Frederic Hein: Video Game Artist

This week we released Airheart for the Xbox One, so I guess sharing a green airplane fits the occasion? . We needed one airplane which showed that you’re filthy rich, basically an indicator that you either killed a lot of fish (you bastard!) or that you shot down a lot of enemies (or both). . The “Wealthy” design was inspired by expensive sport boats, it should look crazy fast and technologically advanced. I like how the contour lines on the sides accent that “built for speed” design - in reality these wouldn’t serve any purpose, but then again - this thing would not fly if built in the real world ;). . Concepted & modeled in @thefoundryteam MODO and colored & materialized in @allegorithmic Substance Painter. . Color concept by Jeremy Spillmann. . #airheartgame #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #playstation4 #xboxone #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis5 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #madewithsubstancepainter #substancepainter #lowpoly #airplane (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BmoCkhLHefI/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1wlidymjaianr

In Airheart, airplanes never land on water. Didn‘t stop me making a design which was inspired by seaplanes! . The „Turret“ is half boat, half airplane. Thinking about it, it‘s kind of stupid that these pictures don‘t show it from the side, because that‘s where you really see the boat part. . I don‘t think it would be possible to steer this thing, because it only has 6 very tiny rudders on the sides. Guess it‘s good that I‘m designing vehicles for games and not for real life. ^^‘ . Concepted & modeled in @thefoundryteam MODO and colored & materialized in @allegorithmic Substance Painter. . Color concept by Jeremy Spillmann. . #airheartgame #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis5 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #madewithsubstancepainter #substancepainter #lowpoly #airplane (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BltRbnzndNO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=dqosv38amc76

Tomorrow we‘re going to release Airheart for Mac/PC and PlayStation 4, so I‘ll continue posting some Airheart things! . This design was called the „Rammer“. Bullish and ready to just fly into its target to deal the damage. That‘s the reason why the front is so bulky and the wings are equipped with spiky shields. . During development it was possible to shoot the shields of the wings into the enemies, but we cut that because of some game design changes. I still miss it! ^^ . Concepted & modeled in @thefoundryteam MODO and colored & materialized in @allegorithmic Substance Painter. . Color concept by Jeremy Spillmann. . #airheartgame #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis5 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #madewithsubstancepainter #substancepainter #lowpoly #airplane #playstation #playstation4 (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BllnH93nh_j/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=89fjua0ka7yc

The „Hunter“ was designed for an offensive playstyle; it should look aggressive and threatening. If I remember correctly, the inspiration for this design mostly was the British Spitfire. . I looked at a looot of airplanes when designing the Airheart airplanes, especially older ones. As a kid I wasn‘t that fascinated with airplanes or cars, and I‘m still no fanatic, but it was so much fun looking at all these planes and designing new ones. . Concepted & modeled in @thefoundryteam MODO and colored & materialized in @allegorithmic Substance Painter. . Color concept by Jeremy Spillmann. . #airheartgame #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #madewithsubstancepainter #substancepainter #lowpoly #airplaneconcept #fantasyairplane #spitfire (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhe_0FxnJL-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=14degj0y544br

This is your first airplane in Airheart, codename „Starter“. . The design philosophy behind it was that it should be something basic. Kind of sturdy and reliable. Nothing special, but also no drawbacks. . It may be simple, but if you think about it, the Starter is the airplane most players see the most because they start the game with it. So it‘s basically Amelia‘s „true“ airplane. . Color concept by Jeremy Spillmann. . Concepted & modeled in @thefoundryteam MODO and colored & materialized in @allegorithmic Substance Painter. . #airheartgame #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #madewithsubstancepainter #substancepainter #lowpoly #airplane (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhceu99HzM0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=kjsbv510oca6

Side by side of Amelia together with her wireframe self. Oh and here she‘s got her pilot jacket on! . The wireframe shows you how the model looks like when I optimize it for the game. The more polygons there are, the more performance is needed from your computer to display & move it. . While during sculpting, Amelia was made out of multiple millions of polygons, I „boiled“ it down to a few thousand during optimization. It would be possible to have even less but that would give problems when animating her, and also lose some details. . #airheartgame #blindflugstudios #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #cgArt #indiegame #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #swissgames #instagame #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #zbrush #characterart #3dcharacter #madewithsubstance #substancepainter #makingof (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BhH0JkfhMf9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=wdh5oma5q0df

Time-lapse of the sculpt of #airheartgame hero Amelia. . Faces can look pretty ugly when something small doesn‘t fit. It‘s kind of complicated to see what it is and to change it without breaking something different. I think in the end I moved the eyebrows down for the final version, but that was done in another software. . The last photo is the mesh for the game with hard normals. I didn‘t use any normal mapping for the clothes of the final game character, only for the face. . Tech stuff: sculpted in ZBrush, Retopo in Modo . . . #blindflugstudios #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #cgArt #indiegame #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #swissgames #instagame #zurich #kreis4 #madewithzbrush #polycount #3dmodel #zbrush #characterart #3dcharacter #pixologic #time-lapse #timelapse (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg16lush55K/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1b8atgsdg2yzk

The 3D model of Amelia is based on a sculpt I did in my free time; a model of Bulma from Dragon Ball. . To adjust it a bit to the style we had for Cloud Chasers I put her into Modo together with the younger Amelia, and adjusted her slightly. . The biggest difference of Amelias final body was the size of her head. It‘s not as big as the one of younger Amelia, but slightly bigger than Bulma‘s head. . The Bulma model was based on an illustration by an artist called pomodorosa. . . . #airheartgame #cloudchasersgame #blindflugstudios #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #cgArt #indiegame #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #swissgames #instagame #zurich #kreis4 #madewithzbrush #polycount #3dmodel #zbrush #characterart #3dcharacter #dragonball #bulma (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BgyqBuLBt4z/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11hfyw78zdtfj

Concept art for Amelia to find out which outfit and hairstyle we wanted for her. . I sculpted a rough version of her anatomy / proportions in 3D beforehand, rendered it and painted over it in Photoshop. . The left one of the first picture is Amelia Earhart inspired, the left one of the second picture is the one we chose for the game. It shows both mechanic - pilot sides of her the best. . . . #airheartgame #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #photoshop #wip #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #gamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #polycount #characterart #conceptart #characterconcept #wacom #cintiq #concept #heroine #pilot #ameliaearhart (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgt8z1DhohZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=6xbro4ra8lzj

Here you can see Amelia next to her younger version & her father. Can you see how she wears the pilote goggles in the same style as her father? . I modeled those two in 2015 for Cloud Chasers, and it was very interesting to have the chance to revisit a previous character for a new game. For her, 8 years have passed, so her look changed a lot, but it needed to resemble her old self. . Because the original Cloud Chasers was released for iOS, those older models have less polygons & details like the eyes were exaggerated. For the new Amelia I was able to implement a lot more details and materials like metal, glass and oilstains. . . #airheartgame #cloudchasersgame #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #characterart #3dcharacter (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BgrXNUjhYkm/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ixytxcgvscd3

Amelia from #airheartgame - created back in 2016. This was the second time I designed her, the first time was for Cloud Chasers where she was a girl & around 6 years old I think. . In this design she‘s roughly 15 years old. She‘s working as part airplane mechanic / pilot / shop owner. The pilot-goggles she‘s got on her head are a memento of her father - back in CC he was wearing those. . I‘ll share some more stuff about her in the next few days, so stay tuned ;). . 3D-Tech background; sculpted in #zbrush , retopo/ additional meshes in #modo, textured in #substancepainter , rendered in MODO. . . #blindflugstudios #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #characterart #madewithmodo #madewithsubstance @allegorithmic @foundrymodo @zbrushatpixologic (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgo4D-gBX-c/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1tqdjmc1jjxho

Amelia‘s workshop in #airheartgame. Normally she‘d sell some stuff here, but since there are no customers, she has to resort to fishing. . . . #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #madewithunity #unity3d #migrantstory #shop (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BgmalV_gmEL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1910oczavmzkf

And the last story screen WIP of #airheartgame before the ending: the stratosphere. Something is waiting for Amelia. . . . #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #madewithunity #stratosphere #whale #unity3d (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgjkffegfpz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yorrk1uoxcij

Story screen WIP of the third part of #airheartgame: Snow Crest Altitude. . Pretty tough drone enemies here, but I believe there will also be more whale encounters... What I‘m sure of: lots of snow and lots of crystals. . . . #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #madewithunity #winter #drones #unity3d (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BggwAv5Adxm/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ty4dgeuorm3o

The second part of #airheartgame will bring you to the home of the sky pirates which you see on this story screen WIP. - The closer you get to their home the more resistance you will face. It‘s also getting harder to fish with all the bullets flying around. But maybe you‘ll be able to harpoon a Dodolphin and bring it home? 🐬 . . . #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #madewithunity #autumn #pirates #unity3d (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BgPKRfrgJJ3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=j0vjxhct576h

Next story screen from #airheartgame - work in progress - Here you‘ll get to fly into the Cherry Blossom Yard part of the game for the first time. Lots of fish to hunt down... or not. 🐠🐡🐟🐬🐋 . . . #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #madewithunity #fish #oceanlife #unity3d (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BgMFFRmg8U5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qw5828fsru4i

WIP of another story screen: at the beginning of #airheartgame players will have to get a pilot‘s license. The police flies ahead to instruct you! 👩‍✈️ That little yellow airplane will be yours! 🤘 . . . #blindflugstudios #airheart #steam #earlyaccess #steamearlyaccess #steamgame #computergame #pcgame #gameart #3DArt #wip #3DArtWIP #CG #cgArt #indiegame #indie #indiegamedev #swissgames #zurich #kreis4 #madewithmodo #polycount #3dmodel #playstation #playstationgame #madewithunity #screenshotsaturday #airplane #unity3d (at Zürich, Switzerland) https://www.instagram.com/p/BgI55gGgAjY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2qsnflvmvnz1