At every show we went to with Valfaris last year we lost count of the number of people who went out of their way to tell us how much they loved the big piece of display artwork we used on the booth (see below). One aspect of the artwork, which was created by Valfaris dev, artist + creative force Andrew Gilmour, that drew a lot of attention was the massive gun being wielded by Therion. Most of the comments were along the lines of It looks absolutely badass. So, inspired by all the positive feedback for it, weve taken the logical next step and decided to make the gun, which is called the Bringer of Mayhem, into a full-blown life-size model. Because why the eff not.
As well as featuring in the artwork, the Bringer of Mayhem is part of Therions in-game armoury. Its one of the hefty Destroyer class weapons and has a powerful beam that can connect to multiple targets and efficiently liquefy those targets into an explosive splatter of rupturing guts. Here it is in devastating action:
The model wont be capable of causing the lethal combustion of internal organs, but everything else will be as faithful to Andrews design as possible. Its going to be a serious bit of kit. Its being handcrafted in Bristol, UK, by the immensely talented model-making folks at Alban Studios, whose client list includes Aardman Animations the people behind Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and many more. So its in good hands. Heres a look at how work on the Bringer of Mayhem has been going so far
Using the look of the gun as it appears on the artwork and in-game, the first job was getting a more detailed design to work from. This involved creating a series of sketches showing possible interpretations of how it would look in the real world.
A very rough foam mock-up was made to help with getting the dimensions and ergonomics right. This is the mock-up I'm holding in the pic at the top of the page, which gives you a slightly better sense of the scale of the thing.
With the sketches and mock-up providing a more solid idea of the final design, next step was creating 3D models to work from and then start producing actual physical parts of the gun.
The basic shape of the gun is blocked out using polyurethane board, which is a material that's easy to sand and finish, and also good to machine with a mill or lathe. It's being made in modular sections, which means it's easier for more than one person to work on the gun at the same time. Once preliminary work on a module is completed, the last job before it's ready to mold is to paint it with grey primer.
And here's where the Bringer of Mayhem model is at right now. The basic structure has come together nicely and work should start soon on all the cool details. Looking forward to sharing progress with you as it happens. Matt | Digital Uppercut Wishlist here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/600130/Valfaris/