What´s my secret project?

[ViceRoy]

Originally posted by BeBro

What exactly would you criticise? It would be helpful to hear

I use the cut&paste method for the aliens and XCOM soldiers, and 3d software for the vehicles (ufos etc). However, those are my first anims for Civ3, so they are far from being perfect - but I hope to improve my anim skills with more practise

I would just change so those aliens would be little darker...I mean their appearance is little bit too comic style...adding little bit more grim to them wouldn't be bad...at least in my opinion. I think they look overally good and especially as they are your first units...You should have seen my first try with unit editing...it was the first and also the last time I will try to create animation.

I just wish that editor of PTW or patched version of it would give us chance to do what we really like. And Civ3 could live along after PTW...

Keep up the good work and I wish you best of luck with that scenario.

 

[BeBro]

Thanks for the suggestions, and I have to agree with you, at least some of the Aliens do not look like a big threat. However, Sectoids or Snakemen did not look very grim in the first XCOM game too (Sectoids looked rather cute ), but let´s see if I can change them to give them a more "evil" outfit. I´ll definately try it...

 

[Gorgoroth]

Nice work man! The scen idea is very good. X-Com owned

 

[Senoj]

Can't wait to see this released! Keep up the good work!

 

[W.i.n.t.e.r]

Nice to see that such a magnificent civ2 scenario designer has followed the call of the predecessor and will astonish us with his talents once again in a new environment !

 

[BeBro]

In the last time, I modeled the big UFOs with my 3d software - here is a preview, with some first tries for big UFO units (maybe some of them must be resized). I also created a first futuristic city style for the invasion mod/scenario. Since the latest news about PTW aren´t that convincing (no events, no control over diplomacy) I´m not sure if I can realize all I have in mind, but I still plan to make this mod/scn. Currently I do a lot of artwork, gathering ideas etc. ...

As always - feedback or ideas are welcome

 

[Neomega]

WOW, lucky these mods are free, or you'd put me out of business!!!!

I had to snag that picture to see if your city really did look 10 times better than mine..... yup. It does

 

[Nder]

As for units why not snag screen shots of the orginal X-Com units? Also all the X-Com images are in .pic format IIRC and there are viewers out there that will allow you to open them up directly and work from those.

I agree that they are a bit more on the cartoony side, but you can edit that if you are going for a grimmer feel. I just think it would be cool if they looked as close to the original as possible. Don't get me wrong, I think you are doing an amazing job. The snakeman looks great and that opening screen is awesome! But the Mutoid has a bit too much of the Marine going on, he needs to be bigger in the shoulder area and smaller in the legs. I just thought it might be easier if you were using the original images. Or, since you use 3DS you could use some of the free models available at 3D-Cafe as base models.

Also what might be perfect for this mod is Freedom Force models. If you are not familiar with the game, it is a superhero TBS, looks cool, haven't played it. I do know that the models are all in 3DS format so if you download the models from www.freedomforcecenter.com or the "Pregen In-Game Character Models" and "All Custom Character Models" downloads from http://www.irrational-games.com/modforce/downloads.htm you should be able to use those and make some cool units. Obviously these would also work well for anybody wanting to make a Superhero mod as well.

You could also include a sort of Terror from the Deep element by allowing one Alien Civ to only build cities in the sea.

 

[Balou]

The first X-com is one of the best strategy games out there in my opinion. I hope you´ll be able to capture some of it´s atmosphere. For me it would be great just to play with x-com agents and the proper technologies (and of course sectoids and Ethereals), if the idea with the ufo missions does not work.
The graphics you made look really good, especially the cities and space ships.
Keep up the good work!

 

[cgannon64]

Wow, that city graphic is amazing!

You make that, or did you copy it from a game?

 

[BeBro]

Originally posted by cgannon64
Wow, that city graphic is amazing!

You make that, or did you copy it from a game?

Thanks, I made it

Balou:

I hope you´ll be able to capture some of it´s atmosphere. For me it would be great just to play with x-com agents and the proper technologies (and of course sectoids and Ethereals), if the idea with the ufo missions does not work.

Yeah, thats the great challenge - to transfer xcom feeling to Civ3. I´m a bit disappointed by the latest news about ptw regarding events etc., however, other ideas might work.

For instance, I could create an alien civ with a separate city style thats looks like crashed ufos - to give the player the impression that he has to examine those sites, like in the first xcom game. Or I could use the barb villages for that purpose, this would it made possible to get techs from recovered "ufos" (changed gfx for the village). Barb warriors could be alien crewmen of those ufos then.

Of course, since we can´t control diplomacy, the supid thing is that those barbs would attack alien civs too. The same would happen when I create several alien civs - they could fight eachother, instead of the xcom civ. Currently, I don´t know a solution here, but lets see...

Nder:

As for units why not snag screen shots of the orginal X-Com units? Also all the X-Com images are in .pic format IIRC and there are viewers out there that will allow you to open them up directly and work from those.

Yes, I did this, I found lots of xcom pics (aliens, soldiers, vehicles) on the net. But the problem is to make units out of them - however, I´m not at all offended by the criticism, your suggestions are very helpful

And I found some nice 3d models (thanks for the links ) I will use for units, maybe I rework also the xcom agents/soldiers and the aliens in 3d.

 

[Kal-el]

I think I still have my X-Com files. I could try and pull out the .pic files for you. IIRC they are split up into parts, i.e. torso and head, right arm, left arm, legs. But they have all the necessary bits to make the animations, its just a matter of putting them together.

Let me know if you are interested and I will see if I can find it.

 

[Nder]

I know you said you grabbed some models from those sites, but in case you didn't see these ones, here are some I saw there. I can't wait to see this project come together. I loved X-Com. One of the all time best games ever made. Top 5 for sure.

With a little tweaking this guy could be a sectoid.

Here is your standard trooper before you develop body armor.

Mutoid anyone?

These models are all available at www.freedomforcecenter.com in their models section.

 

[BeBro]

Thanks for the help - both of you. However, Kal-el, despite the aliens I will use look simlar to the xcom aliens, I´ll create completely new units - I like doing 3d art, its just more fun for me

Nder, here are some of the new 3d models I plan to use, eg. for the mutoid, and a more advanced xcom trooper, I just modified them today from things I got from 3d cafe. As you see, they aren´t completed yet (esp. the alien), but I think they have the more grim look some people suggested. I´ll have a look into www.freedomforcecenter.com in the next days, I´m sure its helpful

 

[Nder]

Those look really cool. I am in the process of uploading a bunch of models from Freedom Force over in the 3D Models and Motion Templates thread.

 

[Balou]

Here is an image I made some time ago.
It shows the light armor and the stronger version of it, plus my all-time favourite alien, the Sectoid.
I really like the light armor, hope you´ll find the time to do some of the models yourself so they will be more like the original designs.

The pictures are directly taken from the game.

 

[Nder]

Balou,

Maybe that would a good project for you to work on. You two could work together on putting this mod together. There are a bunch of mod teams being put together, so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for some people to join Bebro in his attempt at merging two of the finest PC games ever developed.

 

[Balou]

Yeah, I thought about this too but there are also so many other units I´d like to do...
I will, of course, finish the deep eyes unit and after that I´ll make the special force unit. I´m unsure what I will do after that. It also depends on the ptw addon, what units and additional features will be included etc.

 

[Nder]

any further previews for this one? I am eagerly anticipating it.

 

[BeBro]

...and now to something completely different

I plan not only to include new art for units etc, also the appearance in general should be more "scifi". Therefore the civilopedia, the advisor screen, the city screen etc will be completely changed. Below you see the first version for a new advisor screen (culutural) in a more dark hitech look. As you see, it is not completed (unchanged buildings, no advisor head, unchanged close button etc.) but I think this is the way to go.

This is directly from the game, I mean all changed elements you see are finished and working