Nomion has introduced Croatian 3D artist Space Meerkat as the Art Director of Rush is Real, its upcoming shooter for PC and consoles.
The studio revealed the hire on October 1st at 3 PM CEST (Central European Summer Time) across X (formerly Twitter) and its Discord server. Space Meerkat has over 100,000 followers on Instagram, where he shares photorealistic computer-generated imagery (CGI) and large sci-fi worlds made in Blender. Before that, he built a career in the film industry.
According to Nomion, he is shaping a new visual style for the game. It mixes cyberpunk with brutalism, an architectural style known for raw, exposed concrete, and draws on both Asian and Eastern European culture. Speaking to Inven Global, Space Meerkat explained which Asian cities the team is using as reference, while Nomion's Head of PR German Terekhov confirmed the game's genre and platforms.
How Space Meerkat joined Nomion
Space Meerkat's route to the studio started with a direct message. Jean Tyulegenov, Creative Director at Nomion and the creator of Rush is Real, contacted him on Instagram after seeing the work he had posted there.
"Although at that point I still didn't know what it was about, I got on a call with Jean and Creative Producer Dmitri Ogorodnikov," Space Meerkat said in an interview provided by Nomion. "After they shared the concept and vision for the game with me, I immediately said yes." He added that the game's core mechanic, which Tyulegenov came up with and which Nomion has kept under wraps so far, was what hooked him most.
Since joining, he said the team has settled on a visual style and now works through concepts with the art team and game designers. His role covers gameplay, visual design, character creation, weapon design and the game's wider systems. "Maybe in the future I would prefer to focus on one particular direction, but right now the scope of my responsibilities is broad — I oversee the art of the project as a whole," he said.
'Industrial first, futuristic second'
Space Meerkat said he does not want Rush is Real to look like "another copy of Cyberpunk or something like that." Instead, he described a colder look for the game's world. "My vision of the future isn't the bright neon cyberpunk we've seen a hundred times before," he said. "I'm much more drawn to something colder and more grounded: raw concrete, brutalist architecture, with sci-fi elements layered on top but not drawing all the attention to themselves. Industrial first, futuristic second."
The map follows the same idea, with massive concrete structures and dense verticality. According to the artist, that layering has a gameplay purpose, since different levels of the same structure can hold different loot and open up different routes for exploring. "The systems and the world don't conflict with each other — on the contrary, they reinforce one another," he said.
Within the team, the style is summed up as "a true world in grounded Asian cyberpunk", Space Meerkat said. He claimed the result will be a completely unique visual style, though he admitted players will need to see it for themselves. Tyulegenov, who was born in Kazakhstan, said his own view of Asia was shaped by growing up between China and Russia. "When I saw Space Meerkat's work, it felt to me like he was looking at the world through my eyes," Tyulegenov said.
Which Asia?
Inven Global asked which Asian cities the team is drawing on and how it plans to avoid blending the region into one generic aesthetic. Space Meerkat told Inven Global the team is "embracing the East as a whole" instead of committing to one direction. "We will take city layouts from Chongqing and Hong Kong, clothing styles from Tokyo, and architecture from Seoul," he said.
He said a lack of time spent exploring a culture is usually what makes these settings feel clichéd. "That won't be a problem for us," he told Inven Global. "We will do it justice and do it with respect."
Space Meerkat lives in Croatia, which he said has brutalist architecture somewhat similar to that of Russia and other Eastern European countries. He named China as a favourite destination, pointing to how quickly a city there can shift from a high-tech district to a rural one. Visiting Russia and returning to China are his main goals for this year, he said, so he can see those contrasts in person and bring them into the game.
From Blender renders to a game engine
Most of Space Meerkat's portfolio is made up of offline renders, which are images produced ahead of time rather than drawn live like a game. Inven Global asked how that look would hold up in a real-time engine, where performance limits and a moving camera come into play. He told Inven Global that most of his Blender renders use Eevee, the program's real-time render engine, which he described as similar to a game engine.
"So the practice is there, and the lighting and photorealistic aspects won't be a problem with this kind of style," he said. "I think my renders will always just be inspiration, but the game will still stand as its own project." Nomion did not say which engine Rush is Real is being built in.
Film also plays a big part in his approach. Space Meerkat spent four years at film school, graduating from VERN' with a degree in 'Film, Television, and Multimedia', and worked in the film industry before moving into games. "I believe every game should be cinematic," he said. "The principles of cinema — lighting, focus, composition — all of this helps me build a strong vision both for Rush is Real and for my own projects."
He picked up Blender during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he had plenty of free time, and said studying it every day is what got him here. Much of his past work, including music videos, trailers and short films, is covered by active non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
Among his influences, he named artist Syd Mead, whom he credited with most of Blade Runner's look, and James Cameron's Avatar, which got him into 3D modelling. His favourite game is Shadow of the Colossus on the PlayStation 2, while Half-Life stood out to him for its "almost eerie atmosphere." He also listens to Tame Impala while he works.
Despite his following, Space Meerkat said he doesn't consider himself an influencer "in the broad sense." "What makes me happiest is when people DM me and tell me that they started working in Blender or were inspired by my style," he said.
What's next for Rush is Real
Terekhov confirmed to Inven Global that Rush is Real is a shooter coming to PC and consoles. "We'll share more details regarding the release timeline at a later date," he said. Nomion is also retiring the game's old logo, which the studio has said hid a reference to its core mechanics.
Asked what that hint was, Terekhov told Inven Global the studio isn't ready to reveal it, though it has been following fan theories on its Discord server with interest. He did offer one clue for Inven's readers: Tyulegenov's recent interview with EAA!!, in which the Creative Director discussed his sources of inspiration. "That's it, not another word," Terekhov said.
