It’s been eight years since Casey and I sat down and started talking about Mass Effect. The project’s code name was SFX, and the rest was open territory—a scary thought when presented with the task of visualizing a new universe that needed to resonate with the audience, stand out from the crowd, and be rich enough to carry the license long after the completion of the original game.
When conceptualizing the Mass Effect universe, we kept a few artists and architects in mind. We drew inspiration from Syd Mead, John Harris, John Berkey, and Santiago Calatrava—just a few of the visual mavericks we looked to. We pored over thousands of images and countless movies to draw every bit of reference we could obtain.
It has been fascinating to see Mass Effect grow over the years. In the beginning, we were constantly compared to other games and artists, and then, as the series grew and matured, we started hearing how other games were looking like ours. People are looking at products coming out now and are saying, “Hey, that looks like Mass Effect!”
It is impossible to do justice to the monumental task it was to build a project of this scale. The passion and dedication of hundreds of artists, drawing over ten thousand concepts and working countless hours, doesn’t fit between two covers. Without them, the vision for the universe would have failed, and Mass Effect would’ve been just another title on a long list of forgotten games. I hope this book serves as a window into our artists’ minds and shows how they helped create the universe called Mass Effect.
Derek Watts
Art Director