Designing our key art: a Martian ecumenopolis

You see it nearly everywhere Per Aspera is… now it's time to dive into how we made it. In this week's devlog we'll show you the inspirations, mock ups, and philosophy behind our gorgeous key art.

Arriving on Coruscant, the planet-sized city (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)

Our game is a strategic simulator with a planet-sized twist. From Star War's Coruscant, Warhammer 40k's Holy Terra, and even Isaac Asimov's Trantor... the ecumenopolis has captivated science fiction’s imagination since the ‘40s. The idea of creating a city that engulfs Mars and can be seen from orbit is crucial to Per Aspera's premise. That's why we chose to create a Martian ecumenopolis for our key art.

An early mock up sketch showing the terraforming process and urban sprawl!

The goal of terraforming Mars into a lush paradise whilst maintaining an ever-growing urban sprawl is the crux of our game. You can see in this early draft how we show these two contrasting ideas in red, green, and gray. In this beginning mock up, the sprawl's exponential growth is beginning to encroach and conquer the newly-terraformed green pastures.

Early in-game HUD references from the orbital view.

Another key part of Per Aspera is who you play as... an artificial consciousness named AMI. AMI is in charge of helming the terraforming directive for years and generations to come. To represent AMI's unique perspective, we considered how an artificial consciousness would interpret Mars's transformation. The idea was to visualize the orbital data and information being constantly calculated by AMI via HUD elements.

AMI’s satellite in orbit around Mars.

We also made sure to include AMI's "body" in the key art. That satellite orbiting Mars is where AMI's quantum processing unit and memory storage, just to name a few things, is physically located!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/803050/Per_Aspera/