3D Game assets
While working on the basic game concept I decided to take a break and start doing some 3D assets for the final version of the game. The style I'm looking for is not a super realistic, highly detailed one: The game will have a static camera to show all the grid, so the ships will be very small on the screen. So I decided for a low-poly, a bit cartoonish style.
First of all, the base shape of the game: the hexagon. Doing this is very simple in Blender: create a cylinder and lower the number of sides to 6. Scale down its height, and you have a perfect hexagon!
First of all, the base shape of the game: the hexagon. Doing this is very simple in Blender: create a cylinder and lower the number of sides to 6. Scale down its height, and you have a perfect hexagon!
For the player ship model I started with a simple box; I subdivided and extruded it until I got the basic shape of the ship.
Then I added laser weapons on the wings and thrusters on the back (basically modified cylinders).
To apply textures to the model, it needs to be UV unwrapped. This means that all the polys have to be "flattened" on a 2D sheet so that the software knows where to apply the texture we're going to paint for it. I do this by marking seams (the red edges in the pic), or places where the mesh can be cut before unfolding it.
Once I had the complete layout, I could switch to Photoshop and start painting the texture. As base colour for the ship I decided for a green, it's more saturated than a classic military green to keep the cartoonish style I'm going for. Then I added the gray cockpit with some fake reflections, and details on the chassis.
Back in Blender, I checked if the texture fitted the model, and here's the result:
In a similar way I created an enemy starship (the basic red one for now, I plan to add variations to the model and color for the other types):
These are the resources, based on stretched and rotated spheres. The idea was to have some space rocks or meteorites, I think they look more like floating potatoes but they'll do for now. I imagine them slowly rotating around their center when they spawn in-game:
I still need to figure out how to display the "red" resources, the ones that give you temporary invulnerability. Maybe I'll use the same mesh, applying to it a glowing material.
Finally, this is a sci-fi display frame. I think I will use it for messages from the Commander, who will explain new features as the player needs them. I'm probably going to render this in Blender and import it in Unreal as an image, displaying it as a 2D billboard with the Commander's face applied. (Will the face be animated? Will it be a 2D drawing or a 3D mesh? These are details, I need to think at the big picture first!).
That's all for now, I just need to create a simple mine mesh, maybe with pulsing lights as warning signals, and more variations for the enemies.
Game you next time!
To apply textures to the model, it needs to be UV unwrapped. This means that all the polys have to be "flattened" on a 2D sheet so that the software knows where to apply the texture we're going to paint for it. I do this by marking seams (the red edges in the pic), or places where the mesh can be cut before unfolding it.
Once I had the complete layout, I could switch to Photoshop and start painting the texture. As base colour for the ship I decided for a green, it's more saturated than a classic military green to keep the cartoonish style I'm going for. Then I added the gray cockpit with some fake reflections, and details on the chassis.
Back in Blender, I checked if the texture fitted the model, and here's the result:
In a similar way I created an enemy starship (the basic red one for now, I plan to add variations to the model and color for the other types):
These are the resources, based on stretched and rotated spheres. The idea was to have some space rocks or meteorites, I think they look more like floating potatoes but they'll do for now. I imagine them slowly rotating around their center when they spawn in-game:
I still need to figure out how to display the "red" resources, the ones that give you temporary invulnerability. Maybe I'll use the same mesh, applying to it a glowing material.
Finally, this is a sci-fi display frame. I think I will use it for messages from the Commander, who will explain new features as the player needs them. I'm probably going to render this in Blender and import it in Unreal as an image, displaying it as a 2D billboard with the Commander's face applied. (Will the face be animated? Will it be a 2D drawing or a 3D mesh? These are details, I need to think at the big picture first!).
That's all for now, I just need to create a simple mine mesh, maybe with pulsing lights as warning signals, and more variations for the enemies.
Game you next time!
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