out now and are saying, "Hey, that looks like Mass Effect!"
It is impossible to do justice to the monumental task it was to build a project of this scale. The passion and dedication of the hundreds of artists, drawing over ten thousand concepts and working countless hours, doesn't fit between two covers. Without them, the vision for the universe would have failed, and Mass Effect would've been just another title on a long list of forgotten games. I hope this book serves as a window into our artists' minds and shows how they helped create the universe called Mass Effect.
Mass Effect[]
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“This mission just got a lot more complicated.” — Spoilers for Mass Effect follow. |
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Matriarch Benezia[]
Matriarch Benezia's appearance is designed to capture the beauty and mystical power of the asari, while bearing the dark and mysterious qualities that helped associate her with Saren. Special attention was given to her headdress, which references religious and royal clothing.
Below are early concepts for the asari commando. While a good deal of the concepts had flowing clothing, it ultimately made more sense, from a design perspective, to keep the style military and tight.
Saren[]
At the top left is an early concept for Saren, depicting him as an older, physically weaker character who still possesses incredibly powerful biotics. The concepts on the right are brainstormed images exploring different aspects of Saren's head, experimenting with structure, scarring, and decorations. We ultimately decided that, unlike most turians, Saren would not have tattoos. We went with a distinctive crest and visible Reaper machinery to reflect his indoctrination.
These designs explored different directions for Saren's armor. We eventually decided to show signs of severe indoctrination and Reaper cybernetics by giving him a mechanical arm.
We tried several concepts for Saren's head. His final appearance was kept similar to other turians, allowing him to blend into society rather be an obvious monstrosity.
Humans[]
These quick character studies for the human marines--Ashley, Kaidan, Anderson, and Joker--helped us establish an iconic feel for each character.
We drafted many options for armor. Originally, Shepard's armor was red and white, but that made Shepard look too much like a medic rather a combat-ready marine. Eventually we made the armor charcoal gray and added a red-and-white stripe, as well the iconic N7 logo. Although Shepard's armor changed with each subsequent game, these elements remained consistent.
Clothing concepts for the people of 2183 included designs for miners, prisoners, prostitutes, and even colonists wearing HAZMAT suits. Through standardizing these concepts, we found a common visual language for human characters.
Asari[]
To add a familiar element of science-fiction fantasy, we decided one of the main species in Mass Effect would be a race of beautiful blue alien girls. An extensive exploration of the idea led to the asari appearing exotic and alien while still having some human qualities, which allowed them to be desirable as potential love interests. The original inspiration of the scalp tentacles was to evoke the image of a woman emerging from the water with her hair swept back.
Asari clothing was to be alluring and sexy but with a sense of class and style--more of a Hollywood red-carpet feel than that of a stripper (except for the asari who were, in fact, strippers). Once we established the general look of the asari, we examined the fine details, like the scalp tentacles.
Turians[]
As Linus Pauling once said, "The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." We had a lot of ideas for alien species! The writing department came up with an idea for a bird-like race, and we ran with it... in many directions. From this, the turians emerged with avians legs and an eagle-like head with the crest of a plumed bird. They have several decidedly unavian feature to keep them alien, like the carapace that shields them from the radiation on their home planet.
At the top are designs of turian bodies, including the final form. Most of the aliens in Mass Effect were designed without clothing or armor. Adding them later in the process forced us to keep designs consistent and complete to avoid having models with missing aspects hidden under clothing. Below are variations of turian heads. Once we had the head design, we tried to work out decorations to give each individual turian a unique look.
The top concepts are various styles of turian armor, including light and heavy versions. For their clothing, we balanced the design between human and alien, allowing space for turian head crests, the bones jutting from their calves, and the carapace on their shoulder blades.
Krogan[]
The krogan were designed to be a race perpetually at war. They are obviously semireptilian, but one of their early inspirations was bats. The reference for the krogan body was the heavy skin of an Indian rhinoceros.
To make Wrex stand out from the crowd, we gave him a splash of color on his head crest and deep scars across his face. This made it clear that he'd seen major combat.
The concepts above show facial expressions that helped animation. Below that are models used to figure out coloration, including the final model of Wrex.
Early body designs for the krogan (facing page) included large ape-like creatures. A lot of these needed to be scrapped because of animation limitations. Above is a variety of krogan armor, including multiple helmet designs and versions for heavily armored bosses. Below that are variations of krogan clothing. Since krogan are almost never seen out of their armor, these were rarely used.
Salarians[]
The salarians were our version of "gray aliens," but with a nearly concave torso and dog-like legs. These unique body features set the guidelines for all the clothing and armor to follow. The bottom collection represents the steps it took to reach final drawings of the salarian head as well as examples of how one of the variations might show emotion. We do drawings of expressions to help us figure out how the aliens will emote using digital acting system.
A wide variety of concept sketches of clothing for salarians. Except for a few of the drawings, most of them were too human to meet our needs.
Quarians[]
Tali'Zorah presented a challenge. We needed to create one alien who would, for a time, be the only example of her species. All we knew about the quarians was that they were a scavenger race that created the geth. When some of these drawings were done, we didn't yet know what the geth actually looked like. Eventually, we decided on a look for the geth that influenced the lower quarians drawings. Tali was to have her face covered by a mask, tantalizing the player, who could barely make out the shape of her eyes, but no more.
Here you can see the influence the geth had on Tali's design, ranging from the very geth-like on the far upper left to the final designs on the lower right. The breathing mask and clothing became the envirosuit. The quarians, having a weak immune system, won't live long outside an envirosuit.
Elcor[]
In the early conception phase, anything and everything is possible. Some of the more outrageous original designs for the elcor are featured below. Eventually, modeling and animation constraints influenced the design.
Volus[]
The volus are another race of of aliens that need a full-body envirosuit. Volus are from a planet with high air pressure, and to remove them from their suit anywhere else would cause them to rupture, much like a deep-sea fish brought to the surface. Some concepts for their species were relatively large. Ultimately, they became short and round, giving them a docile look.
Geth[]
The geth are the most common enemy in the game, so they needed to stand out from enemies in other science-fiction universes. The head design was first nailed down for the geth armature, and this later became the basis for the geth's head design.
The production painting at the top shows how the geth hopper might attach itself to the wall, like Spider-Man clinging to a building. The middle images show variations refining the geth, such as the body playing and the shape of the head. The bottom images are variations on the final look of the geth hopper.
The Thorian[]
The Thorian was lovingly referred to as the "grotesque sac" around the office. It developed into a fungal creature that was thousands of years old and able to infect humans with mind-affecting spores and to create clone duplicates of a creature it had absorbed.
Rachni[]
Early concepts for the rachni queen imagined what she would look like captured in a containment tank. We pictured her never being fully illuminated--a mysterious figure. Inspiration came from deep-sea creatures.
Eventually, the queen's design came closer to that of a rachni soldier or worker to clearly indicate they were the same species. We gave her a larger abdomen, since it was important to the story that she was capable of birthing a vast number of rachni.
We toyed with a wide variety of ideas for the rachni. The original thought was to design a creature with long arms that could reach out and pierce the player. Eventually, these arms became something closer to whips.
The Citadel[]
The Citadel represents the seat of galactic government and thus was the level most representative of Mass Effect's architectural style. With large swooping curves cutting across vertical lines, it aimed to define Mass Effect's look.
The actual design was inspired by a sculpture that had five sides and a ring. The five sides became the ward arms, each one a city the size of Manhattan. The ring became the Presidium. Later, we attached the Citadel Tower, where the council members sit. We designed a 3D model to help visualize the Citadel's ability to transform from an open station into an impenetrable shell.
The top images on the opposite page show early visualizations of the Citadel's interiors.
The bottom image on the opposite page is the Presidium's interior--the utopia of tomorrow--a perfect blend of nature and architecture. We referenced NASA concepts, including the Stanford torus design. Early Citadel concepts also had windows looking out into space, which were eventually discarded when the design confused testers.
Virmire[]
Originally, Virmire was to be a tropical paradise, a vacation spot for galactic travelers. The inspiration for the rock formation was the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand. The buildings were connected by floating walkways and attached by structures built into the rocks--nature and architecture working in harmony. This all changed radically. Virmire became Saren's base of operations, making the paradise theme unusable. The design shifted to "nautical fortress," complete with massive concrete walls and heavy gun batteries. Some of the original concepts remain in the level, such as the floating walkways and the open-air environment.
Therum[]
Therum was originally a base built around the opening of a volcano. The base was going to be built up around the caldera, with heavy equipment mining the molten rock. Instead, the level was redesigned as an underground dig site.
Noveria[]
What's a science-fiction game without an ice planet? Noveria originally had a lower alpine section, with the research stations high among the peaks. Eventually, we removed the lower section because it made players think they were on two different planets. The mountaintop station, Peak 15, was designed to look camouflaged. It was so massive that it blended right in with the other peaks. The top drawings are concepts of Peak 15's interior. The idea behind these was that encased tubes (affectionately called "hamster tubes") would be suspended within the ice and rock.
Eden Prime[]
The original idea for Eden Prime, inspired by England's Lake District National Park, had blue skies and rolling green hills. The Eden Prime colony farmed this area and created large towers with a suspended rail system for transporting crops. Later, we decided that Reapers had destroyed Eden Prime by the time Shepard arrived. The new design included battle damage and the "scorched sky" seen in the final game.
Ilos[]
Ilos originally felt like El Dorado or other legendary cities lost deep within a jungle, but having several tropical planets in the game, we decided to change the appearance of the level and to give it a more alien feel. We referenced Zdzislaw Beksinski when reimagining this world. The dried coral replaced the roots and vegetation covering the structures. We also relit the level to give it the feel that everything there was dying, just as the Protheans had.
Feros[]
Feros featured Shepard fighting through war-torn skyscrapers linked by bridges. We wanted to push the epic nature of kilometers-tall superskyscrapers that had been wrecked by the geth. When the player arrives, only a few remain. The images to the left show the hub where the colonists erected shields and barriers to protect themselves, powered by one of their cargo ships.
The Normandy[]
Early concepts for the Normandy explored the ship as a fighter, a cruiser, a smuggler's ship, and a stealth vessel. Eventually it became a military prototype with a large crew and sufficient cargo space to store the Mako. Despite the fact that it lands on planets, we purposely never put visible landing gear on the Normandy--it hovers. When it docks on stations like the Citadel, arms extend and attach to the ship. Normandy's final design referenced delta-wing fighters and the Concorde, giving it an aggressive, futuristic look.
The concepts below and to the right were made to visualize the wide variety of machinery on the Normandy and throughout the Mass Effect universe.
These images are concepts of the Normandy's navigational and loading-bay areas. We needed to create a space where a large crew could live comfortably for months at a time.
Vehicles[]
Our goal to create an expansive universe meant drafting concepts for the galaxy's many different ships and vehicles. The Alliance ships referenced the design style of the Normandy, with large bidirectional thrusters. At the bottom are concepts that eventually became a krogan truck and an asari-designed skycar.
The Mako[]
We had many concepts for the Mako. We tried it as a rover, a tank, and a scout vehicle. In some concepts it even hovered, an idea that resurfaced with the Hammerhead in Mass Effect 2. Eventually, we decided to reference a modern armored personnel carrier. We gave it a darkened armored-glass front and six wheels, which became the standard for Mass Effect's heavy vehicles.
Helmets[]
We had more concepts for helmets, of all things, than anything else in the Mass Effect universe. We made over two hundred types in trying to figure out what Shepard's helmet should look like. We went back and forth between a closed-face helmet, for a more futuristic feel, and an open-faced helmet, similar to those in use by militaries today. We decided to go with the open-faced helmet so that players could see characters' expressions during the game's conversations.
Mass Relays[]
We were cognizant of the fact that giving ships faster-than-light travel wasn't necessarily enough to account for a galaxy-spanning civilization. To address this, we came up with mass relays, which used superior alien technology. The early designs varied widely, but we eventually settled on an unused concept for the Citadel, fitting since the Citadel and the mass relays had a common designer.
Symbols[]
There is an expansive array of corporate logos, military insignias, and other symbols in the Mass Effect universe. Some images below were adopted for the Citadel or the Alliance. Others were stamped on the ubiquitous crates as logos for shipping companies.
Weaponry[]
Mass Effect's guns had to be collapsible so that the player could store several on Shepard's back. The concepts on top were the weapons the player would have at the beginning of the game, and all have the strong Mass Effect arch. The original guns were chrome, later changed to make them more practical for military use. The guns were all designed with two barrels, mainly for appearance rather than functionality.
The four holes on the original assault rifle were for slotting in modifications. This was later altered in favor of color variations, but the slots remained in the weapon's design.
Geth Technology[]
The geth ships looked like metallic insects. The bottom images were concepts for the geth cruiser, dropship, and fighter, showing how it might be animated while flying. Small arms were attached to the geth vehicles to give them the look of a fly rubbing its legs together.
Since the geth were the most common enemy in the game, we tried a wide variety of weapons and machinery for them. One original concept was a cyborg with dolphin-like skin, as seen on the facing page at top left, but we felt this would be difficult to present convincingly. The idea was scrapped in favor of a metal appearance.
Misc. Technology[]
Some concepts for machinery were used on the main worlds as set dressing, while others were made for the uncharted worlds where Shepard retrieves technology lost on the surface of the planet.
Given the size of the Mass Effect universe, we needed an enormous amount of set dressing and ambient machinery like chairs, beds, storage, and medical equipment to make the areas look lived in and believable. They aren't the most glamorous pieces, but if they didn't exist, players would feel something was missing.
Batarians[]
The double pair of eyes that gives batarians their unique appearance was the most challenging part of their design. This aggressive race was the first four-eyed alien created at BioWare, and it was new territory in facial construction.
Bring Down the Sky[]
Bring Down the Sky was the first Mass Effect DLC ever released. It introduced travel to the Asgard System and included what some players deemed a "fiendish" choice between killing a batarian named Balak and saving a group of human hostages he's holding.
Shepard is tasked with disengaging three large fusion thrusters that are pushing the X57 asteroid into the orbit of a neighboring planet--and a probable deadly collision.
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