In the far corners of the galaxy, every choice feels monumental. Arcs isn’t just a strategy game of starships and ambitions — it’s a sprawling tale told through shifting alliances, sudden betrayals, and the silent gravity of power. To honor that scale, we built a project that pairs an original 12-track soundtrack with bespoke illustrations, capturing both the mechanics and the spirit of this top-tier design.
🎶 The Sound of the Reach
The music was composed with one principle in mind: motion as story. Each piece takes a five-note leitmotif — our “Arc” theme — and bends it through different tempos, modes, and orchestrations. Sometimes it whispers through airy strings, sometimes it crashes forward on a wall of brass and taiko percussion. Analog synths run beneath like hidden machinery, giving the sense that every battle, every political intrigue, is carried along by engines too vast to fully comprehend.
Instead of treating the album like background music, we approached it as a cosmic symphony:
- Tracks explore tension and release much like the game’s chapters.
- Asymmetrical time signatures reflect the unpredictability of initiative.
- Sparse textures bloom into thick orchestral clusters, mirroring the leap from quiet planning to sudden conflict.
It’s a score that refuses to stay static — evolving as the galaxy itself evolves.
🎨 The Illustrated Galaxy
Alongside the music, each track is paired with original artwork crafted in the bold, hand-inked style of indie sci-fi illustration. Thick lines, visible brush grain, and muted base tones give the images weight, while selective neon accents (teal, magenta, amber) pull the eye to the heart of each scene.
What emerges is not a single mural but a living atlas of the Reach:
- Planets marbled in strange colors, each carrying history in its scars.
- Catapult gates drawn as massive glowing arcs, humming with potential energy.
- Retro-futuristic fleets with mismatched armor plates, trailing light across nebulae.
- Vaults of relics, burning trophy halls, and council chambers echoing with silence.
Every brush stroke reinforces the feeling that this galaxy is both ancient and alive, a place where cultures rise and fall but beauty endures.
🌌 A Unified Experience
Together, the soundtrack and the visuals don’t just decorate the game — they extend it. They give shape to what happens in the imagination when a card is played, a city is razed, or a fleet drifts across a star lane. They echo the rhythm of play and invite you to linger in the world of Arcs long after the final chapter closes.
This project isn’t background noise. It’s an invitation:
- To hear the galaxy breathe.
- To see its scars and its wonders.
- To feel, for a moment, like one small but crucial part of something far greater.
And that’s exactly what makes Arcs unforgettable.