Workbee & Co - Wreckerbee and Minibee Downloads On Page 5

[Anna]

Based on Homeworld:@ concept art drawn by Talhydras.

Still a Work in Progress, but I felt the urge to post it.

[Imaillusion]

The way that the arms with the mining lasers move around looks really realistic. As is the thrusters that activate when it's moving sideways.

[vidboi]

i remember doing something akin to this a while back, but i have to admire this ship for both the functionality and the appearance; not really much there that can be criticised

perhaps some larger support ships will be next in line for production?

[Anna]

i remember doing something akin to this a while back, but i have to admire this ship for both the functionality and the appearance; not really much there that can be criticised

Ah-hah! It was you! I couldn't remember who it was who'd done it before. Yeah, I kinda based the arm movement somewhat on the method you described in your thread. I'm still tweaking it a bit, though, and I can't quite do it the same way as you did, as my arms are shorter and have less room to move about.

perhaps some larger support ships will be next in line for production?

Hm. That's a possibility. I'm undecided, but I may give it an attempt.

[vidboi]

i remember doing something akin to this a while back, but i have to admire this ship for both the functionality and the appearance; not really much there that can be criticised

Ah-hah! It was you! I couldn't remember who it was who'd done it before. Yeah, I kinda based the arm movement somewhat on the method you described in your thread. I'm still tweaking it a bit, though, and I can't quite do it the same way as you did, as my arms are shorter and have less room to move about.

personally i like the arms as they are now. perhaps making the outer arms (or whatever they're meant to be) act like clamps to hold the asteroids in place while it works.

[Anna]

personally i like the arms as they are now. perhaps making the outer arms (or whatever they're meant to be) act like clamps to hold the asteroids in place while it works.

Perhaps. That'd probably require it to move in closer than I really like it to. I might have the larger arms just be another pair of mining beams, or... I dunno. I'm still thinking on it. Well, you're the second person who said they liked the arms as they were. Heh. Well, it's a bit late. I've already messed around with them a fair bit.



Edit: No responses at all? Seriously?

[jwa8402]

Haha this is nifty, barely even looks like its a ship from the same game as the rest of the threads. This is the type of thing that will get people building ships again for awhile, even if its just copying your techniques. Can't find anything to complain about except those larger arms. I don't think it would suit this ship but it would be cool to have a mining ship with arms that swung back and forth but had the short range invisible beam deal like the sword ship from the beauty pageant, so it could chop up asteroids.

[Bad Boy]

What can I say, it's quite nice, and it's always nice to see interesting triggers. The ship itself is decent enough (can't say much about its internals cause of the size in the vid, but I'm sure they're good), and the arms are cool. How are they done? My assumption would be with driver weapons, kind of like eri's fin fannels, but that may be completely wrong.
The outer arms could be used as clamps if you made them extend when the mining beams are firing, or they could be some kind of crusher thing (again they'd extend, but they'd close and crush instead of clamp). Or of course you could make them more beams.
Either way I'd like a dl when it's done so I can see how it's done.

[vidboi]

personally i don't like the new version as much. the arms come too far forwards now and therefore the joints don't look as good. also the yellow stripes look pretty bad, perhaps lowering the alpha would make them better, as they're totally obliterating the ship's hull

[Anna]

Haha this is nifty, barely even looks like its a ship from the same game as the rest of the threads.

That's pretty high praise. Thanks.

This is the type of thing that will get people building ships again for awhile, even if its just copying your techniques.

I hope so. I'd like to see more people making ships. This forum's starting to feel a little lonely sometimes.

Can't find anything to complain about except those larger arms.

You don't like the larger arms? Darn.

I don't think it would suit this ship but it would be cool to have a mining ship with arms that swung back and forth but had the short range invisible beam deal like the sword ship from the beauty pageant, so it could chop up asteroids.

That does sound pretty sweet, actually... I might try something like that, sometime.

What can I say, it's quite nice, and it's always nice to see interesting triggers. The ship itself is decent enough (can't say much about its internals cause of the size in the vid, but I'm sure they're good), and the arms are cool. How are they done? My assumption would be with driver weapons, kind of like eri's fin fannels, but that may be completely wrong.

It could be completely wrong, but it isn't. Each joint is driven by an invisible, non-firing beamer, with the angles adjusted so they don't just point the limbs straight ahead (which would look silly).

The outer arms could be used as clamps if you made them extend when the mining beams are firing, or they could be some kind of crusher thing (again they'd extend, but they'd close and crush instead of clamp). Or of course you could make them more beams.
Either way I'd like a dl when it's done so I can see how it's done.

Hm. I might give the clamps/crusher thing an attempt, but more likely I'll just make it beams. Simpler, I think. And yes, I fully plan to put up a download once it is complete.

personally i don't like the new version as much. the arms come too far forwards now and therefore the joints don't look as good. also the yellow stripes look pretty bad, perhaps lowering the alpha would make them better, as they're totally obliterating the ship's hull

I'm sorry you don't like the new version as much. I actually think the limbs look better now, and I like the way the joints look, but different strokes for different folks I guess. I kinda agree with you on the yellow stripes. They do kinda blur out a fair bit of the hull, so I might try lightening them a bit more.

EDIT: Fixed a small formating error in my post. Also, here's the concept art I based the ship upon:


Thanks to Talhydras for letting me use it. Keep an eye on their mod and you'll see a 3D version at some point. Siber's already modeled a fair bit of it, I believe.

[Anna]

Update!



New features include: Larger arms are fully articulated, equiped with pulsed fusion mining beams.

The description from the video:

God, I can't even begin to describe how much of a pain in my goddamn ass this was. Articulation is very finicky, you see. If you don't have the drivers for each joint lined up just right the articulated limbs can do some pretty crazy and/or fucking annoying things, including crossing over themselves (which makes it look like the ship is saying "nuh-uh, I'm not doing another minute of work, bitch"), and spreading out in a really awkward manner that makes it look like the limbs went and got dislocated in an extremely painful manner.

It took me around an hour to get the articulation just right. There are almost no problems with it now. It might need a little more tweaking, but I think most of the rest of the changes to the ship will be cosmetic from now on. It's pretty much complete, and a download will be available on the Wyrdysm Games forum soon.

Once again, no sound, just some random music off AudioSwap.

Thanks once again to:
Talhydras for designing the Workbee, which this ship is based upon.
th15 for making Battleships Forever.
Kaelis and Arcalane for the features they added to the game.
vidboi for his tips on articulating limbs
Everyone whose sections I used.

Vote: Should I put up a blooper video showing some of the crazy horrible things that occur when the articulation is lined up incorrectly?

Also, if people could rate and comment in the YouTube video, that'd make me feel really special and encourage me to do more shipbuilding and post more videos of said ships in action.

EDIT: Well, since the flash tag is screwy and doesn't let you click on the videos to go directly to the YouTube page, here's some direct links:

Workbee Test #1
Workbee Test #2
Workbee Test #3

And here's a default zoom pic of the ship from Shipmaker:

[Rugdumph]

That is honestly brilliant! With the large arms moving as well it looks much better. You have got the range of motion for all four of the arms spot on too, also helped by that it's just a really nice little ship. Good work, it's encouraged me to try something more than just using drivers to make crappy turrets.

[25000st]

Amazing work good sir. Triggers and crap have never been my thing but you've managed to make the arms work very well.
To top it off, the ship has an amazing functional look that is pleasing to the eye.

I'd like to see this ship in a dark green color scheme.

[Chiiro]

It's like a fantastic little work of art. :'D
Section work, articulation, depthing, coloring, its all superb. :'D

[Anna]

That is honestly brilliant! With the large arms moving as well it looks much better. You have got the range of motion for all four of the arms spot on too, also helped by that it's just a really nice little ship. Good work, it's encouraged me to try something more than just using drivers to make crappy turrets.

Thanks! Glad to hear I've inspired someone to do some more building! Post your ships up, eh? I like seeing this board active!

Amazing work good sir. Triggers and crap have never been my thing but you've managed to make the arms work very well.
To top it off, the ship has an amazing functional look that is pleasing to the eye.

I'd like to see this ship in a dark green color scheme.

Thank you, kind sir. Well, you may be in luck on that last bit. I'm considering making a militarised version of the Workbee, and dark green was the colourscheme I was sort of leaning towards, maybe with some camo splotches... I know green, splotched camoflage makes no sense in space. I know. I just don't care. Call it military tradition or something.

It's like a fantastic little work of art. :'D
Section work, articulation, depthing, coloring, its all superb. :'D

<3 Your kind words bring joy to my heart, Chii-kun!