Hi! I wanted to share my attempt to create sc-fi tank design. I see that it turned out badly, but maybe there is a way to make it better, maybe add somethig, or send it to the trash and start over?
Well in my opinion, the design / silhouette is visually appealing which overall thankfully convey key features that are distinct too real world vehicles i.e. main gun & secondary armament, turret, angular paneled hull and tracked running gear (...personally I'm done seeing loads of the scifi 'hover' greebled variety) however for me what really counts is it's functional form.
In a sense, mechanically plausible components, especially those independent suspension units for the tracks, just imagining them terrain hugging when at speed cross country, anyway simple straightforward can be highly underrated.
When talking about the design, it's very subjective. I'll be blunt and say that I don't think the design is effective. It looks like you searched "sci fi tank" on an image search and copied the first couple of images you saw. I'm really not trying to sound too harsh here, but you did say that it looks simple and inexpressive and I think that that's why.
My favourite strategy for designing something like this is to pick one aspect or one element that is very sci-fi, and make the rest somewhat realistic. So for instance, what would a current generation tank look like if it was upgraded with a super-plasma-ray-gun-thingy, or a nuclear-fusion-power-plant-thingy, or an anti-gravity-combined-with-space-warp-propulsion-system... the last one is a bit rediculous but you get the idea.
Of course this doesn't work if you're doing something that is totally out-of-this-world and 100s of years in the future. At the very least you should strongly consider the function of every single element that you make. Like why are some panels gray? Why are some gold? Why are some parts glowing? (Tanks should be stealthy in the dark!!) How does the gun aim up or down? (Yours seems fixed to the turret). In short, it just looks like no thought was given to the design.
My inclination would be to restart it. But like I said, it's very subjective.
Thanks a lot for the advice! Next time, perhaps, I will pay more attention to the logic of the real world. Btw, I used different colors in an attempt to add artistry - the same glowing elements are often used in sci-fi games just for beauty versus logic
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