An ambitious game concept (as so many of our earliest ones are) from 2010, for a browser-based, MMO science fiction game. Players construct fleets of starships for the purposes of conquest, trade and exploration, in a galaxy which has been split by three warring factions.
I wrote and drew extensive design documentation for this project, the most legible artefacts of which are the various maps, drawn for concept art and presentation in the game's UI.
"DarkConduit" (2010-2011) designed by Blue Demon Studio (James Oates, Liam Nicholson and Gemma Thomson), with narrative input from Hanna Brady.
Map of the DarkConduit Galaxy
Featuring Milky Way and planetary view (mid-zoom) illustrations by Liam Nicholson.
Homeworlds: Koyaan & Terra Prime
The humanoid Terran and Koyaani homeworlds were drawn entirely digitally, using Adobe Photoshop. Much of the world-building lore for each species was encapsulated in the settlements and regions of their homeworlds, though this would have little bearing on the majority of gameplay.
Keel (Terra Prime)
Line maps were drawn for both the terran capital - a repurposed generation ship - and the Zettacenti race's home space station, which appears in the larger galactic map. These were created using Adobe Illustrator.
Icon Design
Being a browser-based game of base-building and tech. upgrades, the interface would rely fairly heavily upon iconography. I designed graphics for each of DarkConduit's technologies and perks in Adobe Illustrator, based on pencil sketches.
