Rick Pearce
A pilot faces a giant machine under a lightning storm

Flagship · Original IP ยท In development

Ares Machina X1:ECHO

An original animated science-fiction series

  • Creator
  • Writer
  • Director
  • Producer
UE5 · Real-time · 6 × 30 minVisit the ECHO series site ↗

01 / The series

Ares Machina X1: ECHO

An authored world, made in real time.

A six-part adult animated science-fiction series, created, written, directed and produced by Rick Pearce.

The series is built on an Unreal Engine 5 pipeline designed to make the final image in real time. The X1 cinematic is its proof piece, directed, shot and lit in engine.

Series site ↗
Format
Adult animated series, six 30-minute episodes
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Status
In development
Role
Creator / Writer / Director / Producer

02 / The world

Ares Machina X1: ECHO

This is where I move from solving other people's briefs to originating the work: creating the property, writing the story, designing the world and deciding how it gets made.

A machine in silhouette, lit orange against the dark
Machines built for a world with rules.

03 / X1 cinematic

Ares Machina X1: ECHO

The proof piece.

The X1 cinematic is the series' proof piece: a 3D animated sequence directed, shot and lit in Unreal Engine 5. It sets the look, the scale and the camera language the episodes are built on.

Director / Cinematography / Lighting

Two machines over a ruined city at dusk
An energy blast fills a dark frame
Talk about the series

04 / Characters

Ares Machina X1: ECHO
A pilot in front of an Ares Machina X1 machine
Character turnaround and head studies

Pilots and machines are designed together, so a performance reads in close-up and the scale reads in the wide.

05 / Unreal pipeline

Ares Machina X1: ECHO

The final image is the engine.

Performance
Motion capture
Animation
3D character and mech animation
Final image
Authored in Unreal Engine 5
Team
A small-team pipeline built to repeat across six episodes
A rider in a red-lit helmet leans into the frame
Every final frame leaves the engine.

06 / Development

Ares Machina X1: ECHO

Six episodes, one authored pipeline, built to repeat.

The X1 cinematic proves the look and the method. The series is in development on a pipeline built so a small team can hold the whole image, from performance to final frame.

Series site ↗
Now
Series development and the X1 cinematic
Looking for
Original-IP collaboration and studio partnerships
Contact
[email protected]

Collaborate · Original IP

Build the
next world
with me.

Open to original-IP collaboration and selected studio partnerships around ECHO and the Ares Machina world.

[email protected] ↗