Sins II Dev Journal: Eidolon Art Design

Howdy folks, my name is Paul Kiesling, or if you’re on the discord Lord_set, and I’m the Art Director for this DLC. 

Today I’m going to walk through the exhaustive process the team and I used to design the Eidolon; and the decisions behind their anatomy and technology. We wanted to create a faction that felt distinctly different from the TEC, Advent, and Vasari. Anatomy and technology are critically important to understanding a faction and making them feel real. We as a team drew inspiration from a number of different science fiction universes as inspiration behind the character and unit designs. 

Initial Design

The Eidolon have taken individual psionics to a much further degree than even the Advent. Integrating elements of technology into themselves on a deep physical level.  Elements of their heads, chest and arms are infused with an armor made from the same corrupted power channeling material that makes up their ships. The Eidolon desire power in all its forms and we wanted to represent that in such a way that is visible almost immediately but without the use of body horror. Two of our factions are human and thus have five fingered hands. The Vasari have 4 digits, so three fingers and a thumb more akin to claws. So, we wanted to step away from those and do something different. Going with two digits and a thumb. This becomes important later when we went about developing a basic written language and alphabet for them which we’ll cover in a future post.

Our Initial Design

We wanted the body of these creatures to feel like a mix of chitin, flesh and cybernetics. Starting with the head we wanted to differentiate it from the Vasari by going with a triangular, spade like shape, that tapers out from the mouth and then back in at the top. When making the decision to go with four eyes, it was more than just “more equals cool.”  The concept in evolution for eye placement is that predators have forward facing stereoscopic eyes, and prey animals have eyes more towards the side as a way of having a larger field of view. I personally wanted a mix of that, having two sets of eyes in two positions allows this creature to hunt intently, while also being able to monitors its periphery. Their eyes are designed to look ‘lit’ similar to how you can see a dogs or cat's eyes at night. Hinting at the nocturnal/dark nature these creatures inhabit. 

Dunkleosteus: Armored, jawed prehistoric fish. Between 359-440 million years old

For the mouth we went with something a bit more terrestrial, the mouth and jaw are inspired by the Dunkleosteus. An extinct species of fish with a fairly unique jaw/tooth look. When mixed with the cybernetics and chitin elements of the head, this look lends itself to feeling distinctly alien. This choice over the mouth/jaw design also let’s the Eidolon to being able to pronounce specific sounds, limiting the number of phonemes they are capable of speaking. This let us create a fairly simple set of rules for things like ship names, and species-specific words that our designer refers to as Alienese. 

Second Revision: Near Final

From the start the team and I knew we wanted to go with two sets of arms: one major and one minor that look partially vestigial, but still of use.  With the Eidolon, part of their psychology is based on an earned sense of superiority. They have a greater understanding of the nature of the universe. We needed a way of communicating that through their anatomy, which is assisted through these second set of armors via the portraits which I will share below. Even in the face of overwhelming odds, Eidolon commanders are rather calm and sure of themselves. The pensive hands help communicate that sense of confidence while also feeling distinctly alien. 

The Eidolon make little distinction between cybernetics and psionics at the level they are fused; so their technology and cybernetics all augment that one goal. As a result of this integration, Eidolon share a level of extra sensory perception that doesn't require them to physically see something; so portions of the population chose to shroud their faces. Eidolon are highly individualistic, and their use of psionics is different from the Advent in the sense that it's less like a gestalt and more of a collective unconscious awareness. 

Eidolon Captain  
Military Advisor

Ship and Technology Design

When designing the ships, we wanted to communicate one of the most critical elements of gameplay and lore in an easy and visible method: Corruption. While there are numerous ways to handle corruption, the way we have chosen to do that is to take the crystalline nature of the ships and shatter it. Leaning into the thematic idea that ships are channeling so much power that it has begun to break apart the hull of ship itself. 

Eidolon ship design comes with three major material sections. To start, there is the main hull: a manufactured crystalline material that has a visible internal parallax to simulate depth. Under that is the space between the sections of main hull that contain the technological elements within. Last and most importantly is what we call the “corrupted conduit” material, a stone-like base in very specific sections of the ship (typically around the core or points of power) that is designed to look like it's brimming with power. With the power conduits visible, this added both the appearance of strength and  a needed sense of scale. Eidolon tech is designed to channel this profane power source, and their ships are built specifically around it. 

Architecture

When designing the ships and structures of the Eidolon we wanted something that felt imposing, aggressive and beautiful. Eidolon structures have a very hostile version of brutalist architecture.  A good example of this is the Dominion Lab (civilian research structure).  In contrast to the other factions, the Eidolon are masters of material science. Their structures are a combination of both form and function. Let's compare that against the TEC, Advent, and Vasari. The TEC are brutalist but utilitarian. Their structures and ships are designed to perform a very specific function; and their design reflects that purpose. The Advent give preference to form, not necessarily over function but their design gives preferential treatment to aesthetics. The Vasari are designed to be alien and aggressive, with a focus on imperial intimidation. So, when trying to embody this slow-moving juggernaut of a faction we wanted to encompass the idea that these structures are manufactured, designed to intimidate, and are imposing on a technical level. 

Conclusion

We’ve had a lot of fun bringing the Eidolon to life. It has been an interesting and unique challenge to create a new foe for the Sins of a Solar Empire universe that can meet the expectations of players that, in some cases, have been waiting for them to arrive for 20 years. Certainly less long than the 10,000 years the Vasari have been running, but a long time for fans of the series! We hope you enjoy your introduction to this new faction and remain excited for what else is to yet to come. From the team and I, thank you for supporting us through development. A lot of worthwhile time and labor went into making this a reality.