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Wait for the next release. I want usable mugs damn it!

55 (71.4%)

We can use the current one. I like the big trees and slightly smarter dorfs.

17 (22.1%)

I'll take .34.11 thanks. I want to know I'll get to kill things for sure.

5 (6.5%)

Total Members Voted: 77

[Aseaheru]

Why is it so purple?

[Talvieno]

okay, so... negative reactions... well, if anyone wants to suggest improvements, I'm open to suggestions.

[Reudh]

Those are hardly negative. I'd say they're neutral.

Anyway, i find the image a little difficult to see - if possible, could we have the glowwhale in a brighter environment?

[Splint]

I was just expecting more whale and less... Whatever the fuck the tendrils/tentacles come from.

[Talvieno]

Mmm, that does sound negative... I do agree there's something wrong with the tentacles (supposed to be like a jellyfish's), as well as the general shape of the creature, but I can't put my finger on it, and I'm not sure what to do to improve it. It's supposed to draw water in through the mouth, and expel it through the rear, propelling it in a sort of jet-like way not entirely alien to a squid or jellyfish, but not quite like anything terrestrial, either... that I know of.

And yes, Reudh, I'll throw together a brighter image for you, using the same model. I'll put it in my old "box room" and do a render... and then I'll have to do another render because the box room absolutely kills bump mapping. A lot of the shapes and lines on its surface aren't supposed to be fixed, as it can change its colors like a cuttlefish... but... there's no way I could possibly animate it. I'd have to render a separate texture for every frame.

To be honest, the creature was designed with the plot in mind, which is why I mentioned them in the first place, a number of chapters back. The glowing makes it easy to see, the tentacles or whatever serve a purpose, as does the fact that they feed on discharged electricity. The coloration is nothing important - I just made it match up with a sentence I wrote in the "interlude" segment:

You stand in an underwater chamber, the ceiling at least fifty feet above... For years afterwards you'll struggle in vain to describe it, for the beauty is otherworldly: a cathedral of giants, complete with glass walls and steel beams, towers, buildings, embattlements rising up all around you, continuing far into the distance, the water outside as crystal-clear as if it's naught but a glass of fresh water. Alien creatures, shimmering in iridescent beauty, sail gently by outside.

I'm sensing a great deal of negativity here, though... which wasn't entirely unexpected.

[TheFlame52]

I think it looks good.

[Starweaver396]

I was expecting it to have fewer tentacles(tendrils might be a better word, they look plant-like for some reason), but I'm obsessed with prehensile limbs so...

Other than that, it looks exactly like I imagined it. Nicely done, wish I could do it.

[Aseaheru]

okay, so... negative reactions... well, if anyone wants to suggest improvements, I'm open to suggestions.

Its not negative, its commenting on color.

[Talvieno]

Welllll, partway through a set of renders I realized I accidentally made one of the maps wrong. There are a ridiculous numbers of maps.

• Specular map
• Gloss map
• Texture map
• Bump map
• Self-illumination map
• Texture map (tentacles)
• self-illumination map (tentacles)

and I accidentally messed up the self-illumination map, which was making it glow everywhere, instead of just on the magenta areas like I wanted it to. It's fixed now. So, Aseaheru, that's why the color appeared to be messed up... hopefully. I have three more pictures of it coming up, and one of them is going to show it in a darkened area to show how it should look.

In the meantime, the body texture I made. The tentacles use a slightly different one.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

also, tendrils are for plants. Jellyfish have tentacles... I just can't seem to get them to look right. I was going to make them 25% transparent like they were in the first four pics, but with reflections enabled, that bumps it up to a ridiculous 16+ hour render time, and... no. just no.

[CaptainMcClellan]

It's nice, but what is it?

[Reudh]

That's the Glowwhale's body texture, McClellan.

[CaptainMcClellan]

Is the glowwhale to follow?

[Aseaheru]

Its on the last page I think.

[Talvieno]

It was in spoilers on the last page.

But here are the clearer glowwhale pictures requested, plus one that's close-up enough for you to see the bump mapping, reflections, raytracing, etc.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

and keep in mind that I'm not a professional, it doesn't look how I want it, and I actually completely forgot about eyes until looking at them just now.

[Splint]

LIVE SPEARBREAKERS! LIVE! I COMMAND THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I have begun readying another project.

Is there an award for "Most community games started by one person?" Because if there is I'd totally win it. I come back to my humblest of beginnings to ask if there's anyone who'd like a dwarf in the soon-coming Masterwork game of Riverrun. Now with 100% more violence and disease!

Ugh, it's like I have some kind of compulsion to run several at once and managing it, even if the updates are slow going on two of them.

On that note, Riverrun will be replacing Spearbreakers in my sig. It's my baby, but it's in the mighty hall now. Doesn't need me looking after it in my sig anymore.