TF2 - Polypack - Zwebbie (2)
polycounter lvl 18
Done! I submitted too late because the Internet was down, so we'll have to see...
--- original post ---
I'm still finishing up my Soldier pack a bit, but here's a start on a new one already. We'll see where it ends up.
Also, no roleplaying this time, because it's hard to answer people while still maintaining the character of someone who has no idea what 3D models are.
So:
Class: Heavy
Theme: Black Ops
Sound weird? Allow me to elaborate.
I think Team Fortress 2's art direction has a bit of a downhill slope. Its original assets, in my opinion, are still the most charming. If you look at the vanilla version of the team, you can see from the story behind TF2 a bit. To quote the Meet the Team overview: For any problem lacking an obvious bureaucratic solution, mercenaries like these are contracted to address the situation through a massive application of force. And you can see that reflected by the fact that their clothing and weapons all look like they were issued by the same company. At the same time, these items are tailored to their needs and specialities.
With the updates, this is getting lost a bit. What kind of secret government would hand out Axtinguishers to its mercenaries? Where do ancient swords and shields fit into the '50s and '60s?
A more subtle example is the Scout's bat. It's obvious the Scout is handy with a bat, given his past. The original bat looks like one that's custom made for him, since it looks to be from the same metal as his Pistol, and it had the team logos on it back in Beta. The Sandman looks like any old bat, certainly not the kind of thing that a secret organisation would supply its mercenaries with.
Certainly you can see how most of the hats are even worse. It's like the team went to the most nationalistic flea market to get some typical and outrageous hats to fit with their sober and efficient costumes. Let's not even discuss Max's Severed Head or the Earbuds. In short, I think the team is losing a good deal of its professionality. And since that professionality is their backstory, because they're all mercenaries, jokes are made at the cost of character.
So I want to have this pack look like it's organisation issue professional hardware, just as the original weapons and customes (mostly) were.
That's one part of the story.
The other is the humour.
Take 2Fort. 2Fort is disguised in the middle as an industrial building and a farm. The best name they could come up with for a farm front was Happy Farmers Cooperative. Just outside of the fences are flat, wooden cows to make it look like a real farm. While inside, you find all the classic spy tropes, the intelligence in a briefcase on a desk with a huge chair. Through the windows of the intelligence room, you can see a multitude of computers with at the end of the room a map of the world that doubtlessly describes some plan for world domination. All of that is funny. It's funnier than anything that Saxton Hale ever does.
It's remarkably easy to overlook, but the theme runs throughout; a badly concealed secret base. You'll see huge rockets, radar dishes and ray weapons, flanked by buildings that try to maintain a facade of industry and farming.
So I'm going to experiment a bit with the humour of a well funded, but not too bright secret organisation, adding scopes and silencers to the weapons of a loud and clumsy gorilla, the Heavy.
The Heavy, then, because he is the least subtle of all the classes, but also because he and the Pyro seem to be taking the brunt of the silliness in this competition, which I'd like to try and counterbalance.
Now, you're all expecting some very pretty images after heaving read all that, but I'm going to have to disappoint you.
Testing some ideas for hats. The first is just an exact copy of the Scout's, but I think it looks remarkably good. More later.
A quick test on a silhouette for a silenced Shotgun. Not sure if I'll even make a silenced shotgun, because a silenced Minigun is also neat.
--- original post ---
I'm still finishing up my Soldier pack a bit, but here's a start on a new one already. We'll see where it ends up.
Also, no roleplaying this time, because it's hard to answer people while still maintaining the character of someone who has no idea what 3D models are.
So:
Class: Heavy
Theme: Black Ops
Sound weird? Allow me to elaborate.
I think Team Fortress 2's art direction has a bit of a downhill slope. Its original assets, in my opinion, are still the most charming. If you look at the vanilla version of the team, you can see from the story behind TF2 a bit. To quote the Meet the Team overview: For any problem lacking an obvious bureaucratic solution, mercenaries like these are contracted to address the situation through a massive application of force. And you can see that reflected by the fact that their clothing and weapons all look like they were issued by the same company. At the same time, these items are tailored to their needs and specialities.
With the updates, this is getting lost a bit. What kind of secret government would hand out Axtinguishers to its mercenaries? Where do ancient swords and shields fit into the '50s and '60s?
A more subtle example is the Scout's bat. It's obvious the Scout is handy with a bat, given his past. The original bat looks like one that's custom made for him, since it looks to be from the same metal as his Pistol, and it had the team logos on it back in Beta. The Sandman looks like any old bat, certainly not the kind of thing that a secret organisation would supply its mercenaries with.
Certainly you can see how most of the hats are even worse. It's like the team went to the most nationalistic flea market to get some typical and outrageous hats to fit with their sober and efficient costumes. Let's not even discuss Max's Severed Head or the Earbuds. In short, I think the team is losing a good deal of its professionality. And since that professionality is their backstory, because they're all mercenaries, jokes are made at the cost of character.
So I want to have this pack look like it's organisation issue professional hardware, just as the original weapons and customes (mostly) were.
That's one part of the story.
The other is the humour.
Take 2Fort. 2Fort is disguised in the middle as an industrial building and a farm. The best name they could come up with for a farm front was Happy Farmers Cooperative. Just outside of the fences are flat, wooden cows to make it look like a real farm. While inside, you find all the classic spy tropes, the intelligence in a briefcase on a desk with a huge chair. Through the windows of the intelligence room, you can see a multitude of computers with at the end of the room a map of the world that doubtlessly describes some plan for world domination. All of that is funny. It's funnier than anything that Saxton Hale ever does.
It's remarkably easy to overlook, but the theme runs throughout; a badly concealed secret base. You'll see huge rockets, radar dishes and ray weapons, flanked by buildings that try to maintain a facade of industry and farming.
So I'm going to experiment a bit with the humour of a well funded, but not too bright secret organisation, adding scopes and silencers to the weapons of a loud and clumsy gorilla, the Heavy.
The Heavy, then, because he is the least subtle of all the classes, but also because he and the Pyro seem to be taking the brunt of the silliness in this competition, which I'd like to try and counterbalance.
Now, you're all expecting some very pretty images after heaving read all that, but I'm going to have to disappoint you.
Testing some ideas for hats. The first is just an exact copy of the Scout's, but I think it looks remarkably good. More later.
A quick test on a silhouette for a silenced Shotgun. Not sure if I'll even make a silenced shotgun, because a silenced Minigun is also neat.
Replies
I like the first hat, but the last one would work.
RUN COWAAARDS bonk
Perhaps a secret service hat with a parody of the gru or kgb logo on it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB
but you know what the second hat reminds me of?
[ame]
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Hmm...
MAGGOTS
So back to the special ops theme, I take it you want the weaponry to have a nice and tidy 'well-designed' aesthetic, with some over the top military gadgetry. A quick google on 'silenced minigun' didn't turn up anything real for you to go on, which works to your advantage imo. Its probably impossible to make anything like that in reality so you could really go nuts with the design of the business end of the minigun ('Shusha'?:))
Other than making the weapons look really clean and not ram'shackled together (which is kind of an obvious statement to make) I don't really know what else to suggest at this time. But I wish you the best of luck and can't wait to see what new toys you conjure up
I like this theme actually. The heavys character has gone from "gun obsessed giant russian man" to "oversized russian child, plus gun". OP's catering to the former. Givin the big guy some properly made guns to obsess over (like he should) would be great.
That is the best:
I hope you best of luck
Disregarding the recent update that brought us the earbuds, I think that might be a little too modern.
Yeah, exactly! The Heavy from Meet the Heavy doesn't look or sound like the kind of guy who would talk to sandwiches or wear a toque, let alone use some of the downright ridiculous things that many of the people in this competition seem to be making for him.
Well worded!
Yes, I've been thinking about that, but I agree with Simski that it doesn't look very retro... the wire is cool, though.
---
Small update: I liked the first hat best, even if it's a copy of the Scout's, so I modeled it out and tested some eyepieces. I don't like any of them, but it was worth a try.
2 is an attempt to recreate the feel of a super villain henchmen by making him more faceless.
3 is the inclusion of sun glasses, as I'd drawn out, to play on the 'secret' theme a bit.
4 has smaller sun glasses, to fit his small eyes.
it's TFC HEAVY!
...yes, in fact, I do want that. This should happen!
left not right :P
My favorite is the second one, those goggles looks so rad!
I did do some more tests with eyewear, though, and also testing sizes and angles, because the Heavy's brow is ridiculously prominent (read: annoying to work with):
agree
would you consider team coloured lenses?
Anyways, I wish you the best of luck! Would be nice to see a change of pace with the heavy themes, I do agree with you. That or maybe something Soviet like with Thrillho's pack.
That'd be epic.
Team colored mirror lenses would be kinda cool. Heavies facial expressions change alot, making it hard for goggles to work however.
3 is the best
I didn't realise how little time there's left, so the goggles will have to be put on hold for now; if I get the time, I'll make them into a 4th item, but not for now.
I've finished the hat, and am trying out different colours for it. The team coloured version is pretty ugly, if you ask me, because it doesn't look very professional. But I thought I'd show anyway. I'm personally leaning towards the second one, because it's less Scout-like.
Good luck with this pack by the way
Second is the same color as the vests accents (a rich earthy brown)
Third is the same color as his shirt (team colored)
Minigun!
Minigun is looking good! It seems a bit too simple right now though for some reason but I'm not sure what else could be added. I think it's because the canister and that entire area is very small compared to the other miniguns. Maybe there could be one canister on each side feeding two belts into it?
haha, thought that too!
The ammo container looks like a wheel, I'm sure texture will fix that
Besides, the light color matches the light brown on his vest nicely.
@Rogue Trooper: It's a bit of a joke; maybe a lame one, but Valve can easily remove it if they don't like it. Plus, it helps distinguish this gun from the regular one in first person view.
Update! I'll make a comparison of differently coloured canisters soon.