We now have a finished concept for the Heavy Machine Gun, made by alex_bo!
Here is a summary of the design requirements that lead to this concept:
Positive requirements:
Has a single barrel.
Is heavy but portable, can be fired while standing by a strong human (leads to a high spread due to heavy recoil though).
Uses 21st century catridge ammunition (just like the SMG/Rifle, does same damage so no overly large caliber).
Has a double drum magazine or similiarly big ammo carrier (it will have ca. 300 shots) attached to its body.
Has a buttstock and is held like a regular assault rifle.
The right hand is at a rifle like trigger. The left hand attaches to a handle below the barrel.
Negative requirements:
Does not have a scope or other targeting unit beyond irionsights.
Does not need to attach to armor and does not require an external ammo supply.
Optional features:
May have another unused handle at the top which could be used to carry it.
May have a bipod (same image) at the tip of the barrel.
Design outline:
Just like our Shotgun and our SMG to-be, the gun comes from the near future but it uses the (reliable, established) design of 21st century weapons.
Our default human weapon will be something in the realm of a SMG or compact assault rifle (medium precision and high rate of fire). The Lasgun will play the role of a full assault rifle (high precision and medium rate of fire). This new weapon should play the role of a portable heavy machine gun (very low precision and very high rate of fire).
Shooting the gun should create the impression of applying reckless, exaggerated force. You should feel like this dude.
The HMG will fill the niche of the "Chaingun" from Tremulous. Its main task there has been hunting down big aliens and killing alien eggs from up close. If you are interested in modeling it, post here.
Sorry, I've been bad at putting the model shots up on the forums. I have way more, and for other guns too. From now on I'll make sure to post them in the appropriate threads.
To document my feedback here, the bullet stripe needs to be removed completely. (First, such a magazine would feed the bullets internally, second, we'd either animate it properly which is a waste of human resources given that it is not visible in first person or we'd not animate it which in turn makes it a broken feature of the third person model.)
The upper hole where the bullet stripe used to enter the gun can be recycled for brass ejection. The lower hole where the stripe came out of the magazine should be closed.
It may further be an option to let the magazine reach further upwards along the sides of the gun.