Destroy All Humans! 2—Reprobed: 2D art from outer space
Not everyday one has the opportunity to participate in a project that puts your pop culture knowledge to the test. Last year, Room 8 Studio was commissioned one of the craziest (and funniest) sets of in-game artwork by Black Forest Games. The publisher revealed that they were working on a remake of one of the most beloved alien invasion paranoia games of the 2000´s: Destroy All Humans! 2.
Those who were fortunate enough to play this classic remember Crypto, the grumpy little gray space man that ran around with a ray gun in one hand and an anal probe in the other, causing mayhem while blurting out condescending one-liners about our primitive ape-like species.
Following the tried and true equal opportunity offensiveness that made South Park famous, Destroy All Humans! 2—Reprobed tells the story of a comically psychopathic alien sent to earth to uncover what happened to his predecessor after he crash landed. Our hero, or rather villain, Crypto is not happy about the KGB blowing up the Furon mothership, and he will make sure they pay for it.
Crypto must navigate our world using his knowledge of current events and popular culture. But there is a catch: We´re in the 60s, baby!
That’s right. The game is set in the era of the Cold War, political McCarthyism, free love, and secret agents. The game does not pull any punches when it comes to mocking the cultural and political silliness of the time. And Room 8 Studio was there to contribute with great art and our usual tongue in cheek humor.
Our 2D artists were tasked to create a revamped concept environment for this ambitious remake. As soon as Black Forest Games saw that our team was well versed in everything 60s, they decided Room 8 Studio should also create posters that players could collect in the game to get rewards, and many of the billboards that populated the game locations.
Let there be art
Black Forest Games presented raw ideas and concepts that we needed to develop into colorful and satiric artwork that was straightforward yet contained a few layers of meaning.
The initial discussions revealed that this was not going to be a project that would focus solely on technical skills. Anastasia Shevchenko, our Art Director, realized the need to replicate the cheesy artistic trends of the time, while adding layers of references and meta-humor to the mix. We also needed to make sure the audience can understand all of the undertones at a glance.
The client promptly provided notes about the cultural context of the game world, the specific headlines and puns that the posters would contain, and the intention behind every concept. Fortunately, they gave us total freedom for execution, allowing us to go crazy with art style, angles, and color palettes. Egor Moiseev was appointed team leader, relaying all the information to our incredible 2D artists Dariya Genrih and Igor Kotsiuba.
Let’s take a look at the results!
Billboards from a bygone era
No city would feel alive without a healthy dose of regime-approved billboards. Each location had to display pop-art-based pieces of advertisement that would appeal to both locals and government authorities of the time.
Big In Japan
While the United States and The U.S.S.R. were locked in a global stalemate, Japan was on its way toward industrialization. Their culture and national pride heavily influenced their art style, so we needed to dive deeper and find authentic examples of magazine ads and billboards.
Japan popularized Kaiju movies and stories, so we needed to create a poster for a blockbuster release in this style. Of course, giant dinosaurs and turtles were out of the question. Our team decided Japan needed to be leveled by the Attack of the 50 Ft. Crustacean which looked suspiciously like a Blisk, a sworn enemy of Crypto´s race.
Toymoto
While America was obsessed with huge gas-guzzling muscle cars, Japan focused on compact cars with great mileage and no legroom.
We present the ToyMoto, a reliable car that comfortably seats a little gray spaceman. You can fit so many puns in that name. We used an in-game 3D model of a vehicle Crypto uses to cause mayhem in Japan.
For the ad, we chose a polished sunburst showroom floor to highlight the car’s features as a nod to the classic full-page magazine ads.
Drink like a fish!
Dariya Genrih and Igor Kotsiuba could not resist creating their own version of Ukiyo-based billboards to promote the most popular brand of Sake in the video game.
They used samples of the famous fish market signs found traditionally in Japan but with a touch of sassiness.
Barely Water
Another alcohol-related billboard we created made fun of the popular Barley Water squash drink. We trusted the name and slogan alone would give readers a hint of its content. So we chose to present the beverage in a casual way, with a B/W picture of a family having a good time in the countryside and a color splash image of the drink.
However, Black Forest wanted to turn the satire knob up a notch, meaning we had to go all out and play with facial expressions, more detail, and background elements.
Fast Soup Kitchen
A technologically advanced alien race will wonder why humans would do nine-hour lines to get soup, but this soup kitchen was very proud of being the fastest of its time.
The client wanted Babushka’s Borscht to be the hottest place in Tunguska. It should reflect the care taken by Russian grandmothers when preparing food, combined with Soviet bureaucratic (in)efficiency. Our brilliant illustrators found the perfect balance between fast-food chains’ vibrancy and toilet paper lines.
Odd Allies
The Blisk, a parasitic alien enemy race capable of taking over human bodies, is bent on destroying Crypto. Their plan was to set up a base on the Moon and bombard the whole Earth with their spores and radiation. So they obviously formed an alliance with the evil empire.
Room 8 Studio needed to join the propaganda efforts to convince our comrades that the Blisk were the good guys.
Fortunately, communist regimes left plenty of examples of posters showing Soviet-Chinese friendship.
Just Say No!
The Orwellian nature of totalitarian propaganda was on full display in Destroy All Humans! 2—Reprobed.
Governments want to project the moral superiority of their citizens regarding unhealthy vices. However, they understand the value of having a heavily inebriated populace, especially if they’re constantly running coverup operations.
Creating a poster that contained these mutually exclusive ideas was a bit tricky, but Big Brother loved the final result.
Delicacies From Tunguska
Our little northern piece of paradise had a lot to offer, just not to its local inhabitants.
Tunguska needs to advertise its main attractions and the achievements of its beloved leaders. We were asked to create an ad for a luxury product that only the political elite could afford and another piece for the staple food of the 60s in Russia.
No city would feel alive without a healthy dose of regime-approved billboards. The art style of the Soviet era would draw from Western sources. Still, it was aesthetically unique, presenting many challenges that our team was more than ready to tackle.
Corn became ubiquitous when China pumped up its exports into Mother Russia. Naturally, the Soviet government did everything it could to make it look like an achievement for their elites.
We looked into a collection of commercial posters from the swinging sixties. We found beautiful samples where artists would apply every painting technique under the sun to make food look ripe and delicious.
Gotta Print Them All!
Destroy All Humans! 2—Reprobed uses collectibles to make the game a lot more interesting and add a layer for completionists. This time, the treasure hunt comes in the form of prints or themed posters that serve as a tribute to the fantastic 60s.
Dariya Genrih and Igor Kotsiuba had the opportunity to work on some of the most representative prints in the game and display a wide variety of styles and techniques for both art enjoyers and try-hards.
Brave Old World
Each location had its own armed forces tasked with defending their nation from domestic and alien threats. However, due to the intensive brain-farming activities of our favorite villain, these armies were in need of more recruits willing to give their lives (or brains) for their nations.
We emulated war-time recruitment posters that would win over the hearts and minds of loyal citizens but would also allow Crypto to utter snide remarks about the true colors of G.I. men.
Yakuza Gang Style
The Japanese urban landscape would never be complete without referencing its most famous underground organization: the Yakuza. Our artists chose a tilted angle that would show their traditionally smart outfits but also allowed us to hint at their full-body tattoos. The result was a pulp-style gang film poster with attitude.
Beatles Wannabes
Ever since the Beatles released their Abbey Road album, there has been a non-stop pilgrimage to the iconic crosswalk to replicate the shot.
Naturally, we needed to honor this tradition and chose a band of Albion hippies who think they’re the real deal. The poster had to be way over the top in terms of color and elements of the hippie culture. Our team used 3D models that had the right facial traits.
The result is as cheesy as you would expect.
Creature From The Depth
The game sports a healthy dose of horror B-movie posters that foreshadow encounters with various in-game creatures. We wanted to pay tribute to the classic Creature from the Black Lagoon movie poster with a desaturated image of one of Crypto’s mortal enemies.
Albion Inhumans
A poster that captures the pompous lifestyle and demeanor of the English elite of the time. The in-game dialogues and actions revealed that ALbion aristocrats saw everyone else as inferiors that deserved to be wiped out of existence for their comfort.
Our 2D artists gave them expressions, attire, and posh accessories that hopefully give the player the urge to use the anal probe on these pricks first.
One of the models was a clear nod to Austin Powers. The team used detailed and perfectly matching 3D backgrounds as a reference when creating these prints.
No Brain To Die
In-game secret agents are not too bright, but they do like to look menacing and cool, even when Crypto is sucking their brains out. So we wanted to create a poster that would honor the suave demeanor of James Bond and a strong femme fatale covering his six.
At The Speed of Science
The Solaris base is where Soviet scientists performed their most horrific experiments. However, they seemed to have too much time on their hands, and care about their looks more than their experiments. For scientific purposes, we wanted to combine the classic doctor allure with the sexier pin-up style that was popularized by James Dean and Jim Morrison.
Unfortunately, our first attempt was too conservative. Black Forest Games demanded to spice things up. After all, the game is filled to the brim with sleazy one-liners and jokes, and scientists would not go unscathed.
So, we added a little more Monroe to the mix.
Fake News Time!
Depending on how or where you get killed in Destroy All Humans! 2—Reprobed, the authorities will craft a coverup story to hide what governments know about aliens. Our first task was to create “believable” pictures that go with the hilariously far-fetched narratives the KGB came up with.
Cut The Carp Already!
Yeah, that’s not a typo. If you die in the frozen waters of Tunguska, a fictional Soviet town, you will later be fished out by the locals, and the KGB will want to hush things up in a hurry.
We created a section for a Soviet tabloid referring to a new species of “carp fish” that was just found in a frozen lake. Of course, Crypto had to look fresh out of the water.
In all honesty, our illustrators were a bit afraid of showing too much cruelty with this poster. However, this is exactly how carps are held when taken out of the water. But, hey! Poor Crypto!
Fortunately, this was precisely what Black Forest Games wanted. The game offers no shortage of sentient-being-to-sentient-being violence, and does not waste any opportunity to show how we humans would treat tiny gray creatures from outer space if they ever visit us.
In fact, the naughty boys at Black Forest wanted us to add even more realism and rawness to the scene. The Soviet KGB would be proud of our doctoring abilities.
The Capitalist Liberator
In Soviet Russia, capitalism was to blame for everything. And if capitalist traitors were not careful enough, their greed and stupidity would get them killed. Or that’s what the Soviet media tells us.
After doing some side quests in Tunguska, Crypto is flagged as a cultural threat to their system. So, when the KGB finally takes him out, their controlled-opposition-run tabloid snaps a picture of the loving (and possibly mind-controlled) locals mourning him in front of an open casket. However, it blames Crypto’s death on himself… or was it too much freedom?
The studio provided great samples of how they wanted the picture taken. We also studied old Soviet-era posters and newspaper illustrations to grasp how politicians pictured the evil bourgeoisie.=
It turns out the typical monopolist top hat and bowler were not in fashion back then. So we changed them to something more suitable for Kulak audiences.
Show us some skin
The team at Black Forest was delighted that our team could aptly capture the humor and tone of their game. So, the next logical step was to create skins for Crypto so he could wreak havoc in style.
We needed to create four theme-based dread-inducing skins equipped with matching jetpacks.
Andrii Chernychko and Anna Kormakova were charged with designing four unique skins that would be released as part of the game´s DLCs. They focused on Crypto’s suit and physical traits, offering three or four preliminary options to choose from. Of course, the final choice would come down to the coolest design. Still, other factors, like how much it would take to realize a skin into the game engine, also influenced their decision.
Planet of the simians
Crypto would not miss any opportunity to remind humans of their humble origins.
The client wanted to pay tribute to one of the most iconic films of the time: Planet Of The Apes. So they showed us a ton of reference pictures and pointed to details they wanted to be included in the skin.
Our team created three models following the three castes shown in the movie. The gorilla warrior, the orangutan lawgiver, and the chimpanzee scout. They gave all three skins simian traits, like hair, hands, and face, while conserving the bright, alien eyes. They also added armor details found in the movies, like symbols and accessories.
Black Forest went for the menacing gorilla warrior. As a nod to the movie, our artists modeled the jetpack in the image of the Statue of Liberty.
Next, a true representative of the goth culture. The client wanted something dark but cool that should look like it was taken right out of a Tim Burton movie.
Our artists created four concepts, each based on famous characters such as The Crow, Edward Scissorhands, or Beetlejuice.
The studio was delighted with the punk vibes of the second model but it needed to wear more leather. So we gave it the Edward Scissorhands treatment.
For the jetpack, we wanted it to feel at home in a Death Metal album booklet. So goth!
Santa is coming to town
No game is complete without a holiday season skin pack. First, we needed a skin that would allow Crypto to sneak into chimneys on Christmas eve.
Our concept artists came up with some of the scariest depictions of Kris Kringle.
However, it was better to make Crypto look like he just stole a Santa Suit from a department store for that surprise factor.
The final suit comes with a reindeer-powered jetpack, with Christmas lights and everything.
Nightmare before Halloween
For the last suit, Andrii Chernychko and Anna Kormakova gave the classic jack-o-lantern a twist.
We all grew up watching movies like Wizard of Oz or Nightmare Before Christmas. But we knew we had to dig deeper into the Halloween horror lore, going as far as the 1949’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Our team went for the more plant-like design but wanted to make the pumpkin head scarier. So they removed the hat and replaced it with a dreadful headlong scar.
The magical amulet jetpack displays delicate vine-like details.
Conclusion
When creating game concepts and art, design specialists must be very well-versed in popular culture and time-appropriate references.
Room 8 Studio once again proved to be the perfect team for creating concept art that matches varied environments and game styles while conveying the desired undertones. Destroy All Humans! 2—Reprobed has been hailed as one of the funniest remakes of 2022, both because of its hilarious script and perfect delivery of visuals and artwork. And we’re proud of having been part of this project.
