TIER1 Sea of Thieves Busts Packaging

I was the Creative Director on a collaboration project between TIER1 Accessories, a videogame collectibles company and Sea of Thieves, a pirate action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One.

The TIER1 art team was tasked with developing a collectible “blindbox” series based on Sea of Thieves.

We created the “Precision Armory” line. A shipper of 12 randomized boxes containing 6 different die-cast busts. It debuted at E3 2018.

The Creative Challenge

We were tasked with capturing the lively, humorous feel of a new open-world where players took the role of a pirate sailing the high seas. As the Creative Lead, I decided to pursue the world’s in-game lore and pursue the oceanic aesthetics.

The competition was using subdued colors and dark themes. In response, the shipper’s vibrant colors and island style stands out. The unusual box shape, a treasure chest, is compelling and appropriate to the pirate theme.

The blindbox

The design of the blindbox needed to grab the consumer’s attention while remaining true to the source material. As a fan of the game, I liked the pirate theme and the thought of buried gold and silver. The treasure chest appearance would connect with fans and random consumers.

I chose a typical treasure chest from the game, imported the 3D model from the game into Maya, textured it and rendered it. After some trial and error, I built a chest template in Illustrator with dimensions that would fit 12 boxes in the shipper. Photoshop was used to wrap, warp and cover the template with the renders. Aspects that didn’t transfer well were hand-painted. Then logos, bust renders and warning labels were added strategically as to not clutter the cute treasure chest design. The bottom of the box was used to display contents which presented a challenge with the limited space.

The result was a very attractive wooden chest design that is both true to the game and attract people who have never played.

The shipper

The design needed to be eye-catching, hold all 12 boxes and be conscientious of the shelf “footprint.”

Rare was a delight to work with and provided us with numerous assets. I chose to use a vivd “Caribbean” ocean and island theme. Sea of Thieves is critically acclaimed for it’s beautiful ocean physics. In addition, the bright blue contrasted well with the warm wood tones of the treasure chest.

We used the high-resolution renders of the characters to showcase the detail of the busts in the series and catch the consumer eye.

The Die-Cast Busts

First, we had to decide what went inside the box. What would people want to collect especially in a game that hadn’t been released yet?

We decided that a player’s connection lied in the game’s inner lore especially with an open-world game where the player is the protagonist.

So we made the virtual real and cast free-standing busts of NPC’s (Non-Player Characters) in high-definition metal. We added nameplates to increase consumer recognition and complete the bust look. The unique two-tone plating showcased the detail and accuracy of the in-game models brought to life.

The Process

Reference

I bought this at Disneyland several years ago. It was a small free-standing metal figurine with a base and a flat back. We used it as inspiration for the busts.