Dominance War 2 - Vig
mod
<font color="orange">Im going to run this thread more like a blog and keep all the updates in the first post, at the top. </font>
Feb 22th
I haven't had much time to work on this, mostly been putting the babies room together, working or sleeping. I'm still tossed up between the flying mount and the 3 man team. I did some changes to the 3 man team and loosely mocked up the flying mount idea.
Feb 15th
Knocked out the Tube Cannon and the Loader, and I still have some polys to spare. I'm going to try and squeeze in a simple auto cannon for the loader to use. It will be shaped more or less like the cannon on the back of the turtle launcher in Feb 9th Concept.
Feb 14th
What a nutty weekend, and Monday wasn't much better. I'll keep it short, work has me workin like a dog, but I'm loving it. After mulling over Gauss's ideas I came up with a tube sponge mortar type cannon. Think of it like an organic German 88.The loader drops in a shell from the front then the floating guy fills the mortar from behind with charge gas by putting his blow hole over one of the tubes.
I'm still playing around with idea of turning the launcher into a mount for the leader, he wouldn't ride it like a horse but hang onto a handle and hang on one side using his other arm to fire at things. If I was to go that route I'll need to do some major tweaking to all the meshes I've made so far and I would need to axe the loader to free up the needed polys which kind of destroys the team aspect BUT I kind of like the idea quite a bit thanks gauss. Currently I'm playing with the idea of keeping the 3 man team and making the weapon a organic 88 style cannon/mortar. I'll probably decided tomorrow which way to go, 2 characters mount/leader, or 3 man mortar team. I'm not sure the leader design is strong enough on his own...
Feb 11th
Finished Mesh on the Leader and the Launcher
The launcher now has a gas filled sack that fills up like a puffer fish. I shaped his head more like a wales and might change the concept to include a blow hole for launching instead of using the mouth.
New Launcher Concept
So I played around with the slime idea, and a worm, and a slime worm, and wormy slime but in the end I decided to try some thumbnailing and came up with this. I'm leaning toward 3, but 1 would be fun to do =P
I also finished off the leaders mesh, gave him claws, attached his legs, tweaked the face, nothing major, so no new pics.
Feb 9-10th
Started Modeling the Leader
Just need to attach the legs and do some clean up work, shouldn't be too hard keeping him under 2k tris.
Feb 9th
Reworked the loader.
I removed the tentacles and made the belly more pronounced. The launcher will be hunched down and not in such a weird Egyptian hieroglyph pose. I'll more than likely put the tentacles back on the model unless I'm pinched for polys. I like the slime launcher idea, and I have an idea for a worm/slime launcher based off that idea, thanks JPSeiler
Another Run at Concept 3
After sleeping on it, I find myself not as much in love with using goblins. Like Gauss has been telling everyone 'don't marry the first thing you do'. So after thinking about it over breakfast I knocked up some new ideas, dabbling more in creepy and less on the cartoony side.
Leader: Rat like head, long neck with plate collars around his neck.
Loader:The Cameleon type head in the back uses its long tongue to pick up uncharged shells if the arms are busy doing something else. The shells are indigestible and act more like a hard sponge absorbing the toxic bile the loader creates in its stomach. After the round is fired the empty shell goes back in the pile to be used again, I would like to get some glowing effects going down in the loaders stomach where the charges come from.
Launcher: Its a war turtle. I haven't sold this idea to myself yet. Its shell makes a stable platform to mount a mortar on.... We'll see how I feel about it at lunch.
I'm not settled on the launcher I might do some more thumbs and see what I come up with at lunch today.
Feb 8th
Concept 3 revisited
Fred H said three character submissions are fine so it looks like this is the one I'm going with. I'm calling them F.O.C.A.T. (Forward Observing Covert Artillery Team).
They are a little exaggerated and cartoony but they are thumbnails.
After reading your comments about "goblins" I might change them up a bit. Considering goblin covers a wide range I'm not sure I can get away from slightly exaggerated impish clowns and not have them be called goblins. I'll be sure to not paint them green and see how far away from goblin that gets me.
Any ideas for gear?
Leader: Carries a large backpack with the provisions and communication gear. He'll have some kind of small plasma pistol and a sword.
Loader: Has big thick gloves to change out barrels and try to keep the current barrel cooler. Kind of like oven mitts. He also has a back pack full of ammo. Might give this guy a sniper helmet with bushes sticking out of it instead of a face shield.
Launcher: Wears ear plugs, can't stop laughing and despite the ear plugs is almost totally deaf, shouts most of the time and annoys his CO. This is why he his arms are strapped down, to the mortar. Not really sure if he should stand, kneel or sit. Has a turban or some kind of thick hat to shield his head from the hot barrel. Maybe a hat like this.
Feb 7th
Concept 5
Just in case the goblin mortar team doesn't work out I knocked out another concept over lunch. Basically its a flying sniper.
Concepts 1-4
1) Space Marine Sapper or suicide bomber. Cobbled together armor mixed with a set of power legs for carrying heavy loads quickly over short distances, making him hard to hit before he gets to his target. His weapon is a warp-grenade launcher. The nades open warp portals for the runner making him harder to hit and easier for him to get around obstacles.
2) Sneaky guy with a bazooka...
3) A small forward observing artillery team made up of goblins. I'm pretty sure they won't like 1 entry consisting of 3 goblins. 1) Goblins are fantasy, 2) its not one character its three. So If I go this route it might be smarter to stick with 1? Or do you think its ok to go with 3, provided I keep them all under the limits.
4) Power Armor and a big back pack gun.
So out of those which do you think I should go with? Or should I say screw it and go with my original idea and just hope the judges don't pay attention to the brief?
Just in case you where curious my original idea was to do a large war walker made out rock/jungle vine, it would be manned by 2-3 aliens who found the thing and took it over using mind control tech. It would also be retro fitted with armor and weapons. Two catapults would be mounted on its back and be used to fling depth charge looking canisters. Too many people found the idea to dabble too much in fantasy, and after Fred posted saying "if your entry was 200ft tall and destroyed cities like Godzilla we have a problem" I scaled it back and have been struggling with ideas since. Also since the contest is about making "shadow warriors" I don't think it is talking about things that cast big shadows...
Feb 22th
I haven't had much time to work on this, mostly been putting the babies room together, working or sleeping. I'm still tossed up between the flying mount and the 3 man team. I did some changes to the 3 man team and loosely mocked up the flying mount idea.
Feb 15th
Knocked out the Tube Cannon and the Loader, and I still have some polys to spare. I'm going to try and squeeze in a simple auto cannon for the loader to use. It will be shaped more or less like the cannon on the back of the turtle launcher in Feb 9th Concept.
Feb 14th
What a nutty weekend, and Monday wasn't much better. I'll keep it short, work has me workin like a dog, but I'm loving it. After mulling over Gauss's ideas I came up with a tube sponge mortar type cannon. Think of it like an organic German 88.The loader drops in a shell from the front then the floating guy fills the mortar from behind with charge gas by putting his blow hole over one of the tubes.
I'm still playing around with idea of turning the launcher into a mount for the leader, he wouldn't ride it like a horse but hang onto a handle and hang on one side using his other arm to fire at things. If I was to go that route I'll need to do some major tweaking to all the meshes I've made so far and I would need to axe the loader to free up the needed polys which kind of destroys the team aspect BUT I kind of like the idea quite a bit thanks gauss. Currently I'm playing with the idea of keeping the 3 man team and making the weapon a organic 88 style cannon/mortar. I'll probably decided tomorrow which way to go, 2 characters mount/leader, or 3 man mortar team. I'm not sure the leader design is strong enough on his own...
Feb 11th
Finished Mesh on the Leader and the Launcher
The launcher now has a gas filled sack that fills up like a puffer fish. I shaped his head more like a wales and might change the concept to include a blow hole for launching instead of using the mouth.
New Launcher Concept
So I played around with the slime idea, and a worm, and a slime worm, and wormy slime but in the end I decided to try some thumbnailing and came up with this. I'm leaning toward 3, but 1 would be fun to do =P
I also finished off the leaders mesh, gave him claws, attached his legs, tweaked the face, nothing major, so no new pics.
Feb 9-10th
Started Modeling the Leader
Just need to attach the legs and do some clean up work, shouldn't be too hard keeping him under 2k tris.
Feb 9th
Reworked the loader.
I removed the tentacles and made the belly more pronounced. The launcher will be hunched down and not in such a weird Egyptian hieroglyph pose. I'll more than likely put the tentacles back on the model unless I'm pinched for polys. I like the slime launcher idea, and I have an idea for a worm/slime launcher based off that idea, thanks JPSeiler
Another Run at Concept 3
After sleeping on it, I find myself not as much in love with using goblins. Like Gauss has been telling everyone 'don't marry the first thing you do'. So after thinking about it over breakfast I knocked up some new ideas, dabbling more in creepy and less on the cartoony side.
Leader: Rat like head, long neck with plate collars around his neck.
Loader:The Cameleon type head in the back uses its long tongue to pick up uncharged shells if the arms are busy doing something else. The shells are indigestible and act more like a hard sponge absorbing the toxic bile the loader creates in its stomach. After the round is fired the empty shell goes back in the pile to be used again, I would like to get some glowing effects going down in the loaders stomach where the charges come from.
Launcher: Its a war turtle. I haven't sold this idea to myself yet. Its shell makes a stable platform to mount a mortar on.... We'll see how I feel about it at lunch.
I'm not settled on the launcher I might do some more thumbs and see what I come up with at lunch today.
Feb 8th
Concept 3 revisited
Fred H said three character submissions are fine so it looks like this is the one I'm going with. I'm calling them F.O.C.A.T. (Forward Observing Covert Artillery Team).
They are a little exaggerated and cartoony but they are thumbnails.
After reading your comments about "goblins" I might change them up a bit. Considering goblin covers a wide range I'm not sure I can get away from slightly exaggerated impish clowns and not have them be called goblins. I'll be sure to not paint them green and see how far away from goblin that gets me.
Any ideas for gear?
Leader: Carries a large backpack with the provisions and communication gear. He'll have some kind of small plasma pistol and a sword.
Loader: Has big thick gloves to change out barrels and try to keep the current barrel cooler. Kind of like oven mitts. He also has a back pack full of ammo. Might give this guy a sniper helmet with bushes sticking out of it instead of a face shield.
Launcher: Wears ear plugs, can't stop laughing and despite the ear plugs is almost totally deaf, shouts most of the time and annoys his CO. This is why he his arms are strapped down, to the mortar. Not really sure if he should stand, kneel or sit. Has a turban or some kind of thick hat to shield his head from the hot barrel. Maybe a hat like this.
Feb 7th
Concept 5
Just in case the goblin mortar team doesn't work out I knocked out another concept over lunch. Basically its a flying sniper.
Concepts 1-4
1) Space Marine Sapper or suicide bomber. Cobbled together armor mixed with a set of power legs for carrying heavy loads quickly over short distances, making him hard to hit before he gets to his target. His weapon is a warp-grenade launcher. The nades open warp portals for the runner making him harder to hit and easier for him to get around obstacles.
2) Sneaky guy with a bazooka...
3) A small forward observing artillery team made up of goblins. I'm pretty sure they won't like 1 entry consisting of 3 goblins. 1) Goblins are fantasy, 2) its not one character its three. So If I go this route it might be smarter to stick with 1? Or do you think its ok to go with 3, provided I keep them all under the limits.
4) Power Armor and a big back pack gun.
So out of those which do you think I should go with? Or should I say screw it and go with my original idea and just hope the judges don't pay attention to the brief?
Just in case you where curious my original idea was to do a large war walker made out rock/jungle vine, it would be manned by 2-3 aliens who found the thing and took it over using mind control tech. It would also be retro fitted with armor and weapons. Two catapults would be mounted on its back and be used to fling depth charge looking canisters. Too many people found the idea to dabble too much in fantasy, and after Fred posted saying "if your entry was 200ft tall and destroyed cities like Godzilla we have a problem" I scaled it back and have been struggling with ideas since. Also since the contest is about making "shadow warriors" I don't think it is talking about things that cast big shadows...
Replies
If it is allowed (and i hope so) it would be a pretty uniquiep entry, wich is a good thing. My strongest advice would be to give them some background, charackter. Alot of entries miss that (mine too). The messing arround idea may sound to childish, but goblins can just be like that. Some references in movies, "Legend" and "Time Bandits" (i know that the later one features not goblins, but i think it would make a good reference). Maybe give all three of them a diffrent speciality, they are not worth alot in the big green army, but together they actually proved to be more than just cannonfodder. Just my ideas.
I really like your flying Sniper, but i think right now, he is just another "angel of death" in fact i think there is allready a very similiar entry here from a fellow polycounter. Anyway really dig your drawing style/skill.
I would give the Leader a long nose, to nake him more special / stand out, also give em sharp teeths, and sneaky evil eyes, they look to friendly. I dig the idea of giving them diffrent headgears, sound really great, also a improvised look would maybe fit them, like reusing stuff from fallen soldiers. And maybe some bags, so they can carry all the treasures, uhm loot, they collect on the battelfield
I totally agree the goblin loader's hands are over exaggerated, if I go with the goblins those gloves will be toned down a few notches =P lLl troopers hahaha! thats hilarious and better than F.O.C.A.T. I slept on it and I might go more serious and more alien. I really like the suggestions for the gear I'll work that in either way I go.
I like both goblin and serious ideas, probably leaning a bit more in the goblin direction
Still three aliens, but everyone is specialiezed, the leader is the observer, give him lots of eyes, the loader, as you allready painted him, who produces the ammo, and the launcher, as basicly the weapon, a long slim shape, the mouth opens up to the top, most of his boddy is the throat, at the bottom a small belly, he swallos the loaders ammunition and spits it out with high speed, when the loader "tickles" / manipulates his back.
I really like the idea you had about the slime launcher, I'm not too keen on the tickle part hahaha thats a little too creepy for me and too close to Sectaurs & Gauss entry last year. I think I'll use a slime worm which combines the idea with yours.
I would give the leader something for observing the battlefield...radar, display and binoculars are some ideas.
Good idea Davision3D, since I have to make every poly count I might do some single alpha mapped glowing HUD type things. It depends on how much weapon budget I have left over if I can really gear him up or not.
and i agree wit davision3d... plus, i think that he should carry a flag as a show of allegience aswell...
really liking how this is shaping up...
Humm... walking stick/staff/flag... good idea...
I would keep the alien on the ground, only because i cant imagine that one of your ideas can carry that fatty creature
i like how ur idea is developing away from the goblins and getting its own creatures... great amount of creativity has been put into these... i like!
i still dig on the multiple characters deal and definitely enjoy the organic mortar launcher type thing... but why not consolidate the concept a bit more so that you can express yourself more freely, without worrying so much about polygon counts? i'd incorporate the loader character into the launcher. in the process it'll give you more room to maneuver in the modeling phase, and it'll also make the launcher a much more interesting character visually if you incorporate the loader's 'chute'/activation mechanism into the back of the launcher.
something else to consider is playing with scale. it's a really fun idea, but right now i'm a little worried that it seems more like an instanced troop and less a towering, one of a kind sort of character/pair. so by playing around with scale you could create something a bit more dynamic in presentation... what i have in mind is to take the launcher, as well as incorporating the loader into him, try making him nearly twice as big as the leader. and then the leader can ride/cling onto him in some entertaining fashion as he floats around and fires these horrible organic shells at things.
i think you should also keep trying to push the launcher design, not only possibly incorporating the loader, but by making the character that much more like an organic cannon/mortar as possible. we all know that most weapons have a long barrel in order to ensure accuracy and stability of the projectile--what would that look like in this setup? how bizarre (and possibly disturbing/phallic) might a long, organic barrel look?
just some thoughts. you've done very well by thinking through and iterating your design; i'm quite keen on seeing the finished product. keep your thread updated, if you please
edit: i'm also personally leaning torward the whimsey of the balloon'd launcher. you're already treading in pretty cheeky territory, so it might be advantageous to push that aspect to the max. like kite's most excellent Beef character--note how much he pushed some of the humor and fairly dramatic silhouettes without making it seem any less badass. that's the sort of effect you should shoot for, imo.
Thin indeed. At work we are thinking of bringing character development back in house. I'm an environment guy (we all are) but I have been asked to do one high poly character as proof we can do things in house. I'm not really keen on doing characters its not where my heart is but it could mean more cash and more creative freedom. So really I have 4 characters plus an environment on my plate, oh and a 6mo preggo wife. I'm secretly liking all the projects going at one time, but don't tell my boss he'll give me more work and then I'll crack =P
My current idea for the loader is to have him kneeling down in front of the launcher while the thing on the back of his head feeds it, the forward facing head lays down covering fire. The launcher now has a blow hole on the top of his head which launches the orbs, I'm intrigued with the long barrel idea but not too sure how that would balance out, and wow would that be phalic hahaha. MAYBE this little puffer guy is just the gas charge and he bellies up to a long tube, kind of like a blow gun... humm... THANKS Gauss I think we just struck gold!
The loader is already 2 characters and I'm not sure I want to add more to the mix, it might just become a crazy jumbled bag of parts? But turning him into a floating mount is a cool idea. humm... more rocks in the Ol' rock polisher...
Loader; Octopus head on an alien goat leg'ed body. The the bulbous part of the Octopus head sits on top or flows into a backwards facing head shaped like a chameleon. This backwards head uses its long tongue and octopus tentacles to pull ammo out of the back pack on the loaders back,and place it in the launchers blow hole. The loader has a set of humanoid arms that holds an belt fed auto cannon style gun. I would knock out another quick thumbnail that would explain it better than words, but I'm at work and my machine is rendering =/
Oh and I actually think its easier to do 3 2k poly characters than one 6k, call me crazy but 6k seems like high poly work sometimes lol. And I plan to make the most out of normal maps so hopefully there won't be too many sharp edges. We'll see how the madness plays out. I'm in this to finish it, if I miss the submission date, oh well I'm still going to finish it. I really want to do a well detailed battle scene diorama as a base so I'm pushing to get these guys nailed down asap, obviously the base idea can be trimmed down and or tossed out depending on time.
not asking u to go with it or nything... just thought i'd show u what i was thinking... so that if u liked it, u could develop it further... btw: legs are perfect things to hod on to!
1) Arms are poly expensive thats one of the reasons he floats, has no arms and is a blob, very low maintenance.
2) I'm not too sure I like the idea of him carrying bombs that close to jet exhaust, hahaha.
3) One doubled up character is enough for me =P
At this point I'm concept modeling, and still very much tossed up between two of Gauss's ideas. The floating mount, and the 3 man team. I doubt I'll get much more time to work on it today so tomorrows progress will more than likely be thumbs of the mount or maybe even a mocked up model.