Concept Art

Army of TWO™ The Devil’s Cartel’s overall look was mainly inspired by a few specific themes. Environments were based on the more dangerous, perilous side of Mexican subcultures, Hollywood action blockbusters were the inspiration behind the Overkill function and a drearier, metallic theme was used for the TWO organization and the game’s menus. These themes were drawn from to get players to feel the pressure of being on a mission in hostile, cartel infested areas of a fictional Mexico. Without a partner and Overkill to help even the odds, the chance of survival drops to nil…

The Mexico we tried to depict is not quite present day Mexico. Our goal was not to construct an accurate portrait, but to exaggerate its clichés and deliver a much more dynamic and chaotic depiction of this most vibrant of cultures. What we’ve done is create a grittier, over-the-top caricature of Mexico which served as a stage in allowing us to develop our characters, plot and most of all… intense, nonstop action.

Every map contains what we call “Vistas”, which are basically eye candy we’ve added in for the players’ enjoyment. This allows our two heroes to take a break from the heavy shootouts and enjoy a calm moment to count their ammo, reload their weapons and take in the beauty before them. Theses vistas and weenies also help support the narrative by reinforcing the setting, theme and location.

Gore Research

The gory features present in our game, required some “visual studies”. Some of the images we found on the web to help further our research still haunt us today…but that’s a price we were willing to pay to get the greatest amount detail possible! Even during presentations to the team, we needed to warn people before changing slides and asked sensitive individuals to look away. What has been seen… can never be unseen…

Each level possesses a main theme which the team used as a guideline throughout its development. We used each thematic to accomplish two different objectives:

1 - Create and mold an identity for each level

2 - Illustrate specific Mexican clichés

Cliché examples:

Tequila

Spanish colonial architecture

Day of the Dead

Mayan icons

Religious Beliefs

Slums

Cartel

Hacienda

Drug Lord Excess