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BRAVE Update - Terrains and Art Style

by Andy Hawkins · 03/22/2008 (6:30 am) · 8 comments

Environment Art Style

While I was driving through Kwinana the other day (industrial area) I started taking snaps with the phone camera of the refineries and buildings. This lead me to come up with the environment style I want to put in the game.

I'm going to have evidence of a suburb that was hastily bulldozed to set up an ad-hoc launch base with modular sheds, plants and equipment. I want to convey the sense that it was setup very quickly and houses weren't important anymore. It was time to blast the alien menace.

Here's a photo collage of the refinery and areas I shot while passing through Kwinana plus some inspirational art I've grabbed from the 'net (copyright to the various artists remains) - I'm just using it as art style to help me focus on the look and feel of the environment and buildings.


www.drewfx.com/BRAVE/concept/Industrial%20Area_Email.jpg
Terrains hurt my brains

I've been playing around with the terrain for the first level and it's completely out of control!!!

I wanted a large playing area because the user can fly anywhere quickly and so I generated some huge terrains in TGEA as seen below. They are around 10k x 10k. I flattened an area to put buildings in it.

Only problem is, the flattened area is miniscule and I couldn't find it! Also trying to world build something this size would be a nightmare but it has given me an idea.

I will use the one large terrain (well I'm scaling it down now) and set up 10 areas of operation. From there I will world build per mission. All missions of the final game will be on the same terrain so I can make a compelling game with less assets.

I needed to scope it down to make the deadline and I think people will like the game this way anyway. Here's the pics.

www.drewfx.com/Torque/Terrain10x10_3.jpg

www.drewfx.com/Torque/Terrain10x10_2.jpg

www.drewfx.com/Torque/Terrain10x10_1.jpg

#1
03/22/2008 (6:58 am)
Wow. The terrain looks very nice.
#2
03/22/2008 (7:47 am)
Hey Andy, if you end up using spacecraft similiar to that bumble-bee looking ship you should give kudos to Chris Foss, he's the artist that started that style trend back in the '70s. Its very distinctive and very cool looking, I guess that's why it continues to crop up from time to time.
#3
03/22/2008 (10:03 am)
actually it is a chris foss ship just mirrored around.

www.altanen.dk/Gallery-Main.htm
www.altanen.dk/images/CF21stCentury046.jpg

Nod, i remember seeing his artwork all the time in the 80's, he is really a influence to all of scifi lovers, you can see lot of his art influenced some of modern scifi art. In fact i remember wanted to do one of my first scifi pen and paper games using his art.
#4
03/22/2008 (3:25 pm)
Sweet looking Titan II style rocket :)
#5
03/22/2008 (5:12 pm)
Nice, i live about 10 mins from kwinana so some of those shots are very familiar :)
#6
03/23/2008 (2:53 am)
@ NR - Yeah I grabbed a whole pile of copyright images from the net for inspiration - thanks for the name - that will help me find more. I flipped it because I liked it better in the top right hand corner and it's just for nailing style. I like the hulking, almost non-aerodynamic ships he does - especially because they spew out smoke and flames - like the ships in Riddick:Escape From Butcher Bay (actually I think they suck in fumes).

This collage is a technique I learned at my current job from the artists. You just paste together a whole bunch of images you like and then you do a paint-over to get the art style going. It's mainly for concept art I guess. For me it's just putting lots of images together in the same space to consolidate my ideas before I start modelling.

@ Ian - Nod - I wish I could get closer but they like to keep people away from the refineries. I believe that the design of actual refineries and their function is very secret.
#7
03/23/2008 (2:55 am)
PS. I love this pic - reminds me of Lost Planet. If anyone finds a painting where a spaceman is getting shot by spines from a plant monster please send me the link - I love that pic.

www.altanen.dk/images/CF21stCentury048.jpg
#8
03/23/2008 (7:25 am)
Good luck on your project, Andy. I'm a big fan of the industrial look myself, heavy machinery, oily gears...