TBS=Turn Based Strategy
Yeah, they all look star trekish, simply cause I think the ship designs from that show are cool and when I was sick last week (when I started the game) it was the only decent thing on TV. I can't show you the animated versions, but there isn't much animation to 'em (thank god, I hate animating) just blinking lights, etc.
If you want to know a bit about the game, then you can head over to www.ectoprods.com/forum/ and there's a post about it in the upcoming games section, not a whole hell of alot of info there but it might be enough to peak your interest (or kill it).
They're good shapes, but they seem to be shaded all differently, so you can't figure out where the light is coming from. I like the blue star thing by the way.
Actually, I don't think it's a shading problem you're seeing. I've made the ships varying shades, ex. the little black one is black cause it has stronger armor, and also, the lightest part of the shading is always at the highest point on the ship/and that shading is further modified by the blinking running lights. Kinda like the different between a grey/carbon color. But, it's still worth a look when I get home, and I'll check to see if my shading style is completely consistant between the designs. I have also touched up the designs a bit, nothing huge but added a bit more detail. Not really worth taking another screenshot for.
AHA! That's the name of it. I was a great fan of that and Slay, both excellent games. Yes, you can expect this game to play a bit like that.
And yeah, the enemy ships are going to be a totally different style/color.
And yeah, it is pillow shaded kinda, call it a modified pillow shading if you will; simply because the lower parts on the ships are darker to show that they are indeed lower, this is one of those rare times where I think pillow shading is the way to go, especially cause each ship has 32 directions, and I'd hate to have to reshade 32 different directions cause my light source is in some wierd place.
I'd say your ship design on the whole needs to be more varied, even within the one team. If these ships are going to be icons for their abilities, so to speak, they should have more character to them.
I mean... maybe it's just the rather uniform coloring on them all, but... they look too similar to me.
Ok, time for the geek speak.
In looking at the designs for the ships from ST, you can clearly see that they are all fairly similar. This is because the ships are more "general use" and not meant just for battle. It's also because most of the ships in ST are variations of others, which makes repairs/refits/etc. much easier. Also, if you have a proven design that works, why build something totally different when you can tweak the current version for less cost.
Some of these ships are variations on the others, look at the two on the top separated by the A-Frame looking thing, they are the same, except that one doesn't have the big part up front. The same goes for the one below it, though it has the disc section, but is lacking the body. Now, we're also talking that this ships are BIG, so it would make even more sense to mass produce/slightly tweak existing facilities.
Fair enough, then.
"Icons for their abilities" was more of just a general-visual-game-design thing; when it comes down to it, different units, players, enemies, etc. that the player sees are just little icons that represent what they are, like the little pieces for a board game. And it's usually best to keep them easily recognizable from one another; have them appear to represent what they mean, gameplay-wise. Have them be icons for their different abilities.
Just keep in mind that you're making a game, not building the ships. It's very nice that you're making them so that they're easily and effeciently designed and mass-produced, but the player will never have to worry about any of that.
So... um, how ARE thay going to differ, gameplay-wise? You mentioned that the little black one has strong armor, but what else do you have planned?
Different/More Powerful weapons
Movement - The small one is also more manuv. for example
Shield Strength
That's pretty much it for now.
The thing is that the ships are going to be more Tech level based than anything, and if you look at it, I have kind of sprited them that way also. There are three basic tech levels that you will go through, and when you play, you will be able recognize tech 1/2/3 by slight differences in designs, it's kinda hard to see now, and these are not final sprites (shoulda mentioned that before). The story plays a part in this, as the gap in tech levels is only a period of a few years, and at the beginning of the game you aren't really equiped for a war.
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