Alternate Reality Weapon Designs

Singularity’s weapons have roots in real-world weapons, but they are heavily affected by the alternate reality they have evolved in. When I sat down and concept-painted the initial weapon designs with Art Director Brian Pelletier and Lead Character Artist Ryan Butts we chose to brand each weapons in Singularity with a unique look and function.

We wanted fans to say “That’s the gun from Singularity!” We wanted all the weapons to look believable and realistic, but still carry the signature of Katorga-12. I started the approach of design by collecting real world reference and “kit-bashing” the reference pieces together. “Kit-bashing,” sometimes called “Frankensteining,” is a technique usually employed in modeling, which is essentially taking parts from many different models and combining them into new designs.

The process was pretty similar for all the weapons:

1. Gather real world photo reference
2. Copy and paste images to create interesting silhouette value.
3. Manipulate and paint over the “kit bashed” image to meld the look.
4. If needed, draw multiple angles for our modelers to work from.

From there, the modelers would create an un-textured proxy or simple version of the model and put it into the game. Once we were happy with the design,we would push it to a final model and texture. Early and final concept designs for the “AR-9 Valkyrie” machine gun:

Unique Function

Using the same method of design for each piece allows us to fine tune the amount of work needed for each step and get the most out of the process. One of the things I always keep in mind while making concepts is function. In particular, I wanted the guns to each have their own unique reload to give our animators more to work with when creating the weapon animations.
We also try to tap into story elements to connect the weapons with the world you are playing in. For the Gatling gun design we incorporate the E99 element into the reload function. The concept was to have E99 regenerate the bullets so you wouldn’t have to carry a large belt of ammunition. The grenade launcher, shown below, has another unique function put into the design from the start: the grenade projectile is steerable after it is launched.

Continuity in design.

Although our weapons are unique they also share some common elements. The Singularity story of Russian engineering genius Dr.Viktor Barisov had him creating the hand held TMD whereas Nikolai Demichev was the weapons designer for the new world order. I wanted to make the rest of the game’s weapons a nod to the TMD and look like they were created by the same man or engineers lead by one vision.

All of us here hope you enjoy using these one-of-a-kind creations, both in multiplayer and the single-player campaign!

Joe Koberstein
Studio Artist
Raven Software