THE ART OF

Foreword by

Helge C. Balzer

Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
CHARACTER ART . . . . . . . . . 6
Sketches . . . . . . . . . . . .

18

Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3D Models . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
ART-TEAM & CREDITS . . . . . . 32

THE ART OF HEAVENS HOPE

2016 EuroVideo Medien GmbH & Mosaic Mask Studio.
Published and distributed by EuroVideo Medien GmbH.
Heavens Hope and Mosaic Mask Studio are trademarks
and/or registered trademarks of Mosaic Mask Studio.
EuroVideo and the EuroVideo logo are trademarks and/or
registered trademarks of EuroVideo Medien GmbH.
All rights reserved.
Design: Stefan Sturm
Text: Helge C. Balzer
No part of the content of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the
expressed written consent of the Publisher.
This is especially true for the copying, editing, translation,
saving, processing and reproduction in electronical
medias and systems.

An old background concept

before our first prototypes.

Foreword
The creation of this adventure was
itself in many ways an adventure.
It wasnt just the long and pretty
rocky road we had to walk before
the project was finally realized. No,
Heavens Hope meant an individual challenge and special experience for each and every one of us
in senior management.
In my case, it was first and foremost venturing into uncharted
territory, a completely different
design style, much more cartoony
and comic-like and more caricatural than the one Im used to as a
designer focussed more on Dark
Fantasy. The related learning processes I was subject to as lead
artist for this game have engendered wide-ranging ripples within
my own art and today actually influence my work in completely
different genres.

An old background concept originally intended

to act as a doorway page to our site.

Another fact that must be mentioned is that Heavens Hope went

through a veritable rollercoaster
ride of different visual designs on
its way through two prototypes, a
funding proposal and finally the
influences of our partner EuroVideo, with their years of experience. This gave birth to a wildly
diverse array of designs, sketches
and concepts, of which but a few
of the most select eventually managed to find their way into the
actual game.
And so it is to those ideas and artworks discarded in the process of
creating Heavens Hope, as well as
the little stories behind the story,
that this artbook is dedicated...
So break a wing and a halo. ;-)

Helge.

Talorel
As the main character , Talorel experienced the
most changes on his journey through all our attempts, do-overs and revisions. Even his nature
as a character was subject to cheerful experiment. Sometimes loving and naive, sometimes
old, grouchy and cynical.

I think we spent days discussing

and experimenting, weighing
and exploring almost every
avenue. In the end, out came
out the friendly, quirky and
occasionally somewhat naive
Talorel, whose properties as
the (anti-) hero of our little
story fit the essence of the
story perfectly.

Inhabitants
The world of Heavens Hope is peopled by the
strangest and most bizarre figures and creatures.
It was important to us that these characters natures and presentation reflect the quirky, wacky
story and narrative style, allowing them to fit as
seamlessly as possible into the context of the
game.
With Bill, for example, it was important for for him
to portray the usual benevolent mentor who, at
the same time, is also rebelling against the Inquisition and resisting the injustice in Heavens Hope
in his own way.
Cartwright, on the other hand, belongs to the aristocracy. He has no need of money, so his antique
shop is really just a facade to indulge his love for
very old things. Since this emotional characteristic
in some ways contrasts with what is expected of
the truly blue-blooded, this character represents
an interesting bundle of contradictions, for which
I as a designer am always very thankful.
Bill der Farmer

The mouse, Poe the Raven and Anselm the Homunculus are some of the non-human inhabitants
of Heavens Hopes. While the mouse and Anselm
are two of the actively employable player sidekicks, Poe is both a help and a hindrance in a variety of puzzles.

Sir Edwin Cartwright

Anselms appearance in particular gave rise to a

fierce entrenched battle. I think Myriel (Game
Design) only managed to prevail against Seckin
(Producer) in the end through the use of perfidious blackmail and shady intrigue. ;) Well, at any
rate, she had the last word.
The Raven
10

The Mouse

Anselm the Homunculus

11

Greta and McCallum were established very early

on. I think only two designs were needed for
each before everyone had given their Go.
Greta wears the habit of a nun of the Dominican
Order, subtly underlining the Inquisition theme,
while McCallum is a burly veteran sergeant of
Irish descent dressed in the mandatory redcoat
of the royal regiments.
Marla is a snotty little girl who jealously guards
her secret Detectives Club. The bum or
village idiot was the product of a case of
high spirits. There was definitely a lot of
red wine involved, at any rate. In short,
we thought that any angel story worth
its salt also needed a misunderstood,
crazy prophet as a running gag.

Greta

Marla

Local idiot
12

Constable McCallum
13

Kennewick Bloomford

We really have quite the collection of bizarre

characters who wander through Heavens Hope
bloviating and are both a hindrance and a help.
We also put a lot of time and love into the development of these characters. One of the hardest
parts of developing a group like that is the balance between appearance, traits and function.
As colorful and chaotic as the world of Heavens
Hope may seem, the whole thing is based upon
a well thought-out balance structure.
Bartholomaeus

Vladic

The Rat

The Gravedigger Irving

14

Josephine

Kareem Ibn AlMutfak

15

Magnus

Shona

Geoffrey

Mai Lin

The Goat
16

17

S ketches

18

19

L ocations
I think nothing in this game was changed as often
and as fundamentally as the locations. Somewhere between Sleepy Hollow and Monkey
Island Seckin (Producer) said to me back in 2010.
At least that remained unchanged! The following
pages show for the most part old screens from
prototypes and the concept drawer.
I was usually the axial point during that whole
concept development phase, constantly bombarded from all sides with: But I like the old ones
better or Now I like the new ones most, but
why the hell do we need to develop another
batch...

20

21

22

23

But I think the most decisive graphical influence finally

came from Jan (Executive Producer) - who otherwise gave
us completely unrestricted artistic freedom - when he
suggested to me in confidence that a massive lightening of
the atmosphere and more friendly game design was
required.
Finally, I had to convince my grumbling team once again;
even though our publishers had my back, it still demanded
a lot of diplomacy and more than a few threatening
gestures. ;-)
24

25

Heavens Hope is a 2.5D Adventure, telling the

tale of Talorel, an inadvertently fallen angel
candidate and stunt flying student. Relive a fantastic adventure from the fall to the re-ascension
of Talorel in a colourful blend of humour and
amusing horror. Find Heavens Hope is a 2.5D
Adventure, telling the tale of Talorel, an inadvertently fallen angel candidate and stunt

Below sketch, above the final artwork

26

27

3D

Models

We decided on a combination of 2D and 3D graphics for reasons of production flexibility and the
variety of artistic possibilities. It was very important
to us to keep the voluminous, relaxed style of the
concept art alive throughout the entire creative
process. Another very difficult task is fusing the 2D
and 3D graphics so that everything works seamlessly later on. Our partners at Lumatics did a great
job in accomplishing that!

28

29

I nterface
The user interface was a battleground upon which
countless designs gave their lives. This is always a
particularly hot topic because the Technical Director,
Art Director and Game Designer can all justify their
need for more influence. But I think we finally found
the best solution for the game without having to
reinvent the wheel.

30

31

C redits
Producer
Sekin lmez
Creative Director
Myriel Balzer
Art Director, Illustrator und Concept Artist
Helge C. Balzer
3D Art - Lumatics GmbH & Co. KG
Dennis Rettkowski
Alexander Pohl
Lars Krger
Michael Herm
Tomer Eshed
Daniel Zinner
Milen Vitanov
Layout
Stefan Sturm