I've created a new torso section from which all the other alien classes are built. In this example the class type is 'Ranger' and the alien is equiped with a power pack and wrist mounted pulse energy thingies...




I've rigged the character and am continuing to work on the animation sets that I will use in the final game. Texture work still needed on the equipment.

Let me know what you think? TIA

Here's a quick render of the final model:

looks pretti good.

Looks good !
Just need to make now another aliens styles, less human and more monster like !

Keep up the work !

they look quite stereotyped-try to create more creative creatures...but since its still a prototype everything looks good so far

Thanks for the comments everyone and I generally agree; this 'species' is very human-esque and certainly follows the stereotyped 'Grey' alien image.

Without going into too much detail about the general background to the idea for this game, it's worth saying that the intention is to create one or two key enemy races that fit this stereotype with the rest of fauna being far more 'monsterous'. I spent a fair amount of time playing around with the EA title 'Spore' and have a pretty good idea how to mix it up for some of the other species

In this first case the species is more human with a greater use of technology and telepathic abilities so I've tried to keep the asthetic and style close to this pre-conception. I hope it will make it easier to identify with them as an archetype or species.

If I may bring it back slighty towards the original 'Game Play Prototype' topic that I set when I kicked this off its maybe worth mentioning 'meta-gameplay' here, as it in someway might help outline the scope of the enemies planned for creation.

Much like some of the new 'Facebook' app/games that are starting to become popular, (especially with the addition of the iPhone and its cross-over apps) games such as 'Mafia Wars' have really captured the attention of the new breed of casual gamer. (Feel free to jump in if you are familiar with this game, as I would love to hear your opinions).

In many ways 'Mafia Wars' is meta-gameplay without any core gameplay. In this respect the plan with our project is to create a gameplay experience that can be integrated with some kind of cross over meta-game portal like this.

So going back to races and enemies in general, we plan on creating several sets that allow some dynamic mission content to be created based on meta-game match statistics, that give a good deal of variation to create longevity of interest with the title and continued challenge for the gamer.

Combined with an inteligent dynamic-dungeon system, we should be able to create a game where we, the developer, can release new themes, items and rares, along with big boss fights and so on to hopefully continue/increase the effective shelf life of the product.

I am also very aware that as a new startup developer with limited time and resource that our target title must be as production light as possible and this is why dynamic content to us is a key consideration.

It's also why I am focusing on the core-gameplay and building one race of enemies that covers the broadest spectrum of these elements.

On a final note:

I really would love to hear ideas about other races, reference material, ideas for cool game-mechanics and anything associated with it really. I am also inviting discussion about meta-game play and ways indie developers like us, might take advantage of this new boom.

TIA for your interest and feedback

Heres a video with all 3 archetypes from this race - First Milestone Video HD Version Available

Nnniccee....
I like it.
Looks very cool, the style is clearly reconizable.

Thanks again for the encouraging comments.

Now that I have the basic enemies working, albeit without any pathfinding or real sense of Ai outside of their core behaviour states, its time to focus on the players avater: The players window to the game-play experience



After spending the last few weeks getting very frustrated with my pipeline as I tried to utilize 'Bones' which has proved to be something of a blind alley. Puppeteer and I, (Thanks for the help), have been trying to work these kinks out through PM but from my new tests I think there are some definate issues still with getting Max rigs accross into MDL bone format without some very odd scaling issues. I think to be fair, GS is long overdue a proper plugin suit for the leading modeling programs and 3DSMax should certainly be a priority. (Note: If anyone out there reading this thinks they could develop a proper set of plugins for 3DSMax get in contact please)...anyway, I digress

So I've broken the avatar rig into 3 parts so that I can animate the torso and legs seperately and in addition the head has been seperated to make variations easier to support.

Hopefully I will have this in and working in a few days.

Thanks again for the support and interest, and to everyone who's checked out the video progress and left comments.