TABLETOP GAME: THE TERMINATOR

I was hired as a freelance Art Director and Graphic Designer for "The Terminator" Board game.  I oversaw all graphic design and art esthetic as it pertains to game board, cards, game pieces and online marketing campaign. I also created the entire Kickstarter campaign graphics. The game is an asymmetrical strategy game played across two boards based off of the iconic 1984 James Cameron film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. With the Kickstarter campaign successfully meeting it's goals, let's hope it eventually comes to market. 

Original Movie Esthetic

Being a big fan of the franchise, my goal is to celebrate the look and feel of the original Terminator movie while updating the esthetic for modern audiences. 

Color Palettes

The Terminator was a very moody film as far as color. Since there are two time periods to consider (1984 and 2029) I had to keep that in mind for cards or game board areas that pertained specifically to those backdrops. Illustrators had to limit there color palettes often where applicable. 

New Creations

The biggest challenge is to create new imagery that feels like it's still part of the Terminator taxonomy, while at the same time, offering new concepts to the fans. For both artwork and game pieces, we are introducing new characters and vehicles that strictly adhere to the franchise but also offer something fresh and new. This represents a handful of sketches I started so illustrators could hit the ground running.

Character Cards

Character Stat Cards continue to grow and be developed as we augment to new game play mechanics. Some actors we have license to recreate, some we don't. The process is ongoing to create a large catalog of characters.

Illustrations (except T-800): Dave Youkovich.

Birth of a Vehicle

The game required a new vehicle alongside the HK-Aerial and HK-Tank. The general idea was to create a much smaller drone aerial device that Skynet could send out in swarms (no bigger than a soccer ball but very deadly). I created several pages of mood boards with details and height requirements for the game piece and then handed off to the 3D modeling team. Once approved, the HK Stinger was illustrated onto a stat card. 

3D Modeling: House of Imagi

Illustrator: Dave Youkovich 

Dice or No Dice

The team realized we could just use regular boring looking dice (and at a cheap cost) but we wanted to make the game unique in every way we could, so the idea was born to create a "CyberDice"...something indicative of the Terminator universe. This dice would have to be six sided and potentially be cast into actual metal versions. I studied the Endoskeleton from every angle and pull influence from the the cranium, neck and shoulders. Starting in Illustrator, I made a flat version, sold the idea to the team, and then make a faux 3d version in photoshop before handing off to the sculptor. See the final version below....just don't slam the metal version down on a glass table! 

3D Modeling: Lee Stansbury

Terminator Token Figures

Here are just five of the many game figures created for The Terminator board game. Some versions of these became exclusives at Comicons. I created the mood boards for these figures and guided the artists through to approval process with licensors. Toby O'Hara created five out of the six below while Imagi Studios created the "Kyle Reese" bust (far right). These figures were over 54MM in height.   

3D Modeling: Toby O'Hara + House of Imagi

The Saga Continues...

With the Kickstarter campaign reaching its goals, let's hope this game shows up in stores soon...