Good concept art for space colonies?

[Kyriakos]

I am working on a space set, and given I know next to nothing on the subject, I thought of asking here

My wip:
(Edit: Updated again!!!)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What kind of planet is it meant for?

 

[Kyriakos]

What kind of planet is it meant for?

It is generic. Mars or similar, I suppose.

 

[Gorbles]

I don't have a set of links to hand, but like Valka said: what you're building it for matters a lot.

I love the style, to be fair anything vaguely isometric 2D (in space!) gets my vote. But I'd break it down by biome, and also by "layer" (orbit, atmosphere, ground or subterranean). Even if you just say "vaguely hospital planet, on the ground", that's enough.

Do you have a larger image? Zoom is only getting me so far.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Do you have a larger image?

Yeah I can't see it well enough to comment.

 

[Kyriakos]

I will render them in a larger scale, although for the time being this is their size meant for the strategic map:

(outdated pic)

Edit: a slightly larger render (textures are calculated to work with the previous one, so here it looks grainy-- also is outdated in the center, I removed one walking corridor)

(outdated pic)

 

[Broken_Erika]

If you're lookin for inspiration, you could always google Babylon 5 mars.

 

[Gorbles]

Based on your designs so far, I'd recommend the following that are already close to what you're working with:

• Tiberian Sun / Wars. Look at the Nod buildings and imagine what they'd look like with a more GDI feel (Nod shape, GDI plating, etc).
• Doctor Who (the newer one). Not even kidding, even if you don't like Doctor Who. Focus on the episodes where there are isolated settlements, or weird-ass derelict spaceshifts. There's a lot of good near-Earth aesthetics going on (particularly around anything involving the Cybermen).
• The Martian (the film).

Sticking mostly to visual references here. There's probably a lot of fiction that can give you good descriptive material - Peter F Hamilton is one for this kind of (more) realistic stuff. Asimov's a bit too into his space towers. Look at how Artic / Antartic bases are constructed as well - the principles of a harsh environment apply to theoretical scenarios like Mars currently is for us.

 

[AdamCrock]

What game is it gonna be used for ? (If it's for a game that is ) I'd certainly think of the technology progress and what gizmos and what-not's humans are capable of conjuring. A cold fusion generator for instance could replace those solar panels seing as it is probably more efficient power source. Having power usually means You can produce stuff so any form of factory would be nice to keep a colony going producing more items. I haven't mentioned food and water yet. Bio-dome / hydroponics for the food seems like a nice idea (or maybe cloning vats/replicators ?) ... but wait ! what about water ? If planet/planetoid doesn't have any it needs to be shipped on site. Water contains O2 as well so having water means You have oxygen as well . Those could be mined from ice asteroids nearby (if present but I digress) so that means You would need some kind of docking bay/space port for shuttles shipping that in (a landing pad with a control tower would be nice) Next on the list is living space and entertainment I guess You can chug in some generic housing and maybe a club with a huge neon sign saying "girls", "guns", "liquor" or any combination of that if not all at once (I remember seeing that in Star Craft tiles)

 

[Gorbles]

Not being contrarian (at least not intentionally!) but solar panel arrays and other sources of renewable energy are often used in tandem to supplement a) downtime, b) areas you can't get cabling to, or c) as mobile generators. In real-life as well as fiction, now that I think about it (if only decent solar panels were more affordable).

Setting the age (near, far future, ruined post-future, etc) is important though, for sure!

 

[AdamCrock]

Thinking about it I've just realized that unless humans got a nigh-infinite source of cheap fuel, colonization cost on a waterless planet would be tremendous ! Maybe I'm thinking too much of our current tech level though.

 

[Kyriakos]

This is a near future (no FTL) colony. Not sure if it will be in a game, but given I am modelling it, I am scaling at least the current model to the regular civ3 size.
Although I can't say I like my model. So any interesting concept art will be a massive help!

 

[Zkribbler]

This is a near future (no FTL) colony.

"No FTL" limits you to Mars, 50 miles above the surface of Venus, within the sub-ice oceans of several ice moons, or the surface of an asteroid or Martian moon.

In any event, you'll need radiation shielding.

 

[Kyriakos]

Maybe this looks a bit better?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Solar panels should all face the same direction, the sun is not in two places at once and I'd add more panels.

Where are your spaceships supposed to land in this iteration? In my opinion, the landing pads should be separated by some distance. I would also add a bunch of smaller antennas and satellite dishes around the large central one. What is the gold colored thing on the smaller image on the right? I'd also add a bulky airlock at the end of one of those tubes if it's meant to allow access to the surface. Basically just a small room at the end of the corridor with a door on it.

I think it all looks great.

 

[AdamCrock]

@hobbsyoyo I think the orange thingies are the oxygen tanks This setup is an improvement over the last one I think. The dome looks kind'a like xenofungus preserve I also concur with Hobby, You need a landing pad.

 

[Kyriakos]

Solar panels should all face the same direction, the sun is not in two places at once and I'd add more panels.

Where are your spaceships supposed to land in this iteration? In my opinion, the landing pads should be separated by some distance. I would also add a bunch of smaller antennas and satellite dishes around the large central one. What is the gold colored thing on the smaller image on the right? I'd also add a bulky airlock at the end of one of those tubes if it's meant to allow access to the surface. Basically just a small room at the end of the corridor with a door on it.

I think it all looks great.

Yes, the solar panels were supposedly computer driven and able to turn to capture sunlight, but I guess I will just make them all face one direction ^_^
By the way, what would their shape more likely be? In most illustrations they are just rectangular, but in some (eg in the game Surviving Mars) they are hexagonal. Also, some are immobile while others are able to rotate.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yes, the solar panels were supposedly computer driven and able to turn to capture sunlight, but I guess I will just make them all face one direction ^_^
By the way, what would their shape more likely be? In most illustrations they are just rectangular, but in some (eg in the game Surviving Mars) they are hexagonal. Also, some are immobile while others are able to rotate.

I get that they're sun tracking but there is a window of about 20 minutes each day when the sun would be exactly between those panels in the sky over the course of a day and even then only for a few days out of the year.

Immobile arrays should point south when in the northern hemisphere and to the north in the southern hemisphere.

I think rectangular panels are great. They're easier to manufacture and install and chain together in big arrays.

 

[Kyriakos]

Some more work, maybe it will look like this in some stage in a game:

What do you think? Believable?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah it looks great!