Mesatop Entertainment Presents:

BattleScape: 2040

LCAD Passport Challenge 2013

Hello students!

                  In cooperation with Laguna College of Art and Design, Mesatop Entertainment is seeking artistic input for a game-project early in the concept phase.  LCAD Game Arts students choosing to participate in this challenge have a unique opportunity to help shape the core artistic direction of our game title.  Because of the sheer variety of talents displayed by LCAD students, Mesatop Entertainment is offering its challenge in three parts - a storyboarding component, a landscape/background component, and a character/vehicle component.  Stamps will be awarded to students who compete in any single category, with special recognition given to any student who attempts and exceedingly meets the requirements for multiple categories.

About Mesatop Gaming

                  Mesatop Entertainment is a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, by graduates of the University of California school system.  The founders, Jeffrey Dauber and Brett Labash, are avid gamers with an undying passion for the gaming industry itself - Mesatop is the realization of just that enthusiasm.  Focused on emergent gaming technologies, Mesatop Entertainment hopes to utilize both traditional and crowd-style funding to help the world realize next-generation gaming, today!

About BattleScape: 2040

                  BattleScape: 2040 takes place in a war-torn near future environment. The lore of the game is an extrapolation of where the world could be headed if incomes stay low, prices stay high, resources continue to run short, and political vitriol escalates unchecked; due to human toll exacted by globalized crises, the governments of the world attempted to come together to form a global government, a capable and credible United Nations - the Global Governance Council.

                  Instead of join such a global power-sharing agreement, a radical and greedy faction of the Chinese socioeconomic elite allied themselves in secret with their radical and greedy counterparts within the government of the United States. Withdrawing their delegation from the global governance council, the Chinese and the Americans formed what would become the first faction of the Third World War: The Free Trade Union.  In the years following its formation, the Free Trade Union consolidated the entireties of North and South America, as well as large swaths of South East Asia and the Pacific Islands into their hyper-capitalist regime.

                  In response to the withdrawal of the Chinese delegation from the Global Constitutional Convention, the European Union admitted members to its fold previously thought permanently outside of it: Russia, Iran, the UK, most of Central and Southern Asia, and the oil fields of the Middle East. The Eurasian Union was born to counterbalance the frighteningly neo-fascist Free Trade Union.  One tragic-yet-formative consequence of the Eurasian Union's power consolidation was the (sometimes) forced displacement of the Old World's religious radicals from Central Asia and the Middle East into Northern Africa.

                  Calling themselves the Forces Afrikan, the refugees-cum-radicals found Africa's relative power vacuum easy to fill - most of the world had so-neglected the continent by that point, and what little resistance there could have been capitulated with the newcomers out of either brutal need or mutual hatred.  Despite access to the limitless resources of mother Africa, the Forces Afrikan occasionally supported raids for military technology and personnel into Southern Europe - provoking the wrath of the Eurasian Union in the form of retaliatory strikes into Northern Africa.

                  The Third World War began in 2030; tensions between the Free Trade Union and the Eurasian Union boiled over when the Eurasian Army descended upon Free Trade Union rare earth metal refineries in what was Western China, and things were never the same again.  Because of exorbitant prices charged by Free Trade Union profiteers, and because China falls within contiguous Asia, the Eurasian Union attempted to occupy the industrial heart of the Free Trade Union's high technology empire.  The Free Trade Union responded with devastating effect.

                  10 years later, in 2040, the entire world has become a BattleScape - due to shortages of precious elements and natural resources to support its war in the East with the Free Trade Union, the Eurasian Union has launched an all-out invasion of North Africa in search of supplies.  In retaliation, the Forces Afrikan have launched an all-out insurgency style conflict in the Mediterranean states.  While the battle has raged in East Asia, the Atlantic, North Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Arctic circle, the only neutral territory on the planet was the city of Jerusalem.  The only embassies left on the planet were built in its most holy city.

The Game

                  BattleScape: 2040 is a free-to-play PC, MAC, and Console game based on the concept of a "tabletop" miniature model game such as Warhammer or Dungeons and Dragons, however within a digitally rendered game environment.  The game features the three factions from the story above: the Free Trade Union, the Eurasian Union, and the Forces Afrikan. In terms of faction differentiation, the Free Trade Union is technology obsessed, with the budget to back it up. The Eurasian Union is closer to modern military technology, with some incremental improvements based on the passage of 15 years from today's time. The Forces Afrikan use a blend of EU and FTU military technology, as most of their gear is pilfered and/or rigged together in a crudely effective way.

                  Each faction will include a variety of ground infantry, infantry operated weapon systems, ground vehicles of various sizes, roles, and complexity, as well as sea and air vehicles with the same diversity. Additionally and most excitingly, each faction will have a plethora of hero units, unique and defining of their respective factions. Each faction will also have its own "home" BattleScapes (landscapes), which similarly are definitive and reflective of each faction's locations and character.

The Challenge

                  Phew! Now that you're familiar with the content of the game, lets dive into the specifics of the challenge! Because of the early state of the project, artists should be aware that they have the opportunity to permanently shape the artistic direction of every aspect of the game they work on!  Mesatop additionally is looking for at least one permanent member of the Art Team, so know that submissions for this project will be examined extremely closely by Mesatop's executive leadership.

                  The BattleScape: 2040 challenge is offered in three parts:

I.         Storyboarding

II.         BattleScapes

III.         Characters & Units

                  Artists who choose to compete in more the one category will receive special recognition, and a special award will be reserved for the student who attempts to meets the most categories with the highest quality submissions.

     I.         Storyboarding

The Storyboarding category requires those who submit artwork in this category to create a sequence of pieces, beginning anywhere in the timeline described above, and ending anywhere in the timeline above, telling the story in a more intimate, through-the-keyhole type of way. In essence, this challenge asks the artist to use their own imagination and creative impetus, to define a place and characters that is meaningful to the timeline of the story. Below are some examples of focusing events that may be appropriate subjects for storyboarding:

·       The construction of the global constitutional convention center

·       The withdrawal of the Chinese Delegation from the Council

·       The formation of the Free Trade Union

·       The induction of Russia into the EU

·       The consolidation of Central Asia by the EU

·       The fortification of Western China by the FTU

·       the first insurgent-led terrorist attack in Southern Europe

·       The construction of the 3 embassies in Jerusalem

·       The EU attack on the FTU mineral industry in South East Asia

The Storyboarding category is open to artists of any style or background. An emphasis is placed on individual creativity with the story, as well as the accuracy with which we feel the artist has met the themes of the game. We would ultimately like artwork submitted in the Storyboarding category to be linked to a cognizable story progression.

   II.         BattleScapes

The BattleScapes category is devoted to the amazing imagery of the BattleScape Universe.  Ruined cities, wasted industrial areas, vital wartime manufacturing facilities, or massive troop formations with accompanying vehicles framed by destroyed wilderness, the BattleScapes category offers artists who may desire the chance to focus their work away from individual events (Storyboarding) and individual units (Characters category). 

The aim of the BattleScapes category is to allow artists to play with the larger scenes of BattleScape: 2040 - nuclear war, wartime food rationing, massive conflict, and the individual locations of the games settings - World War means a globalized battlefield. Militarization of space? Sure. Special Ops fighting over the Alps? Yep. Let your imagination go crazy for this one. The ambitious and talented artist could theoretically submit pieces containing all of elements of the other two categories under the BattleScapes category.

 

III.         Characters & Units

This challenge category is focused on the individual units and characters of the BattleScape Universe.  Each faction will have a light, medium, and heavy version of a basic infantry unit - and sample of light infantry from each faction has been attached to the challenge as stylesheets.

The essences of unit differentiation in BattleScape revolves around the use of technology: The FTU are the most technologically advanced, having access to railguns, micro-nuclear reactors, massive caliber automatic weapons, hovercraft, directed energy weapons, etc. The EU are closer to their modern NATO equivalent, utilizing mostly 'normal' military technology, with some advancements having been made in the 20 year period separating the game timeline from our own. Forces Afrikan are a ragtag bunch of bandits and rebels, freedom fighters and terrorists. They utilize whatever advantage they must to ensure EU and FTU forces do not attempt to colonize their resource-laden continent.

·       Small / medium / heavy infantry

·       Small / medium / heavy ground vehicles

·       Small / medium / heavy air and sea vehicles

·       Hero characters for each faction

3view style not a requirement of this category, however we would prefer it.

Mesatop is proud to work with LCAD on this project, and we are excited to see the challenge submissions of LCAD's extremely talented Game Arts students.

We will award 10 stamps per challenge, and the challenge will run at least 3 times back-to-back.

Below is some contact info in case you would more detailed direction, have questions about something within the challenge, or for any other reason.

jmd@mesatopgaming.com

blabash@mesatopgaming.com

info@mesatopgaming.com

Good Luck!

Free Trade Union - Small Infantry 

 

Eurasian Union - Small Infantry

 

Forces Afrikan - Small Infantry