Who's got the look? What is the look? Where can I get one?

This entire week can be summed up in those 3 questions. I spent most of the week trying to get the proper look for the GalCiv2 ships. The problem with the current implementation is that they didn't stand out enough. They blended into the background too much. Too much simulation. Not enough game. We're not doing a game like Homeworld, or Nexus. We're doing a space base strategy game. The cool looking ships don't add to the game mechanics and may even detract if not done properly.

Who's got the look?

We don't know exactly who has the look. We thought that Homeworld 2 did some really cool stuff. But their media screens aren't exactly like their game screens and our game scale is completely different. We can't afford large washed out pieces from the local star. What would we do in deep space? Draw nothing? That's not the look we need. Here's our current look:

What is the look?

Nobody knew in words what the look should be like. The problem with the current look is that it is way too dark and didn't "pop." It looks cool for some games, but not ours. At least not the vision that we have. We had Jake mock up a rendered look that we would shoot for in the game code. I don't think it's the final look, but it's a look to shoot towards. Here it is:

Where can I get one?

I wish you could buy these things in the stores. I'm not a graphics guy by nature. My world is more numbers and logic. In my world, the sky looks like the matrix with uglier colors. You can't buy these things so I have to make the look. We really need a graphics guy that has the "eye" for this kind of thing so they can judge the look better. Anyways, here's 4 versions of the look both zoomed in and out. We may do a combination of all these. We're just not sure yet.

Disclaimer: This does not represent the final product. The images shown here are a facsimile of the actual game. Please don't take these too seriously. Really, I mean it.

Close up...

Far away...

Anyways, that was my week. I also managed to get the Starport screen mostly done. It was kind of ripped off the Ship design screen. I won't show any pictures because it's not completely done. Maybe next time..