Marvel's Midnight Suns - The Art of the Game E-Book

Paul Davies

• Herausgeber: Titan Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 99

Beschreibung

Official art book of the Marvel's Midnight Suns video game, packed with interviews with the creative team behind the game, as well as stunning concept art created during the development process.When the demonic Lilith and her fearsome horde unite with the evil armies of Hydra, it's time to unleash Marvel's dark side. As The Hunter, your mission is to lead an unlikely team of seasoned Super Heroes and dangerous supernatural warriors to victory. Can legends such as Doctor Strange, Iron Man, and Blade put aside their differences in the face of a growing apocalyptic threat? If you're going to save the world, you'll have to forge alliances and lead the team into battle as the legendary Midnight Suns—Earth's last line of defence against the underworld.Marvel's Midnight Suns – The Art of the Game captures the creative process of this much-anticipated game. The exclusive concept art and in-game renderings created by the talented development team—creating the game in collaboration with Marvel—are shown in glorious detail in this lush, hardback volume. Characters, locations, gadgets, weapons, monsters, enemies, and much more are all accompanied by unique insights from the artists and developers behind the game. So step into the world of Marvel's Midnight Suns – and rise up against the darkness!

Leseprobe

MARVEL’S MIDNIGHT SUNS – THE ART OF THE GAME

ISBN: 9781789097733

E-BOOK ISBN: 9781803360867

Published byTitan BooksA division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd144 Southwark StLondonSE1 0UP

First edition: March 202310 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

© 2023 MARVEL

FOR MARVEL GAMESAmanda Avila, Associate Manager, Integrated PlanningIsabel Hsu, Senior Manager, CreativeJoshua Singh, Art DirectorPeter Rosas, Senior Manager of Product Development & Project LeadTim Tsang, Executive Director, Product DevelopmentBill Rosemann, VP & Creative Director, Marvel GamesTim Hernandez, Vice President, Product DevelopmentHaluk Mentes, Senior Vice President, Business Development & Product StrategyJay Ong, Executive Vice President

FOR MARVEL PUBLISHINGJeff Youngquist, VP, Production and Special ProjectsSarah Singer, Associate Editor, Special ProjectsJeremy West, Manager, Licensed PublishingSven Larsen, VP, Licensed PublishingDavid Gabriel, SVP of Sales & Marketing, PublishingC.B. Cebulski, Editor in Chief

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

In loving memory of Mike Pasciullo. In everyroom he entered, he always brought light.

www.titanbooks.com

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TITANBOOKS

CONTENTS

Foreword: Bringing The Light

6

Introduction: Bringing The Energy

8

THE ABBEY

10

The Hunter

12

The Abbey

18

Blade

28

Ghost Rider

34

Nico Minoru

40

Magik

46

Caretaker

50

Charlie

52

The Abbey Grounds

54

Agatha & Ebony

62

Agatha’s Cottage

64

Lilith’s Garden

68

Shrines

70

NEW YORK CITY

72

Iron Man

74

Doctor Strange

80

Captain Marvel

86

Sanctum Sanctorum

92

Docks

98

Spider-Man

100

Venom

106

Fallen Scarlet Witch

108

Streets Of New York

110

New York Rooftops

112

Doctor Faustus

114

Crossbones

118

Hydra

120

AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

126

Johnny Blaze

128

Mesa Rosa Cemetery

130

Scarlet Witch

134

Wolverine

138

Sabretooth

142

Fallen Sabretooth

143

Quentin Carnival

144

Copperhead Canyon

148

Hydra Facility

150

Los Diablos Test Site

158

Occult Wilderness

160

Mephisto

162

Soulless

164

Limbo

166

Crossroads

168

TRANSIA

170

Captain America

172

Hulk

176

Fallen Hulk

178

Fallen Banner

179

Lilith

180

The Lilin

184

Lilith’s Tomb

188

Mountain Path

192

Transian Bridge Crossing

193

Old Red Skull Bunker

194

Hydra Landing Platform

195

Mount Wundagore

196

Temple Of Chthon

200

The Darkhold

206

Acknowledgments

208

BRINGING THE LIGHT

Love. That’s what is at the beating and bleeding heart(pun intended) of Marvel’s Midnight Suns. “Bill, what are youtalking about?” I can hear you saying. “This game is aboutmonsters and chains and swords and leather and fire andkicking demon butt!” And you’re not wrong! But hear me out.

The first day that the Marvel Games team met andbroke bread with Jake Solomon, Garth DeAngelis, DennisMoellers, Aaron Yamada-Hanff and the rest of theincredibly talented and inspiring creators at Firaxis (andeventually met up with the dedicated team at gamepublisher 2K), we knew something awesome was afoot.Maybe it was our shared admiration for each team andwhat they had brought to life in the past. Perhaps it wasour combined excitement for what we had the opportunityto unleash now. It definitely had to do with the fact thatnot only did we all love Marvel, but we also discoveredthat we independently revered “Rise of the Midnight Sons”,a nineties comic book supernatural event that Firaxissurprisingly wanted to resurrect and reimagine.

See, that’s the fuel that drives this flaming musclecar of a story: Firaxis’ love not only for games, but formaking them. For having the opportunity to live out thedreams they had as kids and teens. For the sheer factof being able to talk about and craft cool stuff, withthe hope that players would enjoy and share it with theglobal gaming community. For spending days, weeks,months, and even years brainstorming, dreaming,designing, and willing to digital life the adventure theycollectively conjured from the embers of pure passion.

And it’s this passion, this love—felt by both themakers and players of games—that I now want toimmortalize. See, there happened to be a True Believernamed Luke who not only loved Marvel, Firaxis, andgames, but also had a specific desire to play Marvel’sMidnight Suns. The only problem was, Luke’s battleagainst the true monster known as cancer had recentlytaken a tragic turn and he did not have many days left

on this earthly plane…and surely not enough to be withus when the game eventually launched. But that’s wherereal-life heroes jumped in.

Gail Jackson, CEO of Solving Kids Cancer UK, boldlyand tirelessly reached out to the worldwide gamingfamily, asking if anyone knew about this Midnight Sunsthing, and you (being the awesome humans that youare) got her in touch with—you guessed it—the finefolks at Firaxis and 2K. Over the next 72 hours, e-mailswere sent, plans were hatched, and in the wee hours ofSaturday morning, members of Firaxis and 2K and yourstruly were honored to Zoom with Luke and his family.And not only did we talk, laugh, and geek out, but 2K—specifically Asim Tanvir, social media manager at 2K’sLondon office, who journeyed to Luke’s home—arrangedfor Luke to play an in-development build of a nice sliceof the game!

And here’s the chewy center that’s at the core ofthis heavy metal experience. It wasn’t us who helpedLuke. It was Luke’s pure spirit and unstoppable joy thatstrengthened us. Faced with ultimate darkness, Lukebrought light. When pain pushed him down, Luke roseup. With despair creeping in like late-day shadows,Luke blasted back with happiness and appreciation.Most importantly, Luke brought love. And if Luke couldbe so brave, strong, and heroically positive, then surelywe could push through the isolation, uncertainty, andfear of the Covid pandemic (and all of the world’s dailyhorrors) to finish the quest and share Marvel’s MidnightSuns with all of you.

So yeah, this game is about fighting together andfacing our inner demons. But it’s also about love.Because at the end of the day, that’s all that’s going toget us all through the darkness and into the light.

Bill RosemannVP & Creative Director, Marvel Games

Artist: Piero Macgowan

6

Marvel’s MIDNIGHT SUNS The Art of the Game

7

BRINGING THE ENERGY

I always knew I wanted to be an artist, but it was shows like 1990sX-Men: The Animated Series that inspired me as a teenager to focuson animation. I wasn’t sure that was something you could get paid todo—but turns out it is! Many years later, when I found out that Firaxiswould be given an opportunity to work with Marvel, I couldn’t believeour fortune. The kid in me was beyond excited.

When I was promoted to art director of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Iwas already familiar with just about every film and animation thatthe Marvel Universe had produced, and was in awe of the fantasticcharacters and storytelling. But I knew it was time to explore theorigins in comics. They are filled with character poses that havethis amazing energy and personality that I wanted to reproduce inour game. Simultaneously, I’d become fascinated by the powerfulanimated poses, stunning compositions, and dramatic battlesshowcased in Japanese anime. Like my teenage daughter and somany other young Americans who’ve recently discovered it, anime hadcaptured my imagination. I found similarities between the incredibleart of Marvel comics and anime, and strived to bring this energy toMarvel’s Midnight Suns. It’s been a joy to bring my family along on thisride of creative research, like when I read All-New Ghost Rider to myfourth-grade son.

As we partnered with Marvel to fully understand our Super Herocharacters’ histories and personalities, we took special interest inhighlighting their personal lights and darks—the powers that madethem strong and the flaws that held them in check—and used it in ourvisual concepts as well. It was important to us that we make the gameas visually dramatic as the art forms that have always shaped theMarvel stories. We were well aware that while we had a vast universeof cultural touchstones to build upon, we needed to present our

audience with something new as well. How to Draw Comics the MarvelWay had certain guideposts we could follow, but all of our artists—character and environment modelers, animators, FX artists, conceptartists—had to figure out what it meant to make a visual world forMarvel’s Midnight Suns that would be instantly recognizable to fans,but also be surprising and exciting. Our new character, the Hunter,a hero of both light and darkness, represents every player with aninternal struggle between good and evil that increases the depth ofthe gameplay experience.

We also knew that in the classic Marvel tradition, all of our heroesneeded to retain their humanity. Subtle character design tookprecedence over super-exaggerated musculature. The heroes neededto be both approachable and fun while relaxing in their home base,the Abbey, while remaining formidable powerhouses in battle. Thisbalance is what brings so much enjoyment to the characters of Marvel.My associate art directors, Aaron Yamada-Hanff and Steve Ogden,have been indispensable creative partners in achieving this conceptualbalance of seriousness and fun.

We all knew Marvel would accept nothing less than inspiredexcellence, and the fantastic team at Firaxis took on this new kind ofproject with a passion. Artistically, Marvel’s Midnight Suns has beena rewarding challenge. Embarking on this new adventure has taughtus all how to push forward a real, cohesive vision that explores thebest of games and storytelling: high drama, light and dark, and pureentertainment.

Dennis MoellersArt Director, Firaxis Games

RIGHT: Bringing a new kind ofenergy to Marvel.

OPPOSITE: Catching a break,Midnight Suns style.

This spread, artist: Seamas Gallagher

8

Marvel’s MIDNIGHT SUNS The Art of the Game

Artists: Andrew Griffin, Todd Broadwater, David Black, Nate Broach, Neal Jany

THE ABBEY

The HUNTER

With a biography that hails the character as a “legendary warrior” and“offspring of the mother of all demons”, the physical form and personalexpression of the Hunter varies across every mind’s eye. To claim the avataras their own, players may customise appearance, paying attention to hair,eyes, skin tone and gender. While the Hunter’s true identity is tantalizinglylaid bare through storylines, players earn costumes and armor to furtherdistinguish their perfect vision of a féted hero—attire is chosen largely forstyle and visual effects that emphasize powers.

Creative director of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Jake Solomon, explains:“Heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, and Wolverine are establishedcharacters that have been developed and fleshed out over dozens of years,by dozens of creators, throughout multiple dimensions of time and space.The Hunter, on the other hand, comes into our game without that extensivehistory. Even Lilith has featured in very few Marvel properties, but we’re askingboth of these characters to stand on equal ground with heroes supported bygenerations of lore.”

One guiding principal unites all iterations of the Hunter: acknowledging thischild of Lilith, prophesied to be resurrected and fight against her. This applies