Posts by MonkeyLord

Quote from Zacker

Personally I prefer concept drawings to be as detailed as possible. I like if they contain a wealth of detail so that I as a level designer can just pick out all the good ideas I like until I reach the level of detail the engine can handle.A concept sketch is supposed to give the overall picture and to give the level designers ideas of how to build their level. It does not matter how detailed the concept sketch is as the level design result does not have to match it exactly - it is concept after all.

Exactly. The purpose of the general concept art is to establish aesthetics and themes. Now, if a mapper/modeler is given a modelsheet and concept and told "reproduce this", that's one thing. But mapping itself isn't just following directions, it is a creative process. Concept artists don't generally know how exactly to plan for good gameplay, or have a sense of what makes for good resource management.... just what looks good. A good level designer takes that information, combines it with his own knowledge base, and composites all of that into a fun, playable level while adhering to the overall themes of the game and the art.

Thanks guys. I'm glad to finally see some posative feedback. heh.

Anyway, we know that good mappers can achieve what looks like enormous amounts of detail with propper level design, good use of 3D skyboxes, and excellent texture work. Being a good game designer means being a good illusionist. It's all smoke and mirrors.

Anyway, thanks a bunch, and we look forward to hearing from more of you.

- John

Looks very nice! In the render it does appear a bit monotone. The cab might stand to have a slightly greenish tint to it.

But excellent work, none-the-less.

Well, not to state the obvious, but we need maps to make good screenshots, correct? Which is why I'm here, afterall.

Here are some shots that our concept artists have put together illustrating the world we want our mappers to create:

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/op2.gif]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/op3.gif]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/Barracks_2_web.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/BoBenvironment.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/barrack3.JPG]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/Deimos3_800.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/Deimos2_original.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/MagLev1.JPG]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/OpportunityRough_small.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/OpportunityRoughs.JPG]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/Opportunity2.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/monkeylord/WEF_2_850.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/previewpics/042105/wr_may2200.jpg]

This is material we've released to the public. From here, you can tell that we're wanting a wide range of different environments: Martian desert, commercial interiors, heavy industrial areas, shipyards, so on and so forth.

Well, I'm certainly sorry to see so much negativity here. But I suppose a healthy dose skepticism is a good thing. I don't know what kind of experiences you've had here regarding mod teams, "startup" companies, or less than scrupulous employers...

All I can do is vouch for my own personal veracity, and that of my team. So if it helps, upon request we can provide the contact information of other contractors who've worked for us as references to our character, and our diligence in fair and timely payment for services rendered. I've worked with quite a few folks, many of whom are currently employed in the games industry.

Regardless, the bottom line is we have an opportunity to do what we love for a living: make the kind of game that we want to play. I'm a software developer for a living.... If you were in our shoes, would you want to spend the rest of your lives developing mid-tier applications for major financial institutions? Or make games for a living? Valve has given the gaming community a unique and unprecedented opportunity for a new level of entrepreneurship for indie development teams, and Warpigstudios is going to take it, and make it.

If you're interested, great! If you're not, that's fine. But there's little to gain by being vitriolic. We'd like for our fellow gamers and developers to root for us while we try to prove that the little guy CAN make it into the industry, and on his own terms.

And obviously a good many of you are, because I currently have an inbox full of applications and queries. Good. I'm glad folks are curious.

If you want to learn more about how our process is going to work, how payments are arranged, and how we make sure the process is fair, then don't hesitate to drop us a line. After all, it's an opportunity to make some money and add a jot to your resume.

Anyway, I appreciate the honesty, and we hope we can find a few kick-ass mappers to help us out.

Take care,

John Beck

Warpigstudios

PS: Again, let me reiterate: We're not asking anyone to work for free or for credit. We're offering money in exchange for time, talent, and professionalism. Nothing more, nothing less.

I do understand that we're in a unique position, so it stands to reason that some folks are curious as to what's going on.

Like most game projects, our initial demo is largely funded by our own time and money, plus volunteer work from our internal team members.

We're also in a position where we will soon be receiving some financial backing from several external investors. So, of course, the goal is to woo even more investors.

Obviously, this indicates that if all goes well, this opportunity could escalate from freelance work to a full time job when the time comes for us to hire a fill-time salaried level designer.

And regardless, it would be something else to add to your resume. So if you're interested, by all means, send us your info. We'd love to hear from you. There are a lot of talented people here, and we think this is a great place to start looking.

Heh, ok, just to be very clear:

Yes, these would be paid projects. Applicants that are chosen to work on our demo maps will be paid as independent contractors.

Warpigstudios is a startup company that is building Badge of Blood to eventually be a retail release, distributed via steam using Valve's SteamPowered business model. We'll be using our demo maps to help demonstrate our technologies and gameplay systems for interested investors.

So I hope that clears everything up.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to post here, or contact us at [email protected].

Warpigstudios is currently looking to build a pool of multi-talented, creative, resourceful, and flexible freelancers to help put together a series of demo levels for our game project [email protected].

Please do not attach source files. Images will do.

Thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you,

John Beck

Warpigstudios

Ok, I see what you mean.... I'll kick that around a bit and see what I can come up with.

Thanks!

Thanks for the crits guys!

Fullauto: Hmmm... perhaps maybe some wingtips on the side? angle downward somewhat? I'll try that out and what it gets me... heh

Quote

cool, i like the design, its like an osprey but more futuristic while still practical, cool model too, i like the cockpit

Excellent! Because that was excatly what i was going for, heh!

Bic-B@ll & OL: Actually, the engines don't swivel at all. It's hard to see in these pics, but there is actually a nozzle on the bottom of the engine, too, centered on the VTOL's center of gravity. In fact, MOST of the thrust will be angled downwards, with just enough out the back to produce thrust for fast forward flight.

Here's the reasoning behind the design, taken from discussions on the Badge of Blood boards:

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Kr-312a "Vagrant" Utility VTOLMartian Defense Forces

The Vagrant design was originally targeted at the civilian market as the Krauss Aviation "Clydesdale", which excelled in search & rescue, medivac, general utility, and corporate private transport. During the Martian military build up precluding the declaration of independence, hundreds of these VTOLs were adapted to military service. The Vagrant is almost as ubiquitous in the Badge of Blood setting as the UH-1 Huey and Mi-17 are around the world today.

Are there engines in the main fuselage, as well as the wingtip pods? Those intakes on the cheeks look like they're for something.

Yes, there are generators in the main fusalage for producing electricity.

That electricity is used to run the superconducting magnets in the Plasma Engines on the wingtips.

As I'm sure you're aware, the air is so thin on mars that airbreathing engines just won't work... The only real propulsion system that would work are rockets... but solid fueled rockets are tricksy because they are, for the most part, binary in nature: ON or OFF. Liquid Fueled rockets are extremely volitile, and not terribly safe for everyday use. And rotors won't work because the air pressure at ground level on mars is equiv. to 100,000 ft on Earth. Wings and rotors produce poo poo lift. So what now?

Well, according to NASA's JPL, Plasma Engines work like throttle-able rockets, ionizing and aggitating hydrogen into a plasma state and shooting it out the rear (or in this case, also directed down). For this to work, though, you need to produce an assload of power for the super conductive magnets, which need to contain the plasma or the engine itself will melt.

So those ducts help bring the frigid Martian air in to cool the reactors that produce the electricity for the Plasma Engines.

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Hiya! I think this is my first time posting here, so be gentle.

No, I don't mean that. Rip me a new one if i need it. Everyone needs honest crits if they want to get better.

Here is a VTOL I'm designing for a HL2 "realism-in-space" mod called Badge of Blood, which is about a war for independence fought between the colonies of Mars and the major economic powers of Earth.... Let me know what you think...

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/previewpics/Kr312_1.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/previewpics/Kr312_2.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://www.badgeofblood.com/previewpics/Kr312_3.jpg]

I still need to model the landing gear and some of the internals. Right now it clocks in at about 3800 triangles before any optimizing... there is still a seam down the center which I can get rid of, and some complexity in the tail boom that can be simplified. When finished, this model will probably clock in at about 3500 triangles... which is fairly on par with most other HL2 vehicles floating around... heck, I've even even some weapons with similar facecounts!

I'll try and get some cockpit shots and wirframes posted after I do some optimizing.

Oh, and this is done in XSI 4.0