Welcome to City 31, a model of peace in a post-invasion world. However, not all of Earth’s inhabitants support interspecies alliance. Chimera Squad, an elite force of human and alien agents, must work together to destroy the underground threats driving the city toward chaos.
XCOM: Chimera Squad
Client
2K
Firaxis Games
Service lines
2D Game Art
Animation
Platforms
PC
Release Date
April 2020
Overview
Our team helped to define a new, distinctive look for this new entry in the XCOM franchise, giving the characters and world a stylised feel that echoes pulp comic books and Saturday morning cartoons.
The Work
Cinematics build up the rich backstory, providing insight into the different motivations the Agents joining Chimera Squad. Another series was used in-game between chapters, providing additional narrative between missions. Our team were inspired by classic cartoon and Anime techniques to add parallax and dynamic motion to the scenes. Additionally, we created character portraits with a range of expressions which act as a visual aid to voice actor’s performances during in-game conversations.
Approach
With the volume of work required and tight timescales, a large team was needed to both replicate the new style and ensure that character depictions were consistent across all the service lines of work. In order to do this, we set up an ‘art system’ based around a specific art style which was defined in-house, and this comprehensive documentation for both art and animation was used to integrate new team members onto the project.
Release
Finally, we worked on an explosive pre-release trailer with our friends at Hammer Creative. This was used to announce and hype the release of this bold new world whilst also setting up the unique tone and interplay found in the game.
©2020 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. XCOM, Firaxis, 2K and their respective logos are trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
Atomhawk was the perfect partner to help us redefine the storytelling toolkit for XCOM: Chimera Squad. On top of delivering absolutely beautiful work, collaborating with them on this project was a blast. I greatly appreciate the enthusiasm and craftsmanship that they brought to this project.
Hector Antunez, Art Director, Firaxis Games
“One of the most enjoyable aspects of being involved in with the XCOM: Chimera Squad project was the opportunity to define the style/look of the project from the ground up. The back and forth with the client, as we developed the initial ideas, and the confidence they had in our approach was especially inspiring.“
Mack Chater, Atomhawk Senior Artist
Client Credits
— Firaxis
Hector Antunez, Art Director
Silvio Aebischer, Senior Concept Artist
Mike Tassie, Senior Concept Artist
Zach Bush, Senior Writer
Andrew Frederiksen, Senior Producer
Mark Nauta, Lead Designer
