Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 6:49 am Post subject:
Tiberium creature remap
I've been trying some different ways to make the remap on the Forgotten tiberium creatures look good. Instead of remapping all the tiberium on the Mauler, I gave it a small remapped icon at the top corner to identify which team it belongs to. Which one of these looks better, remapped tiberium or remapped icon?
Is the small icon too distracting? In a large group of maulers or other units the icons can get in the way a bit. If you think the remapped icon looks better, heres another comparison:
The tiberium is darker on the one on the right, otherwise they are the same. Which one looks better?
Finally, if you have any other ideas on how to remap the Mauler I'd love to hear them. Been trying to get this unit to look good for ages, just can't seem to quite get it right. I already tried remapping only certain tiberium patches on the Mauler, but doing only the 8 standing frames took alot of time, and the result looked weird. On some colors it looked pretty good (green, orange, light blue), but with others (blue, purple) the contrast was too much and it made the unit look like crap. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
I hate to say it, but the Mauler looks like it's naked. And IMO I don't like both version. They look weird TBH. If I recall correctly, there is one on Tiberian Graveyard. A Brute with some tiberium spikes on it. Maybe you could check that. _________________
Team Black wrote:
interesting seeing your voxel work. They're still better than Aro's!
I've said it before, but I'll say it again. The unit would look better being predominantly skin-toned, with the crystals highlighted on it. Then belts/colars as per Ixo's would make sense. Being all green makes him look a bit strange, imo. QUICK_EDIT
I hate to say it, but the Mauler looks like it's naked.
They ARE naked They are barely human anymore, and putting on pants or trying to cover up a creature 3 times as large as a human covered in tiberium spikes / crystals wouldn't make sense imo.
Anyway, I tested the little icon thing with the floater too, removing all other remap from it.
I think getting rid of all the remap on these units makes them look alot more natural. I can't think of any other alternative for the floater than either being fully remapped (the "head" part) or something like this icon thing. I already got used to the little icon and it doesn't get distracting in the game, at least to me.
I did try a quick skin tone swap from green.
I think the remap parts still look odd and crappy on it. Maybe the problem could be fixed by editing the remap crystals a bit, though I don't know how. Not too fond of adding belts or other new details, that would mean creating them frame by frame, for all directions. It would be ALOT of work. Thinking back on it now, it would have probably been faster to actually render this in 3d than to build it by copy pasting and pixel-by-pixel editing _________________ QUICK_EDIT
I personally never saw any issue with the way the Mauler's remap was presented before. While it doesn't help with creatures like the Tiberium Floater, I see no need for change on the Mauler.
@Krow: This is clearly the Tiberium Brute, heavily edited. QUICK_EDIT
I think the green-skinned Tiberium Brute looks good in-game amongst general scenery, better than on the plain-ground as in the initial preview image, wherein the skin-toned version of the TB looks a bit better. Then again, some comparison shots of the skin-toned and the tiberium-toned TB amongst general scenery may provide for better ramification of this impression. QUICK_EDIT
Think I made a breakthrough in making the Mauler actually look good. I went with the icon approach, then changed the tiberium green to the special color greens that always show at full brightness, thus giving the impression that the units really are covered in tiberium since they "glow" in dark now.
Here are some images of the Maulers and fiends in different lightning:
As you can see, I also changed the tiberian fiend from fully remapped to the icon. The icon doesn't get displayed when the fiend goes prone on tiberium fields, which combined with the properly colored tiberium on its back allow players to hide fiends onto tiberium fields alot better. Civilian / neutral fiends never display the icon.
I also tried to change the green to skin color on the Mauler again, now that the tiberium looks better on the unit. Here's a comparison shot of both skin colors:
Which ones better?
m7 wrote:
@Krow: This is clearly the Tiberium Brute, heavily edited.
Actually I put it together from the original YR Brute. I did come across the Tiberium Brute much later on, which was kind of annoying. Had I known someone had already created something similar, I would have based it on that. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
If the skin would be darker and not that piggy pink flesh, this would look better than the pure green skin imo, which gives more the impression of a jelly like substance instead of a hard sturdy body.
Maybe a darker brick red or brown would be good for the skin color. Then you could also add some more crystals using the dark green color, which was previously used for the skin, and this way give it more details.
You should also make the icon a tad more detailed. e.g. some different shades of remap giving it a 3D-look (let it become brighter to the center). Instead of a black border, you should use the shadow frames and make it as a shadow. This way the transparent darker border would make it look much more detailed/professional ingame. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
Here are some different test versions of the mauler skin color:
They are pretty close to each other, so the differences might be harder to notice without zooming in. #6 is the same version that was already in the screens of my last post.
Lin Kuei Ominae wrote:
Then you could also add some more crystals using the dark green color, which was previously used for the skin, and this way give it more details.
Problem with the "default" green colors are that they are affected by map lightning, and thus don't glow in dark. There are only 3 different shades of green that glow in dark in the unittem.pal.
Lin Kuei Ominae wrote:
You should also make the icon a tad more detailed. e.g. some different shades of remap giving it a 3D-look (let it become brighter to the center). Instead of a black border, you should use the shadow frames and make it as a shadow. This way the transparent darker border would make it look much more detailed/professional ingame.
I initially used different shades of remap to give it bit more detail, but I think it looked out of place. Since it isn't part of the game world and only part of the interface, I think it looks better and clearer in a simple 2d form. I got the idea for a remap icon from this game (props to anyone who recognise the game):
It has similar "2diysh" icons to keep them readable. Also the tiberian fiend and flyer are going to have a scaled down version of the icon, and any details would be lost on the very small icon. The black border is to make sure that team colors like light blue don't get mixed up with snow etc. I might try to experiment with replacing the border with shadows later. Though wouldn't units in the back be shown through the borders if they were shadows? Will have to try it out to see if it works. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
The Tiberium Fiend remap is a bit small, then again, every dead Tiberium Fiend is a good Tiberium Fiend so I don't really care about on which side it's on. QUICK_EDIT
4 and 5 look good. Non-remap looks more natural and, as with the idea of the non-remapped Tiberian Fiend, allows you to utilise these "natural resources" more effectively, i.e. by camouflage. QUICK_EDIT
could you have a remapped mauler, with its skin tone more based of the floater's, rather than the fiend's? that may make it more balanced visually. _________________ Total Annihilation is the only battle strategy.
my Moddb.com account QUICK_EDIT
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Tiberium creature remap
And IMO I don't like both version. They look weird TBH. If I recall correctly, there is one on Tiberian Graveyard. A Brute with some tiberium spikes on it. Maybe you could check that.
They are barely human anymore, and putting on pants or trying to cover up a creature 3 times as large as a human covered in tiberium spikes / crystals wouldn't make sense imo.
