Dev Log: The Art of Appulse

Attention recruits!

Lilian Montmartin, Art Director, talks about the art style of Appulse, the inspirations and even shares a sneak peek at how the game’s visual identity has evolved over time.

Q: How would you describe the art style of Appulse?

If Appulse’s art style can be described by two words, it would be simple and spectacular. It is characterised by a minimalist design, imposing forms and recognisable silhouettes, which make it very accessible. But it also explores the sense of wonder evoked by space exploration and sheer scale.

Q: Why did you choose this art style for the game?

We chose this art style mainly because it is efficient. We always planned a small focus production where we take advantage of every technique we can to speed up the process.

Appulse's art direction prioritizes shape and silhouette to textures for this reason. We emphasize meaning with silhouettes while gaining time with simple texturing, cutting into the heavy classic process to take only what is needed.

The other reason is that pinball can be a bit hard to understand with glowing light at every corner. And we knew that with the roguelite and shooter addition, we might run into utter visual chaos. So, we simplified the basis of pinball with our grim spaceships so that when you reach a big objective, kill enemies or complete a late game build, the visual juice pops up but the game remains clear.

Q: What were your main inspirations for how you wanted the game to look?

Our first inspirationss were the propaganda posters of URSS during the cold war. The simple hard edge shapes, the colour contrast of white and orange, and the austerity of the design were really matching our initial needs.

And then we looked at movie classics like Star wars, Alien and 2001. It helped us differentiate the different spaceships while retaining a strong direction for the Art Direction.

Q: Was this the art style you always wanted for the game, or did you try any others?

It's always been clear what the overall direction was, but we made adjustments along the way. Coming from a more realistic approach to a little bit more fantasy sci-fi one to adapt to the gameplay variety needs.

Q: Do you have a favourite element of the game art that turned out exactly how you imagined it?

The bosses! We are really happy to have characters that are so expressive. From their silhouette to their intro animation, they really live up to our expectation.

We love especially the design of the last boss of the game, but I won't say too much.

Q: What feeling did you want to create for players with the art style of Appulse?

From Space Cadet to Pokemon Pinball, Appulse is inspired by a lot of pinball games. Our first goal was to make people feel right at home. Not only nostalgic but also happy to see some new lights on old genres. Another goal was to make people immerse into a full sci-fi setting. For this we decided to transform every piece of traditional pinball into a futuristic element making every pinball table turn into a cool spaceship. With it the player will explore the world of Appulse and discover new stellar systems along with the T1LT Unit. We hope they will feel fascination like we have for space and unknown territories.

Q: Is there are concept or early artwork from the game that you would be happy to share with the community so they can see the progression?

This is the first sketch of Appulse. It was just laying down our ideas. You can see a lot of it was already there even though it was a bit rough.

Wishlist Appulse & Play the Demo Now https://store.steampowered.com/app/3498700/Appulse/