While working on the concept for Aetherus, I made several additional notes of ideas that I thought might be able to fit within this world and the gameplay. One set of these notes covered color schemes: sets of colors for different aspects of Aetherus, including factions, loyalties, etc. In these notes, I focused on the game’s two main “factions,” Aetherus and the Malevolence.
I wanted to give the city of Aetherus a minimalistic yet elegant color scheme. This would include Aetherus White, the main color for the city’s many structures, and a shade of blue, which would represent the Aureum crystal’s main color. However, I needed secondary colors for both; a secondary color for Aetherus’ structures, and a secondary color alongside the Aureum crystal’s blue that would act as a tertiary color for the city.
Above are some color trios I experimented with on a rough 2D sketch of an Aetherusian structure. Auria blue colors the energy sphere in the center of the tower.
I also wanted a distinct color scheme for the Malevolence. True to its evil, corruptive nature, I wanted purple as its main color, and a lighter shade of purple for the corrupted Auria. I drew inspiration from the Void color scheme in World of Warcraft, and Starcraft’s Zerg.
Above is a test of the same Malevolence color scheme across the different Aetherusian colors seen in the previous image. The Auria blue is now corrupted Auria purple.
The problem with my early experimenting was the fact that I didn’t have 3D models to work with, which would be much better than the 2D sketches I was using. Testing colors on 3D models would allow me to see exactly how colors would look on an in-game model, and would let me test how different lights would affect the color scheme. Eventually, I’d like to start designing rough 3D models to better test these color schemes; however, the demo level design will come first. Fortunately, this early experimenting gives me a foundation off of which I can base the eventual final color design.
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