Tovette - I considered that at first too, but then thought that, considering you'll be seeing this launch sequence - in a few different variations - throughout the time you're playing the game, the amount of stuff going on might actually engage the player more in the long run - every time you watch it again, you see something different. I kind of like that idea - as opposed to the "same old boring launch sequence for the 20th time. *yawn*" reaction.
Ho I did not realize until that last launch sequence that all the ingame objects would be sprites. I thought that only the cockpit would be but the ships would be low poly 3d, like in wing commander 3. Apprently you're going full sprite like in the first 2 wing commanders and privateer. While it works fine with fast moving fighters, I remmember big ships don't look so good when the suddenly turn 45 degrees. Unless you plan to add more view angles.
It's not so much an issue of the physical size of the ship as how close you get to them. Certainly you can't do any flying in and out of the shield generators like on X-Wing. But from what I can see of that last launch sequence the illusion is pretty smooth. Though I'd be really interested in seeing some mocked up flying to see what it's like.
Dr Jones: Yeah, it's completely sprite-based. And not to worry! We're adding much more resolution, and many more sprites for each ship. Right now small fighters are 128x128, normal fighters are 256x256, and all capships are 512x512. All ships have 544 angles of rotation. (every 15 degrees, give or take)
Comco: Thanks, man - I should probably stick that warning in from now on. :P
Tovette: Yeah, that's a concern for me... I'm sorta stuck in not having animations that are freaking long posted on the forums... but yeah, in the finals, the boot up sequence will end before the launch sequence starts. I'm going to have one of the flight deck guys signalling out of the corner of your eye. And there are soo many little blue lights... to which ones are your referring?
Comco: Also true - which is why the timing and animation of the launch sequence will vary slightly. Also, I want to have the option for a "crash launch" for things like emergencies and scrambles...
Crix Dorius: Good eye! I'll fix that in the next render!
Armondikov: Also true. We're going to use as much in-universe fiction and reasoning we can to keep the players from getting too close to the ships. The enemy capships will be truly devastating, and damn near unsurvivable at close range. You'll definitely need to use the heavies in your flightgroup for that, or if you're flying one yourself, use some intense fighter screening to survive the alien swarms. For friendly capships, we intend to use bridge comms officers to tell the player he's getting too close. (Negative, Ghostrider!) and if you don't comply they may go weapons/free on your cocky hotshot ass. :P
Annihilator: Okay, not sure why the fighter launching nose-down is a problem? This is space, there's no lift to be concerned with. And I see most of that nose down movement as being caused by the accelleration against the landing gear in a gravity well (the ship who's launching)...And nope, that's a Proxxie Destroyer. The St Nazaire will be traveling with at least two of those at any given time...
Looks spectacular. :cool:
Three things -
1 - I am left wondering is whether that very small area for the HUD and targeting reticule will make it tough to fly with or not.
2 - The blue HUD colouring seems quite hard to see at the moment, even against the launch tube background. I wonder if it is worth cranking up the brightness a little?
3 - The canopy locks in and snaps shut very quickly. Might look better if it drops down into place and then waits a second or so before sliding forward and locking into place, emphasising the "hard seal" that would be taking place.
Comco: Thanks.
1 - Yes. Well, maybe. It will definitely be different than the other fighters to fly. And if it's slightly harder, I'm perfectly okay with that. If you remember the original Wing commander - the Scimitar was a lot harder to fly than the other fighters - but that's what made it memorable.
2 - Yeah, I can see that. I was mostly going for unobtrustive. That may have been a mistake. Keep in mind that these will be either full screen or 2x scaled up when you're playing - the thing is much easier to see when that's the case. http://www.hedfiles.net/cockpitscale.png << click to see a 2x scaled version...
3 - Great idea! Best part is that it wouldn't require a who lot of re-work. In the final launch animation I'll set it up that way.
Dr. Jones: Take a look at that link above and see if you still think so. If so I'll change it.
Okay, I got Saturday mostly to myself to do some work on this...And I used the time to make a new fighter. The Cobra!
This one is the heavy fighter of the bunch - designed to tear through other fighters at medium to close range while being able to take some damage. 8 guns give her a lot of hitting power. She's fast, but not very maneuverable. She's also the first of 2 playable fighters that has a Morris-Thorne Wormbridge Drive - meaning she has the capability of interstellar travel.
I'm still working on the model, and the textures. Long way to go, but you can see the direction I'm heading, I hope.
Thoughts?
Okay, a bit of an update!
I finally got around to polishing up some of displays, and did the reticule, *finally*!
Any thoughts?
Finally got around to viewing this on my desktop rather than my netbook that can't quite hack animated pngs at full framerate (!) and yeah, looks awesome. I definitely agree that you spot a new detail each time.
There's something about the Cobra design that just looks out of place to me at the moment. Of course, it's a purely subjective thing, but it's just not a design that you can look at and immediately get, if you know what I mean. Your other designs are definite "Yep, that's a light fighter!" type designs - easily identifiable by their design and layout.
A couple of things - and again, it's all entirely subjective, of course!
1 - For a heavy fighter, those wings look very fragile. Of course, that could be explained away because they are made out of absurdium, but it's more a design observation that they look a little flimsy right now.
2 - There's something about the nose area below the cockpit that just looks...Odd...I'm finding it hard to explain. It looks like you may be planning to put something there anyway...Perhaps an Apache-type optical/sensor module or something similar?
3 - The design seems to be missing something around the mid plane that may balance it out a little more. Perhaps some missile/weapons pods that have a supporting strut that extends out and rearwards from the side of the ship just behind the cockpit out to past the current laser cannons (or whatever you are calling them... ). If you'll forgive the extremely crude 10 second doodle...
Having said all that, I have complete faith that it will look kick-ass by the time it is done. :cool:
And btw, that 2x scaled up cockpit just looks fantastic. Weird how I can feel nostalgic looking at something that is being made today. You've nailed the "look" of the Wing Commander era games beautifully. And the HUD is easily seen when scaled up. It looks great. :thumb:
Thanks, Road Warrior. Glad you like it!
Comco: Excellent points, all!
1: I thickened up the wings significantly. They're much beefier, and hopefully more in line with the rest of the fighter's general chunkiness.
2: Yah, that was definitely an undetailed area. The latest updates do show more in that area, but there's more to come. I like your idea for the sensor module - I'm definitely going to do that.
3: Agreed. Rather than add more to an already busy design, I've just moved the gunpods out away from the main body. That should help balance it out.
Glad you like the cockpits! Hopefully they all feel very nostalgic when played.
So, here's the update!
Added lots more details, and tons more texture refinements.
Thoughts?
Much improved! It's looking great. Those wings are far more beefy now and really make me think "bomber" for some reason. It could just be me, but it conveys that feeling of a heavily armed ship far better now.
Are those torpedo/missile tubes visible just off the center line either side of the nose? I wonder if there's any way you could make them more obvious as such...Maybe a black and yellow "danger" stripe pattern across them? Not really sure...Or (if that is what they are...) a more visible opening mechanism, such as a two piece folding door mechanism that opens prior to launch?
Would be great to see a perspective shot of the front now - We got one of the updated back, but not the front. What I suggest might not actually be needed when seeing the ship from such an angle, but I wonder if those wings could be bent off the horizontal plan a little? Either, say, 10 degrees downwards or upwards. At the moment, it looks a little...bland from the front-on perspective. Maybe folding wings for landing and storing on the ship easier? Just an idea...
I love what you've done with the engines. The overall arrangement and the engines themselves look great.
Oh - one more thing...The tail fins probably need to be beefed up a little now as well as they look a little out of place/flimsy when compared to the revise wings...
Thanks, Meph!
Comco: I'm glad the beefed up wings worked better - if they hadn't I'm not sure what the solution would've been. Those tubes are at this point just greebles, with no specific purpose in mind. I did add some danger striping around the gun mounts, and may continue to add it elsewhere. The wings do fold for storage and launch - they only deploy once the ship is in open space. It's the only way this monster will fit down the launch tube! Glad the engines look good - I'm sort of mixing the Scimitar from WC, and the Star Wars prequel bomber I made a while back. I dunno if I still have pictures of that one, but if I can find them, I'll post them.
Here's the latest!
Thoughts?
Oh, also - Comco, this is one with the wings down slanted. I really, Really like it.
Really like it.
Nice, coming to this late I've just had a look at the last page of this heavy fighter, and funnily enough all the issues I could see with it were addressed by the bottom of the page, some great modifications there which have improved the model no end, the thicker wings and more cohesive paint job have done this design a world of good, great work.
Will have to bob back and see what else you've been up to in this thread.
Road Warrior: Thanks, man!
TALON_UK: Thanks! I hope the rest of the thread lives up to expectations.
Armondikov: Done.
Knight26: Yeah, I definitely agree. The joint is right at the wing root.
Minor updates and upgrades. Felt like it needed some nose art.
Not so sure about the nose art, don't really think the shape lends itself to that design personally, only my opinion obviously.
Oh, and the rest of the art in this thread is great, some really original designs, and loving the Chris Foss style paint jobs, and the alien craft and interiors look really cool too. Nice body of work.
TALON_UK: Yeah, I may not keep that nose art. I kinda like it, but if everyone keeps on hating on it, I'll be easily swayed. :P I'm glad you like the rest of it!
Elowan: Thanks!
Road Warrior: I appreciate it!
RewiredMonkey: Thanks, man. Don't be jealous - Took me a long time of mediocrity to get here. :P
Annihilator: Yeah, it may not stay. Also, awesome. Angler-iffic!
So, Jan and I did some more work on the actual prototype, and the first thing on the list was to get the actual space backgrounds in there. After a few misteps, We got this running:
And now we're working on space debris, getting the HUD and all the Cockpit displays up and running, and controls and handling.
Still got to finish the Cobra up as well.
Thoughts?
shark teeth look best when oriented around the natural maw of the design (air intake on an f16, gau-8 port of an A10) , the natural maw of your design is below and much larger than the graphic so it looks like the graphics are in the wrong place. Conflicting with rather than harmonising with the geometry - essentially working against the the natural zoomorphism of the design itself when you're deliberately suggesting zoomorphism with the graphics. So yeah it looks weird;)
Posts
The only thing which I think is a little bit off is that the orange flicker in the cockpit is a little bit too soon.
It's not so much an issue of the physical size of the ship as how close you get to them. Certainly you can't do any flying in and out of the shield generators like on X-Wing. But from what I can see of that last launch sequence the illusion is pretty smooth. Though I'd be really interested in seeing some mocked up flying to see what it's like.
also - is that a kushan carrier out there :rolleyes:
Comco: Thanks, man - I should probably stick that warning in from now on. :P
Tovette: Yeah, that's a concern for me... I'm sorta stuck in not having animations that are freaking long posted on the forums... but yeah, in the finals, the boot up sequence will end before the launch sequence starts. I'm going to have one of the flight deck guys signalling out of the corner of your eye.
Comco: Also true - which is why the timing and animation of the launch sequence will vary slightly. Also, I want to have the option for a "crash launch" for things like emergencies and scrambles...
Crix Dorius: Good eye! I'll fix that in the next render!
Armondikov: Also true. We're going to use as much in-universe fiction and reasoning we can to keep the players from getting too close to the ships. The enemy capships will be truly devastating, and damn near unsurvivable at close range. You'll definitely need to use the heavies in your flightgroup for that, or if you're flying one yourself, use some intense fighter screening to survive the alien swarms. For friendly capships, we intend to use bridge comms officers to tell the player he's getting too close. (Negative, Ghostrider!) and if you don't comply they may go weapons/free on your cocky hotshot ass. :P
Annihilator: Okay, not sure why the fighter launching nose-down is a problem? This is space, there's no lift to be concerned with.
I finally got around to polishing up some of displays, and did the reticule, *finally*!
Any thoughts?
Three things -
1 - I am left wondering is whether that very small area for the HUD and targeting reticule will make it tough to fly with or not.
2 - The blue HUD colouring seems quite hard to see at the moment, even against the launch tube background. I wonder if it is worth cranking up the brightness a little?
3 - The canopy locks in and snaps shut very quickly. Might look better if it drops down into place and then waits a second or so before sliding forward and locking into place, emphasising the "hard seal" that would be taking place.
1 - Yes. Well, maybe. It will definitely be different than the other fighters to fly. And if it's slightly harder, I'm perfectly okay with that. If you remember the original Wing commander - the Scimitar was a lot harder to fly than the other fighters - but that's what made it memorable.
2 - Yeah, I can see that. I was mostly going for unobtrustive. That may have been a mistake. Keep in mind that these will be either full screen or 2x scaled up when you're playing - the thing is much easier to see when that's the case.
http://www.hedfiles.net/cockpitscale.png << click to see a 2x scaled version...
3 - Great idea! Best part is that it wouldn't require a who lot of re-work. In the final launch animation I'll set it up that way.
Dr. Jones: Take a look at that link above and see if you still think so.
Okay, I got Saturday mostly to myself to do some work on this...And I used the time to make a new fighter. The Cobra!
This one is the heavy fighter of the bunch - designed to tear through other fighters at medium to close range while being able to take some damage. 8 guns give her a lot of hitting power. She's fast, but not very maneuverable. She's also the first of 2 playable fighters that has a Morris-Thorne Wormbridge Drive - meaning she has the capability of interstellar travel.
I'm still working on the model, and the textures. Long way to go, but you can see the direction I'm heading, I hope.
Thoughts?
Finally got around to viewing this on my desktop rather than my netbook that can't quite hack animated pngs at full framerate (!) and yeah, looks awesome. I definitely agree that you spot a new detail each time.
A couple of things - and again, it's all entirely subjective, of course!
1 - For a heavy fighter, those wings look very fragile. Of course, that could be explained away because they are made out of absurdium, but it's more a design observation that they look a little flimsy right now.
2 - There's something about the nose area below the cockpit that just looks...Odd...I'm finding it hard to explain. It looks like you may be planning to put something there anyway...Perhaps an Apache-type optical/sensor module or something similar?
3 - The design seems to be missing something around the mid plane that may balance it out a little more. Perhaps some missile/weapons pods that have a supporting strut that extends out and rearwards from the side of the ship just behind the cockpit out to past the current laser cannons (or whatever you are calling them...
terrible_drawing.jpg
(No, you're right, I CANNOT draw to save my life!
Having said all that, I have complete faith that it will look kick-ass by the time it is done. :cool:
And btw, that 2x scaled up cockpit just looks fantastic. Weird how I can feel nostalgic looking at something that is being made today. You've nailed the "look" of the Wing Commander era games beautifully. And the HUD is easily seen when scaled up. It looks great. :thumb:
Comco: Excellent points, all!
1: I thickened up the wings significantly. They're much beefier, and hopefully more in line with the rest of the fighter's general chunkiness.
2: Yah, that was definitely an undetailed area. The latest updates do show more in that area, but there's more to come. I like your idea for the sensor module - I'm definitely going to do that.
3: Agreed. Rather than add more to an already busy design, I've just moved the gunpods out away from the main body. That should help balance it out.
Glad you like the cockpits! Hopefully they all feel very nostalgic when played.
So, here's the update!
Added lots more details, and tons more texture refinements.
Thoughts?
Are those torpedo/missile tubes visible just off the center line either side of the nose? I wonder if there's any way you could make them more obvious as such...Maybe a black and yellow "danger" stripe pattern across them? Not really sure...Or (if that is what they are...) a more visible opening mechanism, such as a two piece folding door mechanism that opens prior to launch?
Would be great to see a perspective shot of the front now - We got one of the updated back, but not the front.
I love what you've done with the engines. The overall arrangement and the engines themselves look great.
Oh - one more thing...The tail fins probably need to be beefed up a little now as well as they look a little out of place/flimsy when compared to the revise wings...
Comco: I'm glad the beefed up wings worked better - if they hadn't I'm not sure what the solution would've been. Those tubes are at this point just greebles, with no specific purpose in mind. I did add some danger striping around the gun mounts, and may continue to add it elsewhere. The wings do fold for storage and launch - they only deploy once the ship is in open space. It's the only way this monster will fit down the launch tube! Glad the engines look good - I'm sort of mixing the Scimitar from WC, and the Star Wars prequel bomber I made a while back. I dunno if I still have pictures of that one, but if I can find them, I'll post them.
Here's the latest!
Thoughts?
Oh, also - Comco, this is one with the wings down slanted. I really, Really like it.
Really like it.
Will have to bob back and see what else you've been up to in this thread.
TALON_UK: Thanks! I hope the rest of the thread lives up to expectations.
Armondikov: Done.
Knight26: Yeah, I definitely agree. The joint is right at the wing root.
Minor updates and upgrades. Felt like it needed some nose art.
Thoughts?
Oh, and the rest of the art in this thread is great, some really original designs, and loving the Chris Foss style paint jobs, and the alien craft and interiors look really cool too. Nice body of work.
the shape of the spacecraft reminds me more of an angler fish.
Elowan: Thanks!
Road Warrior: I appreciate it!
RewiredMonkey: Thanks, man. Don't be jealous - Took me a long time of mediocrity to get here. :P
Annihilator: Yeah, it may not stay. Also, awesome. Angler-iffic!
So, Jan and I did some more work on the actual prototype, and the first thing on the list was to get the actual space backgrounds in there. After a few misteps, We got this running:
And now we're working on space debris, getting the HUD and all the Cockpit displays up and running, and controls and handling.
Still got to finish the Cobra up as well.
Thoughts?