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Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:04 pm
by TheBuilder
So while bored with every other possible game I have at the moment, I took another crack at shipbuilding in a way that won't leave Anna trying to chainsaw my head off. So here goes:
Greyfly (HM Stone)
Spoiler!
Greyfly.jpg
Greyfly.jpg (7.24 KiB) Viewed 6441 times
Needle (HM Stone)
Spoiler!
Needle.jpg
Needle.jpg (7.91 KiB) Viewed 6441 times
Pinion (HM Stone)
Spoiler!
Pinion.jpg
Pinion.jpg (8.08 KiB) Viewed 6441 times
Acrick (Machine Bioship)
Spoiler!
I wanted to make something with these sprites, but truthfully, there isn't much you can do with them.
Acrick.jpg
Bone Dagger (Noctis bio)
Spoiler!
Bone Dagger.jpg
Vulture (vidboi vid)
Spoiler!
Vulture.jpg
It's weapons are hidden within it hull and come out when a ship comes within radar range.
Mass (DST no color and some Kaelis Shining)
Spoiler!
Mass.jpg
It only has two sets of hidden Missile launchers cause not much else would "fit in" properly with the look of the ship.
Here's a download for them that includes the blueprints and the ships, so that you can see the triggers on the Vulture and Mass;
MaybeBetterShips.7z
(19.88 KiB) Downloaded 138 times
"Lowers Nuclear Blast Shield"
Okay, C&C them.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:26 pm
by Son Tzu
The HM stone ships are repetitive and lacking detail or depth. Mass may have some potential, but at the moment it is jumbled, and will need a fair bit of tweaking. Can't really comment on the bioships as I just don't like that section style. Keep at it!
EDIT: Almost forgot, you might not be able to make anything with vidbois' sprites, but I assure you, he can.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:30 pm
by Da_Dooley
I'm fuckin' tired, so the easiest way I can say this is that they get better as you move down the list.
Greyfly: Section repetition kills it.
Needle: Somewhat better, but nothing special.
Pinion: Good shape, could be expanded.
The Bone Dagger and Vulture are ugly.
The MASS, however, has a good feel to it, but that underlying structure is too dark.

Ed: Ninja'd by Son Tzu :P

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:59 pm
by TheBuilder
"Raises the blast shield"
Thanks for the crits so far guys, though my expectations of what would be said are like the exact opposite of what I got. Oh well. When I was done with these I felt that the Vulture was best of the bunch since I kinda jigsawed the mass together.
Whatever.

Just remember to download them and at least try the Vulture and Mass, since they're the ones with the triggers and such on their weapons.
"Lowers the blast shield"
<_< Keeping a sharp eye out for Anna >_>

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:20 pm
by vidboi
it's all a bit 'meh' to be honest. The first two stone ships are flat, boring and repetitive. The third's better, but it could do with some with some more interesting sectionwork. I think hm's stone sprites really needed some added interest such as glows or other effects.

The bio ships are alright but nothing special; perhaps you could try making them cyborgs like Anna's idea? the second one (bone dagger) looks like it would be better if you chopped the front off and then flipped it around, as the back of the ship looks more like a front.

What can i say about my sprites? well, in general, i designed a ship and the sprites were made for it, not the other way around. This means that they are really difficult to use except in the ways they were designed for, so i don't blame you at all for not eing able to make anything good.

the mass is rather more interesting. I like the use of layers and an underlaying structure, but overall it just looks a bit too cluttered. You shoul;d try making a smaller ship along the same ideas and try making it much cleaner and more coherent

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:31 pm
by TheBuilder
"Lifts the blast shield slightly and peeks out"
Trust me vidboi, you DON'T want to see what Bone Dagger looked like before he had the arms.
As for Vulture, I just don't get it. How is it crap? I mean I used the exact same idea on how to fit the sprites together for all of the ships, (with the exception of Bone Dagger), "sigh" I guess I should let it go before something bad happens.
Seeing as Mass has gotten the most attention, I will try doing something with it, though I can't guarantee anything of course.
"Lays blast shield back into place"

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:52 pm
by Arcalane
TheBuilder wrote:Thanks for the crits so far guys, though my expectations of what would be said are like the exact opposite of what I got.
Sorry if we actually have some semblance of taste. :P

There's a right way to use Stone, and there's a wrong way. Actually, there's a lot of wrong ways, and not very much in the way of examples when it comes to the right way. Think "fossil" and "fish";

Image
Image

No comment on bio-type/vid's sections. Certainly can't say anything positive though.

Mass: Good fucking lord this thing is a mess. A jumbled, improperly coloured mess. Start smaller.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:39 pm
by Anna
TheBuilder, if you keep baiting me, I will bite eventually.

So, since you annoyed me enough with your bullshit (Oh noes Anna is horrible I'm scared he'll come rip me to shreds so I'll keep saying so. That's sure to make him happy!), and I am actually in a critiquing mood right now

Greyfly: Garbage. Way too much repetition of sections, especially on such a small, low-section ship. Looks spindly and dull.

Needle: An improvement. With some touching up, some additions, some fucking colouring and shading and some details added with doodads or something, I can actually sort of imagine this looking good, if I try real hard.

Pinion: Best of the three. If you follow some of the examples used in the screens Arcalane posted, you might possibly make something decent with these sections.

Ackrick: Pretty standard configuration of Machine's Bioship sections, here. Nothing innovating or especially interesting. It's not really enough of an original attempt for me to even call it bad. It's just boring.

Bone Dagger: The single most shit-tastic piece of shitty shit I have ever seen shat on these forums in a long fucking time. Seriously fuck off with this garbage this shit looks fucking retarded.

Vulture: What needs to be said about this has already been said. It's boring, it sucks.

Mass: You actually did some interesting things here, on parts of it, and the eyes are naturally drawn to those areas, which shows you don't entirely lack skill, but then if you actually take the time, many parts of this ship are very messy, random and haphazard, and don't seem to fit at all. That said, if you try something like this on a smaller scale, perhaps using just a few more Shiny sections (smaller ones, ideally, not the large flat ones everyone seems to smear over everything), I think you could make something actually pretty good. Also, don't use near-black sections like you did on some pieces of this. They're just ugly. Anything darker than 60,60,60 is pretty much pointless, and going as far as you did is even worse, because all the detailing and shading on the section itself is lost and you end up with a silhouette of a section.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 2:25 am
by TheBuilder
Since you're so good at shipbuilding Anna, could you explain to me why Vulture isn't a good ship? I understand perfectly why I got the comments I did on the other ships, but with the that one something doesn't seem right.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:06 am
by Anna
Bunch of completely flat sections tossed together into a random, fairly uninteresting shape. No shading at all. No detail at all. Nothing. Vidboi's ships manage to work because he gives them depth and detail. Yours has neither. And the blurry dark bits that I'm guessing are meant to be shield or something just look stupid and out of place.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 6:58 am
by Lord_Baigent
The first three stone ships aren't really particularly good and I think skill with those sections will just come with time.

The bioship is plane generic and the bone ship is... erm... odd.

I do see some merit in the vulture design in fact I'd actually go as far as to say its good. All it needs is some shading as at the moment its just a dull lump of metal.

Mass shows some interesting part usage and the engines are well constructed. I think really if you shoved all the parts together and didn't have the gaps then it'd be at least a decent ship.

I thin the main problem you are having is that your not setting yourself at the right level. You've lurked on this forum for a while, and I take it your an avid sci-fi fan. Because of this you are trying to build huge incredible super-ships that rival the star destroyer executor in detail and just ending up with alot of bad ships, because you simply just don't have the skill. Try to stop yourself from getting out of your depth design a simple ordinary fleet starting with the frigates and then slowly move up the ladder until you finally have the skills to build, and I quote, "the most epic thing possible, PERIOD." And that will happen eventually.
On a final note just think about this Anna and Arcalane were noobs like us once too so keep at it. :)

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:15 am
by Anna
Let me just point out that while my early ships were fairly poor by today's standards, even back when I was a "noob" I was considered a good shipbuilding, so there. :lol:

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:55 am
by Da_Dooley
Anna wrote:Let me just point out that while my early ships were fairly poor by today's standards, even back when I was a "noob" I was considered a good shipbuilding, so there. :lol:
I swear to you, he speaks the truth. I looked back in the "old pages," and he was pretty badass (for the standards then) even when he first joined.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 3:29 am
by TheBuilder
It's not that I'm and avid Sci-Fi fan, its that I'm a builder. I'm naturally drawn to just about any form of building, (legos, knex, BSF ships, minecraft, Command & Conquer, etc).

Also, I only try my hand at shipbuilding once in a while now since I play other games. So it'll take a bit longer for me to get a handle on the design style.

Re: Me working on my shipbuilding skills, what do you think?

Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 9:20 pm
by Anna
For the record, since apparently someone doesn't know any better, you don't go posting your own ships in other peoples threads and asking for critiques, apals. If you want critiques on your ship, you make your own damn thread. That's what I deleted your post.