AG Drive

User Interface

The user interface icons were created and rendered in 3D using ZBrush. There were propably 4 totally different variations for each icon before they were declared final.

The event icons in the main UI screen were rendered in different metals to show the players progress.

The coin like emboss effect was done by creating the symbol in 3D and then it was turned into and alpha mask.

The steering wheel was a feature that was added into the game after many people requested it. Sometimes it’s not practical to tilt the phone to steer the ship.

I started out by blocking the shapes in Illustrator and took that into Softimage where I created the base mesh. After that I did the detailing in ZBrush.

The pedals were blocked out in Illustrator and then I made black and white masks in Photoshop which I imported to ZBrush. Then I created the geometry from the masks and detailed the pedals.

Monetisation

In the beginning AG Drive was intended to be a free-to-play game and I was asked to think about how the futuristic currency could look like. I started by mocking up futuristic shapes for the requested credit cards and coins.

I created multiple renders for the different currency packages the player could purchase. The metallic shaders were fun to do.

In the end the free-to-play monetisation design was abandoned for the simpler single transaction model. It would have taken more time to develop and tweak the monetisation and development time was running out.

First render to test how the shapes read

Zorg Logo

One of the first things that we did was to figure out what kind of an identity Zorg Entertainment should have.

I started the process by laying out different type designs to understand what the Creative Director Petsku liked or did not like.

The design number seven from the left most image was Petsku’s favourite and I did some more variations on that. Petsku ended up liking the original without modifications so that became the chosen design.

Next became the presentation, how should the logo look? Petsku again wanted to go with 3D chrome so I rendered out a 3D logo with some nice gradients.

The shader on the logo is a simple reflective shader that is 100% reflective. The reflections come from a sphere surrounding the logo. The sphere has a gradient running down vertically.

The logo is actually bent on up/down axis and horizontal axis to make it reflect more of its surroundings. The shape of the geometry is very important to make relfective things look nice.

The Zorg guys wanted to have cool looking business cards and we had them printed in Canada by a company called Jukebox Print. The paper was very thick dyed through paper. The lettering was cut from metallic folio. The cards turned out very nice.

An animated Zorg logo bumper was created to set the mood for the beginning of the game.

I rendered many different animated light passes and composited them in After Effects. The audio track was done in Logic Pro X.

UCPS Logo

Petsku wanted to have a logo design for the Universal Courier & Postal Service, UCPS, a fictious postal service that would deliver the parts you order for your racing ship.

I used the true and tried process of picking out some type designs and letting Petsku to choose the one he liked. At this point I did not have to ask what was the preferred color or material.

I asked my girlfriend to pose for reference and I skulpted the futuristic postal lady holding an anti-gravity drive. The wings detail was first done as an alpha mask in Photoshop which gave me an instant result.

AG Drive Theme

The composer of Angry Birds tune Ari Pulkkinen was the music producer on AG Drive and he asked me to do a track for the end credits. Since I knew the other songs were going to be fast tempo I decided to make a bit more cinematic theme like track.

I wanted to open the song with a futuristic, exciting feeling with heavy attention grabbing sound effects and massive horns. The voice overs are done by an actor named Mark Dodson, he was the voice of the Gremlins and Salacious B. Crumb, a Kowakian monkey-lizard.

I wanted the track to not have a traditional construct and not repeat any parts. It took me many tries to get the track right but in the end the hard work paid off. The track was given the titular name AG Drive and chosen to be the opening track of the soundtrack album.

Trailer

I edited all the trailers for the game. The Zorg guys had captured a bunch of footage and wanted to have a quick trailer showing off the game and of course they needed the video immediately so it had to be really fast.

I color corrected the footage slightly and added some lensflares to make the shots really pop. I also created some text elements in After Effects and animated them with a simple particle explosion.

I am a fan of the original Superman intro sequence light effect so I could not resist the temptation to do the light shaft effect.