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LOCKED 7/11/2012 2:35:50 PM, Old PRE-ALPHA topic

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95 months ago by
JanJirkovsky
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Keen Software House

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Greetings dear fans!

A lot of graphic work has been done recently by our lead 3D artist Filip Novy. Below is a small introduction to some of the stuff coming soon into the game – in about a week, you will see all of the new ships and space stations in Miner Wars 2081!

Unique spaceship models – 22 spaceships have been completely redesigned and retextured to better represent the factions they belong to. And all of them look really great with the new design!

Special texture sets for seven factions – all four major factions plus three of the minor factions have had their space bases redesigned. That means all the prefabs from which you build the space station have new textures and other minor adjustments to make you “feel” as if you really are inside Euro-American, Arab, Chinese, or Fourth Reich space station!

See for yourself in the Pictures section -
http://www.minerwars.com/Pics.aspx

We look forward to feedback from you!

MinerWars0162FullHD.png

MinerWars0165FullHD.png

MinerWars0167FullHD.png

MinerWars0172FullHD.png

MinerWars0173FullHD.png

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95 months ago by
MarekRosa
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Common people! Say something... I mean, these pics are so brutally beautiful - artists deserve at least one WOW!
:)

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95 months ago by
Scuderia
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well I had already seen a few sneak previews so my wow factor is slightly reduced but I think they look amazing!! Fantastic to see the new ship models too, I think they look very cool and much better :) Its also good how you can identify the faction type from the paint job now. Excellent!

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95 months ago by
Comodorre

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Wow, huge progress!

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95 months ago by
Madfish

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Great job so far. It's progressing well.

What I like:

+ the idea of factions with unique paintschemes
+ that (almost) all models seem to have vector thrusters
+ generally all those models that look like submarines (space and deep sea are similar after all in some regards)
especially:
+ the awesome Russian models! They fit the whole setting VERY well
+ the left model from the EU-American faction
+ the models for the omnicorp faction
and lastly:
+ the station models are a tad bit too playful sometimes. Those human face posters just don't fit in there at all I believe and especially 4th reich with all that cheesy propaganda looks a bit awkward and ruins the mood a little.
Generally though I like the designs and it will probably be very intersting to see in game.
I'd recommend to always have "neutral prefabs" though. So that for instance players could combine several faction prefabs when building their station.

What I don't like:

- How color schemes could potentially end up imbalanced. For example compare the Russians to OmniCorp and just guess whom you'd see easier in a dark asteroid tunnel.
- possible visual collisions of factions once paintscheme options run out as the current models look the same mostly.
- at least on the picture above the models look as if they're imported from Homeworld or Team Fortress 2 or as if they're the homeowork of a 3d artist for school. Just like a comic or something. Let me describe that in detail

Personally I have a different picture in my mind when it comes to MinerWars or a universe that resolves around mining in space than what's shown to me above. These ships look like they're on display of a futuristic spacecraft showroom.

That is why I like the russian models the best. They look practical, worn out and sturdy: believable.
The ships I didn't mention in the "what I like" list above look odd to me. They all have tiny cute wings and stuff but they don't look like practical spaceships for mining and combat but instead more like toys.

This effect is even strenghtened by the size differences and positioning of the vector thrusters.
For example vector thrust placement outside the center of gravity (would make the ship rotate instead moving it along the axis)
Or the complete lack of thrusters on the first (from left) 4th Reich ship.

- As I was speaking of typical Homeworld or Team Fortress 2 design above; there is something which those games have on top of colors that affects gameplay al lot: model purpose design!
The current MinerWars designs shown above lack some character I believe.
There is no way I (or anyone I bet) would ever be able to tell what the strength or weakness of these ships is. I couldn't even make a guess about how they maneuver. Are there differences? There should be, right? After all it wouldn't make sense to have 20 models if they all handle the same.

I only mention TF2 and HW since they're so well known. But I'm sure you get the idea. The scout looks fast while the heavy looks slow but sturdy. Same goes for ion cannon frigates vs. fighter drone or carrier etc. and not even just the size but also thruster placement and proportions, hull design and weapon design.

So that said I hope those models are not final. I'd love to see some simple sketches that then could be looked at and analyzed if players see the ships character in the design. Right now I see a random bunch of very colorful models with no character at all but instead a lot of (completely unfunctional) wings etc.

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95 months ago by
Scuderia
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the last two ships in the pic look like they would go pretty hard :)

Nitrous anyone?

^_^

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95 months ago by
Varge

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nice, but.....

I'm rolling with dem big ships ;)

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95 months ago by
Varge

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oh one more thing, i think teh yellow textures are a bit too bright, maybe making them more matte or with dark dots like this: http://www.wallpaper77.com/upload/DesktopWallpapers/cache/Nuke-abstract-wallpapers-vector-wallpaper-vectors-1024x600.jpg

This should be done in order to keep the grim atmosphere of the game (apocalyptic like)

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95 months ago by
coughmist

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Great job! Those ships look really fantastic! Cheers to Filip! The space station innards look nice, also!

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90 months ago by
skyydragonn

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While i commend the art staff for the quality of the texturing. there is one thing those screenshots GLARINGLY show. Extreme overuse of repetative textures and geometry. for example in the Arab (purple) screenshot you can Obviously see the textures were mirrored from left to right (the greyish "lights?" at the corridor entrance texture was flipped horizontally and reused in an almost identical manner directly opposite itself, this makes it look less belieavable and far from organic. The textures themselves wlook good, but the mirroring and overuse makes the whole sceen feel, I dunno....Prefabricated and takes away the sence that it could be a real place, thus breaking immersion. Not to mention making it hard as hell to keep visual cue's of locations.

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LOCKED 7/11/2012 2:35:50 PM, Old PRE-ALPHA topic

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