UTMC - Tocsin
polycounter lvl 5
Probably a premature thread to post, but I hadn't seen much for Necris themes yet so I thought I'd get down the basic visuals and workout the rest in the coming days.
In basic, Tocsin would be a map flooded by a brackish mix of bogwater and Nanoblack; an oily swamp extending to the horizon. Players would hop between undulating platforms and the sunken, lopsided, patinated rooftops of some dilapidated European keep. Consistent with lore, the castle center of this keep would be the only thing to rise above the mire surrounding it, covered in Necris technology like mold on bread. Hopefully the castle + technology look won't look too dated. I'd like to fit in some balcony gargoyles peering into their reflections like that portrait of Narcissus too...
Anyway,
In basic, Tocsin would be a map flooded by a brackish mix of bogwater and Nanoblack; an oily swamp extending to the horizon. Players would hop between undulating platforms and the sunken, lopsided, patinated rooftops of some dilapidated European keep. Consistent with lore, the castle center of this keep would be the only thing to rise above the mire surrounding it, covered in Necris technology like mold on bread. Hopefully the castle + technology look won't look too dated. I'd like to fit in some balcony gargoyles peering into their reflections like that portrait of Narcissus too...
Anyway,
Replies
I guess I really haven't yet worked in the Necris technology that goes along with the tentacles, but the rest seems pretty consistent with whatever sparse amount of lore I could find.
If I were you I would try to convey more of the environment and don't get too zoomed into what seems like prop-detail. This looks like it might be a statue or evil fountain with those gargoyles peering into their reflections like you stated above. Unless that's bigger than it looks, there's no figure scale after all.
All im sayin is I want to see more of what you have described! As it relates to the players, the sort of visual of buildings stuck or sunk into the black goop is what captivates me as "Oh man this would be cool to play in" I'd imagine you couldn't touch the goop, or it just pulls you into dark thick soupy death much like a faster version of this [ame="
Really crazy tentacle architecture! I like the fact you leaned one of the buildings, showing that the tentacle isnt just around it, but put some strain on the buildings themselves.
9 more days....
Any information on Necris architecture outside the simple Google image searches I've been conducting would be very, very much appreciated!
Generally speaking UT3 had horrible visual clarity in the end product and the Necris maps were one of the worst offenders of this so it might be better to throw out a good deal of it and try your own take to balance their giger like theme and do it with visual clarity. It's definitely going to be a big challenge, but I think right off the bat your decision to make it a brighter clearer environment helps worlds to both see the architecture and contrasts the nanoblack much better.
But if you must have references...
Lost Cause
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Nanoblack
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Deimos (Necris space stuff)
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Omicron Dawn
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Searchlight (Ancient Necris)
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Vertebrae (Necris tentacles everywhereeee)
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Sanctuary (Religious Necris)
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Sentinel (Seems to be a castle with some Necris stuff)
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Necropolis (Necris capital city)
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Sandstorm (Necris ruins)
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Epic was overly obsessed with the Necris in UT3 which is kind of funny because up until that point it was only vaguely touched on who they were and their technology. It just felt like Gears of War and a large part of that was the gritty awful color scheme but it was also due to copying tropes and themes. Gears3 had giant tentacle architecture as well...
They completely ran the Necris theme into the ground and UT3 just ended up totally uninspiring and boring trying too hard to be ultra serious and realistic. The whole story centered around the Necris going to war with Earth so we get overly saturated with the theme and same-old gray and gray brown palette. Compare and contrast this to how the Necris were originally randomly shoe-horned into UT as just some silly undead-gothy like race no one batted an eye.
Now. That's not to say that UT should never have Necris themed maps again, but they need to be treated in moderation. There's a place for Necris weird maps in UT just not half the game... Epic has learned their lesson on many things they screwed up in UT3, just try not to make their same old mistakes of making Necris too visually busy.
Here's the best piece of lore I can find for what your asking for.
"The Necris don't build new cities, they grow them out of, on top of, and often directly through existing architecture." So just pick some cool architecture and corrupt it with Necris like stuff.
But have some official Necris environment art by Epic that'll make you want to cry and quit art OR get inspired!
Sanctuary
Necropolis
Serenity
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif] Don't throw the baby out with the bath water, here's my attempt at a Necris themed map With regards to the new visual direction.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]http://i.imgur.com/dNQWCMZ.jpg[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]http://i.imgur.com/UEXosyZ.jpg[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]http://i.imgur.com/U13IoZQ.png[/FONT]