Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => Modding => Topic started by: Kilkakon on December 15, 2015, 06:43:59 AM

Title: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on December 15, 2015, 06:43:59 AM

Hi there guys,

As I'm nearly the release of my C&C mod, I've had a look over Lost Eden and have decided it would be nice to leave available on the internet even if it never really took off. Towards this end I would like to replace myself in the mod with a new character for personal reasons. As new factions are always fun to talk about, I thought why not post it here. :)

The current version of the faction is called "The Realm of Light" and has the name "Brother-General Tristan" as its leader. They have Christianity as their agenda, +25% attack, -1 growth, -1 police, +1 talent per fourth citizens. Here's their cities/current logo:
(http://kilkakon.com/kocb/light.png)

My new vision for the faction would be something inspired by Maltese Knights/Knights Hospitaller from the Medieval times. I'd like to keep the faction balance as is as it would save me from having to rebalance the thing and same for the name as all the voice samples have already been recorded (hell, I might get the others done this break as it would be a nice thing to polish off).

I'm really stuck on what to call the guys. I would like to sneak Knight in there somewhere if possible.

Brotherhood of Holy Light?
Holy Knights?
Neo Malta?
Knights of Knightly Knighthood
God's Knights?

Should I stick with the chapels or move to something more castley? What about the logo?

Open to discussion :D

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: vonbach on December 15, 2015, 12:36:41 PM

How about the New Templars? I actually was thinking of a faction along similar lines but never got around to finishing the graphics for it. How about the Sword Brethren? The Knights of the Covenant?

Mine was something along the line of +2 effic +2 morale -2 planet immune to mind control and unable to use green economics.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on December 22, 2015, 12:58:23 PM

Thanks for the input Von Bach,

Knights of the Covenant might work, although I'd prefer a more New Testament flavour to it. I had the thought of Inquisition but that carries a lot of heavy overtones of torture and lawful neutral behaviour.

I've figured out which species I'll use for the leader at least :D I think a Buizel will fill the role perfectly.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on January 13, 2016, 09:01:55 AM

Having thought about this a bit more, I think I might go with a variation on your suggestion Von Bach. I like Knights of the Cross. Still has that knightly tone but keeps the new testament flavour in there.

In that case, does the whole white chapel structure fit that name enough? Or something more castley? I am not sure off the top of my head what castle graphics would fit, seeing as Cyndatech already have a dark castle look and Vixen have a more pale concrete structure setup (all of the game's graphics can be seen below, overgrown lodge and castle are not currently in use, starlost by a custom faction not in the original 14). Perhaps another attempt at ripping castle might work, this is too low quality and a bit... red. Could take a page out of the abandoned Strategist faction and have chess motifs going on.
(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=884) (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=259)

What about logo? A cross might be a bit... obvious? :P

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: ComradeCrimson on January 13, 2016, 12:57:43 PM

I really like the look of that arena sprite.

As for what is fitting most to this faction;the arena possibly or the shrine. Maybe a combination of the two? Splice the stone structure from the shrine set and put it inside the arena to make a new stone structure? Could be cool.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Yitzi on January 13, 2016, 06:18:32 PM

Quote from: ComradeCrimson on January 13, 2016, 12:57:43 PM

I really like the look of that arena sprite.

Several of those sprites (including that one) are from HOMM 3.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on January 14, 2016, 01:16:05 AM

Yup! To state my point more clearly, everything in that pcx is already ingame. I'd rather find something new that can work well for some knights that doesn't look too similar to the above. Sound good?

Perhaps Spanish architecture might be fun. These are inspired a bit by Knights Hospitallier after all who were all camped out on Malta.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: ComradeCrimson on January 14, 2016, 07:17:49 AM

Quote from: Kilkakon on January 14, 2016, 01:16:05 AM

Yup! To state my point more clearly, everything in that pcx is already ingame. I'd rather find something new that can work well for some knights that doesn't look too similar to the above. Sound good?

Perhaps Spanish architecture might be fun. These are inspired a bit by Knights Hospitallier after all who were all camped out on Malta.

Perhaps something reminiscent of crusader castles, something almost biblical looking? I might have what you are looking for.

(http://i.imgur.com/g8IgDfZ.png)

How about this? I crafted this one myself.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on January 14, 2016, 07:40:16 AM

Crusader Castles are a fun idea yeah :) That palette tone might be a little too similar to the presidental/arena ones, so I might go a bit less saturated, but that's the sort of idea I had.

That particular example is looking a little... flat to me, 2D, if that makes sense. Thanks for having a crack though if you did that just for me!

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: ComradeCrimson on January 14, 2016, 08:23:30 AM

Quote from: Kilkakon on January 14, 2016, 07:40:16 AM

Crusader Castles are a fun idea yeah :) That palette tone might be a little too similar to the presidental/arena ones, so I might go a bit less saturated, but that's the sort of idea I had.

That particular example is looking a little... flat to me, 2D, if that makes sense. Thanks for having a crack though if you did that just for me!

Yeah, did it a tad quickly, but it could perhaps be improved and made more 3 dimensional; after all that was made from scratch and it's the first iteration. I think the key would likely be some focus on the shading perhaps, or revision of the angle were viewing it from.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on January 14, 2016, 08:31:59 AM

Yeah! I think shading is the main culprit in that particular example. Perhaps a tad more on the details side of things.

I also like to add/take off bits of the building when it changes in size, as well as scaling. Makes it look a lot more authentic in my eyes. :D

Cheers for sharing some of your work though. I still loved one of those TS buildings you showed when you first surfaced. Don't feel like you have to go to any special trouble for me though, I am a capable spriter myself, just enjoying throwing around ideas :D

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 23, 2016, 02:24:42 PM

Did a bit more on this today. Thought I'd share. I took the Hill Fort from HoMM3 and did some recolours and tweaks to get this.

Not sure on what would make a good faction icon. Something knightly. I guess if I take the boring, predictable route, a cross works. :P

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 24, 2016, 01:13:04 PM

Whoops. Made the logo, but then made it too bright so it doesn't look very good ingame :P I like the idea of it though, it's a "cross fluery" which is a cross combined with a fleur-de-lis.

Hope you people find it interesting. Thought I'd share as BU loves activity

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 24, 2016, 02:47:31 PM

You said on Skype you made something that didn't reduce well for the logo - since that Maltese cross is pretty cute, I demand you show us the big version...

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 24, 2016, 02:49:20 PM

Such demands! I must give in to moderator actions :(

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 24, 2016, 02:52:59 PM

I don't get you sometimes - that looks like it reduced just fine.

It's ;b;, BTW.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 24, 2016, 03:02:13 PM

Oh? Okay then. It just seemed a bit washed out ingame.

Proof:

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 24, 2016, 03:13:07 PM

So two of those leaders are other people's work, I take it?

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 24, 2016, 03:15:31 PM

The volt guy, yeah. Somebody sent an edit to me and I used it for this :) Never released it though.

The other one is just using a placeholder anyway. I'd need to redraw him eventually.

At any rate, I guessed you guys weren't that interested in the pokemon side of this anyway heh. But the cities and logo chat is something you guys might be interested in hearing so :)

To get to the point I was trying to make, I think I might need to increase the contrast a bit. It just seems like a splat to me hehe

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 24, 2016, 03:20:00 PM

Well, I totally noticed the pink pixels on the front bottom edge of the new castles/land bases, and that looks awful in the file format, but of course I know they'd be shadow and look great in the game - there's no substitute for playtesting some things.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 24, 2016, 03:28:57 PM

You got it :) I'll have another crack this week sometime.

Does this look about right for a water line?

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 24, 2016, 04:18:47 PM

Waterline?

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 24, 2016, 04:21:25 PM

For the water version of the city. Under the blue line = underwater, therefore partially visible. Would be supports and such. I'd replace the path with a jetty.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 24, 2016, 04:35:31 PM

The outline you drew might, repeat, might, need to dip in more sharply on the right side of the foreground tower - otherwise, no quibbles.  I'll be interested in seeing your submerged effects...

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 28, 2016, 03:36:27 PM

Finished everything except the leader pic now. I darkened the cross fluery a bit so it wasn't as washed out, as well as doing the submerged effects you wanted to see:

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 28, 2016, 04:16:33 PM

That looks like it will serve very well.

I'm not sure I didn't like the straight up white protestant church better, but a castle certainly isn't going to look as strangely out of place to most eyes sitting on planet x for being so mundane Earth -though I suspect it's the opposite, if anything, for a lot of Europeans- and castles certainly are a better thematic fit for the 'Knights of' part of the idea...

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Kilkakon on July 29, 2016, 03:24:51 PM

Thanks BU :) The church was still good. I only changed it because of wanting to adjust the theme slightly, rather than it being a bad job per se.

Might look into the CVR editor and see what it can do.

Title: Re: Reskining my faction in LE, thought would be fun discussion
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 29, 2016, 03:40:43 PM

Oh, for some unit customizing?

Ooh, that's sorta exciting.  You'd have loved to have had the option to paint stripes or something on the colony pods when you started Lost Eden -what was it?  Six years ago now?- and I'm really interested in seeing what you can make ford's .cvr editor do.

-I'll have to ping for his attention if this goes anywhere.  Definitely keep us posted. ;b;