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Author Topic: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics  (Read 1490 times)

chaosavy

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WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« on: October 10, 2013, 09:25:47 pm »

**NOTE: not sure if this is an appropriate place to post this... forgiveness if it isn't ***

Hello - I'm making a (indie) space sim and RTS hybrid ( www.VoidDestroyer.com ) it was recently funded via Kickstarter and as part of fulfilling Kickstarter promises and expanding game play I've been trying to find 3D modelers. However it hasn't been easy, there is generally a lot of interest and responses (to posts such as these), but artists who aren't space ship modeling fanatics tend to underestimate.

So this post goes out to those who can model and texture ships from start to finish with minimal input from me other than - I need a ship to fullfill this role and such guidelines. 

 
The ships you would be creating would need to fit with the existing art style - semi low poly, but made up of functional parts, where the ships are designed around their weapon systems (eg: we have ships that are flying guns) and roles (eg: ore fetching drones and carriers).

 
Void Destroyer is a commercial project so you will be paid for your work - though it is a project on a tight Kickstarter budget and a small team (me and contractors). So I'm hoping to attract people where seeing ships fly is more important than the payment (my budget estimates are about $300 per ship with the total budget of $10,000 USD allotted towards 3D models). These models are needed immediately so the additional need is for you to have a lot of time.
 

The ideal candidate is (I believe) someone who has done extensive ship modeling in the past - most likely as part of a mod.

 

Yes I know that there are a bunch of demands above... but that's indie game development.

 

If you believe that could be you, please contact me via: paul@voiddestroyer.com

 

Thank you

 
 

Paul

PS: Void Destroyer is in the top 100 on Steam's Greenlight if you like the project please consider voting for it here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=146068036
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mastahcheese

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2013, 11:59:58 pm »

I wish I could model in 3D, because this is exactly the sort of thing I'd love to do.

PTW.
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Chaoswizkid

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2013, 12:24:43 am »

Damn, wish I had modelling software. Never tried graphic modelling but I'm proficient with ProEngineer/Creo Elements CAD for mechanical design. Bah. Should totally get into it when I get the capital to afford the software.

Best of luck to you finding someone for this position.

Also, if you need a writer or editor or a consultant that has an in-depth knowledge of physics and the electro-mechanical applications of physics (engineering), hit me up.
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Itnetlolor

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2013, 12:53:34 am »

I dabble in 3D modeling, but more for artistic reasons. I don't have any actual training in the field (I can model, somewhat, but not texture, or code individual parts, so I make more like 3D sculptures of sorts; and even so, they're more hi-poly count anyhow.

Here's a sample of what I can do with my limited skills. I really wish I had more experience and skill in the field, because design jobs like this is what I'd like to do, preferably. Not processing images, or having people bug me about doing web design for them.

Here's a couple images I already uploaded for Creative Projects some time ago (I gotta finish them, after I recover the lost data on them; Most recent models were lost with the old HDD). Naturally, they're incomplete works, and between work and my laziness, I don't know when I'll finish them. I gotta regain my old habits that made me come up with ships by the boat-loads.

Spoiler: Deathmask Frigate (click to show/hide)
Basically, it's a relatively medium-small scale frigate which balances on 4 VTOL engines with a counter-recoil engine block on the backside (not pictured). It's a customizable craft, the model shown being a rather standard-build; but other designs could look more exotic, fewer, but more higher-calibur round cannons, and so forth. It's more a weapon of fear and intimidation, but despite being intimidating, their VTOL blocks are powerful enough to ambush from within canyons, caves, and alcoves within much larger vessels and buildings/super-structures. Despite some design flaws, they are surprisingly capable, and skilled pilots are a force to be reckoned with, others rely too much on the mask shielding to the point of becoming cannon fodder, however. But to fulfill their role as intimidation, take over a city, disarm it, and have some of these guys surrounding the land from the outskirts, and it'll keep places from starting an uprising, lest they watch buildings and streets get leveled "when the eyes glow".

For an idea of scale, think of one of the primary wings as being about the size of a football field. And yes, on my crew's downtime, they can also play football on the wings. Pictures only show 1/3rd of the entire ship.
Spoiler: Reference Image (click to show/hide)

More of a personal design of an airship I would love to fly (actually did in one of my dreams, and it kicked serious ass). It's supposed to be 1 of a set of 3 ships of the same class (the others being the Caladbolg and the Kusainagi). Basically, think of a battleship, with a bit of customization to also support a small wing of craft to support it (mostly dropships (another model design I had in mind modeled after a barracuda with it's own set of variant classes) and some interceptors). But this is not just any ordinary battleship; it's what can be summarized as an extremely broken thing to fight against. It's supposed to support a large engine block on the back for primary propulsion, and on the front wings, it also has a unique engine block design that permits the engines to snake into a trajectory to adjust accordingly (it's a more freestyle engine block that is not just for VTOL flying, but also altering the full trajectory, from assisting the front engine in speed, to being able to make the ship fly like a rally car in the sky, and even have the power behind it to do maneuvers similar to a fighter jet). To make things even zanier, I sorta had this designed with barnstorming in mind. Yes, a barnstorming battleship, barrel rolling while launching fighters like they were missiles; and to top it off, it has a mess of weapons, from a fixed-beam forward battery (when not firing energy beams, it also doubles as a railgun), along with a series of homing beam weapons, and it's just decked out in auto-cannons. It will pulverize just about anything in it's path, while matching fighters in maneuverability and speed.

When I said it was a broken ship, I truly mean broken. If physics doesn't break it first (despite an inertial dampener/meta-dimensional distortion field generator (not pictured)), then I doubt much else could, especially considering said generator. Basically, I just wanted to make a hot-rod in the sky that is just absurd in scale, and yet, follow enough aerodynamic laws to somewhat get away with it. But really, how often do you witness a half-kilometer battleship barrel roll, or buzz a suburb, and shatter all the windows as it buzzs overhead at a low altitude upside-down at mach speeds?

Looking back, maybe I shouldn't engineer ships.

Both ships were designed in Blender. I also had a Bladeship in the process (a multi-role aerospace fighter in the shape of a Sai), along with an entire fleet of similar types of ships (bladeships) I wanted to model; but I lost them to the hard drive crash as well. Basically, the culture that produced and flew those ships had ritual aerial melees. Yes, they crash into each other, swordfighting in the sky with aircraft. Also doubles as a secondary attack method. When they intercept, they'll rip you apart with their own ship, and due to their construction methods, can take out a squad before the ship starts feeling the effects of wear and tear. Oh yeah, and their capital ships are just as capable of ramming into things, and coming off with not much damage, due to hitting with the blades first. Not the lightest things to fly, but when they hit, you will feel it; provided you're not cut in half on impact first.

Of course, naturally, they also have guns, and they do use them. Melees are mostly ritual in nature, and also a good means of last-resort. But kudos to ritual combat, kamikaze maneuvering is actually pretty standard, and rather a force of habit, so they'll run you down, and gun you down in the process. My advice, don't play chicken against them; they won't swerve.

EDIT:
Added reference image for Excalibur.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2013, 01:37:09 am by Itnetlolor »
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mastahcheese

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2013, 12:56:22 am »

I think they look pretty awesome, particularly the first one.
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Itnetlolor

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2013, 01:55:26 am »

Damn, wish I had modelling software. Never tried graphic modelling but I'm proficient with ProEngineer/Creo Elements CAD for mechanical design. Bah. Should totally get into it when I get the capital to afford the software.

Best of luck to you finding someone for this position.

Also, if you need a writer or editor or a consultant that has an in-depth knowledge of physics and the electro-mechanical applications of physics (engineering), hit me up.
If you're up to learning it, Blender is free, and surprisingly versatile. It's the same program I used to make my ships. The interface may take some time to get the hang of, but it's definitely worth it.

chaosavy

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2013, 07:01:17 am »

Thanks for the responses guys.



Itnetlolor:

Your ships are interesting but they don't fit the art style - one of the main reasons is that - they are mainly composed of "one body" with the addition of engines and guns.

What I mean is that - imagine a ship - lateral thrusters, forward/reverse engines, nacelles, cockpit/optics, radar, energy/fuel pods, escape hatches, docking bays, escape pods, armor plates, viewing areas, bridges - etc. Now imagine that all these elements can be assembled like Lego pieces to form the ship. In your design that wouldn't work too fell since one piece flows into/onto the next, but in Void Destroyer's style that tends to would work pretty well - in fact I do that when ships explode to create debris :) Basically the art style needs to be more modular - not crazy modular like some projects where there are thousands of polys of details, but enough modular where players can go - ooh that part does... etc :)



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Itnetlolor

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2013, 04:48:19 pm »

I knew as much, I wasn't really expecting to be hired anyhow, just felt like sharing a few that I made, and thought they could also inspire some design ideas for anyone considering getting hired. On the plus side, this did remind me why I went into the design field originally, and motivated me to try and invest in getting some 3D animation classes (I already took care of the 2D animation pre-requisite, so the class should be open for me to take). I loved creating these ships, and other things in my sketchpad, but I need a bit more official training so I know how to take things on better in 3D rendering of them (and animating the parts of them too), and also not be isolated to making sculptures, but rather figures, mechanical designs, and so forth that can animate, and also be production-worthy material for projects like these (basically, it's just guns and ship sculptures for me at 'Free Web Tutorial' skill level; no figures, faces, and otherwise, with animation skeletons and such, along with applied physics effects).

I think I would enjoy this field of design more than what I have in range right now. Overall, thanks for helping me recharge my motivation to learn more in this field.

As for modular design, I get what you mean; I've played the X-Wing series and played Homeworld 2, so I know what you mean in regards to identifiable parts and modular construction (along with making debris out of them). What I provided was just stuff I made some time ago. Had I the proper skill, I would've been able to show off/present myself more as I would when going for a job interview (and actually, also ask what kind of ship you would want me to make as a sample of my skill, and for the moment; speed-build).

I wish you luck in getting someone to help.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2013, 04:51:50 pm by Itnetlolor »
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chaosavy

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2013, 09:39:41 pm »

The "concept" ship looks great :)

It is not easy to line up all the aspects that an indie project needs: Insane dedication, good amount of skill, working with constraints, working for nearly free (considering how much time it takes), and having enough time.

Thanks for giving it a shot :)

Me personally I'm strongest in coding and thinking up new features. I tried creating models and they were bad... sometimes I "dream" that I'd get better, but now I don't have much time to spend on modeling versus the necessary time needed on coding and other aspects of game dev. Plus I have this terrible - I can sort of see it but I can't describe it - type mental block. Its like as soon as I try to describe a ship or something else I lose the words so I can't sort of mesh the model together into a appropriate 3D model.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2013, 09:41:35 pm by chaosavy »
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Moghjubar

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Re: WANTED - Space ship modeling fanatics
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2013, 10:57:45 pm »

Heyas chaosavy, you might want to check on some more specialized forums, like either spacesimcentral (for space nuts), or a few modeling enthusiast forums (for people directly interested in modeling).

Of course, you could always look at art on deviantart and poke people/contact them if they have info and see if they would be interested (and of course you could see their style up front that way).

In any case, good luck on Void Destroyer!
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