Game Development Community

RTS Pack: demo art submissions

by Josh Williams · in General Discussion · 07/30/2004 (3:18 pm) · 106 replies

Hey all,

We are getting closer to shipping the RTS Technology Pack for Torque, and I'm trying to find out if anybody out there is interested in doing some art work for the demo.

As you can see from the Snapshot screens, we are currently using Joe's rockin Blue Guy, and other placeholder art. We can do the demo like that, but it'd be cool to have some custom stuff too.

This would not be for-pay or anything. I'm just offering the chance to help with a fun project, and get your work in a professional game tech product. Of course, if we use any of your art, we'll give ya a free copy of the pack, and you'll be prominently credited. You will also retain dual rights to use your models and textures, of course. These details and an agreement will be finalized if your submission is chosen.

This could be a good opportunity to have fun, and build-up your name or resume. Heck, if you are already working on an RTS, feel free to submit your models and start building recognition for your upcoming game. :)

So, here are the specifics we're looking for:

--------------------------------

Requirements:
We need three DTS shapes, with animations and textures: 2 Unit models, and 1 building model.

1 each: Melee unit, ranged unit.
  • Needs to weigh in at about 300 polys.
  • Needs only 4 animations: running, attacking, dying, idling.
  • Needs only a very simple bone structure. 11 or 12 bones total: 2 for each limb, 2 or 3 for the spine, and 1 or 2 for the neck / head. These units will mostly be viewed from a distance so animation detail is not a high-priority.
  • Joints do not need to be skinned.
  • If units use weapons (eg sword or crossbow), they need to be built and animated into the unit models. Separate weapon models and mountpoints are not needed.
  • Models should be scaled like the standard Torque models.
  • Proper Bounding boxes are required. It appears that the Blender exporter does not properly support bbox exporting at this time.
  • Actual collision meshes are not desired.
  • The units will mostly be viewed from a "god-mode" angle in our demo. Since they are so low poly, the polys should be concentrated in the areas the model will be viewed most... the head and shoulders.
1: DTS model of a building
    [li]Needs to weigh in at around 300 polys
  • Needs 3 animations: constructing, idling, destructing
  • Only a very simple boning structure is needed.
  • A proper bounding box is required.
  • Actual collision mesh is not desired.
  • Again, the model will mostly be viewed from a "god-mode" angle, so polys should be concentrated so that this view looks the best.
Note: working on low-poly models can be tough. If you prefer, we'll also take a look at higher-poly models, perhaps for use in alternative demos where we show-off smaller unit groups and tactics-oriented gameplay. So, go wild if you want, but know that we are much more likely to use submissions adhering to the above specification.

(... continued next post ...)
#61
08/05/2004 (10:47 am)
I like that head bobbing on the rifle man!

@George: I'm not sure, I guess if it only exports to .3ds then you would have to convert it somehow... dunno, sorry.
#62
08/05/2004 (10:55 am)
I have four tex maps now that can be used for making different teams: White/Grey, Red, Green, and Yellow... this is in response to the request for colors.

Here are the colored ones:

img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/gxbiohazard/melee_teams.jpg
And here, I thought I would drop him into the Lighting Pack Demo to see how he'd look : )

img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/gxbiohazard/melee_light.jpg
btw, I finished the attack animation last night... and I should have the remaining animations done tonight.
#63
08/05/2004 (11:20 am)
Sweet work :)
#64
08/05/2004 (1:12 pm)
Attack animation: (Only showing the keyframes.)

img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/gxbiohazard/melee_attack.gif
#65
08/05/2004 (1:20 pm)
Nice animation, great work Will :)
#66
08/05/2004 (1:32 pm)
Craig, that looks great! I think that'll be a very nice idle anim.

Chem, Nice run anim :D I'm lovin it.

Wil, the skins and attack animation are awesome. You *rock*.

George, sorry I missed the q. I'm not sure about anim8tor. You might want to email alexs@garagegames.com and ask him.

Robert, looking forward to the update.

So much exciting stuff. Keep us posted everyone, thanks again!
#67
08/05/2004 (10:58 pm)
@Craig, Robert, Josh: Thanks!


Lights out...

img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/gxbiohazard/melee_death.gif

Idling...

img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/gxbiohazard/melee_idle.gif
Josh, just curious, but when are you guys planning on shipping this RTS pack?
#68
08/05/2004 (11:50 pm)
Wow Will, kick ass!

Re: shipping .... soon! :) Don't want to give a specific date yet, but it's fairly imminent.

Your model and animations look freaking awesome. Great job.

Keep 'em coming everyone... I can't say thanks enough. :)
#69
08/06/2004 (2:39 pm)
Will just curious how much ploy. your model is?
#70
08/06/2004 (3:10 pm)
And I'm curious how many bones you used. 13, it looks like?

It's very cute :)
#71
08/06/2004 (4:20 pm)
@Firas: there are 314 polys in the model. Originally, there was 342, but I remodeled the weapon and that brought the poly count down.

@Alan: Actually, there are 14 bones. 2 bones for each limb, 1 for the back, 1 for the head, and then 4 extra bones to parent the limbs to the pelvis and neck joints.

He is kinda cute, in a menacing sort of way. : )
#72
08/06/2004 (4:23 pm)
Wahey. Thanks to Chemeleon lending a hand the animations are now done! I was using the new beta gamespace exporter to do it originally, and was finding bugs for the dark industries guys whilst going @ it. So I kinda ended up not being able to do a lot of animating due to testing. Ah well, building almost complete now, and some bugs fixed. Beers all round :)

This is all the animations together, you can tell where they begin/end fairly easily.
1.Construction
2.Idle (cyclic)
3.Destruction Part 1 (cyclic)
4.Destruction Final

www.craigfortune.com/rts/new/building.gif
Still gotta grab Tim to get the texture done!
#73
08/06/2004 (4:46 pm)
Great job with the animations.

What will this building be? I'm guessing those are pistons at the top, doing some kind of production work... or is it a refinery?
#74
08/06/2004 (4:51 pm)
Could be a refinery/production facility whatever. It wasn't really specified what it needed to be :)

The animations are done by chemeleon after my concept ones that u can see earlier in this thread.
#75
08/06/2004 (6:14 pm)
@Craig - Sweet looking factory, kudos to you and chemeleon for getting the animation looking great!

@Will - That soldier kicks ass too!

@Josh - I've been toying with some concepts (post 'em later), one a large air tanker/mothership unit, the other a massive tank. I just need to find out if someone would be willing to take a shot at modeling/animating them if you give the go-ahead. I'm just starting to learn Blender right now so I doubt I can take up the task myself just yet (preping for GID too). I'll post the pics later tonight...
#76
08/06/2004 (6:48 pm)
Got the rifleman animated now, anything special they need on export?
#77
08/06/2004 (6:50 pm)
Okay, here's the last of the animations:

img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/gxbiohazard/melee_run.gif

I have a technical question... if the animations are too fast or too slow, can they be easily adjusted (the timing/playback speed) in the engine? And how is that done? By script?
#78
08/06/2004 (8:04 pm)
So... since the art is coming along can we get an guesstament on when it will be done or atleast some details on the price id be willing to pay between 30-50 $ for it
#79
08/06/2004 (8:24 pm)
I agree on that price. $30-50 sounds right.

What [ ] command do I need to do to post a small picture/animation?
#80
08/06/2004 (9:45 pm)
Look below the post reply box, there is a link to the tags you can use.