I've been working on the sections... FINAL UPDATE

[erdrik]

Lovingly beautiful.
I see a few lightly colored pieces in your Test ship, but nothing major.
Do they hold up well to the variety of colors?
What does the debrie look like?
..
mmm I gunna have to echo previous statements:

...this should be the official BSF style from now on...

[25000st]

I have to say, these are probably the best sections I've seen. The change in shades of gray pwns along with the extreme detail. Not only are they good sections by themselves but they naturally fit together perfectly.

I should rather hope you release those sections in less than 4 months.

[ArcaneDude]

Just playing Devil's Advocate for a while:

A complete shipbuilding newbie can make a ship in five minutes and it still looks damn sexy:

This is something I'd like to tinker about for a while. If every newb uses these sections, and creates awesome ships simply because of the sections, will it be good shipbuilding by the user in question, or good pixel artwork by TSWA here? I foresee standards dropping and maybe even a general dislike for ships that weren't made using these.

Even though I will be using these sections, hopefully to great results, they will also be very difficult to combine with the other sections at hand, something I find regretful. That problem will be somewhat diminished once others figure out how to make similar sections, but still.

Don't get me wrong, I like these. But I'm a little tampered in my enthusiasm because of previously stated problems.

[erdrik]

While I can't say much for how this will effect the standards around here, converting the sections isn't very hard.
I have already done so and posted a little about it here.

Tho they aren't as good as SWA's, since his have multiple shades per section and alot more detail.

[Kaelis]

If every newb uses these sections, and creates awesome ships simply because of the sections, will it be good shipbuilding by the user in question, or good pixel artwork by TSWA here? I foresee standards dropping and maybe even a general dislike for ships that weren't made using these.

I know what you mean. For now, its surely good pixelart by TSA at work. But! Remember the very first ships with custom sections? I don't know about you, but back then, to me everything seemed so much better than anything done before with stock sections, and i know a few others felt the same way. And people didnt know how to work with all those custom sections either. But with time the shipbuilding improved greatly and now the very first CE creations don't seem so impressive anymore.

I think the same would happen here - at first everything will probably look the same, but there will always be people like Erin, Seraph or yourself who strive to improve, no matter how good the sections themselves are.

As for 'general dislike for ships that weren't made using these'... well, again, the same happened with custom sections; no one builds stock-only ships anymore. And to be honest, i think its actually a good thing - this style is so much better than the classical 'tactical display'

Even though I will be using these sections, hopefully to great results, they will also be very difficult to combine with the other sections at hand, something I find regretful. That problem will be somewhat diminished once others figure out how to make similar sections, but still.

Well, im assuming here that a large variety of sections in this style will appear in a short period of time, whether done by TSA, myself, or others. I for one can guarantee that if i can learn how to do them and there is demand, ill be doing at least a few dozens

While I can't say much for how this will effect the standards around here, converting the sections isn't very hard.
I have already done so and posted a little about it here.

Tho they aren't as good as SWA's, since his have multiple shades per section and alot more detail.

Umm, no offense, but thats still the old mono-color BSF deal. The reason why TSAs sections look so good is that they use multiple colors and shading to evoke sense of depth and dimension.

[maarten]

I can actually understand what AD is saying.
Your point Kaelis has a single flaw in it. Thing is that the new sections do fit in with the old BSF sections, So none of them were completly useless.
If this new style would be chosen, all sections will be made entirely useless. All sprites would have to be remade.
Next point is that the current sections don't have depth, so have to place sections in a way that suggests depth. This is entirelly up to the shipbuilder, although when we would use SWA's style the 3dness would depend on the imagination of the spriter. And I know a lot of the "big guys" around can sprite, but we wouldn't get much newbies making good ships, I'm afraid.

The original simple style that BSF has, made it so attractive. Easy to use but hard to master. If this would happen, I and I think some others with me would leave or keep useing the old sections.

[pick yer poison]

I don't see what the big deal here is. OK, that's a lie; I see what it is, but I don't think it's as much of a problem as you guys seem to think it is. Why couldn't the shipbuilders just specify what kind of section usage they want to be judged by, in the same way that you can specify that you want a ship to be judged by how balanced it is? Then you could use this new section style without worrying about losing a good chunk of your shipbuilders.

[ArcaneDude]

Yes, because personal preferences work on demand.

[TheShipwrightArms]

Ah FFS, I've shifted a paradigm and caused a schism.

Would people seriously want to leave because some guy released more varied content for game they liked?

Fine.
Do a poll or something. Let me know.
I'll suspend work until there is a consensus.

erdrik mate, did a colour test:


Arc, with custom inverted guns:


TSA

[Skarmory The PG]

Would people seriously want to leave because some guy released more varied content for game they liked?

It's not varied. It's looking way the fucking better and much more shiplike.

[Danny420Dale]

Ah FFS, I've shifted a paradigm and caused a schism.

You say that like it's a bad thing! Isn't this situation rather the entire point of custom sprite import? I remember the first rounds of new section ideas Back in the Day™ and the controversy it caused. That didn't stop us, and neither shall this.

Would people seriously want to leave because some guy released more varied content for game they liked?

I say 'let them leave'. If they can't handle evolution or revolution, then they can simply stick to Old Skool BSF Sectionz™.

Fine.
Do a poll or something. Let me know.

I'm sure someone will.

I'll suspend work until there is a consensus.

Ah hell naw! Don't let naysayers hinder your progress at this point!!

erdrik mate, did a colour test:


Arc, with custom inverted guns:


TSA

AWESOME!

[AlphaDetisMegas]

Would people seriously want to leave because some guy released more varied content for game they liked?

It's not varied. It's looking way the fucking better and much more shiplike.

seconded.

[Sponge]

These are fucking awesome. I've been waiting forever for someone to introduce a viable new art style, and you've done it. Keep making ships.

[25000st]

AD, you said it will be hard to combine these sections with other BSF sections but what if we just re-inverted these sections. Then we could still keep the old BSF look yet use these awesome sections and combine them with the old sections. TSA's first ships in his thread shows that this is very possible.

[Lizzie]

AD, you said it will be hard to combine these sections with other BSF sections but what if we just re-inverted these sections. Then we could still keep the old BSF look yet use these awesome sections and combine them with the old sections. TSA's first ships in his thread shows that this is very possible.

Indeed. Old sections can be redesigned. Not to be insensitive TSA but I'd much prefer that you keep working for as long as possible, so maybe we can get a product from you to play with before you end up disappearing again.