Topic: Giant Wanking Art Project...

Alright,
Justin Crough, Josh Deck, and Sam Hart are 'friends' on Facebook now.

http://www.facebook.com

Oddly, those of us in this little circle of life are all artistically inclined, so I've suggested a project. Essentially, a source book like the old "Terran Trade Authority" books from the late 70's. Google it....

I've put up a ship there, and intend on posting more as time and energy allows. I do not have a deadline in mind, and would not mind, nay, I would ENCOURAGE others submitting work and/or stats.

If you can't draw well enough, a simple sketch might provide enough inspiration for one of us to try to re-create it.

I'm doing starships (what else?) and Justin has suggested the inclusion of ground units as those are his specialty. I'm hoping that current company can submit stats for Starmada or Assault Corps - even ARES or Wardogs stats are VERY much welcome. I might well invade the Bourbaki Basin at some point.

I'm pretty much not so great at doing stats, and it also lightens my workload as I'll likely putting this thing into a PDF.

As with the TTA books, there will also be a write-up for each unit. At this point, it's slightly problematic, as there is no 'default universe' as such for Starmada, and the Assault Corps and Wardogs do not share a setting, and last time I checked there was NO futuristic setting at all for ARES.

I'm open to suggestions.

I'm also still waiting for Dan to fix picture upload. <sigh>

This should work for non-Facebook members....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11022&l=14ed6&id=534957734

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

I'm intimidated.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

So its going to be like the TTA books, not a supplement to a game system?

I'm good at constructing stats, but not artwork per se. I could easily try and do a sketch, though...

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

I did start a TTA web site. Had a few new vessels on it and some that are half seen in the books.

Well Morrigan Press ended up with the rights to the TTA universe and got Stewart Cowley on board. they re-did the 1st book, made an RPG and a planet gazeteer... then things went quiet.
Adrian Mann the feller who made a damn fine TTA site was involved.
http://www.bisbos.com/rocketscience/tta/index.html

Stats, I'd stick with the TTA formula, make up some companies,
then list Main Drive, Manouver Drive, Sensors (?) Defences, Crew and Weapons.
A black and white line drawing looks good too.

I'd try your own universe. You can do more then. Or set it in the distant future of the TTA setting. But yeah stick the to the TTA look.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

smokingwreckage wrote:

I'm intimidated.

Heh....how so?

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

murtalianconfederacy wrote:

So its going to be like the TTA books, not a supplement to a game system?

It's a fan supplement to ALL the MJ12 games, not an 'Official Product'.

While it's not a supplement to a specific game, you might find stats to any of the MJ12 games - depends on who wants to do what.

The only thing I'm promising at this point is some pretty pictures and an attempt at a common universe. How much more happens depends on how much I get contributor submissions to mesh together.

I'm pretty much a social creature, I thrive on input. big_smile


murtalianconfederacy wrote:

I'm good at constructing stats, but not artwork per se. I could easily try and do a sketch, though...

Excellent, I'm tolerably good at ships and starry backgrounds.

Whatever sketch you send me, I'll try to render into a starship. I cannot speak for Justin. Justin wanted to include Ground units, I'm doing ships.

I hope it will be really big, but I must warn you that all my projects to date have not faired REAL well. I did the ships for Iron Stars, and I subitted some artwork for WARDOGS. I think that I've suggested about 3-4 projects that never got past the idea stage, and one game design of mine simply died.

I have several game designs up on my website, but they never got more than a few comments. This was on geocities before I started doing MJ12 stuff.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

middenface wrote:

I did start a TTA web site. Had a few new vessels on it and some that are half seen in the books.

Well Morrigan Press ended up with the rights to the TTA universe and got Stewart Cowley on board. they re-did the 1st book, made an RPG and a planet gazeteer... then things went quiet.
Adrian Mann the feller who made a damn fine TTA site was involved.
http://www.bisbos.com/rocketscience/tta/index.html

I don't plan on encroaching on the TTA license at all.

middenface wrote:

Stats, I'd stick with the TTA formula, make up some companies, then list Main Drive, Manouver Drive, Sensors (?) Defences, Crew and Weapons.
A black and white line drawing looks good too.

I'm thinking some DOGA renders (or Bryce, or VUE, etc...) for the first illo, and add in some B&W (or greyscale) stuff for the ones that just didn't turn out as well, but thematically hit the target, throughout the unit's text.

There may be additional color stuff if someone gets a woody about a particular unit.

middenface wrote:

I'd try your own universe. You can do more then. Or set it in the distant future of the TTA setting. But yeah stick the to the TTA look.

I'm not doing a TTA-related thing, simply doing what you say - a stand-alone universe using the concepts that the TTA books used.

I'm wondering if you and ?Drake? might be interested in doing some of the art? There will be ground units, and some will likely have WARDOGS stats (as well as Assault Corps).

I know that you two LOVE to do mecha....
:-)

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

thedugan wrote:

I don't plan on encroaching on the TTA license at all.

Then a good start would be to remove the label calling it the "Starmada Trade Authority".

smile

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

cricket wrote:
thedugan wrote:

I don't plan on encroaching on the TTA license at all.

Then a good start would be to remove the label calling it the "Starmada Trade Authority".

smile

Hmmm... good catch....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11022&l=14ed6&id=534957734

big_smile

I guess it would also help to have all the disparate pieces named the same.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

cricket wrote:
thedugan wrote:

I don't plan on encroaching on the TTA license at all.

Then a good start would be to remove the label calling it the "Starmada Trade Authority".

smile

fixed...

I didn't have a title to start with, by the time that I had a direction, I had a name for it...

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

thedugan wrote:
smokingwreckage wrote:

I'm intimidated.

Heh....how so?

Been a while since I picked up a pen. Also anything I do looks frigawful next to Josh's polished work. Even if he does make all the boots the same.

However, I'm still in. I have some notes for a scifi race that just happens to be completely outside my stylistic range so I'll see what I can write up.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

smokingwreckage wrote:
thedugan wrote:
smokingwreckage wrote:

I'm intimidated.

Heh....how so?

Been a while since I picked up a pen. Also anything I do looks frigawful next to Josh's polished work. Even if he does make all the boots the same.

However, I'm still in. I have some notes for a scifi race that just happens to be completely outside my stylistic range so I'll see what I can write up.

Far be it for me to tell you how to do things, but you might look at DOGA. It's not great for people, but Heck, even Dan seems to be able to turn out decent work with it. <ducks and runs>

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

Just cause I'm mediocre doesn't mean I'm not a snob!

I WILL USE ONLY PEN!

and uh.... photoshop the hell out of it later

wink

Did I mention hypocrite?

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

Heh....

http://www.doga.co.jp/english/

http://www.doga.co.jp/english/software/index.html

It's uncrippled shareware. Great stuff.

I've got links and resources for 'parts', links to tutorials that explain how to MAKE parts....

I use a lot of custom stuff, I've even got a part that's a 'bridge crew', and another to use as a 'pilot'. They aren't very detailed, and they use a lot of polys - but they serve the same purpose as those 'half men' that you see in some old toy airplanes.

If you look REAL HARD at the 'Frigate', you'll see 'em.

I've made Poser props in DOGA, and used VUE to re-texture and render DOGA exports in, against a nicer background and turf than DOGA can manage.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

Blender's free and is crazy slick

and it runs on ALL platforms

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

jimbeau wrote:

Blender's free and is crazy slick

and it runs on ALL platforms

Have they changed the interface yet? It's also got a fairly steep learning curve.

I have it, but don't use it much. DOGA seems much easier (to me) to use.

I'll try to get some another ship done before I go back to work - seeing as I just started my weekend....

Jim, I was also hoping to include some ARES units in this too.....?

:-)

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

I dunno about that, the FREE part is what intrigues me and it'll do watertight too!

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

jimbeau wrote:

I dunno about that, the FREE part is what intrigues me and it'll do watertight too!

True, it'll do water tight meshes and it's free.

Great stuff if you're able to figure out how to use Blender and want to make minis using what's called 'Rapid Protoyping'. I like sculpting my own minis, and don't have ready access to a 3D printer. I use sculpey, balsa, that sort of thing. I'm not so good (yet) that I'm looking to sell them.

Rapid Protyping is great stuff, but that bar just isn't down low enough for me to get into it right now. I think I did send a DXF to the Brigade Folks, but I don't know if it was what they used. I think Tony just looked at my un-textured pix and went from there.

DOGA is 40$, and makes no promises beyond it's capable of doing anime 'toons - for me, minis and graphics are two distinctly different animals.

It's largely what you find works for you, your working style, and what you find affordable.

Have you given DOGA a try? Dan made some ships with it. Not that Dan is a slouch in the graphics department, but it seems to me that he didn't take that long to figure it out.

I had to learn a program called Metaseqouia, which is also a mesh-level editor like Blender, but just to make my own parts. My main modeling and rendering package is DOGA. I find making meshes to me more effort than I want to expend for some things.

FWIW, I have Bryce (it's avaliable for free somewhere - CNET, I think), but I almost never use it - VUE makes much more sense to me if I'm looking to do something beyond what DOGA is capable. It's pallette editor is way more user-friendly than Bryce's.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

Can't run DOGA, apparently it requires something called "Shutters" or "Windows", or some such silly thing.

It's a matter of taste. I think. oh yeah, I don't have any talent either so it doesn't matter what program I use, all my spaceships look like potatoes.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

jimbeau wrote:

Can't run DOGA, apparently it requires something called "Shutters" or "Windows", or some such silly thing.

Aah... I understand then. Mac or Linux User?

...I'm aware of their being other OS's, but somehow I don't see anyone actually using AtheOS, BeOS, or SkyOS for anything other than to fart around.

Google "ReactOS", it's a project to create an Open Source Clone of the XP-class operating systems. It's a few years from being useful...

jimbeau wrote:

It's a matter of taste. I think. oh yeah, I don't have any talent either so it doesn't matter what program I use, all my spaceships look like potatoes.

You'd be surprised at how good a potato can look if it's got the right paint job. smile

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

thedugan wrote:

Jim, I was also hoping to include some ARES units in this too.....?

What do you need in the way of ARES units?
Are you talking stats, background, pictures, all of the above?
Kevin

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

underling wrote:
thedugan wrote:

Jim, I was also hoping to include some ARES units in this too.....?

What do you need in the way of ARES units?
Are you talking stats, background, pictures, all of the above?
Kevin

ALL, would be nice....
big_smile

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

smokingwreckage wrote:

Even if he does make all the boots the same.

HAH! Oh, you are a funny guy, samwise... a real funny guy. Is that how you treat the fellow who insisted on getting a piece of your artwork into the Defiance book?!

tongue  :wink:  lol  :cry:

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

I was only kidding! Your boots are now manifold and various  :wink:

'sides I'm allowed to rag you just a little bit, seeing as you're that much better than me. It's a rule.

Re: Giant Wanking Art Project...

By that rule I'm allowed to rag all of you...:D