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Re: LTFC - June 2016 - Industrial Edition

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 3:36 pm
by FormalMoss
OK. Phew. I think I got this. I sure hope this works.
Engine fuel cells are full. Cuddly toy in the co-pilot seat. Captain Teddo. Good to have you along buddy.

I look out and see ships. Not the ships of old that used to sail on water. These ships are magnificent. Old, grimy, with oodles of history written on their mining hulls.

As I look about the inside of the station, I'm amazed it all fits inside one big asteroid. Drilled out when some nutters went on a binge and brought enough dmite to put smiley faces on a red dwarf.

Marvelling at the rugged beauty of these struts, beams and raw rock that house us all.

My reverie is broken as the nav comp purrs.
Course plotted, sir. Thank you Teddo.

It never gets old.
I focus on the crosshairs on the HUD.
Line those suckers up, db.
Chimes and pings go off as other ships chug by on their mapped trajectories.
A flash of light blinds my peripheral vision. Flames from a chimney exhaust.. Diablo's diner.. best flambéed food on this rock.

My vision returns and I quickly scan the vids.
Everyone on their paths. All good.
We approach the maw of space. As we exit the 'roid, it opens wide, until it envelops us.
Wide-reaching, like nothing one would see on earth.. sheer blackness above, below.. all around. One could go mad drifting in deep space.

Flipping switches, and sending transcoded messages to the conning tower.
I don't see the need to be honest, the nearest habitable moon is two solar systems away.

Teddo talks to the computer, whilst I take it all in.
The first run of many.
Report is in - asteroids beyond 20k.
Time to fire up my new scanning app.

Target locked, full burn.

-o-

The prog has done good.
A roid fills up my viewscreen, completely blotting out space.

Auto pilot engaged.. smooth.. kewl, the software upgrade is sweet.
We glide into orbit around the roid, a distant sun glints from the port window as it winks out of sight.

Let's see if these new mining drones from the market work as intended.

Poop!
Five drones swim away from the ship, and land with muted thunks on the roid.

Overlay switched on, and my screen highlights the drones in a 3d rendering of the roid.

Dang, they're like snakes slithering over the rock.
Little sparks fly from time to time as they sample the roid for the fissures I need.
I prep the mining laser.
A quick scan, no ships around.
A soft beep indicates the drones found a fissure.
I punch in the drone coords, and the autopilot softly manoeuvres us to its location.

Hello drone, says the computer.
Hello ship, says the drone.
Teddo laughs at this.

Locked onto drone, handshaking complete.. and yup, there's the orange button. Perfect.

I take a deep breath. The computers don't mind. The drone doesn't care.
I look to Teddo, he's in his own little world.
I feel my ship. I feel it's emptiness. Buoyed gently by space around this great 'roid.
The zen of the moment washes over me.
I lean back and let my foot press the orange button.
Gotta love this life, I think, as the miner whirs into drilling mode.

Time for a singalong Ted; twenty four thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine roids to mine, under twenty five thousand to go..

=o=

Re: LTFC - June 2016 - Industrial Edition

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 1:02 pm
by Talvieno
And now, for the results of the June 2016 "Industrial" competition!

The available prizes are the $30 voucher, Stellaris, and the Strike Suit Zero Mega Bundle. If you would like to decline your prize, please let me know and I'll pass the choice on to the next person in line. If you opt for Stellaris, you must be willing and able to play at least one multiplayer game with someone else on the forums. (Known LT Stellaris players include BMRX, Cornflakes, Zorathex, Hema, Silverware, HowSerendipitous, BFett, BlackSnow, Triggerhappy, and Talvieno.)

The first place winner is: FormalMoss, for her entry Captain Teddo - with a score of 83.33!!

Second and third place go to:
  • Darthnerda with a score of 81.83 for his entry The AI Hephaestus!
  • 0111Narwhalz with a score of 79.67 for his entry Cycles!


The runner ups are (in order of submission):
Comments of the judges in order of submission:
Catsu:
  • I remember the video this is similar to! Fantastic short story.
  • Catsu, as always a very interesting entry and actually quite cool. Would be neat if you continued with this, I'd like to see what this man does next.
  • I feel like you usually do better than this. It's difficult to tell what's going on in a lot of places, and I had to read some parts several times before I was sure. It's a neat take on industry though: militarized industry. Your attention to detail is superb.
Charley Deallus:
  • Very interesting story. I see what you did there with the table of elements, lol. It feels like a borrowed idea, almost like the relationship between Half-life and doom.
  • YAY, a happy ending! Nice story.
  • Your story amused me. I could see it being a small part of a much bigger book - somehow it reminds me of Asimov. This is nothing short of high praise coming from me, even though your writing style seemed to be somewhat lackluster.
Triggerhappy:
  • It's well made, but without the word factory, this would have nothing to do with the subject. :( Minus 5 points from Gryffindor.
  • It's a good picture, but the picture doesn't quite match the story, the story doesn't have much to do with LT, and the theme doesn't really have anything to do with industry. I had to take a lot of points off.
  • I'm guessing the theme here is how industrial the armor looks. I'm a big fan of your style, Trigger - keep it up!
CSE:
  • Heh, I didn't see the end coming somehow. Nice work! I always look forward to seeing your humorous entry. Industry seems to be a theme you're quite comfortable with.
  • Lol.
  • Neat!
Cha0zz:
  • I love it! Design 4 is my favorite, but wonderful concept!
  • I was impressed at first, but then I realized most of your images were almost identical. Then I realized how much detail each had and was impressed again. You've crafted a neat little piece of work. I really hope LT has ad-billboards.
  • This exchange is very, very, unrealistic. A client like this is what designers dream about. "Only 8 versions and they liked one of them?" It just doesn't happen. That said, the posters were all pretty good except for the crazy contrast. I like what you've put together here.
IronDuke:
  • This is a nice read, and your writing style is good... but the story itself feels too... gamey... like the invincible shield. It doesn't much touch on the topic of industry, more being about combat. If the topic had been about tactical combat, this would be amazing, though there is a bit too much going on in my opinion. It was hard to visualize. It felt, in a word, messy.
  • A story of irony. Not as good as your last, though. There were parts where details could have been left out, as well as a lack of detail in others.
  • This is what you put out when you're trying to squeeze stuff in between other deadlines? :shock: And you design games too? This was fantastic writing. If you aren't going to be a game designer, you should be a writer. I'm now curious as to how many other impressive talents you have! :D
Detritus:
  • Short can be good. "Better to be brief," as they say. In this case, though, I feel like you're setting me up for a good story but then leaving me hanging. It's an excellent start... but where's the plot? Where's the intrigue? I love this world, but I feel like I'm missing out.
  • In my head I can hear "Arrakis, Dune, the spice Melange". Not quite the same, but a fun idea. :)
  • A gold mine waiting in the void, an interesting blob on the planet Alyur. It's written quite well! The issue is that this seems more mining oriented than industry oriented. Good writing, but you missed the mark.
0111Narwhalz:
  • That was the most interesting story about a piece of metal that I've ever read. :)
  • For a piece of metal it had a rather interesting story, however I found it rather difficult to follow along. Carried away you got, yes. :P
  • Very poetic. I found myself getting caught up in all of it and actually hoping for one side or the other - though I'd like to point out that it wasn't too clear what exactly was going on. Apart from that, it was very well written and I'm impressed.
HowSerendipitous:
  • Another well detailed scene from HS. Maybe someday you'll hit the LT theme properly, though. :P
  • Great stuff as usual, I'm beginning to take your modelling abilities for granted, so keep pushing! ;)
  • Absolutely breathtaking. What impresses me the most with this particular picture is, oddly enough, the waves. How on earth did you do it? I can't figure it out. Perhaps a sprite hovering above the surface of the water? Maybe particle effects? I don't even know. Excellent work on this piece!
Darthnerda:
  • Surprisingly chilling. An excellent read! You're an amazing writer, in my opinion. It doesn't seem to have too much to do with Limit Theory, unfortunately, though you hit the Industrial theme right on the head. Bravo and well done.
  • You have a gift for storytelling. I thoroughly enjoyed that and the twists genuinely threw me. I'm unsure if the style of your prose was in character or not, but I liked it. I suspect I would enjoy more of your writing and hope you continue to make submissions. :D
  • Wow, what a mindfukc! This was an excellent look into the depressing yet precise beauty of fully automated industry. A good read! I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Black--Snow:
  • Black, this is a solid entry. I can tell you put a lot of work into this. It's an amazing piece and deserves recognition. Unfortunately, it hits well on every area except for one... This month is about Industry, not Mining. Maybe if your animation included something about the ship processing the material on the spot, then sure, but as far as I can tell it simply mines raw material and takes it somewhere to be processed. If you entered this for the mining month you probably would have taken first or second. A great piece, but it falls short.
  • Very true to the spirit of Limit Theory. I don't think you could've gotten closer. Your models, while lacking in detail, seem to almost make up for it in sheer polycount. Try to remember that render time does not equal beauty, though, no matter how powerful your machine is.
  • Yup, thats LT alright. Your work isn't bad, but it does highlight just how amazing Josh's skillz are.
McAule:
  • I couldn't really tell how this relates to industry, but the models are cool. :)
  • So you didn't score all that high Dropping old art that doesn't really fit the theme won't work here. :P However, don't take that in a bad way. You have a good eye, and I like your ships. Your creative side shows, and I hope to see more of your entries in the future. Come back next month for another shot! :D
  • Nice work here. Simple, but they get the idea across quite well... and that idea does not appear to be very relevant to either Limit Theory or the month's industrial theme... at least in the first picture. Great images and nice design (especially liked the factory buildings) - but ultimately I had to take a few points off.
Zennofska:
  • Wow! I've listened to industrial music on occasion, and I have to say you've hit the mark fairly well. It's not my style, but it's pretty awesome. The voice sounds weird, but I doubt there was much you could do with that. A person only has one voice, after all.
  • Industrial! :ghost: I love it! Saved for when LT comes out, I'm gonna play it again to hype me up during beta.
  • I don't listen to much Industrial music, so I might not be a fair judge on this entirely. It felt like the lyrics and the melody were not on par with each other. The melody and overall workings of the track were great, but the lyrics really ruined the experience for me. Thank you for your entry!
GTabor:
  • Excellent work! Your music is superb. I can very definitely imagine listening to this while I fly around in Limit Theory. I'm really, really impressed! Unfortunately it doesn't quite match this month's theme of Industry... so I had to take a few points off for that. Nevertheless you did quite well and should be proud.
  • This piece was really good, and Josh has actually made Procedural music before. I'm having a hell of a time trying to find it... however, here is a post on some of his procedural sound effects. http://joshparnell.com/blog/procedural-sound-synthesis/ You might want to get in touch with him; I'm sure he'd love to talk shop with you.
  • This is beautiful! I notice this is also your first post. If this is the kind of quality you're going to bring to the forums, I REALLY, REALLY hope you stay! Unfortunately this has nothing to do with industry, so i have to take off some points.
FormalMoss:
  • New life goal: Have a cuddly toy co-pilot at some point in life, and name it Teddo. :clap: :thumbup:
  • This made me smile. The writing style is somewhat confusing, but your attention to detail is wonderful, and the depths of your imagination a rare thing indeed. I quite enjoyed this. Industry and mining are not quite the same thing, but still.
  • What a lovable story! You tickled my fancy very much with this! Well done! There is nothing I can really say other than asking you to please do more.
A detailed overview of all scores can be found here.

Prizes will be handled now in the comments thread! FormalMoss, you're first up with a choice between the $30 voucher, Stellaris, and the Strike Suit Zero Mega Bundle. Thank you again to the judges, and thank you to everyone who participated! :D