Our MMO shooter Citizen Conflict is approaching another round of alpha testing, and there are so many things to experience ahead. One of those is plenty of vehicles, some of them designed to fit the cyberpunk-styled tone of Ether Islands, others photo-realistic and clean. Let’s meet the man behind the concept arts of vehicles in Citizen Conflict.
Martin Demeter is a self-starter, passionate about vehicle design and 3D graphics. Coincidentally, Martin is good friends with our 3D modeler Rudolf Herstek we introduced you to in the previous interview. They both share the 3D design journey through game studios such as EastWorks and Cassa Game Industry. Well, now they both ended up under our roof, doing their best to perfect Citizen Conflict.
Martin Demeter has ample experience working on games like Gray Zone, Tran Sim World, Scorn, or even texturing mini-figures for Star Wars themed collectibles. Let’s take a closer look at his journey!
Hi Martin, to begin with, I’m curious how did the start of your career look like.
I started as a self-learner. It was back in high school when. I was about 15 I stumbled upon a magazine about car tunings, which contained a section dedicated to car drawing and sketches - I got instantly hooked. I was always a fan of cars and engines. No wonder I felt that unstoppable urge to try my hand at the design.
In the beginning, barely anyone supported my car design endeavors. You know, whenever I went, I was trying to put bring designs I envisioned to life, constantly sketching the car ideas. I was all in, and I felt deeply that I want to pursue a career in creating vehicle designs, although I have no formal background. I studied at Technical University in Košice, and it was later on that I accomplished Computer Graphics Master Academy certificate. The beginnings were pure hit-or-miss with very limited resources.
That’s awesome to hear. How did you manage to make a living out of your passion?
It took me about five years since my first introduction to the design. Fortunately, my work impressed guys from Košice-based game development studio EastWorks. I was delighted to have a job in something I’m passionate about.
I have to admit my experience in EastWorks coined my transition from hobby to profession. I have been through so many interesting, stimulating, yet challenging projects. In the end, I worked my way up as a concept artist on several noteworthy projects. One of them is certainly Gray Zone.
It is that kind of futuristic adventure game, all about exploring new galaxies and planets, and my job revolved around the vehicle concept art.
In the meantime, I also worked for an Estonian outsourcing company called Fox3D focused on CG and games. I designed some fancy illustrations of racing cars for them.
What made you move forward? I reckon that as a Concept Artist, you had quite broad responsibilities at EastWorks.
I was working at EastWorks for about one and a half years along with my friend Rudolf Herstek. However, several occasions lead three of us - me, Rudolf, and at that time, a future CEO of Cassa Game Industry, to move forward and start a new company. That’s how CassaGi came to life, meant as an outsourcing game development company.
We have been working on some truly amazing projects. One of those is Train Sim World, a train simulator with incredibly realistic models of trains. Another notable effort is the game Scorn. It is a biopunk horror game inspired by masterpieces by leading artists H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński.
I made a major step up in my career throughout my almost six years stay in Cassa Game Industry. I had to dig deep into texturing and hard surface modeling, so it was certainly a worthwhile experience. I finally made it as a Lead Texture Artist. Lead Texture Artist.
So what made you go on and land at QORPO Game Studio?
Basically, I really liked the projects we are currently working on. I’m still quite new to the team, joining this January, but I’m already so involved. To wrap it up, I just saw the cyberpunk-styled shooter Citizen Conflict, I liked everything about that game. Moreover, I was offered to work full-time on all kinds of vehicles which will be included in it.
So I did my research, and I learned more about the company presentation and culture, and it certainly piqued my interest.
And how do you like it so far?
Absolutely. I’m doing what I love, and I really like the way how we’re able to cooperate. I really like my colleagues and the creative freedom the management provides me with.
So far, I have created several vehicle concept arts I’m particularly proud of. This is just a little taste of what's about to come soon:
I’m glad to hear that. Lastly, I’m interested in what keeps you going outside of work.
I still love sketching new car ideas. Just to chill out, have a cup of coffee with my tablet in my hands, and let my creativity flow. Besides that, I like to go out and do some hiking. Since my profession requires a lot of artistic inputs, I’m also interested in traditional art. Basically, I'm a huge fan of all kinds of concept art or even book illustations. From more traditional slant on art, I'm a fan of artists like John Singer Sargent, Stepan Fedorovic Kolesnikov and Tom Lovell. Make sure to check them out. It's worth it!
Sounds great! Thanks for a nice talk.
Thanks for having me.
