In order to extend my body of work, I needed to design more character sets for the Chesspionage project. To vary the designs significantly, I decided to go for different themes. The first theme I made rough designs for is a Science Fiction theme. The white side of the chess board is based on NASA spacemen and the brains and brawn of Earth's space travel, meanwhile the Black side of the chessboard.
In order to find inspiration and a good frame of reference for the designs of the pieces in this theme, I should look at movies and videogames such as Ridley Scott's 'Alien', 'Starcraft', 'Warhammer 40000', and 'Mars Attacks!'.
The first more detailed sketches were for the pawn pieces, representing astronauts and aliens, both common sights in science fiction. Their simplicity and round designs made them suitable for the role of pawns.
To stay consistent with the first Chesspionage set I designed, their feet are part of the base, making them desemble a chess piece.
The King pieces are based on the ideas of leading powers on both sides. Typically, military generals are used in science fiction as a symbol of authority in space operations, overseeing the operations, which is what i try to convey with these designs, whilst keeping the integrity of chess intact, with the use of the headpieces the same as seen on the tops of chess pieces.
The Alien side ofthe board's forst design goes for a vibe that would be seen in the game series Starcraft, with a slender appearance, fantastical robe and pointier crown. Their appearance also takes influence from Illithids, or Mind Flayers, from Dungeons and Dragons.
A similar design choice was taken when designing the first drafts of the Queen pieces, where a smart scientist makes the role fo the queen on the White Side, while an alien Queen was used for the Black Side of the board. In future, the next design for the Black side's Queen will be more designed after a movie like Alien or Mars Attacks!, which are more iconic and well known when thinking about tyrannical alien life in fiction.
The Knights' first designs are taken from the image of mounts seen in science fiction like Star Wars' Tauntauns, and the probes and rovers used by space stations to explore different planets remotely, such as the Mars Rovers, specifically Curiosity. Their skills in exploring alien terrain make a good candidate for the Knight piece on the White Side, whilst a more alien vehicle or mount (in this case a cavalry unit) works as a base for the design of the Black Knight's piece.
For the Bishop pieces, the Astronaut side goes for a more comical approach with an astronaut ordouned as a priest/bishop, wearing a Mitre on the top of its helmet, and holding a scroll of holy scripture. While there is not a great connection to religion with spece travel, some astronauts and Ground Control at NASA and other space stations will pray to their god for success and safety, so lampooning the subject feels to be slightly comical. The Black Priest on the alien side's design goes for the subject of alien races worshipping their own deities in science fiction, believing in a creator that created their universe and birthed them.
For the Rooks' first design, the idea of large celestial objects being the role of the Rook made sense as a concept, with how difficult they are to impede, both meteors and large space-themed abberations such as Shoggoths. The White side was chosen to be a meteor to represent the research done on them by astrophycisists and space stations in order to prevent them becoming a threat and colliding with the Earth. A Lovecraftian inspired horrific creature like a Shoggoth impeding a piece's progress on a chessboard, whilst being able to move very quickly in 4 directions is fitting for a Rook's space-themed design, and fits in with the design family of aliens.
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