3D modelling, like anything else in gamedev, looks like rubbish until it's done.
This week my motivation was rock bottom. Working on the UI for so long and seeing such incremental results,
combined with searing temperatures and a couple weeks worth of distractions had led to a kind of burnout. In art
school the lecturers always stressed the importance of stepping away from a task when you feel it isn't working, to
go occupy yourself with something else, So I did.
3D modelling, like anything else in gamedev, looks like rubbish until it's done.
I fired up Blender, pulled up the excellent concept art I'd commissioned from Eduardo Rossi, and started making an APC. I'd been thinking for some time that I'd like to use Trim Sheets for textures in this project, so I jumped straight into UV Unwrapping. Normally this is something I try to avoid. In Interloper there's extremely minimal UV unwrapping, as everything is just mapped to solid colours, however this time I thought I'd try to get more comfortable with it, and try to add some actual texture to the game, (space can be clean, but if you're at ground level, there's gotta be a lot of dirt, detail, texture)
As simple as APC!
Once I'd built the first model, I was hooked. I quickly started working up the second. I wanted to go from the smallest unit in the game (not counting infantry) to one of the largest. I wanted to know, how far could I push the trim sheets, how much detail I could squeeze out of a relatively simple texture. I briefly toyed with using camoflauge patterns, but quickly decided against that in favour of using simple line based detailing (added to the mesh via a decal no less.)
Those lines are so much more legible and sci-fi .
Before long, I'd produced a bunch of these things, which are now ripe for variation, extension and modifications. I've gone from spending a day making an APC through to building new tank models in about an hour.
Honestly, I'm looking forward to making the Exo's next.
Prefab architecture... literally and figuartively.
For giggles I qucikly whipped up some basic buildings too. I'm really liking this style. A nice and chill way to end 2023's worth of work.