Inside44: Rise of the Frog Bots | Designing the Story

Aug 8

In 2018, I was developing the story of Inside44, which was already becoming quite complex. At its core were two planets - Mars and Earth. Mars wanted freedom, but Earth refused to let them go.

Who was right? That was hard to decide. On one side, there was a planet that felt exploited by its older sibling. On the other, an older sibling who believed they deserved Mars’ help - after all, without them, Mars wouldn’t even exist. But with a population roughly five times smaller than Earth’s, Mars had no chance of winning in a direct conflict.

So I began to wonder how could they win? In the distant future, humanity will almost certainly inhabit other planets, interact with other species, and rely on bots to work across most worlds and space stations. I believe that in the future, robots will be protected by law, much like how strict regulations exist for firearms today. Because if you think about it the alternative could be dangerous.

The first thing I designed was a humanoid robot. But it just didn’t work. Science fiction is already saturated with humanoid machines in both film and literature. This needed a twist. It had to be something more original something that fit the story perfectly.

So i wrote this:

PART FROM INSIDE44 scifi universe - FROG BOTS

“It all began over a century ago in the American Quadrant on Earth with the development of the first A.I. designed to serve humans. These early machines were known as RELPERs short for Reliable Helpers and were built in humanoid form. Their purpose was to improve daily life by handling difficult and hazardous jobs. From firefighting and police work to mining and heavy labor, RELPERs drastically reduced workplace injuries and fatalities. While other galaxies resisted automation at this scale, humans embraced it. They enjoyed the convenience of outsourcing dangerous tasks to bots. Each generation of RELPERs came equipped with custom add-ons, allowing them to perform specific roles with great precision and ease. But problems soon surfaced.”

But problems soon surfaced.

This was the key moment when I realized I needed to dive deep into the psychology of people. At the time, I was living in Serbia and facing serious problems in the building where I lived. Residents would often throw garbage onto the stairwell something that shocked me.

If we called the police, instead of addressing the problem, they would casually mention something even worse about another neighbor, completely shifting the blame away from the guilty person. To me, this wasn’t normal but it made me see things differently. I thought, If these people had a humanoid robot working for them, only God knows what kind of horrible things they would make it do… and only the universe knows how many people out there are like this.

One of these people was a grandmother in her seventies. She looked like someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly round features, gentle appearance. But believe me, on the inside she was the worst of them all. Somehow, in my mind, I connected her to the shape of a frog… and that night, I wrote this.

***PART FROM INSIDE44 scifi universe - FROG BOTS***

”Criminals began exploiting the bots. Once dressed in human clothing, RELPERs became indistinguishable from people and untraceable. Over a five-year period, the number of unsolved crimes involving unidentified humanoid perpetrators rose sharply, including an increase in murders. In response, the government took drastic action. They acquired the RELPER patent and passed legislation mandating that all future working-class bots be built in non-humanoid forms specifically, animal-based designs that were easy to identify and track. After extensive public debate, the frog was chosen. Frogs were agile, capable of jumping and moving faster than most humans, and more importantly, had a form that was instantly recognizable. The new line of bots was rolled out and distributed across all human-inhabited planets.”

It just clicked I instantly knew where this was going. *Inside44* had just gained a key feature. I already understood that the stronger the story’s pillars, and the more they were rooted in the energy of real people and real events, the more timeless they would be. I could update the details, make it look cooler, but the pillars would remain the same… and people would feel that authenticity.
I started following the traits of a frog. This was no longer going to be a humanoid robot it would be a Frog Bot. Frogs could move with more agility, assist people in ways humans couldn’t, and, most importantly in my mind, they could never be mistaken for a person. (Oh, how I wish people like her could be spotted from 100 meters away, so I could approach them differently.)
In the lore, Frog Bots began as innocent helpers, just like she appeared to be. Always ready to lend a hand. But, as we eventually discovered about her, that helpfulness often hid something else a way to gather information, twist it, and use it to create a narrative that served her own agenda.

PART FROM INSIDE44 scifi universe - FROG BOTS

“Years later, when war broke out between Earth and Mars, humanity found itself vastly outnumbered by Terran forces. Faced with the threat of annihilation, Mars’ leaders had to make a desperate choice: whether or not to deploy their frog bots in combat.
They did.
What began as tools of convenience became warriors of necessity. Frog bots quickly evolved into a crucial part of Mars’ war effort fast, durable, and loyal to the code they were given.”

The design turned out pretty dope I was really proud of what I achieved with it. After all, I’m a hard-surface designer, and I love creating anything in that realm, from vehicles to props, mechs, robots, products, and weapons. This part never really worried me the design was solid. What truly fascinated me was the story. How we went from a simple idea humanoids to frogs and then from helpful robots to machines killing on the battlefield because humans made them do it. That shift added a powerful psychological twist to the narrative. Arming them was incredibly fun, and in the story, they became some of the most interesting robots, shaping the entire universe within the first few pages.

The design work was done in ZBrush and Blender, starting from simple shapes and gradually layering in more and more detail. One of my favorite parts was designing the small arms at the front. I knew these robots were meant to help people, which meant they couldn’t just move around they needed tiny, functional arms that could reach out, hold, and pass things to humans when needed.

More to come.