Cory Strader
Cory Strader is the Visual Development Lead for Subnautica 2 at Unknown Worlds Entertainment. He has been with the studio since June 2008, making him one of the longest-tenured team members at over 17 years.
Early career
Stainless Steel Studios -- Modeler, Texture Artist, UI Artist, and Concept Artist on Empire Earth (2001) and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World (2003)
Factor 5 -- Senior Texture Artist and Concept Artist on Lair (2007) for PS3
Natural Selection
Strader served as the primary artist and art director for the original Natural Selection mod, co-creating the game alongside Charlie Cleveland in 2002. He established the franchise's visual identity, designing the environments and creatures for the marines-vs-aliens multiplayer experience.
Unknown Worlds (2008-present)
Strader joined Unknown Worlds as Art Director in June 2008 and has art-directed every release since:
Item | Description |
|---|---|
Natural Selection 2 (2012) | Art Director |
Subnautica (2018) | Art Director |
Below Zero (2021) | Art Director |
Subnautica 2 (in development) | Visual Development Lead |
On Subnautica 2, Strader leads the visual design pipeline. He featured prominently in Dev Vlog #3 (Collector Leviathan) and Dev Vlog #4 (Tadpole), showing his process of starting with "multiple rounds of quick, low-detail thumbnail sketches" before progressing to detailed concepts and final models.