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Starship style (graphical)

#1
Starship design is where I think a game like this will rise or fall. It's the central thing your looking at all the time and their look, design and uniqueness is critical.


While the starships generated and shown so far in the pitch video (@2:45) look cool and different, they all seem to fit into the same "theme". Fairly Bulky with a touch of "stealth" looking if you know what I mean. This might be fine for military, utility and cargo hauling spaceships but not so exiting and not as revolutionary different as manually designed content can be.

I would suggest that several such base themes or style categories are added as development progresses.

For example a theme for hightech, exploration, peaceful/diplomatic, science style ships would have much rounder shapes in most Sci-Fi lore. Think Startrek Federation ships.

Another style might be very aggresive looking warships, featuring forward spikes and/or blades.


I'm suggesting that each planetary or solar system that builds ships has a related base theme/style depending on what kind of ships they build primary.
This is also nice because you can at a glance recognize the origin and that a fleet with the same origin feels united. Don't underestimate how important color is in this aswell, all grey starships is not something we should have in the final game.

These can be further refined and broken down in even more detail. And you can also assign design input depending on properties:

For example most Sci-Fi ships designed to go fast are long and streamlined.
Cargo ships tend to be more bulky featuring alot Identical big modules/containers.
Science vessels almost always have very round shapes or domes.
Carriers tend to be flat featuring hangar openings.

And so on...

I assume that ship function influencing design is already part of the plan, but let's use this thread to suggest just how it could influence starship design. Remember: keep it general and "what most Sci-Fi looks like", because that's what will be useful feedback and what players will feel at home reacting to.
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Re: Starship style

#2
Yes, this is a good thread, and will be very helpful to me as I build the algorithms. Please include links to screenshots or concept art examples when possible :)

Just so we're clear, the ship algorithm shown in the KS video is very much an early version. The results are all far too similar at the moment, because the base algorithm does not randomize the structure very much. This will certainly change in the future and we will see much more diversity in the structure and form of ships produced. We will also see structure that correlates with the function of the ship, as well as the originating faction, as you suggested!
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ~ Henry Ford
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Re: Starship style

#4
JoshParnell wrote:Yes, this is a good thread, and will be very helpful to me as I build the algorithms. Please include links to screenshots or concept art examples when possible :)

Just so we're clear, the ship algorithm shown in the KS video is very much an early version. The results are all far too similar at the moment, because the base algorithm does not randomize the structure very much. This will certainly change in the future and we will see much more diversity in the structure and form of ships produced. We will also see structure that correlates with the function of the ship, as well as the originating faction, as you suggested!
So happy to hear that. I also thought they are looked a tad too similar, and all that nonsense about procedural content ending up bland and homogeneous came to my mind.

My two cents about ship design: avoid fancy gratuitous fantasy stuff and go for the functional, realistic ones. Think Sword of the Stars vs Battlestar Galactica.
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Re: Starship style

#5
My vote is against the above ship styles.

I love the ships that LT have now, their darkness, their industrial hard-lined looks, helps the imersion (for me) by giving the impression they were man-made. This is also what I liked about elite.

As soon as ships get all organic/curvy/smooth surfaced/neon coloured then I start looking for the exit door.

This is what ruined the new star wars flicks. The original ship designs were gritty/grimy/rough edged designs with lots of weathering (Millenium Falcon). You could see how someone could actually weld something togther like that. In the new movies the ships were all shiny, stream-lined, and ...shudder... *chrome*, the ships lost their star-wars appeal and took on more of a fash-gordon look.

Another favourite ship for me is the Sulaco. It's that style of ship I saw when I watched the LT demo and ultimately what got me to reach for my credit card and pledge.

So, imho, to get awesome looking ships, all Josh would have to do is keep the current ship generation routine and randomly antenna arrays to the front of the generated hull shape. I love their current darkness with the ships, their lighting, their 'moving like shadows' feel through deep dark space. Please don't change that.

As for alien ships? I don't really know. I can't think a nice looking alien style of ship at the moment. Maybe something similar to Zentradi styled ships from Macross perhaps?
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Re: Starship style

#6
Im not a huge fan of USS Bill Clinton ship designs but maybe you could spice things up with Chris Foss style paint schemes (like in the homeworld game series) ?
They really help for breaking silhouettes and turn generic shapes into slick looking ships.

Ill try to make a 3D mockup...
[edit] here it is :)
Image A "markings" maps as overlay over the hull texture and a self illum "windows" map for the non-lit faces of the ships.

Do you plan several civilisations or will it only be man and its boring industrial design?

Also this generator might give you some ideas if you don't already know it already.
http://ship.shapewright.com/

Keep up the good work !
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Re: Starship style

#7
Deej wrote:My vote is against the above ship styles.

[...]

As for alien ships? I don't really know. I can't think a nice looking alien style of ship at the moment. Maybe something similar to Zentradi styled ships from Macross perhaps?
Would you consider my favorite starship style for alien ships? Because then your complaint about it not looking man-made doesn't really hold, right? ;)

Anyway, I completely disagree with you, as you might have guessed. I don't see the reasoning behind having people use extremely advanced technologies and have ships that look like they were made in the industrial era. Actual rockets that actually go into space do not look like they were made of second-hand materials that someone let rot in the open air for an extended period of time.

I see why army fans would love that gritty look that surely reminds them of aged ground vehicles or something (or they just love gritty), but to me it looks damn ugly and doesn't make any sense.

I'm not saying that the starship style I love is logical at all, mind you, just that the "I can believe that men made it" when actual rockets made by actual men look nothing like that doesn't convince me at all. :roll:
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Re: Starship style

#12
Jason Schupfer wrote:So thinking some ships should look odd ball and not too logically designed and others could be very logical looking and others could be ultra sleek.
This. So much this.

Remember the universe is infinite. The more variation there is, the better. If everywhere you go, all the ships have the same look, it will not feel like an infinite universe at all.

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