Horizon: Zero Dawn - Shell Walker

These are some of the concept stages for the Shell Walker. Its main function was to transport resources to the Robot Foundry. Over that function, in the early concept version, I gave it more personality, by making it handling and protecting the box like if it was a precious treasure. I added a shield that he could handle in its arms and experimented with some ideas on it loading the box showing effort, like a person loading a heavy object.

See the in-game model for this concept:
Lennart Franken https://www.artstation.com/artist/lennartfranken

Art Direction: Jan Bart van Beek

Early Concept

3D Concept Study

From this point on, I started iterating on the concept, integrating art and game direction.

While this final concept iteration look much more detailed than the starting one, the overall idea and main functionality, stayed quite intact during all the design process.

In the last version we substituted the hand shield by a gravity shield system and added a weapon based on a "pistol shrimp"

Shell Walker In Action, Concept