Plant Creature Feedback
polycounter lvl 11
Hi Everyone,
So as some of you have noted I have yet to post any work. Most of the stuff I do at work is environment art, but I really wanted to try and do a creature model...
Lately I have been working on a HL2 mod with a friend from work. The premise is that each player has a base/pet that is this weird plant creature.
The player basically starts the match with a single weapon and very weak ammo and has to "plant" this creature in the ground and then care for it.
If the creature is killed then the player loses.
The creature cannot move and is very frail. You (the player) are its only source of protection.
Instead of gathering ammo, like you might normally do, the player has to grow it. In order to do that they have to care for their creature.
The entire game is about caring for and defending this creature while at the same time trying to take out your opponents creature.
There is a lot more to it than just that, and that is by no means the full design, but this post isn't about the design its about the creature.
What I have done so far is do some rough concepts and start creating a simple model to test and see how this thing is actually going to move/look in the game.
This model is just a test model for animation. I am not going to texture as is, I am not going to sculpt it as is.
You can think of this as a proof of concept dummy model. Once I get feedback on this I'm going to go back and try to make a polished model that I will attempt to sculpt,texture, rig, and finally animate.
About the Head
Since the entire game is going to be be centered around this one creature I wanted to do something especially interesting with the head. I have just started concepting what this is going to look like and I am planning on doing it as a separate project.
The basic idea is that the head will unfold at several points, and can ultimately open up like a flower. There are a total of 5 eyes. Two on the sides of the head, one on the top of the head, and two on the inside not shown here.
It will use different eyes depending on its mood.
Considering that this is my first character model that I have put into an engine I know this is a little ambitious, but that's why I am posting here. I just want to get feedback and see what you guys think. I am assuming I am overlooking a few things, especially considering the scope of my plan, if you see anything that you think is going to cause me trouble please let me know.
So as some of you have noted I have yet to post any work. Most of the stuff I do at work is environment art, but I really wanted to try and do a creature model...
Lately I have been working on a HL2 mod with a friend from work. The premise is that each player has a base/pet that is this weird plant creature.
The player basically starts the match with a single weapon and very weak ammo and has to "plant" this creature in the ground and then care for it.
If the creature is killed then the player loses.
The creature cannot move and is very frail. You (the player) are its only source of protection.
Instead of gathering ammo, like you might normally do, the player has to grow it. In order to do that they have to care for their creature.
The entire game is about caring for and defending this creature while at the same time trying to take out your opponents creature.
- It is important that the creature is fun, highly animated, and relateable. Yet, at the same time, very strange & alien.
- The ammo is going to grow somewhere on the creatures back or near the ground. I have yet to work out the details of this as we are still working on the harvesting system.
- When the ammo is harvested the creature will respond and look at the player as if asking why they just did this. The creature is sort of like a dog/pet. It's an unwitting participant in all of this. The entire game is based around the symbiotic relationship and it's the underlying theme.
- The creature is attached to the ground and can't move away from that spot.
There is a lot more to it than just that, and that is by no means the full design, but this post isn't about the design its about the creature.
What I have done so far is do some rough concepts and start creating a simple model to test and see how this thing is actually going to move/look in the game.
This model is just a test model for animation. I am not going to texture as is, I am not going to sculpt it as is.
You can think of this as a proof of concept dummy model. Once I get feedback on this I'm going to go back and try to make a polished model that I will attempt to sculpt,texture, rig, and finally animate.
About the Head
Since the entire game is going to be be centered around this one creature I wanted to do something especially interesting with the head. I have just started concepting what this is going to look like and I am planning on doing it as a separate project.
The basic idea is that the head will unfold at several points, and can ultimately open up like a flower. There are a total of 5 eyes. Two on the sides of the head, one on the top of the head, and two on the inside not shown here.
It will use different eyes depending on its mood.
Considering that this is my first character model that I have put into an engine I know this is a little ambitious, but that's why I am posting here. I just want to get feedback and see what you guys think. I am assuming I am overlooking a few things, especially considering the scope of my plan, if you see anything that you think is going to cause me trouble please let me know.
Replies
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be more like a creature or more like a plant. If it's supposed to be like a plant then it's just not reading as a plant to me. Right now it's more like a amalgamation of different animal parts crammed together. The hands/feet especially bug me as being not plantlike, the head/neck also seems too birdlike.
On the other hand maybe it's supposed to be more like a creature then in that case I'd ditch the hands/feet to keep it's silhouette more streamlined. The birdlike neck/head might work out quite well for feeding animations.
Sorry if this isn't what you were hoping to hear, though it's just my thoughts on it so feel free to ignore them.
I do however think the concept for the game itself is quite interesting, keep at it
what is the idea behind the legs? are they primarily used for grasping/manipulation? I'm trying to picture how this creature had evolved to this state...
the face is looking good, but might be a bit on the horrific side for what you say you want. it feels very vulture/turkey head, with all the dangly skin bits, which will not endear it to a lot of people. larger eyes for instant like-points!
overall i like the idea - i just think a bit more headwork on the design. making it believable will go a long ways in helping the player relate and bond with such an alien critter.
I feel under qualified to comment other than your bone chains are missing the terminators. A bones length is a line between 2 pivot points. But each bone has only one pivot. So in order for the end bone to have length it needs a terminator.
This becomes very important when working with things like IK solvers.
lol, it's a big back story and its all part of the gameplay. I didn't want to distract from the creature design but I suppose the fact its part human is very relevant. Sorry for leaving that out. I don't want to make it look like a total mishmash of parts though.
The "wings" or "leaf" parts are actually more like tentacles at the end of the day. They are basically completely flexible and can curl and twist in any direction it wants. Basically when it's scared it will decrease its silhouette and when its angry/defensive it will try to look as big as it can and put everything out straight.
I wanted it to have a few human parts blended into it. Although, was kinda concerned about the legs just looking "tacked on". The motivation behind putting them on there was so that it could scratch its head and have to twist its body in interesting ways to use them. Also if it grabs something it wants with its mouth it might transfer it to its hand feat and hold on to it.
Please let me know if my explanation help makes the leaf/wing things more clear and also how you think I could better integrate the legs to make them more believable with in the frame work that it's part human/part alien.
I really really don't want things to look completely tacked on I wanted it to flow together in a slightly strange yet believable manner. I will take some time and try and work with the design a bit more to get the legs to look less tacked on, but I think I have a pretty good idea what I'm going to do with the tentacle wing things.
In an evolutionary sense they are just there to scare off predators. This thing has to look big to scare of predators so the bigger its appendages and the more it can animate them the better. That's my logic anyways. If anyone has any specific suggestions please let me know. I am very much open to ideas.
@Vig This is the fist time I have rigged a character with bones in a very long time. So thanks for your in put on the rig. I was using forward kinematics to pose everything there so I hid all of the effectors. They are there I just made them not render. If you have any other suggestions on the rig please let me know. (That's XSI by the way)
Sectaurs Great call on the head. I see what your saying. I have a special place in my heart for freaky looking creatures, but others might not. I don't want to make him into some chibi anime character but I am going to take your advice and work with the eyes. I basically want him to look relatable, as if by design, in one mode and then super freeky and crazy when his head unfolds. Its suppose to be able to interact with humans, but at the same time its not human so it will be a little unsettling but I don't want it to be TOO unsettling. Anyways, thanks, i'm going to make the eyes on the side of its head (the relatable ones) bigger for sure.
I took every one's advice to heart and I agree with every single critical point made. I am trying my best to make the creature look integrated and believable. While at the same time strange and relatively unique.
Let me start by slightly re-defining what I am trying to do so that my goals are a bit clearer:
I am trying to create a creature that is partly human, partly base on a plant, and partly based on an alien life form.
This guy is suppose to be sort of a genetic amalgam, but at the same time I am trying to avoid having him look like all his bits have been duct taped together.
It's suppose to look kind of freaky, but at the same time some what cute.
I think I might have to depend on the animations for the cuteness some what, because right now it's leaning on the creepy side.
Rather than extending the abdomen down to the ground my new idea is to take one of the legs and turn it into a root that is stuck the ground. The leg that is the "root" will be swollen, and look painful. The creature will probably scratch and maybe even gnaw at the leg like an animal trapped in a bear trap.
Making the entire experience of having this massive throbbing appendage anchored to the ground look as unpleasant as possible for this thing is a big theme I'm going for. I'm hoping it will evoke sympathy and make people want to help him.
I am also trying to make the appendages look less like wings and more like leaves or the elaborate bits that hang off some sea horses.
My idea for the chest appendages is to make them extensions of the ribs. So some of the ribs, rather than wrapping around like normal, will pop out of the body and extend off into these leaves. I think this particular idea isn't very will illustrated in my sketches. I am going to spend some time doing some more work on the rib cage itself to try and sort out exactly what's going on there.
I have been looking at human anatomy and also examples from nature, but I think I can do better, and I also think I could put my reference to better use. I will keep working on this and post back here, I am no where near satisfied with this yet. I have the idea in my head, but I don't quite have the experience or skill to effectively illustrate it yet.
Please give me any feedback you have, or point out anything that is confusing. If you don't understand what something does please ask. Answering these questions helps me see faults and also come up with new ideas.