Random WIP 2006-2011

Pressure Line · Post by **Pressure Line** » 06 Sep 2007, 00:19

Warlord Zsinj wrote:It's like a peeweee... but not!

its liek a peewee... but without all the invisible faces!

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 02:02

... or the copyright violations

In PURE, btw, it carries a pair of semiautomatic shotguns, not plasma spammers. It's a cute little rogue, and rather dangerous in packs.

Pressure Line · Post by **Pressure Line** » 06 Sep 2007, 07:47

tbh a model made from 400 polies, only 200 of which ever get rendered is more worying to me than al that copyright stuff.

something for CA

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 08:01

Actually, since it's modeled with quads, it gets rendered double-sided (this was something SJ put in, long ago, to partially deal with the cut faces in a true 3D engine). OTA models in Spring actually are double the polycount that you get from an equivalent model using S3O, and even something like the Peewee is a surprisingly-large number of tris when rendered.

To put it another way... the Soldier Mandroid is 502 tris, which is only slightly higher than the real tricount of an OTA Peewee in Spring. While I have a few things in PURE that are significantly high in triangles, and one model that has a lot of real waste (the bomber, which I'll need to redo at some point), for the most part everything is fairly efficient, because I'm using S3O. Of course, that said... I suck up any "savings" on the rendering passes for glowmapping and teamcolor... but meh, that's just how it goes. Prettier stuff costs more. All said and done, it's not much of a worry.

Saktoth · Post by **Saktoth** » 06 Sep 2007, 08:17

I cant get over 'mandroid'.
Makes me lol.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 08:25

I'm always open to better names, these are just generic placeholders- I mean, what kind of RTS just refers to the bombers as "bombers", lol.

I haven't even bothered trying to think of "cool" names, frankly. If you have a better idea, I'm open to suggestions. However, the backstory precludes calling them "mecha", which they aren't, or "robots", which is somewhat accurate, but doesn't really reflect why they copy the human form. Kind've tricky, really.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 11:04

The AutoTurret. One of four turrets you will be able to build in PURE's Alpha, it fires a stream of high-velocity scattergun shells, much like the Soldier Mandroid (or, um, whatever it finally gets called). A cheap and fairly effective early defense, the AutoTurret does not have enough range to compete with long-range opponents, but can devastate a blind nub rush

Warlord Zsinj · Post by **Warlord Zsinj** » 06 Sep 2007, 11:21

The firing mechanism will look cool with kickback, I think.

The housing around the gun seems a little weak though.

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 06 Sep 2007, 11:55

The whole thing kinda looks like it was made in the Half-Life level editor, the texture looks like it was applied poly-by-poly with no real transition or relation to the geometry.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 12:08

That's a bit unfair. It looks pretty good in-game, and I preshaded it fairly well. I take it that the "grating" is what's causing this comment? I'll put a border around it, to make the transition look better, but I have to be careful, due to the way that the unit deploys...

espylaub · Post by **espylaub** » 06 Sep 2007, 12:23

And, to be fair, you will never look at it that close up in the actual game. I'm quite interested in PURE, Argh, I like the general aesthetic, especially the colour scheme.

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 12:30

Thanks, but it is a WIP, and while I think KDR was being a bit harsh, I can understand if he thought it was disappointingly painted.

Here's a rework: added a border around the "grating", strengthened preshading in general over several areas (I caught a few blatant goofs- I'm really, really tired), added a bit more brown around the edge of the rim to try and soften that edge a little bit, and tidied up a couple of other things, including some stuff that you'll never really see except in a WIP shot like this, like the "burnt re-entry cone" on the bottom of this thing.

Here are the two shots, right next to each other, so that you can compare them easily, and see what was changed. I'm too tired to mess with this further.

Before:

After:

[edit] And one more shot, to show the preshading more clearly:

Saktoth · Post by **Saktoth** » 06 Sep 2007, 12:30

Lets hope the gameplay lives up to the excellent modelling work!

It does look a bit boxey, flaring some of the edges and things might help with that. The texture work is constantly good like all the rest of the PURE stuff, even if it lacks transitions and such.

On mandroid: It sounds like a cheap sci-fi porno about a machine designed to pleasure women. 'Mandroid IX: The Lovenator'

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 13:10

The gameplay is evolving. I think it's cool, however I'm still missing some of the things I'd like, in an ideal world. Given what Maelstrom found whilst trying to deliver insta-build LUA, I may have to wait on that until the next release of Spring

As for "Mandroid".... maybe I should call them... hmm... how's about "Shells"? That'd fit the backstory... hmm... I'd have to put up with "ArGH, WuT!? DIS gamE not on BEACH", and similar commentary, for people who don't get the reference, but meh, it'd work, and it doesn't conjure up images of bad porno

Mainly, I'm avoiding "robots", which doesn't really describe what they are, "androids", which is vague and boring, and "mecha" which doesn't really apply.

And yes, maybe I should have not used square edges on the legs. That's fixable, without causing a major remodel, I think.

<fixes>

aGorm · Post by **aGorm** » 06 Sep 2007, 14:40

Man Argh, you should use that super crazy cannon I made when you did that competition. You never did put any of that stuff in nanoblobs.

aGorm

Maelstrom · Post by **Maelstrom** » 06 Sep 2007, 15:09

Dont forget my steampunkish cannon as well

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 16:11

I didn't ever bother with more contests, even though I thought that was fun, because every time I thought about it, I thought, 'well, gee, you didn't even finish the first one" Other matters took precedence, and I just left it to one side, and then months went by

For that matter, I never finished my crazy cannon, either. And that had a style that might actually work in PURE, for the BFG... er... "strategic-level plasma weapon"...

Hmm.

Lemme go take a look at what you submitted (assuming I haven't lost them- I'm sure they're around here somewhere), and see if I can use them- there is no sense in modeling anything twice, if they'll even remotely fit the bill, and I do kind've owe you guys painted models, irregardless of whether I can use them for PURE.

I'm not going to promise anything yet, because I have already failed to get around to this once, which is usually a bad sign, and I'm running very short on time now, so I am not likely to stop working on Alpha to get to this, if they don't fit, or cannot be made to fit. But you're quite right, I should at least try to salvage that work

[edit]

I found them. I'll puzzle over them this evening, and see if I can figure out how to fit them in. Mael's submission might work, for the Laser Cannon, which is vaguely like an Energy Annihilator, and ... hmm. I dunno what to do with yours yet, aGorm, but I guess I'll just have to figure it out. At any rate, I haven't lost them, which is a good start

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 06 Sep 2007, 16:32

Is the base of that turret supposed to look like concrete?

Argh · Post by **Argh** » 06 Sep 2007, 16:42

No, it's supposed to look like a re-entry capsule, all blackened from heat. You will hardly see it in-game, I could make it pink, and nobody would notice for a week, until they got bored and started watching stuff in slow-mo.

LathanStanley · Post by **LathanStanley** » 06 Sep 2007, 19:44

Argh wrote:

Soldier Mandroid. Model and initial skin by Keithus, with weathering, color, and minor rework by me.

reminds me of HAL9000 +legs +guns

Spring RTS Engine

Random WIP 2006-2011