Awesome, Iâm really liking the release of more details and content you guys are doing.
So pretty much like in Planetside: SFC=New Conglomerate, Deltan=Terran Republic, Centaur=Vanu Sovereignty?
It posted before I could finish typing for some reason. and I couldnt seem to edit itâŚ
Edit: this is what I wanted to sayâŚ:
On topic:
Thanks for thee information!
Sort of on topic but mostly off topic:
It seems a lot of space games have there different factions
for example using the games infinity, vendetta online and supreme commander:
-
Military/ Warring nation.
vendetta online: Serco
Infinity: Deltan
Supreme comander: United Earth Federation -
âPeacefulâ/religious/ect
vendetta online: Itani
Infinity: Centaurus
Supreme comander: Aeon Illuminate
3)technological/business
vendetta online: UIT
infinity: Star Fold
Supreme comander: Cybran Nation
They donât all fit into those categories, but there are a lot of similarityâs⌠and they are not the only games that seem to have factions that fit well into this⌠Anyway, I think these general types of faction represent things well so that is probably why so many games use these sort of factions.
The Deltan/Serco and Centaurus/Itani comparisons are off. And while the Star Fold one is close, itâs not quite right either.
Remember, the Serco are the kind people who hunted the most dangerous game for nothing more than s***s and giggles until the proto-UIT had enough and left Terra II. While the Deltans may be militaristic, maybe even a little imperialistic, they are nowhere near the level of the Serco. To be honest, theyâre more like late-war Itani, or maybe pre-exodus Serco, with a hefty dose of UIT thrown in, than the uber-klingons we know (and love?) today.
And while the Centaurus might be religious, they are not the pacifists that are the Itani. What they are is âharmoniousâ. And they are more than willing to enforce that harmony, with military force, on everything, every place, and everyone they can. Whether the thing, place, or person in question wants it. Because they know whatâs best for you, even better than you do.
The Itani just want it all to stop so they can go back to what they had before the war and, barring the Akanese and [ITAN], only fight because the Serco force them to.
As for the Star Fold, think more like early America, somewhere around the time of the Louisiana Purchase, with some big dashes of the later confederacy (at least as far as the central government, the way it works, and attitudes towards it are concerned) to add flavor. Theyâre pragmatic, pioneering individualists that are more concerned with getting a job done than they are with petty luxuries. Theyâre not anti-tech, but theyâd rather use a tried and true tech, thatâs cheap, robust, and easy to maintain, than some new flashy thing that, while maybe, possibly better, is also more prone to needing (possibly complex) maintenance and repairs, which arenât always possible in the kinds of situations and locations a Star Fold native is likely to find themselves in.
The UIT, on the other hand, are not only literally one nation under copyright, living in, and being ruled by, a half-dozen mega-corps, but theyâre also, as a culture, focused around cash and luxury. Theyâre almost anti-Star Fold, actually.
As for the subject of the OP, is there any way to get that Centy corvette as a desktop? Itâs absolutely gorgeous.
Wallpapers will be forthcoming, we just need to finish up the website and thatâs mostly my fault :\
Well, I didnât mean that they were identical, just shared some things. You are quite right that there are big differences, maybe I should have worded what I said differentlyâŚ
Thank you, as a studying artist myself this is all very interesting. Not into game art, but the concept of space in art is interesting.
Does that SFC ship on page 10 of the design document has a name? I just⌠love it. 
And how long ago has Gene replaced Kristian as Art Lead?
Donât forget that these are the playable factions, iâm sure there are more factions out there.
Also, why isnât this blogpost on the websiteâs frontpage?
Playable factions? Its unknown whether or not a player will actually be a member of a faction rather than just someone who lives in one of the empires. So factions are really just ship varieties, and there is no reason for a ship to be ingame if it isnt playable, so what did you mean again by playable factions? Main empire factions?
edit: wait, this may be different for battlescape⌠is it?
The blog is being integrated, you should see updates on the main page in the near future.
In battlescape only SFC will be present. And playable i assume we make extensive use of their ships. I assume the devs might implement other âfactionsâ with different looks like some sort of âstealth spec opsâ faction with fancy black ships, some âsisters of eveâ with white ships and spinny bits, some âevil rogue AIâ ships that have their unique looks, pirates, etcâŚ
It does not have a name yet.
About 4 years.
In I:B, players will probably only be able to pilot up to Hunter class, anything larger will be NPC only.
Some hopefully constructive criticisms:
Your industrial faction style is noticeably lacking both cylinders and spheres, the two most industrial shapes in existence. Apply them liberally and your ships will look far more utilitarian. Designing your ships around cylindrical cores or groupings of spheres will also help you avoid the much maligned âbox with thrustersâ look.
Design the shipâs silhouette before anything else. Itâs great the level of detail youâre putting into these models, but 90% of the time, the player will be viewing them from either inside the cockpit (i.e. not at all) or from a kilometer away or more. They should be recognizable at a glance, and the angles the surface plates form have virtually no impact on this. Make sure each ship has a distinctive and unique shape with lots of personality before getting absorbed in the details.
It might also help to actually design some of your universeâs technologies. For instance, what does an Infinity warp drive look like? Generally the most important part of a vehicle is its propulsion system, spacecraft particularly so. Nailing down the look of something that all your spacecraft need, and taking that into account when designing, will ensure that your overall aesthetic remains consistent, even despite changes in faction style. For good examples of this, see Federation ships from Star Trek, Honorverse warships, or the human ships from Sword of the Stars.
Obviously Infinity Warp Drives look like crenelated cylinders.
Actually Kristian has some concepts, Matron & Skybear come to mind, there are likely others that contain those elements, But yeah, overdoing the sphere thing could get away from what we want the SFC to be, and bring them too far down the technological ladder. But you do have a valid point, Iâm just not sure you will see those elements in the more militaristic player assets of I:B.
The warp drive technology per Flavien, has always been described as residing inside the ship, and was never to be noticeable from the outside. Weâve never been interested in huge warp nacelles for example, just rear main thrusters and RCS.
Our concept artists do employ this technique. In fact they will sometimes model the basic shape of the asset to ensure the profiles are what they require of the design, and hand that off to the modeler along with all the concept materials.
You have the balloon, roundish shape 
and two versions of trapezoidal ships. The kitty is confused.
Remember the basics, Round, Square and triangle. Two of them look like they came from the Narn Regime.
Think of how easy Babylon 5 ships are to tell apart. (Iâve been told to be blunt with computer artiest, sorry if Iâm wrong)
Your industrial faction style is noticeably lacking both cylinders and
spheres, the two most industrial shapes in existence. Apply them
liberally and your ships will look far more utilitarian. Designing
your ships around cylindrical cores or groupings of spheres will also
help you avoid the much maligned âbox with thrustersâ look.
Itâs a kind of challenging thing to add spheres into a combat ship that is taking place in very distant future. I personally start to get associations of non-combat industrial designs & 60s sci-fi if spheres are far protruded. Itâs pretty easy to add thin sphere slices. Iâll put this sphere stuff behind my ear - maybe there are some ways that I fail to see now.
The warp drives need not be external, nor even very specific in shape. But from a design perspective, as long as youâre thinking about where it goes, it will influence the final design in good ways. You donât have to do this; itâs just a good way of maintaining a level of internal consistency without limiting what shapes you can use.
Itâs a kind of challenging thing to add spheres into a combat ship
that is taking place in very distant future. I personally start to get
associations of non-combat industrial designs & 60s sci-fi if spheres
are far protruded. Itâs pretty easy to add thin sphere slices. Iâll
put this sphere stuff behind my ear - maybe there are some ways that I
fail to see now.
Mainly I was considering the industrial ships, but even combat ships could used some radomes or giant armored reactor housings.
I think texturing will do far more to define the faction style than the actual geometry of the ships in question. There are plenty of examples of starships that look very brutal/industrial and yet donât rely heavily on rectilinear angles, if at all.
Just try not to make every ship look like it had to pass inspection by the Octagon Committee. 