Shrike (2)

Concept artwork for models and maps.
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Viech
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Shrike (2)

Post by Viech »

There's one alien form left to concept, which is the Shrike. Khaoz, who did most if not all of our alien concepts, made one for the Shrike, too, but while the appearance was very good it didn't fit our requirements for gameplay and would have been a risk in terms of animation when moving on the ground. Khaoz had a different gameplay in mind when doing the concept and didn't see a way to transform it into what we asked for. We made the arrangement of passing the shrike on to another artist, which could be you if you're interested.

The Shrike is a flying alien. The gameplay mechanics are currently being implemented by Ishq and are outlined here. You can have a look at earlier concepts. Khaoz' second take on it had the issue of lacking feet which are needed to push the Shrike into the air and give it limited walking abilities.

The requirements from a gameplay perspective would be:

  • Has roughly a square footprint. When flying, the wings may reach slightly out of it and when on the ground, there may be free space at the sides.

  • Has claws or some other melee weapon at the front that are used to hit the heads of humans when flying over them. It's not necessary that they can be used to attack when on the ground, but it wouldn't hurt. (Most of our alien forms have six limbs and the first row is used for both walking and attacks.)

  • Has feet to jump into the air. On the ground it walks slowly, roughly at the sped of the Granger. The Shrike should only be strong in the air but it should be able to walk through ventilation shafts, have a rest in the base and potentially walk on walls.

  • As all our alien classes, it should have six eyes and an appearance somewhere between insect and reptile.

If you have any questions regarding the flight mechancis, talk to Ishq on IRC or ask here.

Responsible for: Arch Linux package & torrent distribution, Parpax (map), Chameleon (map texture editor), Sloth (material file generator), gameplay design & programming, artistic direction

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alexbo
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Re: Female Soldier

Post by alexbo »

Sounds very cool. I'll have a go!

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alexbo
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by alexbo »

This took forever. I never seemed to be satisfied so it took a while. Let me know how you like it. I wouldn't mind redoing it, I'm not a fan but I worked a lot so here it is.

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shrike details.jpg
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Viech
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by Viech »

That scene is beautiful! I think you completed the promotional artwork job on the fly! After you're done, just add some unobtrusive logo and hide your name and URLs to your portfolio and unvanquished.net behind the windows task bar (does it still exist?) and you can call it a kick-ass wallpaper ready to go viral on free wallpaper sites. :grin:

Seriously, when we hit beta just assemble a HD album of all the stuff you did for us and put it on imgur with "I painted these for an open source game that just reached beta" as a headline without mentioning Unvanquished anywhere and we might not need to advertise ever again…

Back to topic! I guess the Shrike is pretty good already:

  • Body proportions (length vs. wingspan) are fine.

  • The claws are decent and match our other aliens.

  • The head comes with some fresh new looks and I like how the Shrike has to lift it a bit to get good far-distance vision while it sits on the ground.

  • I like how the wings can be folded while on ground, this makes room for some nice animations.

Two things could be improved:

  • The rear legs are too small compared to the mighty front claws. Try to move the attachment point of the middle row further to the front and make all four rear legs a good amount bigger (but not as big as the claws).

  • The attachment point of the wings matches the insectoid appearence very well but seems a bit weak, probably because it is so exposed. Maybe you can add some additional armor shards that start in the gap right in front of the wings and reach over that spot, protecting the joints from frontal damage.

Responsible for: Arch Linux package & torrent distribution, Parpax (map), Chameleon (map texture editor), Sloth (material file generator), gameplay design & programming, artistic direction

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janev
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by janev »

Looks good. :thumbup:

I agree with viech that the back legs and wings could do with a bit of work. Part of the mechanics proposed for the shrike is pouncing to initiate flight, and therefore the back legs should be powerful enough visually to make that happen. About the wings I agree that they look a bit week at the joint, they also don't look like they will provide enough lift for actual flight. Not enough air trapped under the wing to provide adequate lift. (yes I know realism doesn't factor into a game about aliens and clones fighting in space but still...) I was wondering if it would make sense to have the wings joining the body not just at the wing joint but also at the very back of the body.

Sort of like a bat.
Image

The other thing about the wings is it might be good to put some sort of muscle mass at the joint. The power has to come from something other than just the skeletal bone structure. As they are now it is two bones sticking out of the back of a torso at an awkward angle. Notice the bat above has the wings attaching on the sides of the torso, not the back.

Finally here is a sketch of an ankheg from baldur's gate because I like ankhegs and it because it might give you some idea's of how to go about the legs.
Image

Like I said it's looking good. :thumbup:

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alexbo
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by alexbo »

Here's a slight improvement. It will probably still use more work. Sorry Janev I just saw your post so this iteration is not taking your comments into consideration. My next will, if necessary. Excuse the little progress. But feel free to comment on potential ways to ameliorate it.. that's pretty much the point :tongue: .

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alexbo
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by alexbo »

janev wrote:

Looks good. :thumbup:
I was wondering if it would make sense to have the wings joining the body not just at the wing joint but also at the very back of the body.

Sort of like a bat.

It would make it more realistic for physics considerations but it would be weird to have it attached to several sections of the shell.

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Viech
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by Viech »

I guess those legs work. The joints are also better like this but the one at the wing could use even more reinforcement (atleast as much as the claw's one). Realism isn't that important but if you find a way to make the wings look more powerful that wouldn't hurt. I think their span is fine but I agree with janev that they could be wider. It would probably be a lot of work to edit this in the main sketch so maybe rather make a seperate one if you have another idea for the wings. Apart from that the concept is quite nice and I'll leave it to you how much additional work you want to put into it. If you feel like the modeler will get the idea, just say that you're done.

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kharnov
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by kharnov »

This looks great!

Also, happy birthday, Alex!

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Viech
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Re: Shrike (2)

Post by Viech »

Yay! Choose your present: :beer: :coffee: :granger:

Responsible for: Arch Linux package & torrent distribution, Parpax (map), Chameleon (map texture editor), Sloth (material file generator), gameplay design & programming, artistic direction

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