Nephthys, the Goddess of Justice

Devour · Post by **Devour** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:21 pm

I recieved advice to go forum lurking for a while. I did that. I learned some things along the way, but I also spent time thinking about what I should make next. Seeing the screen filling dreadnaught that somebody made, which looked amazing to me, I decided to make a large ship of my own.
Equipped only with stock peices and the ability to stretch them, I began my work. And for once, I planned it out. After about an hour and a half's work, the ship is finished. Though I haven't added weapons yet.

Please tell me what you think, and how I can get better. I really hope I keep improving so I can be good at this some day. But to be honest, I'm happy with it.

http://i27.tinypic.com/e6ac1i.jpg
A full sized picture of Nephthys.

apache1990 · Post by **apache1990** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:17 pm

The shape is cool, and I think you colored it well (though you left glow on in the game). But the stretched pieces got blurry and don't look so good. Also, in the front middle area, one of the pieces is flipped wrong or something, because it looks backwards.

(Also, the parts where normal sized parts overlap the stretched ones look kind of weird.)

Devour · Post by **Devour** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:23 pm

The front middle area? Sorry, but I can't see where you're talking about.
Thanks for the advice though. But also, do you know where I can get larger sections so I don't have to stretch the parts?

apache1990 · Post by **apache1990** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:37 pm

The two pieces right next to the cursor in your larger picture.

Devour · Post by **Devour** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:53 pm

Thanks. I fixed all the mistakes that I could see, and I added weapons now.

jwa8402 · Post by **jwa8402** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:42 pm

Hes referring to the stock section 16s, which are reversed. Although I like the general shape and your use of color for shading is nice, the ship itself has no definition. It looks like a bunch of sections tacked together without any regard for how they function together. It could probably be saved but take a little more time assembling your ships and they will look better.

Devour · Post by **Devour** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:05 am

Okay I'll follow your advice. However, Im not sure how to "put my peices together with regard to how they'll function with each other." I'll look at some ships and hopefully learn what you mean.

xdarkcodex · Post by **xdarkcodex** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:59 am

I think it's great. It has great coloring.
I wish I was better at coloring...

Commodore111 · Post by **Commodore111** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:03 am

Devour wrote:Okay I'll follow your advice. However, Im not sure how to "put my peices together with regard to how they'll function with each other." I'll look at some ships and hopefully learn what you mean.

Think of it this way, do you put the armor inside the ship or on the outside? The function of the armor is to protect the ship. So place the parts where they should go according to their function.

And try to make the lines of the parts connect.

Post by **Arcalane** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:11 am

Commodore111 wrote:And try to make the lines of the parts connect.

Otherwise known as 'flow', this is very important to ship design.

The ship as it is lacks cohesion and glow - there's lots of random 90 degree angles coming out of nowhere and looking ugly.

Darkship · Post by **Darkship** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:20 am

A piece of advice on how to improve on the 'flow' of a ship is to see which ships seem to fit together seamlessly, as if they were draw with that particular purpose in mind even if that was not intended.
To further elaborate on the 90 degrees issue, such right angles generally stick out a lot and degrade the design of the ship as a whole.

To eliminate this problem i suggest using more angled sections over areas that have right angles.

thedeepestblue · Post by **thedeepestblue** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:16 am

Commodore111 wrote:Think of it this way, do you put the armor inside the ship or on the outside?

But surely the outside of the ship would encompass the entire visible body of the ship in BSF - space being three-dimensional and all

Seriously though, Commodore111 does make a fair point - when you place a piece, ask what it's meant to be. Is it a second deck? A generator? A bit of armour? A mount for a weapon?

To put it in perspective, look at this picture:

The orange circle clearly highlights a piece of armour/shielding, but what are the two sections in each of the purple circles? They look like shielding as well, but why have shielding in the middle of your ship? (Admittedly it could be protecting another deck, but there isn't one there).

You should try to avoid things like the sections in the purple circle (layering sections on top of each other), lest your ship become cluttered and confusing

(that said, I do like the ship - nice to know I'm not the only one who likes blue).

Devour · Post by **Devour** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:35 pm

Thanks for all the advice.

I'm studying it all. Hoping my next ship will turn out much better. But feel free to still give in your two cents of help.