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meshcarver

Large S.T.A.L.K.E.R. inspired Island "NOVA ZONA"

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Hi chaps,

@ Varible- Hey, glad you like it man! Truth is, it's gonna be a good while before I'm freed up enough to start working on the ACTUAL (As opposed to churning out concepts) development of NOVA ZONA again. It's a heady combination of RL work and preparation for the art class that's now eating up my time by necessity.

I'm not complaining- just telling the facts.

Oh, and just for the record, I'm NEVER doing 16 hour days again... f&^k me...

@ Malcom86- Cheers dude. I made a post ages ago about the "wildlife" I'm wanting to create for this island, but I'm leaning more towards the subtle type of anomaly or entity than to all out monsters.

Saying that, people are perfectly free to create their own and spawn them into their game..! ;)

@ Richie- Thanks man, nice to know you'd consider it for a wallpaper..!

@ LinuxMaster9- Believe me, I'd have to loved to have been able to enter but having close to zero hours time to dedicate to it since the contest was properly announced it would have been futile and rushed mate. Catch 22... but yeah, that cold hard cash would free me up for a good few years of development on this... :(

@ Atsche- Hey man..! :)

Thanks for saying and I'm glad you get some feels out of it..! Good luck with your project and remember, any questions- just ask mate.

@ Defunkt- (Lol, your avatar get me EVERY time mate!) Goddamn man, if only I could give this 24 hours a day attention I'd do everything to ensure it was as close to AAA as I could make it. Even though there's the huge issue of lack of undergrounds in RV4, it's still the engine of choice for me because it has so many other pluses when it comes to trying to emulate a Stalkerish feel...

Thanks for your compliments and confidence in it too, appreciated.

@ aliascartoons- Yeah man, I've got plans for Anomalies and more. Also, I'm planning to keep them mysterious and something to be extremely careful of just like in the book.

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Did check your latest concept arts, jeez, thats some awesome work there, i can imagine a movie, based on this concept arts!:yay: Kep on working man!

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I love Simon Stalenhag's art, being Swedish myself it's really cool how much of it is familiar yet completely alien. I like the map he's made too, wonder if it's possible to have something similar for an Arma terrain?

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Alright lads,

sorry I haven't answered your comments yet, but I've been super busy again blah blah... :(

@ Alex-X-xSQ- Thanks Alex, that's a nice compliment man! :)

@ rzon- Cheers bud!

@ Electricleash- Thanks man, and aye, I've seen his work before mate- fantastic stuff! Such good imagery and atmosphere in all his work, he's a proper artist.

@ Shurka- Hey, cheers for those links man, appreciated! I'll give them a look once I get the chance! :)

In my free time I've done another concept piece, this time going for a slightly more "saturated" look and taking inspiration from some of the AMAZING concept art created for The Last Of Us (Which I haven't played as don't own a console, but I utterly appreciate the quality of it).

As I'm still just learning this concept art stuff, I'm trying my hand at some different methods to see the kind of results you can achieve.

With this one, I roughly modelled out the scene first, dropped a few lights in and rendered it out and used that as a base to start painting over. The main advantages of this method is you can obviously nail your perspective spot on from the off (I adjusted the lens also, to be a bit "fisheye"), and you can tweak the light sources until you're more or less happy and then go from there.

I was trying to create another atmospheric piece, this time of an interior that subtly hints at an Anomaly down that big round tunnel- hence the greenish blue glow.

During the process I had all sorts of variations of anomaly drawn up, but the more in your face they were, the less convincing they seemed to me- I even had loads of greenish yellow gas pouring out of the entrance but it seemed too over the top for what I have in mind for NOVA ZONA...

I even sketched in a Stalker, pressed right up against the wall under the light to show him trying to summon the courage to turn the corner but it made it look too "gamey"!

Anyway guys, I hope you like it and the good news is I THINK I'll be freed up soon to start working back on churning 3D structure etc out again... it's been f&*^%$£g so tough to try to not think about NOVA ZONA for so long... my sweet sweet baby... ;)

++ IN THE NEW ZONE, EVERY SINGLE CORNER IS A POTENTIAL DEATH TRAP ++

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I just made that new image my wallpaper. What GIS software are you using for this? I have been trying to put together a map myself but all the tutorials seem to fail at some point or another.

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When you say you're building your portfolio for higher chances of getting into a class, you mean the competition is really that good? I mean honestly, not meaning to just compliment your work but this looks better than what many AAA studios put out.

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Mesh, i've been looking for many known and unknown artists, and you deffenitely, a pretty damn good one!

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@ LinuxMaster9- hey thanks man! Nice to know NOVA ZONA is someones wallpaper down in Mississippi, a fantastic place! I drove through there on my way to New Orleans to see in the Millenium! Happy days..! :cool:

I haven't started the actual Terrain yet, a long way off. I have made all the assets I've shown but am finding it exetremely difficult to find time for this in general... A few pages back you'll find a long post that explains why but it's a bit depressing lol.

@ rzon- Damn man, thanks very much! My confidence isn't very high with all this as it's a step I'm trying to make to get back to my roots of actual drawing and I really really enjoy it. The competition is pretty high I believe, yes... So all these concepts I'm doing will help the process and they'll pay off with RL work too in the long run which is the most important.

@ Pepe Hal- Wow, I really hope so..! It's bloody nice to hear some positive feedback at this stage as I'm trying out so many new methods and learning as I go... I'm going to do one next completely inspired by The Last Of Us concept work, so no NOVA ZONA for that one- a bit of diversity and a challenge to try to fit it into thst particular universe...

@ Alex-X-xSW- Gee shucks dude... thanks very much indeed..!

Edited by meshcarver

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Agree with the other comments, Appreciate a map may not quite match some conceptual artwork, but by golly are those some amazing pieces of work... If that's the standard - wow..

SJ

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Seeing how your too busy to work on the map full time.. why don't you just do what you do best? (and have time for.)

Create the assets and buildings for the map (following your concept work that also works for your RL projects) and take on some community members with the skills necessary for building the terrain? I'm sure there's at least a couple skilled mappers here that can share your vision and be a part of something THEY want to see made as well.

It seems like your overwhelmed, especially with the huge positive response from the community. Let us help you man...:cool:

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Good afternoon, meshcarver

I apologize in advance for my English.

Explore your topic, and came to the conclusion that you are doing completely map and added to its new texture as objects.

With regard to this I have a few questions, given that it will not be a commercial project:

1) Why do not you use Armaholic.com so you can share your creations(new models textures)?

2) If you create new map, who create script mission? I think this need some more time... Maybe you need some people else in your team?

I certainly wish that this wonderful project has reached its logical conclusion, because not everyone has enough time and effort to make such ambitious projects to the end. And if there is an opportunity to let the community try the beta version of your new map.

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Good afternoon, meshcarver

I apologize in advance for my English.

Explore your topic, and came to the conclusion that you are doing completely map and added to its new texture as objects.

With regard to this I have a few questions, given that it will not be a commercial project:

1) Why do not you use Armaholic.com so you can share your creations(new models textures)?

2) If you create new map, who create script mission? I think this need some more time... Maybe you need some people else in your team?

I certainly wish that this wonderful project has reached its logical conclusion, because not everyone has enough time and effort to make such ambitious projects to the end. And if there is an opportunity to let the community try the beta version of your new map.

As far as I know there's no beta yet - Meshcarver doesn't plan to release it anytime soon. But I wouldn't worry too much, the guy seems quite motivated to me!^^

(And, if by a cosmic accident he wasn't able to finish this project, I'm sure he would be kind enough to share his assets. ;) )

As for the missions, I think that the community has plenty of projects for this baby (I for one have a few ideas and am eagerly waiting to work on Nova Zona!).

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Hi guys,

a slightly off topic post here in a way, as I'm carrying on with learning concept art and decided to do one inspired by THE LAST OF US as I've never played it but have seen enough of its development artwork to really want to have a go myself.

From seeing various screenshots, I really liked the way their artists tried to convey a sense of nature reclaiming the earth after mankind has gone and also that the apocalypse doesn't necessarily have to be a grim and desolate wasteland all the time- there could be little pockets of beauty and graceful decay if you were to look hard enough.

Again, I'm trying out different techniques here, having first done a very basic model and light pass and used that as the basis for starting the paint over:

Inspired by THE LAST OF US

Anyway, back to NOVA ZONA stuff..!

@ RedPhoenix- I do hope so if I ever get a chance to work on it.

@ serjames- Indeed man, it's a rare game were the actual graphics match the concepts but the lines are blurring more and more these days... but thanks for the nice comments dude. :)

@ James2464- I will man, cheers.

@ WarriorJ- Hi mate, aye the response from the community has been fantastic and utterly motivating. I can't in all honesty devote any meaningful time to this lately because quite simply my work really does have to be in a form were I can actually get by off it..!

NOVA ZONA is utterly dead time in that regard- it takes up a hell of a lot of time,energy, resources, money and all the while detracts from my learning new skills to futher my career, namely- concept art.

It's not a case of being overwhelmed as such, as I could happily produce all the assets required myself- it's just that TIME (money) is in short supply so I have to micro manage where I spend that time.

Sadly, NOVA ZONA is never going to win in that battle as it's not going to pay the bills of which there are many.

As far as taking on a team, please go back a fair few pages to see a lengthy post I made in response to a simillar idea that argues why I'd really not prefer to go down that route at all mate.

@ Russianboy- Good afternoon good sir..! :)

Your English is fine by me mate, no problem.

There's no actual map to test yet..! As of my last workings on NOVA ZONA I was still producing assets.

@ Pepe Hal- Ahhh..! A nice breath of fresh air in that post Pepe thanks..!!! It's just refreshing to hear that someone knows there's no Beta or "playable map" yet lol...

Again aye, I AM motivated to hell and back for NOVA ZONA, but time is the boss here guys...

Saying that, my next concept art peice will be of NOVA ZONA, in an area I've developed (at least in my sketch pads!) called "THE FEEDERS"... it is not an area to be taken lightly. ;)

Anyway, always a pleasure to see there's still some interest in this stalled project guys- it's hugely motivating and keeps the fire burning...

I'm grateful for the time you take in posting here, so thanks.

Edited by meshcarver

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This is great, unique and alive concepts.

Any courses online / books you can recommend for people willing to learn producing work at such a high level, Marc? :D

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Hi Polygon,

aye mate, a few I'd 100% recommend you check out are Feng Zhu, James Paick, Shaddy Safadi, Eytan Zana, Nick Gindraux, John Sweeney and Aaron Limonick- all are at the top of their game.

In particular, I like Shaddy Safadi and James Paick, they have some great tutorials out there. :)

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@ WarriorJ- Hi mate, aye the response from the community has been fantastic and utterly motivating. I can't in all honesty devote any meaningful time to this lately because quite simply my work really does have to be in a form were I can actually get by off it..!

NOVA ZONA is utterly dead time in that regard- it takes up a hell of a lot of time,energy, resources, money and all the while detracts from my learning new skills to futher my career, namely- concept art.

It's not a case of being overwhelmed as such, as I could happily produce all the assets required myself- it's just that TIME (money) is in short supply so I have to micro manage where I spend that time.

Sadly, NOVA ZONA is never going to win in that battle as it's not going to pay the bills of which there are many.

As far as taking on a team, please go back a fair few pages to see a lengthy post I made in response to a similar idea that argues why I'd really not prefer to go down that route at all mate.

I understand your reservations about taking on people. But the only answer to the lack of time you have to work on this is going to have to come from others with time to spare. What you've outlined here is practically an impossible roadmap to completion. Everyone can understand that life work needs to come before hobby work, noone here is arguing with that concept. All I'm trying to convey is that you have the option of allocating any aspect of your map creation process to someone who shares your vision. Like, quite literally anything. What is the most important part of your map that requires all the free time your able to spare? Get help with whatever is left! You don't need to micro manage other people. Maybe you don't even have a vision of what the terrain will be like... and maybe whoever you take on creating terrain inspires the assets you create!

We all just want to see you succeed and finish this map. Look around. You have 70+ pages of fellow minded gamers foaming at the mouth at a chance to play on your map. What do you have to lose?

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Guys, a bit of a personal requset here as I need your advice with something in regards the backstory to NOVA ZONA.

I'm currently working on another concept piece, but this one is utterly relevant to why NOVA ZONA is the way it is- and, in that regard I should probably need to explain what the concept is showing, but in doing so I'm afraid I'll be "telling too much" at this early stage and am also weary of the idea getting reproduced elsewhere... You know what the internet's like and I've put a hell of a lot of time and effort into creating the backstory...

So, would you guys like me to describe what the concept is showing when it's finished, or should I keep my trap shut?

Or, should I water down the description maybe?

Otherwise, it'll just be a concept with no real idea for you of what it's showing...

Any feedback is welcome chaps, and yes, if I get the chance once this one is done, I'LL BE BACK ONTO ACTUALLY MODELLING NOVA ZONA AGAIN..! Whoopie f%#}[^g doo, it's about time...

Also, in regards kind and advice orientated posts about creating a team, I'm at the point where I'm just going to write an "automated response" reply guys...

Please don't take it bad, but I was talking to Kiory yesterday about how I am getting emails almost daily asking me to form a team and I like to reply to every email I get but this is just wasting time now, so I'll just post the pre-written response back from now on...

While we're on the subject, you should check out Kiorys new video for his upcoming map Boreas, he knows his stuff and it looks amazing...

Edited by meshcarver

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Guys, a bit of a personal requset here as I need your advice with something in regards the backstory to NOVA ZONA.

I'm currently working on another concept piece, but this one is utterly relevant to why NOVA ZONA is the way it is- and, in that regard I should probably need to explain what the concept is showing, but in doing so I'm afraid I'll be "telling too much" at this early stage and am also weary of the idea getting reproduced elsewhere... You know what the internet's like...

So, would you guys like me to describe what the concept is showing when it's finished, or should I keep my trap shut?

Or, should I water down the description maybe?

Otherwise, it'll just be a concept with no real idea for you of what it's showing...

Any feedback is welcome chaps, and yes, if I get the chance once this one is done, I'LL BE BACK ONTO ACTUALLY MODELLING NOVA ZONA AGAIN..! Whoopie f%#}[^g doo, it's about time...

Also, in regards kind and advice orientated posts about creating a team, I'm at the point where I'm just going to write an "automated response" reply guys...

Please don't take it bad, but I was talking to Kiory yesterday about how I am getting emails almost daily asking me to form a team and I like to reply to every email I get but this is just wasting time now, so I'll just post the pre-written response back from now on...

While we're on the subject, you should check out Kiorys new video for his upcoming map Boreas, he knows his stuff and it looks amazing...

i think, you have all rights to be afraid of leaking your stuff, it's understandable, and forming a team, where your ideas and your work, can be simply taken and represented as someone elses work is quite a bad perspective. I think you should write an design doc (if you haven't), keep it safe, and work on it. We might tell you few interresting ideas, what you might want to add to that doc etc. Don't tell us everything, but good enought, so we have an idea, what direction are you going etc.

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Please don't take it bad, but I was talking to Kiory yesterday about how I am getting emails almost daily asking me to form a team and I like to reply to every email I get but this is just wasting time now

You know, you and Kiory would make a great team...

:cool:

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