The Kraken

Let's face it, the main attraction of BSF is building your own ships. Share them! If you need help, check the Shipmaker Info & Help forum a little ways down.

Moderators: th15, Moderators

Post Reply
Joystick
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:03 am

The Kraken

Post by Joystick »

Image

I had a sudden urge to build something just recently, and this was the result. I'd appreciate any criticism or comments about it. Please and thank you. :o

Looking around.. I probably should have colored this and tried streamlining more. Somewhat cluttered design now that I scrutinize it more.
User avatar
calvin1211
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 720
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 7:12 pm

Re: The Kraken

Post by calvin1211 »

Please don't mix shiny and stock sprites together. Ever. They do not fit.
User avatar
kittenpillar100
Commander
Commander
Posts: 249
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:34 pm

Re: The Kraken

Post by kittenpillar100 »

What calvin said.

Also, at least try to make a spaceship, It looks like you accidentally dropped your bag full of stock sections in shipmaker. If you look almost anywhere in the forums you'll see how they flow in some way. Your ship doesn't. One way to improve would be to start with smaller ships, they're quite a bit easier to do.

Sorry if this comes off a little harsh but I'm sure you could do much better than this.
I think the induction of "LOL" "OMG" and "<3" into the Oxford English Dictionary is a sign of the End Times. Only, instead of a rider on a pale horse, it'll be a gibberish-spewing spastic in a monster truck named "The Dildozer".
Joystick
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:03 am

Re: The Kraken

Post by Joystick »

lol, alright. Duly noted. Thanks for the feedback, and it did feel sort of off mixing those sprites.

Although, it does seem like it has 'flow' to me. If you'd be so kind as to point out what's so specifically ruining the 'flow'. :s Well.. beyond the vomited up core center.

What about this little fighter that I just made?
Spoiler!
Image
Image
So, no mixing the SW, shiny, and stock parts.. or anything that just overwhelmingly clashes with the other sections.. correct?

And this Crabbish looking model?
Spoiler!
Image
jwa8402
Admiral
Admiral
Posts: 1988
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:09 am

Re: The Kraken

Post by jwa8402 »

Well I liked the random and spiky front but the rest was too boxy and tight for lack of a better description. The gaps within a ship can be as important as the actual hull. I very much like the fighter but thats a nasty gap running through the middle. The crab bit looks like it could handle a fair amount of missile tubes.
Bad Boy
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Posts: 1276
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:34 am
Location: Halifax, Canada

Re: The Kraken

Post by Bad Boy »

The fighter is quite good, particularly the front of it, though you'll want to push things 1 closer together so you don't have the gap in the middle. Also, your shading on it is backwards, the higher up sections should be lighter while the lower ones should be darker, imagine shining a light on the ship from above.

As jwa said the kraken's front, spikey part is actually quite nice. The rest of it suffers from various problems already mentioned (messiness, mixing, poor section usage, etc.)

The crab ship isn't bad though in my opinion it's a step down from the fighter. The biggest problem it has is the claws. The front claws look kind of tacked on, a bit messy and they just don't really fit. The back claws are angled too steeply so they look even more tacked on and awkward, they really mess up the flow. The ship would probably look better if you removed the claws but left the connecting arms, though of course it'd be more ideal if you made something to replace the claws instead of just removing them.

Still, your ships are certainly coming along, keep at it :)
Joystick
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:03 am

Re: The Kraken

Post by Joystick »

Alright, closed the gap on the fighter somewhat now. If I can be arsed, I'll upload a picture to show the change.

As for the crab, what do you mean the claws looked sort of tacked on? I don't know how else they'd fit into it, :/. As for the removing and replacing those claws all together.. I'd probably replace them with some sort of straightened design which would end up looking like blast shields in the end.

I apparently don't have much of an eye for criticizing my own work, so, let me have it! All replies are appreciated.
Bad Boy
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Posts: 1276
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:34 am
Location: Halifax, Canada

Re: The Kraken

Post by Bad Boy »

The front claws look too lopsidedly placed or maybe the connector's too slim. You could try making the connector out of muliple sections and angling them relative to each other so they're not just a straight line.
The back claws look more like big turrets or something that sit on top of the hull than an actual part of the ship, their odd angle means they don't line up well with the arms so they look, literally, like they've been stuck on top.
Joystick
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:03 am

Re: The Kraken

Post by Joystick »

Updated hull and color scheme for the fighter:
Spoiler!
Image

I tried my best to rectify and change what has been suggested for the crab, not sure about the back claws anymore myself though. Trying to maintain the mechanical crabbesque style. I did take care to lessen the angle of the legs though. One thing I'm wondering about is if I should bring the arms out farther, like, out to the sides?
Spoiler!
Image
Not quite sure how to make the back claws seem more part of the ship than being their own instance. So... I'll just uh.. attach the ship blueprint if anyone wants to take a swing at it. Been using Kaelis-SW sprites.

*Edit: Tried my hand at another ship using the Crab's core center as the basis:
Spoiler!
Image
*Edit 2: I've found myself in love with creating a sort of spiked effect. Not sure how good it looks to everyone else though.
Spoiler!
Image
Attachments
Spider Crab.sb4
(7.96 KiB) Downloaded 223 times
Post Reply