Design Insight: Mess Hall (Patreon)

It's time for another design insight post!

Most design choices in Infinite Stars took a lot of research and planning. The mess hall is no different. Shout out to those of you who can still remember our "Space Cuisine" post from 2020 that heavily influenced the look and feel of the Aeroponics section on the ship. It's been a few years, but we can finally share where all this delicious food is being consumed.

If the reactor is the heart of the ship, then the mess hall is the soul. It's where our crew relaxes after a difficult day. It's where couples go to celebrate their anniversary. It's where Khalil and Veera have arm wrestling competitions. It's a very important space that affects the morale of the entire ship.

Stoffies started by creating several mockups of how this space could look.

From there, we got a line drawing to nail down the direction and perspective with finer details.

After some refinement, we split the image into layers, making it easier to manipulate the various backgrounds we would create from this image.

Then, we started with colouring! We also asked several of our Patrons on Discord what their favourite drinks and snacks were so we could include them as little Easter Eggs!

Lastly, we create the final images that will be used in-game by testing it with a UI overlay to ensure the perspective looks right. By splitting the different focus points, we can create an environment that feels much larger and more alive than just a single, large image.

I hope this was insightful and fun to read! Stoffies is already working on the next background...