Bombers need turrets because when the fighter cover is busy, the only thing left is evasive maneuvers and turrets. The turrets could be automated, no people space necessary so they take up less space. Bombers are automatically a deathtrap simply because of what their role is. So no need to lose additional crew members. You could have a pilot and one operator sitting behind the pilot. The operator handles the turrets, radar, and navigation while the pilot handles firing the torpedos and flying the ship. The only thing besides turrets that really help out for bombers is a cloaking device. Maybe it could be limited in use so the ship cloaks just before going on a torpedo run. Has to uncloak to fire and then get the hell outta there, can't cloak again for escape after firing torps so a good pilot is needed and those turrets will come in handy. Turrets could also fend off enemy missiles?
Looking good, nice detailing on the missiles and the mid section of the ship. One thing that strikes me when I look at this is that the wings seem awfully small and would be quite ineffectual for a ship of that size, yeah, I know it is a spacecraft and therefore doesn't have to worry too much about aerodynamics, they just seem a little too small to serve any real purpose.
With regards to a rear turret that will be a nice way to add interesting detail to the rear, and I have to agree that a dorsal and ventral turret may be necessary to give sufficient fire arc coverage.
hmm, there are some strange optical illusions going on - the short wing mounts look like they can rotate on those screenshots.
An idea just popped in my mind: how about making them really rotating sections, with the three big weapon barrels attached to the right one? For a Bomber it seems to be a nice option to be able to shoot at some capships in a flyby (with the bottom of the bomber facing the target)...
Road Warrior: Thanks!
Knight26: You're very right, of course.These particular torpedoes have shield generators, so I'd not be shocked that they're kept very clean. I've also totally agreed with the ventral/dorsal turret idea.. but for the initial release, I've just gone ahead and put the turret slots in there - the turrets will be added later.
Tochiro76: A good suggest, but we've already got a ship with a cloaking device, the Diamondback. This bomber is a 1 man deal, and we're thinking the turrets will be automated/AI controlled.
Talon_UK: Yeah, it's not really intended to be super maneuverable in-atmo... those are mostly just directional controllers. It's got more than enough thrust to fly, though - it's just a flying brick. So for adding detail to the rear.. I decided that as a long-range bomber, this guy should have the same warpjump drives as the Cobra... So I added those in there. Filled it in nicely.
Annihilator: Yeah, it may look that way, but they're really not. And moving subparts is really out of the question for this kind of game - since everything is a sprite, ever rotational angle would need a completely different sprite set of 544 images. Prohibitive, to say the least.
Anyhow, barring any earth-shattering critique or feedback, it's done.
Very nice, wouldn't mind seeing more of these, really highlights the level of detail you've built in there, cool. Didn't realise so much was done with geometry, thought a lot more of that detail was texture based.
Very nice, wouldn't mind seeing more of these, really highlights the level of detail you've built in there, cool. Didn't realise so much was done with geometry, thought a lot more of that detail was texture based.
So, Update! Been making a huge amount of progress on the game - the ingame stuff is looking more and more awesome. hopefully I'll have a in-game capture soon.
Anyhow, Spent time making some alien Capships...
And a Frigate:
And we figured out a way to greatly increase loading times - we put every rotation of each ship on an individual sprite sheet - which gets us 17 individual sheets per fighter, which loads so much faster than 544 single sprites!
And I also did some debris for the alien fighters:
And larger stuff for the Human fighters:
I love the video! It's like XWing and Freespace all rolled into a new game! A suggestion is maybe when one of the really big ships blows up, the screen whites out a bit. Homeworld did that when it's capital ships blew up and you really got a sense of power and accomplishment when that happened.
Howard - That video looks fantastic. Serious question - have you guys considered using something like Kickstarter to raise some funds for the game? Not quite sure why you would do this as a free release (even $5 per copy would earn you some nice cash...) but even if your preference is to keep the game free, you could potentially use Kickstarter to raise funds for something like professional voice acting, music composition (live orchestra baby!), convert it to mobile platforms (iPhone, Android etc) or something like that. Looking at some of the projects that have successfully been funded lately, a goal of a couple of hundred thousand dollars is not out of the question for a project of your quality if you present it correctly.
There's been a lot of talk about Kickstarter and some of the big (BIG!) projects that have received massive amounts of funding lately (Double Fine's Adventure Game - $3.3 million raised, Wasteland 2 - 2.3 million raised) but even smaller, lesser known projects are making good money - Check out these ones that are well over their targets and still have many weeks left to go...
I'd gladly contribute cash towards a project like this, and I know plenty of others would too. Not sure if it fits with what you guys are aiming to achieve with this project, but it's worth considering...If you had money to do anything you wanted to do with the game, what would you do?
Howie already works in the game industry. I don't think a 'for profit' game is even a possibility.. take it for what it is, an exceptional project and incredibly good fortune for those of us who'll get to play it.
Thanks, guys!
Pearse: Thanks! I'm glad the design and visuals feel cohesive after all this time. :P
japetus: Going for more of a Wing Commander/XWing mix, actually - but that's pretty close! Freespace did do some things very well, and I hope we can emulate that as well.
Comco: Thanks, man! And yes, I've totally considered doing a kickstarter for this game...unfortunately, I just don't believe that it would be popular enough to be funded that way, given that I'd pretty much have to quit my job due to contract requirements. I'm fully aware that kickstarter projects have blown up, and made millions in funding, but I gotta say... those are projects backed by solid, well-known teams with proven leadership. I don't really have...any of that. Sure, I've been doing this for damn near 9 and a half years, and have many published games under my belt...but I've never run a game company. None of my side projects I've started before have ever been finished. Anyone with an ounce of google-fu could discover all that. What I have right now is the framework of a game, and lots and lots of okay artwork. And I'm fundamentally doing this for the fun of it. And if other people enjoy it, then awesome! We might stick up a donations page, or something; if people feel the need to show the love. :P
And in answer to the "if I had the money" question...Well, If I had no need to work on anything but this, then I definitely would work on it till I was happy with the final product. Which means that this initial multiplayer/singleplayer skirmish release would not be happening. I'd make the full game, before I released. So, in a way, you're really lucky I don't have the funds, because it'd be years before you got to play anything. :P
TALON_UK: Thanks, man!
NinjaLA: Yes I do, indeed! Given that that's the case, I am completely unable to release anything for profit without either quitting my job, or going to hourly and losing all of my benefits.
So, there should be more updates coming soon... for now, our efforts are devoted to bugfixing the current build, putting active hud and instrument displays in the cockpit, and working in some more dynamic cockpit effects. I'm currently working on re-modelling the Copperhead to more closely match the other, more recent ships.
Wow. I had no idea your employment contracts were that restrictive.
Having said that, I wasn't suggesting (or at least, did not intend to imply) that Kickstarter and selling the game are connected. Would it not be possible to have Kickstarter fund, for example, the costs of getting a real orchestra to perform the music (and get a composer to do some music if you don't already have that) for your "not for profit" game?
Ie, you're still using your own time to create a free game, you're just outsourcing one component of the game and are paying them for that work. You then present it as such to the Kickstarter community - ie, here's my game. Here's some screenshots and videos. Here how far it is. You'll get to play it regardless, but it will be that much more awesome if you drop us a few bucks to take it to the next level.
If that didn't violate your contract, and was something you wanted to do, the beauty of it is that there's very little risk involved. You set your target and people pledge funds. If you don't reach the target, then no one pays anything.
So, update! there's quite a lot of awesome progress on the in game part of this whole thing... youtube link to come, hopefully soon... And I've been working on re-working the two original fighters I made on the human side - the Copperhead and the Boomslang.
Here's the latest update to the Copperhead:
I still (obviously) have the wings left to do, as well as the space at the back, between the engines. Need to have some serious greebling back there.
Thoughts?
Enjoy!
Posts
With regards to a rear turret that will be a nice way to add interesting detail to the rear, and I have to agree that a dorsal and ventral turret may be necessary to give sufficient fire arc coverage.
An idea just popped in my mind: how about making them really rotating sections, with the three big weapon barrels attached to the right one? For a Bomber it seems to be a nice option to be able to shoot at some capships in a flyby (with the bottom of the bomber facing the target)...
Knight26: You're very right, of course.These particular torpedoes have shield generators, so I'd not be shocked that they're kept very clean.
Tochiro76: A good suggest, but we've already got a ship with a cloaking device, the Diamondback. This bomber is a 1 man deal, and we're thinking the turrets will be automated/AI controlled.
Talon_UK: Yeah, it's not really intended to be super maneuverable in-atmo... those are mostly just directional controllers. It's got more than enough thrust to fly, though - it's just a flying brick. So for adding detail to the rear.. I decided that as a long-range bomber, this guy should have the same warpjump drives as the Cobra... So I added those in there. Filled it in nicely.
Annihilator: Yeah, it may look that way, but they're really not. And moving subparts is really out of the question for this kind of game - since everything is a sprite, ever rotational angle would need a completely different sprite set of 544 images. Prohibitive, to say the least.
Anyhow, barring any earth-shattering critique or feedback, it's done.
http://www.hedfiles.net/hognose60.png
http://www.hedfiles.net/hognose61.png
http://www.hedfiles.net/hognose62.png
http://www.hedfiles.net/hognose63.png
http://www.hedfiles.net/hognose64.png
http://www.hedfiles.net/hognose65.png
Turned out to be 1 million tris. All hand-built, no meshsmoothing. Enjoy!
Can we see a clay or wireframe render? I am having an difficult time seeing what details are textured vs. modeled lol
Every panel line is modeled.
Agreed. Excellent renders.
Thanks a bunch for putting those up
Here are some more of the Diamondback and Cobra:
Enjoy!
Beautiful, stunning work Howard!
:thumb:
Road Warrior, TALON_UK: Thanks, guys!
Anyhow, Spent time making some alien Capships...
And a Frigate:
And we figured out a way to greatly increase loading times - we put every rotation of each ship on an individual sprite sheet - which gets us 17 individual sheets per fighter, which loads so much faster than 544 single sprites!
And I also did some debris for the alien fighters:
And larger stuff for the Human fighters:
Enjoy!
ItAâs a wonderfull work, none less than this!:thumb:
http://youtu.be/s3PCsQwAQsw << Watch in HD
Not only is all the design and modelling excellent in still form, but the game itself looks a lot of fun too.
There's been a lot of talk about Kickstarter and some of the big (BIG!) projects that have received massive amounts of funding lately (Double Fine's Adventure Game - $3.3 million raised, Wasteland 2 - 2.3 million raised) but even smaller, lesser known projects are making good money - Check out these ones that are well over their targets and still have many weeks left to go...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crateentertainment/grim-dawn?ref=category
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/69341191/xenonauts?ref=category
I'd gladly contribute cash towards a project like this, and I know plenty of others would too. Not sure if it fits with what you guys are aiming to achieve with this project, but it's worth considering...If you had money to do anything you wanted to do with the game, what would you do?
Pearse: Thanks! I'm glad the design and visuals feel cohesive after all this time. :P
japetus: Going for more of a Wing Commander/XWing mix, actually - but that's pretty close! Freespace did do some things very well, and I hope we can emulate that as well.
Comco: Thanks, man! And yes, I've totally considered doing a kickstarter for this game...unfortunately, I just don't believe that it would be popular enough to be funded that way, given that I'd pretty much have to quit my job due to contract requirements. I'm fully aware that kickstarter projects have blown up, and made millions in funding, but I gotta say... those are projects backed by solid, well-known teams with proven leadership. I don't really have...any of that. Sure, I've been doing this for damn near 9 and a half years, and have many published games under my belt...but I've never run a game company. None of my side projects I've started before have ever been finished. Anyone with an ounce of google-fu could discover all that. What I have right now is the framework of a game, and lots and lots of okay artwork. And I'm fundamentally doing this for the fun of it. And if other people enjoy it, then awesome! We might stick up a donations page, or something; if people feel the need to show the love. :P
And in answer to the "if I had the money" question...Well, If I had no need to work on anything but this, then I definitely would work on it till I was happy with the final product. Which means that this initial multiplayer/singleplayer skirmish release would not be happening. I'd make the full game, before I released. So, in a way, you're really lucky I don't have the funds, because it'd be years before you got to play anything. :P
TALON_UK: Thanks, man!
NinjaLA: Yes I do, indeed! Given that that's the case, I am completely unable to release anything for profit without either quitting my job, or going to hourly and losing all of my benefits.
So, there should be more updates coming soon... for now, our efforts are devoted to bugfixing the current build, putting active hud and instrument displays in the cockpit, and working in some more dynamic cockpit effects. I'm currently working on re-modelling the Copperhead to more closely match the other, more recent ships.
Having said that, I wasn't suggesting (or at least, did not intend to imply) that Kickstarter and selling the game are connected. Would it not be possible to have Kickstarter fund, for example, the costs of getting a real orchestra to perform the music (and get a composer to do some music if you don't already have that) for your "not for profit" game?
Ie, you're still using your own time to create a free game, you're just outsourcing one component of the game and are paying them for that work. You then present it as such to the Kickstarter community - ie, here's my game. Here's some screenshots and videos. Here how far it is. You'll get to play it regardless, but it will be that much more awesome if you drop us a few bucks to take it to the next level.
If that didn't violate your contract, and was something you wanted to do, the beauty of it is that there's very little risk involved. You set your target and people pledge funds. If you don't reach the target, then no one pays anything.
Here's the latest update to the Copperhead:
I still (obviously) have the wings left to do, as well as the space at the back, between the engines. Need to have some serious greebling back there.
Thoughts?
Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/5zVXmxa3OWM
I'd love any feedback you guys have.