User Created Content

[Fredrikli]

Here's my shot at a troll model (WIP):


was wondering, should he have a club or not?

I made this model with the old troll head, and even though i've added some roundness he's still pretty boxy in the face.

-Fredrikli

 

[Thothie]

You'd have to ask Orochi about how his monster weapon system works. Personally I'd try to rig him up for interchangeable weapons.

 

[Orochi]

Redo his head. I'd like to see what that model looks like with a skin.

I'm going for a more Skyrim-esque weapon system. Monsters will be able to use weapons, and will fall back on their natural weapons if they can't use a specific weapon type or don't have it equipped. The club can be a separate model.

 

[Orochi]

Wait a minute, that's the Dark Messiah Cyclops model with a tacked on head! Sorry, we don't accept model rips from other games. We need genuine original content.

 

[Fredrikli]

should i go for the older- folktale type of head or a more orcish-looking head?
like i said, it's a WIP. i'm using the mesh as a base, changing things progressively.
it will be original, just bear with me

I'm really terrible at texturing/skinning, but i'll give it my best.

 

[Orochi]

I'm thinking high-detail version of the current head, that sort of folk-tale, bumpy, lumpy look.

 

[thesupersoup]

Good concept art for the face:

 

[Thothie]

Rather than worrying about the source of your models, seeing as you're fine with borrowing from MSC, but only run into a problem when the torso is taken from Dark Messiah, ya might want to concentrate on defining a specific style for the artwork instead.

Should be specific enough that, should you have a model donated, you can "MSS'ify" it. Distinct markers - such as "lots of glowing veins", "sleek extended limbs", mystical symbols, elongated heads, bladed armor, and some other such modifications that can be made to any model, to give it an appearance specific to the genre. Perhaps, similar to the way that the Kharrah and their structures in NS2 all have a distinct "NS'ie" appearance, despite many being created by different modelers and artists.

On an unrelated tangent: Some friends of mine were fiddling with a Source mod concept that might save you some work - and they've since changed engines, and doesn't look as though it'll see the light of day, so I don't think it'd be "stealing" anything, style-wise. The system is, to take advantage of the rag doll and weighted bone systems, so that mobs don't actually need fixed animations. The process involves "suspending" the monster by two to three bones, and controlling the rest by momentum. The result is rather creepy, lurching larger monsters, and tumbling flailing smaller monsters. They basically toss themselves about - the larger ones using their limbs as clubs, and the smaller ones lashing out with bladed arms as they toss themselves past players. The resulting mobs being dependent on gravity and velocity for movement, rather than their fixed animations, giving them a much more organic feel. It'd save work on animations, and might add something unique to MSS - just a thought though.

 

[FER]

torso, legs and arms. It would be a problem if it was left as it is with just some pants strapped on, rather than using the body as a base reference.

 

[Orochi]

I'll wait and see how it turns out. As for your comment, Thothie:

Rather than worrying about the source of your models, seeing as you're fine with borrowing from MSC, but only run into a problem when the torso is taken from Dark Messiah, ya might want to concentrate on defining a specific style for the artwork instead.

The reason I have no problem borrowing the troll design from MSC is because MSC is MSS' predecessor. It's also one of the few models created from scratch by the original team (IIRC it's actually one of Gaz' models) from way back when and thus is fully our design, instead of content literally ripped from old dead mods.

As for this mod of yours, I'd have to see it. Post a link or something, I can't approve of it if I never see it.

 

[Fredrikli]

Good concept art for the face:

Hehe, i acctually google'd troll face at first... realized my mistake as i pressed enter.

The point of this thread wasn't only to showoff my bad modeling skills, but also to try to get the community involved more than they are in this, and to see that you people haven't given up on this

Also, this thread can be good for future posts, if more people want to post content so that this board won't get cluttered up.

To finish of with a question: Does MS:S want user created content? or do you rather have designated modelers do the work?

I was just thinking, because user created content might be useful to get more content in to the game. Though UCC usually don't have hours and hours of work put in to it, there might still be some gems that may fit the game perfectly.

 

[Thothie]

The reason I have no problem borrowing the troll design from MSC is because MSC is MSS' predecessor. It's also one of the few models created from scratch by the original team (IIRC it's actually one of Gaz' models) from way back when and thus is fully our design, instead of content literally ripped from old dead mods.

My point exactly.

If it's ethics you're worried about, then there's nothing I can say... But if it's *asthetics*... You have to realize that, unless you get one incredibly prolific modeler, you're probably going to have models from several different artists (legit or otherwise). Thus, what I would suggest, is you make a series of stylistic enhancements, that you can apply to any model, and thus uniform any model you maybe given towards a specific visual style. Otherwise you can easily wind up with the mish-mash of styles you see in MSC, even if all your models are OC.

As for this mod of yours, I'd have to see it. Post a link or something, I can't approve of it if I never see it.

Meh, it's long dead, and never really got out of development... One of the kids moved onto WolfFire games, and you can see some distant echos of the original concept in Overgrowth, and it's predecessor Lugaru. Toribash has a kinda similar concept, I suppose.

I canna seem to find any remains of the original ATM, so I cannot really help ya there, beyond the basic description of the concept - basically, animations are handled mostly by phsyics rather than pre-defined animation sets. Now, that's obviously not entirely true in Overgrowth - that's just the closest thing I can find to it atm. But again, the original mod involved models suspended by two or three bones (such as their shoulders), and let a combination of ragdoll physics and "magnet" bones handle the rest (flail at specific targets, and the like). The mod had two sorts of creatures, large humanoid blobs that kinda lumbered about, and small steel skeletons with swords for arms that flung themselves about, and ya had to either dodge or block them with a light saber effect (placeholder), then hit them as they recovered for their next pass. It was an interesting concept, and minimized the number of animations ya needed per model - but it likely also required a lot of tricky code work (manipulating rag dolls, etc.) I'd be tempted to take a shot at it with a unique mob in MSC, but sadly, no rag doll physics or physics meshes to work with.

 

[Fredrikli]

is this close to what you're trying to describe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... PZ5yuiWWeE