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Silhouette Stylized Graphics
From what I could tell, it seemed like most TCs couldn't get off the ground because of lack of media- i.e. graphics, sounds, sprites.
I have an idea I'd like to test that would allow a TC to be made without focus on the graphics, and more on the plot. The most time consuming part of making ship graphics (for me) is detailing and texture mapping, so I have experimented with creating silhouette ships- black ships with a faint border around them. They are extremely easy to do, since you don't have to worry about texure or much detail at all. The effect is somewhat artsy looking, but I think it would be fun to make a dark sort of storyline around the TC. Engine glows, weapon flares, and running lights would all be monochrome white, and planets, stations, and landing pictures would be the same. Weapon shot sprites and outfits would be easier with monochrome, and explosion graphics could simply be converted to black and white, providing an interesting new look to classic explosions. Additionally, key ships/ planets/ weapons could have bits of bright color, making them stand out, and giving them extra contrast to the rest of what you'd see in the game.
Anyway, I'm just throwing this up in the air, because I'll be churning out these kind of graphics soon, and wanted to know if anyone was interested in slapping the graphics onto the TC, and helping with the non-graphical aspects.
I don't have a title yet, but I was thinking of something like EV Noir.
Yes. Sin City style plugin would rock. Id be happy to help.
This could be quite cool.
My advice: Release it small -- a few systems, a few ships, a few weapons, etc. Too many TCs get too ambitious on both the graphics side and the missions/back-story/descriptions side. The result of the bloat is projects that don't get finished for years, if at all. Use Arion's "Miners" TC as inspiration: it's tiny, and just has a single "hook" idea to make it interesting to play. Add more stuff later, in expansion plugs and update versions.
A "noir" feel to the plot would be excellent -- have a jaded protagonist who lives in a bleak galaxy.
I wonder if you could write much or all of the text in the TC in first person. It would be confusing at first, but it would really help give it a noir mood.... Perhaps the narrator is a passenger (a bounty hunter/assassin/private eye/hired-gun type), and the player is just his pilot. Or perhaps make it a bit like the movie "Collateral," with the player as Foxx and the passenger as Cruise.
That is a really interesting idea! Never heard anything quite like it. Sounds pretty cool.
Jaded protagonist in a bleak galaxy has been done.. about... well, a few too many times. But yeah, it would be neat.
These aren't neccesarily the sprites I'll be using for the final product, but they achive the kind of feel I'm looking for.
A web-board for EVNoir will be up soon, so anyone interested in contributing anything can come there.
Warship Sprites Warship Mask
Shot Sprites Shot Mask
Ship Sprites Ship Mask
Missile Sprites Missile Mask
Fighter Sprites Fighter Mask
This post has been edited by Hamster : 20 May 2005 - 11:46 PM
This sounds like a neat idea. Let me know if there is anything I can help with.
I would have suggested you join the Kontik Research Front, but if you already have forums...
But the idea sounds very cool. I believe a similar project would be EV: Vector, which I was going to do, but someone else has already begun doing it (Although my ships would have been more complex). Although your idea is a TC, these were just graphics TC's.