Space Western

Ashervisalis

Yoooo I'm unemployed! If you got a job for me, hit me up!!

BUT

I've had some ideas for a fun Looney Tunes inspired Space Western which would be an arena shooter. This is what I got so far...

Been starting on some kits for the buildings. Not nearly finished but I've been having fun with the blockout. This is going to be a saloon on Mars.

I've made a height blended terrain map with an auto-layer for steep slopes (the rocky part on the left), plus created 4 tileables for the layers.

sacboi

Very cool like the vibe, mention of loony tunes and space/scifi western in the same string already brought a smile to my dial, will definitely keep an eye out 

Ashervisalis

@sacboi thanks my dude!!

Ashervisalis

More progressssssssss

Made the sign into Sputnik Saloon. Might change it to Sputnik's Saloon, I think that sounds cooler. Will be lit with light bulbs in the letters. Decided on a water tower for the back silhouette. Going to have the horizon atmosphere as pink but have it transition to a black starry sky with some cool stuff up there.

iam717

i see great potential if done right with the look, but you know clones a foot for any "new thing" and with the magic button tool, they will cut off anyone posting their stuff early if they think it will get traction.

Ashervisalis

@iam717 Sorry what? I don't understand your post.

Joopson

Looking forward to the progress! Love the shapes of the stairs especially, great stylization.

Ashervisalis

@Joopson Thanks man

Realized I was missing a lot of that 1950's scifi look I was going for. Started adding in more curvy building pieces.

ThisisVictoriaZ

love the curvy pieces! One thing that might be cool to add (if you want) would be some sort of moon/planet in the sky kinda like this 

for me that really helps to sell the fact that this isn't a earth desert!

Ashervisalis

@ThisisVictoriaZ You read my mind! I'm kinda leaving the sky box for later because I know it's going to give me loads of trouble lol

Ashervisalis

I received some valuable insight [insert Bloodborne gif] from my buddy Roh in the form of a paint over. He said my building was too central, and everything was the same size. I've scaled and moved things around to match his drawover.

iam717

Ashervisalis said:

@iam717 Sorry what? I don't understand your post.

people/companies waiting to "hi-jack" your idea cut you off and make a terrible rendition for profits whether short or long term (probably most likely with a.i. tools) also epic games (fortnight people) so much for writing it in "code".

Ashervisalis

Ah OK I see what you're getting at. Thanks for bringing this up, it didn't really cross my mind.

dur23

Looks awesome. I've been mildly obsessed with this aesthetic for over  decade now. I think your pieces does a good job of carrying the vibes overall. My favourite way to think about the way they designed things in that day was that it was always 100% form over function. A good example would be their spaces suits being ridiculously unprepared for the vacuum of space.

Ashervisalis

@dur23 That's an excellent point! When blocking in, I was forgetting a lot about the 1050's aesthetic, so I've been having to go back and fix the shape language quite a bit.

I started playing with skyboxes today, going to take a lot of finessing. Added pipes which are always fun. Also got rid of the wood plank base to the building, as that didn't sit with the aesthetic. Still going to have wood plank stuff here and there though. I've decided on putting the stairs/ramp to the second floor around the back to provide the back with some interest, and have more of the smooth curve shapes for the right side of the building.

Going to do something fun tomorrow and make a cool meteor which almost knocked down that giant rock pillar. Also I think I'll put a city in the distant back, just to bring some civilization to this world.

Ashervisalis

something something rocks & landscape splines

Ashervisalis

Exploring a texturing style for the environment (metal pipes)

MagicMeister

This is a blast! I could see something like this being an amazing TF2 level

Ashervisalis

@MagicMeister Thanks

Was having a lot of issues with the 'construction' of my building, it didnt make sense. Spent a bit of time exploring the shape language. Second floor looks a lot more fancy than first floor, but I'm going to address that and make the second floor more old timey in a bit.

Ashervisalis

Heading to Nepal tomorrow for a few weeks. Going to need to leave this enviro at this state until I get back. Will be pumped to return to it though!

Ashervisalis

I'm back! So the light bulbs on the sign just weren't working, they were too noisy. I've switched to a more neon sign, as well as fixed the L to be upper case. Some sky adjustments to soften it out. Will some objects (satellite, planets, etc) up there in a bit. Wooden balcony was not working so I've pushed it towards the style more. I think Ive messed up my terrain material along the way, I'm going to need to go back and re-adjust so it looks as good as it use to.

Ashervisalis

Switched the UFO to a Sputnik model (yet to texture), added barrels and trough, worked on saloon interior. Started adding "fun" aspects like graffiti and a disco on the interior lol. I'm going to add a bunch more graffiti but try not to overdo it!

sacboi

....as long as you add a 'Tassie' (Tasmanian) devil sometime down the track when beginning to populate this level with chars, I mean at least a salutary nod too LTs 40s & 50s TV anim vintage - then I'm all good wid dat    

Also no worries about copyright infringement shite either cos one can't patent intelligent design living entities, well for example what disney tried to pull if past shenanigans are anything to go by   : p

And besides, Mel Blanc wherever he's hanging out these days would I reckon be really chuffed to bits    

EDIT:

Hmm....do get the feeling your trip was off the chain - lucky bastard  :  )

EDIT 02:

Update looks like things are starting too gel although imo kinda missing a few tumble weeds, in terms of style wise visual language etc, etc all that guff.

EDIT 03:

Teeny weeny incoming nitpick - just noticed the overall lighting which is imo a tad intense and perhaps slightly darken your sky with a little bluish - black, for I think better atmospheric contrast as opposed to wholly mauve tint but if again stylistic choice - forget what I said  : )

Ashervisalis

@sacboi My trip was awesome but dude, it was intense! Flying all the way to India then Nepal and also flying into Lukla (statistically the most dangerous airport in the world) TWICE, oh man. Not to mention there are zero traffic rules in Kathmandu (that I know of) and getting into a taxi or even just going to a walk feels like risking death... This is me (orange) and @R3D (blue... which oddly matches up to his usual profile pic). The picture doesn't do the size of the mountains justice. They never look as big as they do in the photos!

Regarding your critiques, I agree with all of em. I was going to do a sky adjust today. I needed to add some contrast somehow. Thanks!

Tits

Oh Hi Ash

Ashervisalis

Why hello there Tits, fancy running into you here

sacboi

Nice one!

Yeah heard it described that landing at Lukla is like a 'controlled crash' similar too jet fighters operating off of aircraft carriers  : /

Well at least you can mark that down as a bucket list thing....heh  

EDIT:

"This is me (orange) and @R3D (blue... which oddly matches up to his usual profile pic)"

Ahah weirdly you're not wrong, methinks there's certainly a passing resemblance!

Joopson

Poking around with white balance, etc. Maybe an improvement maybe not! But I agree with sacboi about the overall mauve color feeling not too great. Like the xbox360 days when everything was color graded like crazy. I'd say dial that in, maybe, but perhaps keep it in the shadows, etc? I like it in bits, but it feels like a wash over the whole image at the moment. Maybe darken the darks in the sky too? Up to your discretion of course.




Also, the lighting as a whole is maybe a bit too front-facing at the moment, I think it flattens a lot of what you have going on...

I also feel like you might be served by moving the water tower a bit towards the background, to give the saloon space to breath. Right now the composition feels a bit like my eye doesn't know where to go. But the saloon should undoubtedly be the star. I mean, between the water tower, the rocket, and the asteroid peaking out, it's a lot vying for attention.

All that said, I like it a lot so far and am really enjoying seeing the progress and thought processes.

Ashervisalis

@Joopson Hey my dude, thanks for the suggestions I agree, the image needed a lot more contrast and everything was pink lol. I'm fixing as we speak.

Ashervisalis

Current WIP. Generated low poly ground scattered pebbles. Worked on terrain for a bit. Added darker layer for pathing. Adjusted sky. Added in some planets and moons and a distant city in the sky. I want to add in some shooting stars I might just draw those in on the still images. Tumble weeds = yessss.

Ashervisalis

Adding some post processing, set dec. Asked a bunch of friends to send me some alphas which I could use as graffiti on the water tower. Half of those are mine half are from different friends. I've grabbed the old cowboy character I made ages ago to have some character vibes. Still to do;

Add more detail to distant buildings

Mechanical Horse

Fix some issues with one of the second layer pieces

Bring up shadows?

Spend countless hours perfecting terrain which probably wont be seen in the final images

I know making a video walk through will take me 400 years extra but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

Still taking critiques, would love to hear em

sacboi

Similar corrugated tin texture you've got for the saloon exterior, maybe for the water tower as well?

also perhaps with additional combined weathering rust or ochre colored dust layer, relative too the surrounding environment? 

Ashervisalis

@sacboi I'll test it out For the dust layer, do you mean specifically for the water tower, or for all the buildings?

sacboi

"For the dust layer, do you mean specifically for the water tower, or for all the buildings?"

Sorry, critique was for both and from my experience, particularly in the aussie out-back these sheets are a fairly common building material especially around arid desert region townships.

Ashervisalis

@sacboi Yeh that sounds like a good idea, hopefully it doesnt clash with the graffiti. I'll try it tomorrow

I forgot I wanted to make a mechanical horse for this enviro, so spent today making this. Will be out of order :P