Digital Extremes Warframe: 1999
Art Blast
Warframe rarely takes us to Earth, so creating an alt-Earth steeped in ’90s nostalgia was an unexpected treat.
Building this world gave us the chance to take inspiration from classic ’90s anime and action movies and make a gritty retro-future city. The team took a lot of care to make the streets feel familiar, while delivering the bursts of unexpected to make it feel Warframe. It’s been a long time since many of us ‘hung out at the mall’, but we got a chance to revisit the experience with our eerie Infested underground and signature hub. Watching Höllvania’s central mall bustle with people across four vivid seasons has been great.
It’s been fun to see both fans and the team hyped over the Atomicycle. We never expected several teammates to get motorcycle licenses while making it. There was much love in mixing that bike together, and first versions were a great team project, with many getting a chance to make a skin. Even if “we’ll never live the missing rear brake caliper down”.
And… who would have expected a love story? Our character and animation team raised the bar dramatically with our Gemini skins. They told a powerful story—and seeing players dive deep into the relationship system (kissing Eleanor is an experience) has been amazing. It was an impressive roster across the board, our Scaldra fit the world perfectly, our Infested are appropriately freaky and… we have a 90s style boy band, with a monstrous Infested twist.
It’s a very dense release, and it’s only possible due to the amazing teams of Digital Extremes. Lighting, FX, sound, and code all need to come together to make a memorable release. Their talent and dedication never cease to amaze me—watching them tackle dense projects and run with them is incredible. We hope you enjoy a chance to get a behind-the-scenes view of their work.
Erwin Evegaars – Lead Level Artist – Digital Extremes
Alyra Awwad – Level Artist – Digital Extremes
Yulian Nakov – Level Artist – Digital Extremes
Lisa Salmon – Level Artist – Digital Extremes
Derek Patterson – Principal Lighting Artist – Digital Extremes
Nikita Leshakov – Principal Weapons Artist – Digital Extremes
Ernesto Alvarez – Senior Weapon Artist – Digital Extremes
Andrew Yu – Senior Weapon Artist – Digital Extremes
Victor Plazas – Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Clémence Planté – Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Diogo Azambuja – Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Justin Smith – Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Kai Webb – Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Jeff Ross – Principal Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Sergey Andreychenko – Senior Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Stephen Fitzsimmons – Senior Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Brian Yu – Senior Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
Paulina Roberts – Principal UI Artist – Digital Extremes
Michelle Nguyen – Intermediate UI Artist – Digital Extremes
Arif Pribadi – Senior Technical Artist – Digital Extremes
Kory Cromie – Concept Artist – Digital Extremes
Liger Inuzuka – Concept Artist – Digital Extremes
Antonio Sanchez – Senior Character Artist – Digital Extremes
Tim Sormin – Principal Animator – Digital Extremes
Dean Field – Lead Environment Artist – Digital Extremes
