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Strata: The Art of Skylanders: Swap Force
| Strata: The Art of Skylanders Swap Force | |
|---|---|
| Author: | *Guha Bala
|
| Publisher: | Activision Publishing |
| Release Date: | 2013 |
| Pages: | 293 |
| Category: | Artbook |
| Based on: | Skylanders: Swap Force |
Strata: The Art of Skylanders Swap Force is an official art book for Skylanders: Swap Force that chronicles the various points of development in the game and showcases much of its concept art. Notably, this book was never released to the general public, but instead was made for Vicarious Visions employees who worked on the game.
Contents
The book begins with a foreword by Guha and Karthik Bala where they talk about the contents of the book and the development of the game, followed by an introduction from David A. Rodriguez wherein he talks about the start and process of developing Skylanders: Swap Force. After that, the book is broken up into several sections, one for each area of design. Each section begins with a quote from a Vicarious Visions staff member, and many other quotes are scattered within the pages. The sections are as follows:
- Creating Heroes - showcases early concepts for the Swapping mechanic and early characters for the game before showcasing concept art for all the SWAP Force members and Core Skylanders introduced in Skylanders: Swap Force, with each character getting a two-page spread that shows various concept designs and an unpainted 3D print of their final design’s figure.
- Friends and Foes - first showcases concepts for the various enemies and bosses in the game before moving on to concepts for the supporting cast members, then generic NPCs, and finally the various wildlife shown in the game.
- Envision a World - showcases early concepts for locations, then concept art for the strata of the game followed by concept art for the various locations in the game, with screencaps of the final in-game version for comparison, concepts for the Swap Zones and Elemental Gates, and finally concept art for the various vehicles shown within the game.
- Rendering a Vision – showcases concept art and models for the various textures used within the game.
- Hustle and Flow – showcases concept art for the game’s user interface.
The book then ends with finals words and thanks from Dave E. Phillips to the rest of the Vicarious Visions team for their hard work on Skylanders: Swap Force (with special thanks to several people who helped assemble the book’s contents), an afterword from Brent Gibson regarding the completion of Swap Force, and group photos of the staff members from Vicarious Visions, PMG and Central Studios, and Beenox who worked on the game.
