Anyone willing to make flexible & generic sci-fi units...?

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

Alright, I can't bring myself to read any further from my textbook!

So, for some therapy, I'd like to know if anyone would be willing to work with me on developing science fiction based units for ArmA II OA?

I'm not shy to blow my own horn here, because I've years' worth of feedback from others that my design work is solid. I can draw well thought out and "deep" concepts like a madman, but one thing I know very little about is making meshes. I've done some dabbling in skinning/texturing, but when it comes to this latter category, to say that I'm highly inefficient is an understatement.

But the concept and design side of it? Yes, that I can do, and deftly too!

The chief goals are these:

(1) Make the units generic, that is, they do NOT come from a well established universe. So, no stormtroopers from Star Wars, nor borgs from Star Trek, nor terminators from James Cameron's films, nor Xenomorphs from Alien, nor units from Warhammer, etc., etc... These would be all from scratch, and intended to be used however deemed by the community members. They would be able to use these units to tell any type of story they pleased.

(2) Since time is a premium for everyone, these units would be flexible in a number of ways, such as:

I. Capabilities---unique and truly intriguing tactically, but hopefully not requiring a God of Scripting to make possible.

II. Potential origin---is it a man-made machine, or fashioned by an alien, or is there an alien inside, or...? This ambiguity in regards to its visuals would again, permit the mission maker, or, even if a story isn't present, allow the Player to instantly conjure up potentialities (which is advantageous as it allows the Player to fill in the "mystery" of its existence, and thus gives the Player "ownership" of it, making it more concrete and immersive).

(3) Unless a number of people are really gung ho in regards to making this happen on a grand scale, a lot of units are not planned, and may not even be necessary if thought out well. The goal is to give at least enough units so that the mission maker can do a lot with what's supplied, both in terms of advancing a story and in supplying a stimulating tactical experience. Unit types that I've got simmering on my brain are...

...infantry...

...delivery craft---mostly a "set" piece, in case one wants a hint as to the infantry unit's origin, but even this design is open to interpretation and can be filled in by the mission maker...

...airborn unit---not a craft per say, but perhaps a craft piloted by remote control? or it's an intelligent robot? or occupied by an alien? or it's a biomechanical combination of (fill in the blank)?

...armor---something never seen before in any film I've ever seen, or comic book for that matter. Simple, yet very, VERY terrible on the battlefield. Should raise the hair on Players' necks encountering this thing, and "No" I'm not just talking about its appearance, but rather its impact. Again, a Coding God shouldn't be required to pull this unit off. Oh, and this unit isn't very large either. Doesn't need to be to get people choking out, "Oh $hit!" whenever they see it.

From a "connections" perspective, the one infantry unit I have in mind would be absolutely essential, and then the second piece, the delivery craft, would prove quite useful in regards to conveying a story. The other units would be some major icing on the cake, but aren't vitally necessary.

If anyone's tempted to picture an "Aliens" or "Predator" aesthetic to what I'm describing above, well, it's quite different from that. Yes, indeed it is. I'm hoping to do something not yet seen in films or on TV. Let's make it happen first in ArmA II OA!

(4) "Generic" does NOT mean lackluster, or subpar. I'd pour every ounce of energy into these designs to ensure that they kicked @$$. :coop:

(5) Open to well thought out input. If one's very serious about making this happen, I'm happy for the input of others to ENHANCE the unit.

(6) If one's serious in making this happen, and is willing to commit the time to modeling/skinning/animating/scripting something that's clearly organic, or clearly machine, or clearly from some unmentionable realm that will inflict madness on the viewer's brain, then let me know. I am more than willing to devote my pencil towards an endeavor which will result in something concrete for the community to enjoy, even if the basic concept is not mine. I guess you could say that I'm "for hire" if one's looking for someone to do what I'm capable of doing.

So, if you're wondering where my images are at, the answer is I'm not going to publicly post any work till people start PMing me to see my portfolio privately. If you think my work is subpar and not worth your time: fine. But as soon as I get people who like what I've got to show, and a serious bite is made into making any of the above happen, I'll then post images publicly of my designs. I think that it would be pretty neat to see how the project evolves between the team members, with regular postings of screenshots of meshes-in-progress, and skins-in-progress.

Alright, so, if you've got some serious meshing, skinning, animation (may not be necessary, but it sure would be nice to know someone who could do this) and scripting skills, and are very interested in seeing something like this occur for the community, then feel free to PM me. After we "shake hands," and some confidence has been established (have examples of your work ready to send to me), I'll supply a link to download my portfolio. Take a good, hard look at it. If one's pleased by what is seen, then give me a chance to razzle dazzle you with the infantry design. And then we'll see what happens next...

Who knows? Our adventure together may provide endless ones for those that love ArmA...

Good Night!

Kyle

June 20, 2011

:)

[-)rStrangelove 0]

How do generic SciFi forces look like? I think there's a universe of possibilities for infantry-types alone: body-tight spandex suits, overalls, light body armor, heavy body armor, exoskeleton.

And think of the 'tanks' in SW, some have big tyres, some tracks, some are hovering above ground.

In which category do MECHs go? Tanks too?

Interesting thread though.

[ArmAriffic 10]

this my good friend, goes in the addon request thread

[Devil Dogs SF 13]

I don't think this is a request, I think he's looking for help in making an addon?

In any case, I hope something is made from this.

[abs 2]

I don't think this is a request, I think he's looking for help in making an addon?

I can draw well thought out and "deep" concepts like a madman, but one thing I know very little about is making meshes. I've done some dabbling in skinning/texturing, but when it comes to this latter category, to say that I'm highly inefficient is an understatement.

But the concept and design side of it? Yes, that I can do, and deftly too!

Hi Devil Dogs SF,

The quote above states:

1. He is great with creating ideas.

2. He can not make models.

3. He has rudimentary texturing abilities (not knocking him, I also have rudimentary texturing abilities.)

4. He is great with creating ideas.

So, this is basically a request.

Abs

[Spartan 163 0]

Agree with Abs.

[PuFu 4600]

something like this is listed in my book for the summer period, featuring 3 unique (read - from the back of my own head) SCI FI armies, 1 for each side (blu, op, independent).

But as abs put it, unless you are planning to do it yourself and you are asking for help, this is still a mod request

edit(after reading your thread again)

Just a question: which part of the addon making will you take?

Edited June 20, 2011 by PuFu

[wolfbite 8]

Got a DA account or anything like that to look at?

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

From PuFu:

which part of the addon making will you take?

Drawing out the design of the concept. I have a pretty "definite" concept in my head for each unit type: what it would be capable of doing in the game, and how its appearance would visually reflect its capabilities. That said, as I mentioned in the first post, I'm open to input from the team members as to what its "exact" capabilities will be once it's ready to be encoded for gameplay/download. The key point though, is that its functionality be flexible, so that mission makers have a high incentive of using it, and for players wanting to experience such challenges in-game.

I am also open to being "hired" to visually design a robot, monster, mutant, armored human (is this armor steampunk? gothic? from a cheesy 1950's B-grade movie? ultra high tech without too much resemblance to today's technology? etc., etc....), armored alien, an unarmored alien, spaceship, delivery device, a device that summons forth Lovecraft himself, or whatever for anyone, as long as they're seriously committed to actually creating it for an ArmA II OA release. I really deeply invest myself when designing these things. It's time consuming, and like anyone doing anything for free, I don't appreciate having my time wasted on drawing something that's not going to be used.

From wolfbite:

Got a DA account or anything like that to look at?

No. Not yet. I'm an art instructor, and I hope that anyone who has any experience teaching will be able to sympathize with that. On average, I teach a lab environment all day to 180 different kids a day, five days a week, with 25 different sections. If I'm doing my job well (and I do, and, no exaggeration here, I have all of my Kindergartners drawing proportional human figures and faces, and sculpting them too!), I'm exhausted by the fourth section, with two more left to go.

So, for most of the year, and a good chunk of the summer, I'm too drained to produce anything for myself. I've got two young kids to take care of, and that's not including my wife! ;)

But I'm coming up to a bit of a break, and this incarnation of ArmA needs some good science fiction/horror/whatever units for the community to play with. And I'd earnestly like to help make that happen.

I'm happy to send a download link to my portfolio to those who have a solid work ethic, and would enjoy creating something cool for the community that's not a product of another Big Brand Name universe. And please understand that asking for my portfolio is NOT a commitment to working on this project---it's just a way for me to keep track of whomever is receiving my intellectual property.

If someone who is a good mesh maker, skinner, animator, coder, likes what they see in regards to my capabilities, then we'll move on from there. CREATING! :bounce3:

Here's a brief rundown of other modding endeavors I've participated in to show how serious I have been in my "modest" modding career (this list is from my Mod DB account):

I have contributed designs to numerous mods, sadly, not all of them publicly released.

*Obi-Wan Prequel mod for Star Wars (a.k.a. "SW") Dark Forces, Jedi Knight

*Galaxy at War for Operation Flashpoint (a.k.a. "OFP")

*Assisted in translating from German-English the Editor's manual for Dynamic AI Creator (a.k.a. "DAC") for OFP

*Bot speed adjustment mod for Infiltration, a tc for Unreal Tournament

*Alpha-beta tester, .ini & sound effects contributor for ForceMod III mod for SW Jedi Academy

*Designed The Valiant class Republic Era Cruiser for SW X-Wing Alliance; this ship was later ported over into numerous SW Empire at War mods

*Designed alien race & other spacecraft for A Dark Prophecy mod for SW X-Wing Alliance

*Designed Phoenix class cruiser for Battlestar Galactica Fleet Commander mod for Homeworld 2; currently a mesh-in-progress for a future release; may also be ported over into the CryEngine 2 mod

*Adjusted sound effects mod for Combat Mission Shock Force * And much more...

Edited June 20, 2011 by Kyle_K_ski

[pathetic_berserker 4]

^ What Wolfbite said.

I'd like to see some designs as well, we don't bite, ......much

And yes it probably should go in the request thread but I like the idea of having an armacentric scifi mod that doesn't involve rippin the IP from other scources. (hope none of the 'rippers' take offence, some good stuff there as well. And like they say, plagarism is the highest form of flattery ;) )

Edit

From PuFu:

a device that summons forth Lovecraft himself, :

How about Cuthulu?. I'm sure he'd grant your wish for a piece of your mind.

Edited June 20, 2011 by Pathetic_Berserker

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

From Pathetic_Berserker:

some good stuff there as well. And like they say, plagarism is the highest form of flattery ;)

Oh, I agree. I don't mind stuff from other universes as well (save perhaps from The Great & Terrible Cthulu itself). :)

If you look at my list, a huge chunk of it is Star Wars related. I did a lot of work for the Galaxy at War total conversion for Operation Flashpoint, but in the end not even an alpha was released. :( I learned a very important lesson from that experience: work piecemeal. So, my intentions are to do one design per mesh maker. If said mesh maker gets near the end of the first project, and is up for some more, then I'll release/do the next design. Time's just too precious.

I might post up one image of my previous work here (and I'm not worried about being "bitten," critiques are a good thing in my opinion), but right now my newly installed Win. 7 64-bit OS is giving me troubles again. I hate how often it refuses to open up .pdf files, or images via FSViewer and the like (even text documents!). It just hangs, and hangs, and hangs...! :mad:

[nkenny 1057]

Perhaps if you rewrite your request to include more bold words it is certain to be a success?

[2nd ranger 282]

It's like reading a comic book!

Anyway I would just like to say that I would look with interest at any such units being made, as long as they weren't too sci-fi-y. I mean I was looking forward to the release of those HL2 Combine units for example; something like that would be great if it was generic enough - well, not generic but versatile enough - that it could be used for a variety of different scenarios.

[Rough Knight 9]

Kyle_K_Ski,

You may get a more serious response if you post some of your concept pictures etc. So far there probably isn't much for anyone to get excited about creating because people have their own ideas and concepts.

Also, have you seen the Halo units released by WaterHiro recently? maybe that will do what you had in mind.

Thanks

[-)rStrangelove 0]

I really like good ideas, but even a good idea is just that. Ppl who actually model & skin & script & test addons need to be motivated by ideas, and thats easier when they see something. Protecting original concepts is totally ok, each to his own, but holding back ideas is just limiting the chances seeing them brought to life by somebody.

Although i'm not really sure posting concepts is enough for a new thread in this forum. An ideas & concepts forum on here hasnt been invented yet.