Spring RTS Engine

Argh wrote:

That looks like 17.32 kinds of awesome and I watch your project with significant interest.

Fanger wrote:Id like to see a picture of GMNs orginial geometry because something seems off about that tank... and I dont feel the turret matches the chassis in terms of style..

Yup, it came out different, yet similar. I tried really hard to keep all of the stuff that was working for the original design.

As for the skin, and various critiques... well, the idea, visually, was to make it feel like it had scales, without doing literal scales. I played with the top of the body first, and after a couple of approaches, it started feeling vaguely reptilian, and I decided that was fun, and went with it. Kind've like the helicopter, with the "feathers" done with the plates. They aren't random, per se, although compromises were made in the interests of either function or realism where it seemed appropriate.

KDR is correct, however- I didn't bother doing any cross-border mapping on this one, which is something that I do occasionally, but skipped here, in the interests of getting the Trike done. The only areas where it might have been really interesting, imo, was on the front and rear mudflap / armor areas, and I think what I settled on works all right for the purpose. Wouldn't have looked good, on the body- the lighting would have been inconsistent, no matter what, due to the rather sharp angle there. I try to avoid that, if I can, and since I'm not reproducing anybody else's IP, where some artist may have been working in a different medium where that's not an issue... I don't have to, unless I feel like it

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Skip this part if you hate reading anything lengthy

As for the buildings...

It is my opinion that in the future, as in the real-world present, buildings will come in more colors than they used to, and I thought it would be better to reflect that, than have the typical sci-fi mix of Incredibly Boring Gray. Moreover, as an artist who's been forced to work in monochromes a lot, it's a lot more entertaining to work on something that's actually realistic for a change.

One of my brothers is an architect, brings over the latest mags on all that stuff, etc.- the future of construction, aside from vicissitudes of Style, is looking a lot more colorful than the past, and here in Indiana, you can see it in new construction all the time now. New materials for commercial construction that have the necessary planned lifetime and durability, yet have a lot of color, are now becoming available, and people are using them everywhere- browns, oranges, reds, greens, metallic shades- a rainbow of color, it's almost Victorian (er, the real Victorian, which was very colorful, not the faux-Gothic crap you see in comic books, which is bleak monochrome). In short, that's what the real future probably looks like.

Moreover, I like the feel of it, it's going to be a lot more personable and feel more like a place people would actually want to live, when / if I ever get around to putting in animated civilians and stuff. That makes it more interesting to blow up, imo, but hey, that's just me. I think the Mechwarrior I thing is over the top, though, it's pretty awesome seeing entire cities, and they have asphalt / concrete on the roofs, so it's a different feel, depending on the POV. Think about your typical real-world street:






There's a lot of color there, and it's going to get more colorful, not less, in the real future- like the Victorian period, where a new technology (cheap, decent enamel) came along, and allowed people to customize their architecture, and now we have houses in every color in the rainbow, the new materials for commercial buildings will almost certainly result in permanent changes- this is a trend that's been going on for nearly a century and a half, and I don't think it's likely to reverse.

I wanted to reflect that reality, instead of emulating a never-never land like most games have. Moreover, I suspect that in the real future, we're going to continue to see buildings like these designs, simply because of utilitarian issues of cost (in my case, it's about polycount, because when shadows are on, it starts mattering). It's nice to think that in the future, all of the skyscrapers will look like this:


... but it isn't terribly likely.

One last note, before anybody whines about it- scales of the buildings are "wrong" right now, because for one thing, I haven't really worried about it, since this is all very WIP, and for another I wanted the Resistance infantry to be at about the same scale as the SWS stuff (I haven't checked against it, but it's fairly close), but I am aware that these are still massively oversized for the official Smoth Scale of OTA. I should probably just take them up to P.U.R.E.'s scale and fuggitaboutit... then city combat will feel like city combat, the buildings will feel right, and I'll probably be happier than I am now, where a typical doorway maybe hits the neck of a typical soldier

[EDIT]There, AF. Happy now?

Gonna have to say I prefer GMNs model over the modified one..

I am going to side with argh on the buildings but I do thing they should have their saturation reduced a bit.

On the tank, I liked the original more.

Guessmyname wrote:

Fanger wrote:Id like to see a picture of GMNs orginial geometry because something seems off about that tank... and I dont feel the turret matches the chassis in terms of style..

matter of a fact, I can use a unit like this in TD, can I get a copy of the lower half? or would you mind stripping off the turret and adding a large tank on the back of it?

Sure, give me a sec...

EDIT: Ack, computer imploding!

Indeed I see lots of new buildings with lots fo brightly coloured panels or stripes.

What the developers don't realize si they look garish and the vast majority of people are either indifferent or detest it. At some point this will change, and trends do not always continue endlessly, for example the monotone lack of colour imposed by the limited building resources and style of a bygone era.

Just look at how people envisaged architecture of our time to be in the 1950s if anything things will be more like they are now with a handful of oddball buildings standing out rather, and we should respect the fact that buildings tend to stay built and that we do not rebuild all our cities from scratch every 20 years.

(there's also commercial and monetary constraints that will prevent every building from being dodecahedrons and spaghetti hoops, so keep that in mind. Normality will give a greater sense of realism whereas outlandish buildings will do the opposite, and nothing is worse than a brightly coloured building, especially shades such as cyan turquoise magenta or tan)

AF speaks the truth. The only sort of exception to this is if the local building material was of a certain colour (like, say, a redding stone or something) - in which case that colour would be the norm. But really that depends on the environment (ie map), so it's best to go for the dull old concrete greys, I guess...

If you need colour use billboards, lights, and banners

If you want the buildings to look well with the units you must make the buildings look futuristic.Like that last pair.

AF wrote:If you need colour use billboards, lights, and banners

there is a lot to be said for subtle colors as accents. I mean after all bright colors can ruin immersion. In such a gritty world having *in bob ross voice* bright happy buildings is a bit out of place. As I said, I like the buildings but they are a bit too saturated.

For the first, last and only time, Smoth. Do not post in this thread. Please. I'm asking nicely, but I am asking.

I will not post again in your thread. Do remember this.

Thank you, that is all I ask.

*munch munch*

Argh wrote:Thank you, that is all I ask.

...why? He was only making constructive criticism...

*is confused*

It wasn't about that post. BTW, your wheelietank's almost done.

The Resistance light scout vehicle. Model by Guessmyname, with modifications by me, paint by me.

This has to be, by far, the most difficult thing I've had to work with. This project has had some tough parts, but this one was really, really hard.

It was a very unconventional design, with a lot of facets on strange angles. It was a real challenge to unfold it and make it work reasonably well, without too many issues with seams.

Took two nights to paint, nearly 7 hours of work to get it done, because of all of the odd shapes and other issues. With glow and reflectivity, it should be very interesting in-game, with distinctly insect-like design elements that should lend themselves to interesting animation possibilities, among other things. Still mulling over a couple of small changes- polycount is currently 940, so I might add some minor geometry to deal with a couple of things that are still bothering me.

That looks amazing, if you need someone to test stuff i am always available during the day (GMT).