The Grom Empire (custom alien sponsor)

[GravityGames]

I figured that I might as well make a thread, as a good bit of the heavy work is done (outside of making the custom sponsor image), so here's my progress thread for a sponsor based off of the Grom Empire. I've seen a lot of people want some sort of alien sponsor (TBH I'd like to see one as well), but I'm not really good at making things that are scientifically plausible, so instead I'm doing the Grom Empire.

Here's the current sponsor icon:



Not final, I think I made the glow too big, and the outline doesn't start dark enough, when compared to the other sponsor icons. Also, the glow needs to be manually edited so the glow better matches the icon shape (I made the graphic in Inkscape with vector art, rather with bitmap art in GIMP)

...and here is the current perks. If anyone knows how to affect the rate of science, let me know, as I was originally going to have the downside of playing as the Grom be a decreased rate of science development. Until I can figure that out, we have

I was able to figure out the problem, the current Grom perks are:

+ Covert Ops take 50% less time (the Grom are supposed to be stealing their tech, point of advice)

- 50% less science is generated

...not sure if I should bother typing out cultural background, I'll just save it for when I write the Civilopedia entry that no one will read...

I'll update this post when I make the sponsor image, until then, I guess I'd like criticism on the icon and whether or not the Grom are balanced.

 

[GravityGames]

Well, here's an update since I'm almost done with the model, here's the WIP:



...and here's the updated icon (though without the frame or anything):



I still need to model his legs (or at least the top half anyway, but I'll probably do the whole thing even if it's not visible in-game, just for fun), and polish up his hands and tail (not visible in pic) some more. ...and of course rig and texture it, but the majority of the modeling is behind me, at least for the base model (I just realized I still have to do all of the affinities, good Lord...). Also, ignore Koslov just kinda chilling in the back, I used him for size reference, which coincidentally is how I figured out the sponsors have no legs. The funny thing is, he's above the ground to about the point where his legs should have been, almost as if the original modeler actually made them and then deleted them because they were never seen. I probably will get the animations and the base model done (and just use copies for all the affinities as placeholders for the time being), and if all goes well, I should be able to have the alpha release at that point!

 

[GravityGames]

Well, I have no clue why he's shiny or taking a nap (well, that last one is probably rotation...), but huzzah! The first custom 3D sponsor!



...now I just need to make him, you know...work. I love how the game picked the "behold" intro text I wrote rather than the slightly more neutral one.