Adventures in Steam Games: Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 67: The Mystery of Zephorus Revealed, Part 2

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 67: The Mystery of Zephorus Revealed, Part 2

When I first discovered Zephorus, my jaw dropped almost all the way to the floor; everything they made had so much time and effort put into their exterior design that they served as an example for many other Automationeers, including myself. Although they are also renowned for reimagining other Automationeers' designs and improving on them, they are still best known for making original car designs, and in fact it is this branch which was established first. It proved to be fairly successful, to the point that their design studio established a division dedicated to redesigning other makers' cars. Since that part of their business has already been discussed before, I shall now dedicate this post to their carmaking division. And once again, I would like to point out that all rights to original designs from Zephorus belong to the brand's creator.

One of their most recognizable cars is the Tartarus, a highly exclusive mid-engined supercar available as either a road car or a race car. Here is a comparison of both versions.

Comparison of the street-legal Zephorus Tartarus (above and top) with the track-only R version (below and bottom).

Both trims make optimum use of the fixture layering feature throughout the body. Most notably, large air vents have been placed over where the rear window would usually be, while at the front and rear, light fixtures have been placed over vent fixtures. The side intakes, meanwhile, are basically a pair of vents stacked on top of each other, as are the front air outlets. Furthermore, on the R trim, a larger rear wing has been added to complement the wide front splitter.

At the other extreme is the Asteria, a small hatchback for the common man. This car is another good example of how fixture layering can be used to make modern headlight clusters. It was originally intended as a design proposal for a new purely electric vehicle from Sachiuri, before being repurposed as a mass-market model for the Zephorus lineup.

Above: The taillight lenses on the Zephorus Asteria are actually made from several overlapping indicator fixtures. Below: Stacking a pair of air vents on top of the upper grille provides some aggression to the front-end design, while the shape of the headlights - which in this case are a cluster of overlapping light fixtures - complements the overall grille shape nicely.

Next up is one of their classic models, the Azuma. Here is a comparison of the base model and the higher-performance S trim.

Whereas the regular Azuma (above and top) has a relatively small rear wing, a thin front spoiler and simpler fixtures on the bumpers, the S model (below and bottom) forgoes these for a taller wing, a larger front spoiler and a more complex bumper design front and rear.

Last but not least is another one of their mid-engined hypercars, the Z12. Although the body it uses (which is shared with the Tartarus) has no obvious place for a contrasting stripe in a different color, one can simulate this feature by placing an array of fixtures along the centerline and selecting a contrasting color for these fixtures. On the Z12 the effect is enhanced further with the use of that foreground color for other fixture elements.