Vorpal Tide faction

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thespaceinvader
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Vorpal Tide faction

Post by thespaceinvader »

This is a first attempt at artwork for Qes and Caeb's Vorpal Tide faction. The Red/Goliath Slicer. Hope it's about right, guys...

EDIT: hit submit instead of add attachment.

I'm really pleased with the crystal-y look of the limbs, but not too sure about the shadow. I had considered making them self-lighting from the middle out, but that would have been a lighting NIGHTMARE for me, so the glow in the middle if more of a fog at present, though it casts no shadow. Which it probably ought to...

I'll make the appropriate edits if/when the concept is approved.

EDIT again. Forgot to mention, the only slight issue might be a lack of team-colourability. But i think that just might be something that will have to be lived with in this case. Unless the glow is TC'd. Which might look weird.
Attachments
Red Slicer.png
Red Slicer.png (3.79 KiB) Viewed 5641 times
On an in-game background, to show the slight transparency of the glowy bit in the middle.
On an in-game background, to show the slight transparency of the glowy bit in the middle.
Red Slicer Grass.png (10.02 KiB) Viewed 5636 times
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Post by turin »

This faction is so based on the different colors of the units, I doubt it could be tcolored very well...
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Post by thespaceinvader »

That was my personal thought on the matter - this may have to be one faction that just relies on the ellipses for TC.

EDIT: tried the blue one. This is fun. I'm less pleased with this one on one level - it doesn't looks so faceted and crystalline - but more pleased on another level, because i really like the design and concept. It's dead easy to shift around, too, because each set of legs, and the glow layer between each set of legs, is on a different layer in the .xcf, so i can fiddle with them with ease.

EDIT: and the yellow. For some reason, i can't get either of these to the crystalline look of the red. And i'm beginning to wonder how the heck to approach the second and third levels... In fact, with the red and yellow particularly, these may be more second and third level than first.

I really hope these are about right... If not, it's been a fun afternoon =D
Attachments
Yellow Slicer Grass.png
Yellow Slicer Grass.png (9.89 KiB) Viewed 5559 times
Yellow Slicer.png
Yellow Slicer.png (3.52 KiB) Viewed 5553 times
Blue Slicer Grass.png
Blue Slicer Grass.png (10.13 KiB) Viewed 5572 times
Blue Slicer.png
Blue Slicer.png (2.98 KiB) Viewed 5575 times
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Post by Qes »

I *really* like where you're going with your ideas.

THIS faction may be your calling thespaceinvader.

Two things:

Can we make each unit look sharper/thiner? Like i always imagine them as "live" razors, with brains and the such.

Granted the ones that do impact or pericing damage need bludgeons or skewers. But I like the crystally look. I like the alien looking apperance, but can we get more sharp/thin?

I think of them as very angular.

Also - I love the powersource idea - but maybe THAT can be Team color?

The slicer itself could be colored according to the guidelines, but the powersource/energy/magic thingy could be TC. That'd give a very cool look I think.

I still think Caeb has a better idea than I of the image though. So let him weigh in.
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Post by Caeb »

glad to see you're having fun with this... :)

the legs look pretty spot on, but I'm sorry I didn't give you too much guidance with the body other than "glowy"... out of all of them, I think that the yellow's "foggy" glow effect carries over best as a stand-alone body... however, I think it'd fit better to have a defined, sleek, crystalline outline of a body with possibly some of the glow you've put in there now emanating from it...

if you look at that Drej image I posted in the developmental thread, I was hoping that something similar to that body texture and luminescence could be put into an aerodynamic insectoid body... another possible model for the glowing could be like the inside of a lightning globe: http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... 65_8578336

either way, you're l'artiste, and we're just here to provide some inspiration to help you express your craft, so don't feel too confined within any of these parameters if they go against your tastes... keep up the fantastic work, Maestro... 8)

edit: oh yes, and I think the heads would look nice with the same glow as the body, but with darker and menacing eyes...
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Post by thespaceinvader »

I'll do my best =D

Though currently, none of them actually HAVE heads - the way i'd understood them from your flavour texts, they're simply animated purpose - they use magic to sense what they need to sense, and as such, don't really NEED heads... I'll happily try for a solider, crystal-looking body, but i think it might still look best disconnected and joined on with glow/fog like it is at the moment. Partly for ease of animation, partly because if you join them together you might start running into troubles distinguishing which limb is which. I've already found that tough in some places. I'm working on the green and haven't done the body yet, so i'll try for proof of concept on the bodies with that.

Sharp and thin, quite difficult at this scale, but again, i'll do my best =)

Green should be up later today.

EDIT: Green Slicer. i tried with a solid body and glow surrounding it, i tried without. I prefer without - in this case, the posing is much better. Had to fiddle with the shadow to get it to fit the hex though. Goodness knows how i'ma do the l2 and 3s...

And i know you said thin and sharp, but for this one, i felt it was more necessary to have something that looked bulky and tough, to support the big-ass cannon on its back.

And yes, i may be drawing inspiration for some of these from WH40K Tyranids...

>.>

<.<

EDIT: if you want the bodies to be more substantial, fiddling with their opacity isn't difficult - i think with the yellow, i had it set slightly higher.

EDIT again: Adding Black. I like the wings, i'm not wonderfully pleased with the overall effect, though. Very difficult to do black crystal >.< apparently... Also, trying Brown. Though it might turn out orange...
Attachments
Black Slicer Grass.png
Black Slicer Grass.png (10.05 KiB) Viewed 5488 times
Might need to drop the opacity of the wing-blur a bit.
Might need to drop the opacity of the wing-blur a bit.
Black Slicer.png (2.97 KiB) Viewed 6028 times
ON grass for demo purposes - not hugely necessary as there're no blades with white outlines, but meh, i've gotten used to doing this...
ON grass for demo purposes - not hugely necessary as there're no blades with white outlines, but meh, i've gotten used to doing this...
Green Slicer Grass.png (9.71 KiB) Viewed 5500 times
With the crystal body.  I found it quite tough to shade realistically, and to fit the pose into.
With the crystal body. I found it quite tough to shade realistically, and to fit the pose into.
Green Slicer Crystal Body.png (3.37 KiB) Viewed 5498 times
I like the sinuous look of this.
I like the sinuous look of this.
Green Slicer.png (3.08 KiB) Viewed 5501 times
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Post by thespaceinvader »

Adding another post, since the last was getting a bit substantial... Brown and Grey done (preliminarily, anyway). Just White left for the l0s. These, i've just realised, are huge for l0 creatures... Ah well.

On Brown: I went with shield-y type things for the attacking tools, because of the name and the fact that it's an impact attack.

On Grey: Mammoth-style tusks, with blades on the front. Fun =D

I'm not totally happy with either, but they'll do for now.
Attachments
Grey Slicer Grass.png
Grey Slicer Grass.png (9.93 KiB) Viewed 5445 times
Grey Slicer.png
Grey Slicer.png (2.66 KiB) Viewed 5454 times
Brown Slicer Grass.png
Brown Slicer Grass.png (10.11 KiB) Viewed 5445 times
Brown Slicer.png
Brown Slicer.png (3.43 KiB) Viewed 5447 times
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Post by Rocket Slug »

Wow, funny coincidence...

I think the design of them are really cool, though. You've done a good job making them unique and interesting.
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Post by thespaceinvader »

Cool looking boss, that. Can't say i''ve seen it before, though.
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Post by Drake General »

It's the new super smash bro's brawl edit. That's what it's from. I like those units though, spaceinvader, although the brown looks more peach. Can't wait to see the attack icons. :D
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Post by Caeb »

very nice work... nothing in Wesnoth like'em... I have no problem with a headless horde if you don't think they would look more menacing with glowing heads... actually, at first, I mistook green's cannon for its head and yellow's top blades for twin heads... (scythes make pretty good looking heads...)

Individual Analysis

Red: the big powerful legs are fitting, but the punching bags on this one and Brown are a little comical, I think... for Red, the impact weapon should be larger to show that it pumps itself up, but a pair of thick worm-like tentacles may be enough...

Blue: I'm not sure if more legs necessarily means faster or easier to move about... maybe instead, give those legs some extra power like a cheetah's or kangaroo's, although you don't need to make them colossal like Red's... however, if most people will associate more legs with more movement, I guess it's fine as is for simplicity's sake...

Yellow: a nice touch might be to either add a second pair of scythes (maybe smaller) fanning away outside of the first pair to show why this guy's the master of hits... another option could be to add a ring of blades in between the front blades and back blades, so that Yellow can have sort of a Deathblade whirl going on...

Green: pretty unique rounded legs, good for supporting that bundle of joy it's carrying... actually, I was wondering if you could make the cannon more organic-looking, maybe making the muzzle slanted, with the top longer than the bottom...

Black: only concern regards the direction of the legs... left two legs seem to be pointed forward and to Black's left, or maybe backward and to its left... if they're pointing back, then the third leg's direction is fine, but it might need a bit of light shading... if they're all forward, then the third's direction is backwards... not a big problem, but just wondering how it is to be interpreted...

Grey: seems a little too lightly armored to be able to provide defense to other slicers... perhaps add shielding to the legs...

Brown: squared body suits its stout function... going back to Red, the punching bags might need an improvement, although it isn't as bad from that perspective and without the red color...

I especially like Black and Yellow, and I think they really make this faction stand out, although the rest are also close to reaching a distinct status...

it'll be easier to make a backstory now that we have an actual idea of what these things are... can't wait to see what you'll cook up next... 8)
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Post by thespaceinvader »

I do like the headless horde. I think some of my inspo for these has come from the Replicators of SG1 fame - a plague of mechanical insectoids that got out of its creators' hands and went a bit nutso. It fits with the vision i got of them from what you've written in terms of flavour text so far for them to have no unnecessary bits and pieces. Particularly as they're basically homogeneous crystals - even if they did have eyes, what would the eyes transmit the light to...? Plus, giving them heads gives the enemy something to hit...

Epic comment requires epic reply:

Red: The weapon-y bits might need some tweaking, i agree. I'll see what i can do. I do quite like the boxing-glove look, but that might be just me lol

Blue: I was going for low profile, scuttle-y, like a cockroach or scorpion. I know that in themselves they're not fast compared to, say, a sports car, but they go many times their body length in a short amount of time, which is a good measure of speed.

Yellow: I'll try for a second set of scythes somewhere, it just remains to see where i can actually fit them in...

Green: I'll do my best on that.

Black: I was going for something like a stinger in the middle, blades on the outside, no actual legs at all. i reason that it'll only actually land when it 'dies', so it doesn't need legs, and has extra weapons instead. They're there to look mean more than anything. And i agree that the directionality looks a bit odd. i'll see if i can't tidy it up some, but the black a bit of a mare to shade.

Grey: This was probably my least favourite of the lot. I might give it a fairly large rethink - maybe a second pair of big legs instead of the little ones at the back, and probably different blades.

Brown: They were meant to be shields rather than big lumps, but i don't think that came across. i'll see what i can do about them.

Overall: I'll do my best, but i'm a busy little bee for the next few days, and overall will have less time generally, so they might not come with such alarming regularity any more... My priorites will be getting something on...paper's wrong. Pixel...? for the ones i haven't done yet in order to at least give some graphics to playtest with, along with edits to grey and orange.

I'll see about some edits to these...probably a little bit this afternoon, but that'll be it for a couple of days at least. I might take a shot at white, too. but if black was a swine to shade, white will just be EVIL. Any chance of a colour change on that one lol

If you want a hand on backstory i would be willing to help out there as well... I'm thinking some great mage was doing some experimentation applying necromantic magic to non-living things and it went a bit wrong somewhere down the line...

EDIT: reworking of grey. Much more pleased with how this has come out. Have made some minor shading edits on the righthand blade since this version, but nothing to write home about. It's more chunky, with two sets of big legs rather than one, and the blades reworked so they look a lot more natural.
Attachments
Grey Slicer v2 grass.png
Grey Slicer v2 grass.png (9.9 KiB) Viewed 5281 times
Grey Slicerv2.png
Grey Slicerv2.png (2.77 KiB) Viewed 5285 times
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Post by Qes »

I really like how they're coming along.

I agree with Caeb's assessments.

When/if you ever decide to tackle the higher levels in the dynmaic line please remember that they combine as they get higher in level.

I've also come to belive that they may start to get MORE humanoid the higher level they get.

I see this as their attempts to broach humanity (or perhaps their ancient creators) as a level of perfection and acheivement.

For example, I think the Omega Slicer should look almost human.


But, remember that when combined they get new abilities, so what is above black, all will have flying.

I think that the transformation, in body type, from a slow evolution from insectezoid crystalines at level 0 to a near humanoid (perhaps too perfect a humanoid) level 3, would be perfect.

I see the omega as having "angelic, metallic and powerful" wings with a wide potential span, for example, instead of the insect "buzz" wings.

They're coming along GREAT.

-Qes

EDIT: Have we given further thought to making the fuzzy center/power source into team colors? I think that would be a TREMENDOUS boon and coolness.
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Post by thespaceinvader »

It shouldn't be too tough, assuming TC can come with transparency, which i think it can, but i suspect you'll run into problems with clashing colours...

Minor cosmetic edit to Black - changed wing opacity, altered claws so they both look like they're pointing the same way.

And to red - changed the glow layers to be more in line with the rest of the units, and changed the hammers to be a bit less boxing-glove like, and fixed the shadow. Also shifted things onto different layers in the .xcf to make further edits simpler.

I also had a go at changing the shape of the green cannon, but i couldn't make it work yet.

EDIT: i tried TCing the glow - didn't work. The Gaussian blur i used messed with the colour. There might be a way to do it, with some experimentation. Alternatively, maybe just the higher level units get TC.
Attachments
Red Slicer Grass.png
Red Slicer Grass.png (9.89 KiB) Viewed 5240 times
Red Slicer.png
Red Slicer.png (3.24 KiB) Viewed 5224 times
Black Slicer Grass.png
Black Slicer Grass.png (10.12 KiB) Viewed 5226 times
Black Slicer.png
Black Slicer.png (2.99 KiB) Viewed 5227 times
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Post by thespaceinvader »

Trial version of white. As predicted, not an easy one to shade. Hope this looks OK. I was going for sort of manipulator limbs/sonic emitter things on the arms.

EDIT: Just for fun (and i know the brown still needs some looking at, and most of the others still need some tweaks): Slicers ASSEMBLE!
Attachments
Slicers ASSEMBLE.png
Slicers ASSEMBLE.png (67.32 KiB) Viewed 5180 times
White Slicer Grass.png
White Slicer Grass.png (10.21 KiB) Viewed 5185 times
White Slicer.png
White Slicer.png (2.23 KiB) Viewed 5194 times
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