Interprotean Xenomorph

RoguePL gave me the following interview, enjoy!

How did you come to produce Alien-based fan art?
What do you find interesting and/or fascinating in the Alien universe?

It all began in primary school. At the time, I was fascinated with dinosaurs and monsters.
Someone told me about a movie with some cool monsters: Aliens.
Unfortunately, I saw Alien³ first. Nevertheless, I fell In love with the monster instantly.
Then, I watched Aliens and Alien, which completely absorbed me into the world of xenomorphs.
Back then, I spent a lot of time drawing. So, I immediately started drawing my favorite creatures…

Which movie in the Alien series is your favorite?

Well, die-hard Alien fans may want to crucify me, but I love equally Aliens and Alien³ ; I think they are the best movies in the series.
In Aliens, I love the action, the world, the queen, the hive.
In Alien³, I love the dramatic atmosphere, Ripley’s tragic character, the music, the general feel of the movie…the ending.
Of course, I am grateful to Ridley Scott for bringing such a wonderful creature and universe to life, but Aliens and Alien³are my favorites.

Did you play any of the “Aliens versus Predator” games?
If you did, what did you think of them?

You can be sure I played them!
I loved Aliens versus Predator and Aliens versus Predator Gold.
The whole tension, the cinematic levels, the sound effects and the graphics, at the time, were amazing.
I will never forget such level as Hangar (Marine campaign, level 6), where you try to get rid of the queen through the airlock.
Or levels like Colony, Ferarco, Fury 161, Battle…to me, this game was amazing. It is much more scary than Aliens versus Predator 2 and features greatly superior creature design.
Aliens versus Predator 2 had a nice soundtrack, but it gave away too much of the tension.

What would you want in a new Alien-based role-playing game?

First of all, it’s hard for me to imagine an Alien-based CRPG.
The movies were all about suspense, terror of the unknown and fast action. I can imagine an Alien-based CRPG playing like Gothic 3, Oblivion, eventually like KoToR, but I can’t imagine it being turn-based…that would be boring.

What would you want in a new Alien-based first-person shooter?

Scary moments like in Aliens versus Predator, great level and creature design based directly on the first three movies. Fast action, long single-player campaigns, a skirmish mode, next-generation graphics.

Every Friday, I will post a piece of artwork inspired by the original work of HR Giger and by the Alien franchise.

This week, I am very pleased to introduce you to the art of RoguePL.

The following piece is titled “Chilling Alien IV”. It is part of RoguePL’s Chilling Alien series.

Again, due to the limiting form factor of this blog, this is only a crop of the actual piece.

Please visit RoguePL’s Home Page for more great work by this artist.

RoguePL has produced several deviations depicting xenormorphs. You can be sure I will feature more of his art on this blog soon.

This image is © RoguePL. Used Under Authorization.

Here is an interview herisheft agreed to give me…

How did you come to produce Alien-based fan art?
What do you find interesting and/or fascinating in the Alien universe?

I just love the series and monster itself.
I watched Alien for the first time when I was 6 or 7. I have been fascinated and haunted ever since.
In high school, I was so totally obsessed I drew aliens on the back of all my notebooks and notebook pages. People gave me “Alien” as a nickname!

Xenomorphs themselves are most interesting. How they live, breed, communicate, survive and how dreadful they are, just everything. I love monsters.

Which movie in the Alien series is your favorite?

The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo (the title of the first movie in Poland)…I am more into Horror and Alien had this really mysterious and claustrophobic feeling. You actually didn’t really saw xenomorphs until the end…Aliens was more of an action movie, wonderful too, but less scary, xenomorphs were somewhat stripped from their secrets…
The third and fourth movies were not as good, neither was Alien vs. Predator.

Did you play any of the “Aliens versus Predator” games?
If you did, what did you think of them?

I did, both of them, but I own Aliens versus Predator 2 only.
In my opinion, they were breakthrough games worlds…you not only had a chance to play Alien and Predator, but scenarios overlapped and complemented each other. You got to experience the same situations from different points of view.
Aliens versus Predator 2 even gave you the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a facehugger and chestburster…really tasty!

It’s quite rare to be able to play the role of a monster.

What would you want in a new Alien-based role-playing game?

Freedom, open gameplay.

What would you want in a new Alien-based first-person shooter?

A longer single-player campaign, previous games left you itching for more action.

More interactive environments, with a good physics engine.
Better AI, more intelligent opponents.

A friend of mine read my post on Coopetitive Online Gameplay and declared: “That reminds me of Cluedo!”

Cluedo (Clue in North America) is a crime fiction board game. You may obtain more details on Cluedo from Wikipedia.

I don’t think I agree with this assessment, since all players do compete, but do not cooperate to identify the murderer.

Coopetitive Online Gameplay is something else. Something that transforms a single-player interactive fiction into an interactive fiction where several roles (antagonists and/or protagonists) are acted by different players.

Let’s go back to Aliens for a second…

Towards the end of the movie, Ripley, Newt and the Colonial Marines are trying to retreat under assault by a swarm of xenomorphs. Burke, an instrument of Weyland-Yutani, is more interested in saving his own life, hoping he will be able to preserve the interests of Weyland-Yutani.

In a traditional single-player campaign, you would play Ripley and all other characters would be AI-controlled. Your objective would be to save as many lives as possible. Losing Newt would imply “Game Over”.

The same sequence played in Coopetitive Online Mode would have you cooperate with 2 Colonial Marines (controlled by human players), against one or several xenomorphs (also controlled by human players).

In other words, realizing AI is not anywhere near human intelligence, the game designer entrusts certain key roles to different players. The gameplay sequence becomes very dynamic.

In fact, this is the challenge with Coopetitive Online Gameplay: You have to draw a box around what is expected and possible in order to ensure storytelling progresses as planned.

I am still working on an action sequence that will fully describe Coopetitive Online Gameplay…later…

Every Friday, I will post a piece of artwork inspired by the original work of HR Giger and by the Alien franchise.

This week, I am pleased to present the incredibly talented artist known as herisheft.

This piece is titled “Alien Runner”. In fact, this is only a crop of the actual piece.
Please visit herisheft’s Home Page for more great work by this artist.

This image is © herisheft. Used Under Authorization.