Faction Style Guide

This guide is to help content creators craft their items to fit within Warframe's ever-evolving universe. We love new ideas, but we need our world to be cohesive so that we can develop story, explore the solar system and restore balance as high-tech warrior ninjas.

Warframe is a visually diverse game with factions ranging from the flowing silhouettes and sweeping curves of the Tenno, to bulbous and industrial Grineer, to hard edged and geometric Corpus, to horrifying Infested and beyond. We keep these distinct forces unified in a sci-fi universe that, while space faring, is gritty, lo-fi and full of character. Our gameplay is fast paced, energetic and intense. We compliment that with art that is ‘over-the-top’ in design and a focus on the whole, not details.

At this moment, we are accepting items within the following Factions:

General notes:

We have developed several conventions for shape language and materials that will help you have your pieces fit in the world (IE: Grineer materials tend to be thick painted metal with a fair bit of grime and rust, Tenno materials are clean techno organic, but do include wear and very small amounts of rust).

Tenno:

We are a mix of high tech warrior and ninja. We wear the distinct techno-organic Warframes dating back to the old war and beyond. With our Warframes we command unearthly power and our skill with gun and blade is legendary.

Grineer:

The Grineer are far from your average high tech sc-ifi style, owing to their reliance on brute force and access to only crude materials. Avoid making beautiful, flowing lines for this faction to help separate them from Tenno.

Corpus:

The Corpus are a race of merchant traders, and have access to science labs to develop their technologies, so their construction style is much more refined and advanced than the Grineer but more industrial and boxy than the Tenno. As they are a merchant race, avoid making anything look too purposely military.

Infested:

The infestation itself is a disease that transforms other materials into flesh, and grows in unexpected, horrifying ways. This faction’s shape language is unbalanced, twisted, unsettling. Make sure to use lots of references with this faction as it is deceptively difficult to master, despite its chaotic, almost random-looking appearance.

Sentient:

Highly adaptable and mysterious, Sentients can take various forms throughout the Sol System: as combat drones, Eidolons on Earth, or Amalgams on Jupiter. We are avoiding spoilers in this guide, but more about this faction is revealed as you progress through the main Quests.

This is one of the most nuanced Factions in-game, so we have quite an extensive guide prepared for you below.

Each tint has its own material usage and this should be respected on all Sentient Creations. How you balance these four materials is up to you, but these four materials need to be present:

Solaris:

The Solarians are members of the debt-internment colony of Fortuna, crushed under Nef Anyo’s heel. Piece by piece, parts of their bodies are exchanged for cybernetic enhancements to increase productivity, resulting in an aesthetic that is a mix of robotics and flesh. This faction also takes influence from 1980s B sci-fi movies, especially their practice of kitbashing (which you can see in Kitguns), so feel free to use those for inspiration!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Literal clothing and hoods on Warframes is best avoided. Focus on abstraction, look at Mesa and Hydroid Prime for examples of how to approach this. Solaris has a lot of unique detail and surface treatment that can be used without making literal Solaris suits for your Warframes!

Ostron:

The Ostrons are rough and utilitarian, harvesting their livelihood from the Orokin Tower that looms over Cetus. Their garb is crudely-hewn and bulky, made mostly of layers of fabric and repurposed materials, with small golden Orokin accents. The Quills are a sub-faction with a focus on combat, meaning their clothing serves more as armor, with additional plating not seen on the Cetus residents.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Literal clothing and hoods on Warframes is best avoided. Focus on abstraction, look at Mesa and Hydroid Prime for examples of how to approach this. Ostron has a lot of unique detail and surface treatment that can be used without making literal Ostron suits for your Warframes!

Entrati:

During the Orokin era, the Entrati were highly renowned for their scientific achievements, especially their breakthroughs in Void travel. They conducted research on Deimos, the now-Infested moon of Mars. The Entrati faction often resembles the Orokin faction, but they differentiate themselves visually with low-tech solutions that are boxy, weathered and beaten up.