240 replies to this topic

[R E A V E R]

There is some beautiful artwork here. I personally think though if a lot of these designs were put in the game they would become useless. I designed my concept not baced on what would make it look awesome. I based it on what looks cool im MWO fashion and would be the most playable and strongest version based on Hitboxes and weapon placement. if you look at these design pics i will tell you guys why it was designed that wayLooking at it here demonstrates the design to make the mad2r an A Class playable mech that would be used in competative drops pls look for each of these features

1) Long side torso hitboxes that come up to just behind the mouth.
2) Thin CT harder to be cored.
3) Large sheilding arms to protect those side torso hitboxes from side shots.
4) High mounted arms with thin frontal area for ridgesniping (most of the others would ridgesnipe as well as an atlas lol)
5) thin legs to allow less chance of hit (spider influence)
6) thin overall frontal profile for survivability rather then an uber chunky bullet magnet

My design brief was to make a MWO style ( if you look, the weapons are all MWO interchange pods that are used in game) that would be hard to kill and beable to be used in a competative match here is the front view dxemonstrating the ridge sniper profile

Alot of the other mechs are prettier but this is the design that would give an edge in a comp match because i designed it for actual game play. Any of the others you would only see in pubbies. Nice looking nostalga but useless in competative play.

I dont think alot of voting is based on "what it would be like in game" More on how cool it looks or how close are the body parts are to looking marauderish.

[zagibu]

#27 best captures the Marauder design in my opinion. Maybe it's too close to the original, that's why #10 could be a good compromise.

I also liked 12 and 15 a lot.

Edited by zagibu, 17 November 2013 - 04:53 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Hammur, on 17 November 2013 - 04:12 AM, said:

There is some beautiful artwork here. I personally think though if a lot of these designs were put in the game they would become useless. I designed my concept not baced on what would make it look awesome. I based it on what looks cool im MWO fashion and would be the most playable and strongest version based on Hitboxes and weapon placement. if you look at these design pics i will tell you guys why it was designed that wayLooking at it here demonstrates the design to make the mad2r an A Class playable mech that would be used in competative drops pls look for each of these features

1) Long side torso hitboxes that come up to just behind the mouth.
2) Thin CT harder to be cored.
3) Large sheilding arms to protect those side torso hitboxes from side shots.
4) High mounted arms with thin frontal area for ridgesniping (most of the others would ridgesnipe as well as an atlas lol)
5) thin legs to allow less chance of hit (spider influence)
6) thin overall frontal profile for survivability rather then an uber chunky bullet magnet

My design brief was to make a MWO style ( if you look, the weapons are all MWO interchange pods that are used in game) that would be hard to kill and beable to be used in a competative match here is the front view dxemonstrating the ridge sniper profile

Alot of the other mechs are prettier but this is the design that would give an edge in a comp match because i designed it for actual game play. Any of the others you would only see in pubbies. Nice looking nostalga but useless in competative play.

I dont think alot of voting is based on "what it would be like in game" More on how cool it looks or how close are the body parts are to looking marauderish.

it was one consideration, I made, but it was a secondary one, TBH. If we were to base all mechs off of what best runs Meta, they would be effective, but at the end of the day, a little dull on the eyes, oft times. That said, regardless the considerations, it still needs to scream "Marauder" to me. Your design, whilst awesome and as I noted before, mechanically very detailed, screams more along the lines of the Bushwacker and such.

[Karyudo ds]

Hammur, on 17 November 2013 - 04:12 AM, said:

I dont think alot of voting is based on "what it would be like in game" More on how cool it looks or how close are the body parts are to looking marauderish.

It might not be, but something to consider is that the winner wont likely "be seen in game" either. This isn't an official "design our mech" contest. This is MoonUnitBeta dangling a carrot to get a community answer to a community question. Really in the end who cares who wins? They'll get some bragging rights and MC, but now PGI can look at their forums and see 31 player expectations of a Marauder right in one place. If they want to know what we're thinking what better way to figure it out?

[Marauder3D]

Kudos to all the artists! This is by far the best thread to grace these forums since closed beta.

I would be happy with ResidentCrow, Bishop, or Dadricks creation. I think they are all fantastic and would be something I would happily plunk down my cash.

Thank you all for your efforts on the behalf of an ungrateful community!

[MoonUnitBeta]

Tonight the thread for the Top 5 voting phase will be created at 12:01am. It'll only last until Friday night Nov. 22nd and winners will be announced Saturday morning! Wooooot!
So be sure to keep your eyes out for the voting thread tomorrow morning

[Odanan]

Oh boy, it will be a close voting for the Top 5. The #5 place will be disputed vote by vote.

[GizmoGecko]

For me, I have selected three pieces which I chose mainly for the possibility factor: ones which I believe will not be thwarted by HG's evil minions of doom. I have also ranked each one regarding in which order I would vote them to be the 'MWO Marauder'. I admit I was incredibly torn between the first two, so I've written this as to force myself to decide, but knowing me I'll keep changing my mind!

1. ResidentCrow's - A completely original take on the Marauder. Of course some of you hard core MWO would like nothing better than an identical, original, flimsy, mind-bogglingly unrealistic designed Marauder (Can you tell I hate the original yet?), and of course that ain't happening, but MWO is recreating a game for us 'now', a new revamp of the BattleTech universe. This design is what I feel the game needs. I outright adore it, feels buggy and insect-like too with the antennae, feet and what I believe are additional protective plates around the cockpit and arm weapon openings. My only hump, the curved arch of the top of the torso connected to the cockpit compartment (between the two roof vents/heatsinks) but only because of MWO's reputation with curvature.

2. Bishop's - I feel the geometry is in tune with Alex's artwork, as well as having a balance between nimble and fearsome. The torso is my favourite aspect, as well as the legs. I'd love to see a higher up view showing more of the top and sides of the torso.

3. Shimmering Sword's - A strong and powerful design, seems to me to possess a hardened shell/carapace which I very much like. Feels like you took a risk at trying something different, and I fully support the result whatever your thought process may have been. Again, I'd like to see another view of the 'mech to better understand it, as well as all the other entries, but of course, time is the problem.

This whole contest is something MWO should be encouraging, and I hope they can see that.

Edited by GizmoGecko, 17 November 2013 - 03:26 PM.

[Peiper]

Hammur, on 17 November 2013 - 04:12 AM, said:

There is some beautiful artwork here. I personally think though if a lot of these designs were put in the game they would become useless. I designed my concept not baced on what would make it look awesome. I based it on what looks cool im MWO fashion and would be the most playable and strongest version based on Hitboxes and weapon placement. if you look at these design pics i will tell you guys why it was designed that wayLooking at it here demonstrates the design to make the mad2r an A Class playable mech that would be used in competative drops pls look for each of these features

1) Long side torso hitboxes that come up to just behind the mouth.
2) Thin CT harder to be cored.
3) Large sheilding arms to protect those side torso hitboxes from side shots.
4) High mounted arms with thin frontal area for ridgesniping (most of the others would ridgesnipe as well as an atlas lol)
5) thin legs to allow less chance of hit (spider influence)
6) thin overall frontal profile for survivability rather then an uber chunky bullet magnet

My design brief was to make a MWO style ( if you look, the weapons are all MWO interchange pods that are used in game) that would be hard to kill and beable to be used in a competative match here is the front view dxemonstrating the ridge sniper profileAlot of the other mechs are prettier but this is the design that would give an edge in a comp match because i designed it for actual game play. Any of the others you would only see in pubbies. Nice looking nostalga but useless in competative play.

I dont think alot of voting is based on "what it would be like in game" More on how cool it looks or how close are the body parts are to looking marauderish.

Yours was the best, by far, for many of the reasons you point out. I think one thing that detracted from the entry was that the artistic display of the mech wasn't all painted nice and on a nice backdrop, and the detail shots that show off all the angles/shapes were small and people didn't bother to click on the picture and expand it to see it. I think a lot of the more popular ones, when you really look at them, would be either really crappy mechs to pilot because of their shape and the rest don't look like marauders at all. When I saw yours, I thought DAMN!! That's it! That's a marauder! And it looks so friggin MEAN compared to so many others too! People will more often judge stuff on their first impression and what 'pops' out at them when it comes to art. They don't look at the form, function, or application of the design. I want to slap everyone and push their nose into the screen and say: did you REALLY look at Hammur's design?

[GalaxyBluestar]

Peiper, on 17 November 2013 - 04:39 PM, said:

Yours was the best, by far, for many of the reasons you point out. I think one thing that detracted from the entry was that the artistic display of the mech wasn't all painted nice and on a nice backdrop, and the detail shots that show off all the angles/shapes were small and people didn't bother to click on the picture and expand it to see it. I think a lot of the more popular ones, when you really look at them, would be either really crappy mechs to pilot because of their shape and the rest don't look like marauders at all. When I saw yours, I thought DAMN!! That's it! That's a marauder! And it looks so friggin MEAN compared to so many others too! People will more often judge stuff on their first impression and what 'pops' out at them when it comes to art. They don't look at the form, function, or application of the design. I want to slap everyone and push their nose into the screen and say: did you REALLY look at Hammur's design?

there's a lot i didn't vote for because yes they were being designed for form, function, or application within MWO... or to translate, fit in the practicality and meta driven gameplays and forget the distinction of design cues. that's what made alex centurion brilliant for being different yet capturing the essence of a "centurion". if mechs were designed on that basis of function for gaming then forget adhering to the shapes and layouts of:

catapult: head too big shouldn't be in game
orion, awesome etc: too wide easy to hit shouldn't be in game.
cataphract, atlas etc: low slung arms turff turff shouldn't be piloted.
hunchback: put your best weapon in a big hit me box, drop it from the game.

a lot of designs would essentially be lost or thrown out if we should only have designs that are optomised for the best gameplay, that's not BT that's not even MW that's just trying to make every unit the same which is dull design.

please don't kill urbie with form, function, or application!

Edited by GalaxyBluestar, 17 November 2013 - 05:10 PM.

[Fherot]

If I've learned one thing from this contest is that people have... strange taste. Not sure how to say that neutrally because it sounds negative when I read it. Not how I mean it.

As fun as contest is I'm not sure if I'd do another simply because my brain is on a different track than the majority of people's expectations. New design perhaps, not a remake.

[R E A V E R]

Its because it IS what the MWO Marauder should be. I know it wont win, nor even make the top 5 and i'm ok with that because i believe that the community has missed the brief. Or I dropped the ball by not making a beautiful picture rather then a fully articulatable, fully game ready design that won't suck on the virtual battlefield. Some of the others wouldnt even be able to walk due to armor plates interfering so badly with mechanical actuation they couldn't even move their legs. Most of the weapons are slung low on these too. Well under cockpit level. as an example, the Madcat and mechtek warhammer were "shelf" mechs in MW4 league play because of this

This was actually my third attempt. My first two looked alot like some of the top 5 but i dismissed them due to uselessness on a virtual battlefield, so i made the third for game play and in the art style of Alex for easy intergration. The top 5 look like very cool marauders but dont look like MWO mechs. I can't visualize them in the game, thats why i abandoned my first two designs

Apart from posture and weapon placement (which is a marauder must) . Mine looks more like the bushwackers older brother mixed with an Cobra Gunship and foot design similar to the Stalker, then the original Harmony Gold version. This was deliberate to allow a marauder with no legal grounds AT ALL for challenge. The guy who said it looked like a bushy, Thanx for the compliment.

Mine is a totally NEW design with no box art or Harmony Gold cues but it stands like a Marauder and has the weapons of a Marauder and would kick virtual az like a Maurauder should.

I took this comp as "make the Marauder for MWO"

not make a cool marauder that looks beautiful or uber cool but would never see the MWO virtual battlefield

I think i have succeeded.

Edited by Hammur, 17 November 2013 - 05:44 PM.

[Odanan]

Hammur, on 17 November 2013 - 05:35 PM, said:

Its because it IS what the MWO Marauder should be. I know it wont win, nor even make the top 5 and i'm ok with that because i believe that the community has missed the brief. Or I dropped the ball by not making a beautiful picture rather then a fully articulatable, fully game ready design that won't suck on the virtual battlefield. Some of the others wouldnt even be able to walk due to armor plates interfering so badly with mechanical actuation they couldn't even move their legs. Most of the weapons are slung low on these too. Well under cockpit level. as an example, the Madcat and mechtek warhammer were "shelf" mechs in MW4 league play because of this

This was actually my third attempt. My first two looked alot like some of the top 5 but i dismissed them due to uselessness on a virtual battlefield, so i made the third for game play and in the art style of Alex for easy intergration. The top 5 look like very cool marauders but dont look like MWO mechs. I can't visualize them in the game, thats why i abandoned my first two designs

Apart from posture (which is a marauder must) and weapon placement. Mine looks more like the bushwackers older brother mixed with an Cobra Gunship then the original Harmony Gold version. This was deliberate to allow a marauder with no legal grounds AT ALL for challenge. The guy who said it looked like a bushy, Thanx for the compliment

I took this comp as "make the Marauder for MWO"

not make a cool marauder that looks beautiful or uber cool but would never see the MWO virtual battlefield

I think i have succeeded.

Your mech is very good, and we appreciate your work on it.

The problem is: mechs, specially the Marauder, are not just about "functional", but also about "passion".

Some of the top 5 designs wouldn't work in a real battlefield but... tell you what... which giant walking robot does?

Fherot, on 17 November 2013 - 05:09 PM, said:

If I've learned one thing from this contest is that people have... strange taste. Not sure how to say that neutrally because it sounds negative when I read it. Not how I mean it.

As fun as contest is I'm not sure if I'd do another simply because my brain is on a different track than the majority of people's expectations. New design perhaps, not a remake.

People do have strange tastes. But diversity is a good thing.

[GalaxyBluestar]

wasn't the brief about what are people's expectations? so any design entered covers that. that's all i focused on along with eliminating every shape the unseen design had whilst trying to maintain stance, posture and proportions.

i definately wanted to stay away from MWO implementations.because it won't happen whilst HG exsists and anyways that amount of art is alex's job and nowhere did the brief imply do alex's or other MWO people's jobs. i could've drawsn something i thought FD would design or something that would end up in MWO... but that's not my expectation for a marauder, you get that Bryan Ekman!

@hammur sorry if my discussion had any infurence on your work, it matches the brief for your expectations and the parameters you went by are justified and your working model is a fantastic amount of work. i just used a completely different philosophy as that works with my marauder expectations.

Edited by GalaxyBluestar, 17 November 2013 - 06:07 PM.

[Ormstarr the Splitter]

Oh man, it's really been great reading the range of comments that have come from this event. I've done a few redesign competitions and I am always surprised at the what people respond to. Emotions always seem run high when we expose our labors of love to the wilds of the internet, but it's always beneficial for anyone participating to try and dial down those feelings a bit and take the whole thing with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, we're all just doing this because we love the Marauder, right?

It's awesome that this competition lets us see so many excellent approaches to the same mech. The thing is, you could come up with a thousand more and you still wouldn't find one that meets everyones expectations, it's simply not possible. So as artists, the best we can do here is come up with what we would personally love to play, make it look as cool as possible and hope that enough other people agree.

I've been reluctant to comment on my own image because I generally believe in letting the art speak for its self, but there seems to be enough comments both direct and indirectly calling out the piece for being all form over function. I completely understand the response of course, but I can assure you that my primary goal was to figure out how to make a design that was both functional and aggressive that also fit within the already established MWO design language. All that extra lighting, atmosphere, texture, etc. was done because, well… I just wanted to have fun and make something pretty. I'm very open to feedback though, so all of these comments are helpful.

Again, I can't emphasize enough how cool it is to see what so many people have come up with for this. The classic Battletech TROs were a huge influence on me as a kid and are a big part of why I became an artist in the first place. The day we get official Marauder and/or Warhammer concept art from Alex is the day PGI gets all of my money

[Bishop Steiner]

Peiper, on 17 November 2013 - 04:39 PM, said:

Yours was the best, by far, for many of the reasons you point out. I think one thing that detracted from the entry was that the artistic display of the mech wasn't all painted nice and on a nice backdrop, and the detail shots that show off all the angles/shapes were small and people didn't bother to click on the picture and expand it to see it. I think a lot of the more popular ones, when you really look at them, would be either really crappy mechs to pilot because of their shape and the rest don't look like marauders at all. When I saw yours, I thought DAMN!! That's it! That's a marauder! And it looks so friggin MEAN compared to so many others too! People will more often judge stuff on their first impression and what 'pops' out at them when it comes to art. They don't look at the form, function, or application of the design. I want to slap everyone and push their nose into the screen and say: did you REALLY look at Hammur's design?

I indeed did, and stated why I voted as I did.

This is NOT a PGI sanctioned design. Hence, hit boxes are IMO, secondary. It's a great design. It quite simply doe s NOT shout Marauder though. Hence, It was not in my top 5. Were we simply doing a "top 5 mech design" contest, it indeed would have placed, possibly at the top.

[Bishop Steiner]

Hammur, on 17 November 2013 - 05:35 PM, said:

Its because it IS what the MWO Marauder should be.

I think i have succeeded.

And in between that, you again attempt to explain what we miss. Problem is, this is subjective. We have no specific guidelines we need to adhere to. Why did I highlight those two lines? BEcause it shows my point. You feel it is the perfect MWO Marauder, and list your reasons. Apparently many others do not agree. And they are under no obligation to list their reasons. In my case, I did. It's a great design. I don't think it's a great marauder design. Hence, perfect hitboxes, etc, or not, it did not get my particular vote.

[Bishop Steiner]

Fherot, on 17 November 2013 - 05:09 PM, said:

If I've learned one thing from this contest is that people have... strange taste. Not sure how to say that neutrally because it sounds negative when I read it. Not how I mean it.

As fun as contest is I'm not sure if I'd do another simply because my brain is on a different track than the majority of people's expectations. New design perhaps, not a remake.

Well, I would hope you are not discouraged. But think of this, you are tackling arguably the single most popular design (even if the design itself never made any bloody sense). So voting will, tbh not always make sense. The biggest thing is, people already have strong ideas what to them is a MArauder. Some of the best artistic designs, were quite simply not the best marauder designs. And some of the best execution was not always done for mechs that were actually the best "designs". Many of the designs I did not vote for would be winners if indeed it was simply a "design your best mech" contest.

It wasn't.

[Bishop Steiner]

Marcobra, on 17 November 2013 - 06:43 PM, said:

Oh man, it's really been great reading the range of comments that have come from this event. I've done a few redesign competitions and I am always surprised at the what people respond to. Emotions always seem run high when we expose our labors of love to the wilds of the internet, but it's always beneficial for anyone participating to try and dial down those feelings a bit and take the whole thing with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, we're all just doing this because we love the Marauder, right?

It's awesome that this competition lets us see so many excellent approaches to the same mech. The thing is, you could come up with a thousand more and you still wouldn't find one that meets everyones expectations, it's simply not possible. So as artists, the best we can do here is come up with what we would personally love to play, make it look as cool as possible and hope that enough other people agree.

I've been reluctant to comment on my own image because I generally believe in letting the art speak for its self, but there seems to be enough comments both direct and indirectly calling out the piece for being all form over function. I completely understand the response of course, but I can assure you that my primary goal was to figure out how to make a design that was both functional and aggressive that also fit within the already established MWO design language. All that extra lighting, atmosphere, texture, etc. was done because, well… I just wanted to have fun and make something pretty. I'm very open to feedback though, so all of these comments are helpful.

Again, I can't emphasize enough how cool it is to see what so many people have come up with for this. The classic Battletech TROs were a huge influence on me as a kid and are a big part of why I became an artist in the first place. The day we get official Marauder and/or Warhammer concept art from Alex is the day PGI gets all of my money

Yup. Too many people having trouble divorcing egos from their work. It is hard, because every artist on here put some of themselves out for people to display and judge. Thing is, to survive in this field, you need rhino skin, because for every bit of adulation you get, you NEED to get 2 pieces of critical thinking and such, or you will never grow. And pretty much every one of us have at onetime or another come up with something we thought perfect, only to be bewildered by the lack of response from others.

We hit home runs sometimes. Sometimes it veers foul just before leaving the park. I know I have had more failures than I can count, certainly more than I have had successes. It was by being willing to except input on those failures that I have improved though. And a stunning piece can actually still be a failure.

[GalaxyBluestar]

Bishop Steiner, on 17 November 2013 - 07:00 PM, said:

Yup. Too many people having trouble divorcing egos from their work. It is hard, because every artist on here put some of themselves out for people to display and judge. Thing is, to survive in this field, you need rhino skin, because for every bit of adulation you get, you NEED to get 2 pieces of critical thinking and such, or you will never grow. And pretty much every one of us have at onetime or another come up with something we thought perfect, only to be bewildered by the lack of response from others.

We hit home runs sometimes. Sometimes it veers foul just before leaving the park. I know I have had more failures than I can count, certainly more than I have had successes. It was by being willing to except input on those failures that I have improved though. And a stunning piece can actually still be a failure.

atlast my work is mentioned!