950 replies to this topic

[Silverlance]

I was really hoping and praying that the 'Mech at the top of my favorite list would come out looking phenomenal, seeing as how quite a few of the 'Mechs already in game look fantastic.
However.
PGI, ya done ****** up again.
You took what you already had in game, the uppers of a Catapult, arms and legs of a 'Phract and slapped it all together to call it a ******* Timberwolf. You know what? **** you. Legs and arms on this "Timberwolf" look ridiculous. Way too straight and narrow and way too damn blocky. Where's the streamlined sexyness of EVERY OTHER IMAGE OUT THERE?! A previous post asked who designed this? A first year graphic design intern? What the hell, seriously?? You take IS 'Mechs and make them look great but totally BOTCH the rendering for the most iconic Clan Mech ever. You ******* fail. And you ******* fail hard.
Go back to the drawing board, publicly flog the poor ******* to put this together and start from scratch taking into account already existing art work that's EVERYWHERE to reference from. Then come back to us when you get your heads out of your asses with something that's actually decent and WORTHY of the names ICON and TIMBERWOLF.

[BigZach]

DavidHurricane, on 10 April 2014 - 12:16 PM, said:

Seems a bit tall.

That's my impression too...looks like the legs will be big targets. I wonder what the hitboxes will look like too, given the missile pods.

[Sentinel373]

the catapult has better timberwolf legs than the timberwolf does..

[Solahma]

IMO it looks almost identical to the concept art... a bit more boxy, but the legs were about the same proportion, but then again I disliked to concept art for this reason as well

It's going to look a lot more like the concept art when better picture angles are released. Sure, the legs are a little different, but they are roughly the same size as concept. The more noticeable thing for me is the size of the arm weapons. The concept art arms look substantially larger than these screenshots. Maybe if the arms were a bit larger (closer to concept) it would even out the proportions a bit?

Edited by Solahma, 10 April 2014 - 03:08 PM.

[Von Falkenstein]

Meh.

[Monsoon]

Danghen Woolf, on 10 April 2014 - 12:13 PM, said:

Good job. Blackhawk next please...

^^
This, plus the Masakari!

[Ronious]

It's funny how a ball gets rolling. LEGS! You won't be worried about how ugly it's legs are when it's running you down at 80+kph. Not to mention it's bite. That thing is gonna hurt. I will not cry (Holds back tear).

For the record. I think it looks bad arse.

Edited by Ronious, 10 April 2014 - 03:15 PM.

[GFierce]

Looks great, would love to see other angles of it. Do more of these I want the Blackhawk next.

[Nacon]

I don't like the legs.

Please make the upper leg section thinner and lower the body down where it'd bend the knees more.

[Revis Volek]

I already ordered mine! She looks hot as hell!

[Roadbeer]

InnerSphereNews, on 10 April 2014 - 12:00 PM, said:

Pre-order the Timber Wolf now!

Not unless it somehow magically allows me to play with more than 3 of my friends.

No Pre-order for you!

Edited by Roadbeer, 10 April 2014 - 03:17 PM.

[QuaxDerBruchpilot]

Wow this relly looks like it wasn't meant to be assembled together. Awfully ugly proportions.

[Naduk]

knightsljx, on 10 April 2014 - 02:56 PM, said:

why can't the programming team just follow the art work team's design?

https://static.mwome...rwolf_paint.jpg

programers have nothing to do with how it looks

process goes like this

concept artist, draws concept
design approves concept
concept goes to 3d artist
3d artist models item
3d artist finds issues with space (things like weapon X will not fit in space given by concept)
3d artist solves space issue and gets approval from design and concept to go ahead with change
3d artist completes model
model goes to technical artist
technical artist creates skeleton, gun port locations, LOD mesh, hit boxes.... ect
technical artist binds model to skeleton
skeleton (and model) go to animator
animator creates animation sets for mech
model goes to texture artist to get paint
all items back to technical artist for export to game engine
technical artist and programer check for any issues caused by new assets
programer sets stats, weight, allowed items and any other parameter that affects it in game

testing
any issues found go back to appropriate team for correction

this is industry standard practice
this might not be 100% how it happens at PGI but its close enough
in many studios people will wear multiple hats, so 3d artist, animator, texture artist might all be one person for example

[Nehkrosis]

[WVAnonymous]

Roadbeer, on 10 April 2014 - 03:16 PM, said:

Not unless it somehow magically allows me to play with more than 3 of my friends.

No Pre-order for you!

Not an issue for me. I can't remember the last time I had more than three names lit at the same time on my Friends list.

[Straylight]

I'm hoping it's just unflattering camera angles*, but that's not quite a Timber Wolf.

Normally I'm not one to complain about MWO's interpretations of 'mechs, because they either keep the silhouette right (Raven), or improve upon it (Centurion), but the Timby is such an iconic design that getting it even a little bit wrong is jarring, and I can't help but feel that's what happened here.

The height from the top of the pepperboxes to the waist joint should be about the same as from the waist joint to the ankles. On this, it appears the top-half height only reaches down to about mid-calf. Either the legs are too large, or the upper body is too squat.

Looking at the top half alone, however, is fine, so I'm inclined to believe it's the legs that are too large. This makes sense, as MWO has always had issues with making digitigrade legs on 'mechs bigger than they ought to be: the Raven, Locust and Cicada are widely derided for being too easy to leg and a large part of the Stalker's ungainliness is the fact that its legs account for too much of its height. The only 'mech that really seems to get it "right" is the Cataphract, and then only thanks to its broad-side-of-a-barn front torso.

Oh, and speaking of the Cataphract... it looks to me like they've re-used its leg geometry wholesale for the Timber Wolf.

Compare this: http://i25.photobuck...taphractMWO.jpg

To this: https://static.mwome...62a9afc30fd.jpg

I get that re-using existing resources is efficient, and that for some Omnimechs it makes sense (the Nova and Stormcrow sharing legs makes sense, as does the Kit Fox and Adder. The Timber Wolf itself should share legs with the Mad Dog) but wouldn't the Catapult's legs have been a better choice here? These legs are too thick and too... stumpy, for lack of a better word, and they're missing the Timby's characteristic "spines".

For I'd bet a lot of us, our introduction to the MW/BT franchise was this image:
(or this one, but you get my point)

It's deeply-ingrained. We know what a Timber Wolf is supposed to look like, since we've seen it on the front of fully half the BT/MW products ever made. If there is a single icon for the series, it's the Timby.

Which means that if you're doing something in the BT 'verse, even if you get nothing else right, you've got to get that one right.

And they haven't here. Not quite.

I'm hoping that's just a poor choice of camera angle, but the evidence of past digitigrade 'mechs indicates otherwise.









_{* - Seriously, guys, there are other angles besides the low front-quarter shot.}

[Mystere]

Cimarb, on 10 April 2014 - 01:58 PM, said:

I love all the leg comments. You can tell the people that know nothing about foreshortening and perspective.

The torso size is obviously a compromise to offset the "ears" being part of the torso. Hope it balances out.

Can't wait to see my Dire Wolf now!

It's not about foreshortening or perspective. It's that they are blocky/flat instead of rounded. Look at the legs of the concept art:

[Jin Ma]

Ph30nix, on 10 April 2014 - 02:57 PM, said:

OH god...... What are they going to do to my Maddog? please don't do the same thing to the Mad Dog as you have done to the Timberwolf please its just a child it doesn't deserve that treatment.

its funny cuz the Maddog and timberwolf are supposed to share legs. like the uller and the puma.

plus the maddog is supposed to be lighter/smaller. so if they share the same legs, the only thing they could do to make maddog smaller is make its torso smaller. which would extenuate the legs even more

[BlackJack69]

rotagh, on 10 April 2014 - 12:20 PM, said:

I must be the only one that thinks this, but I genuinly belive it looks horrible! The cockpit / center section seems way too small compared to the legs. But, that's just my opion. I am glad though that you guys are posting some info on the clan mechs. Any chance we'll get to see any other mechs soon?

Edit: I looked at it again, and it seems awfully shiny, is that a link to the "oooohhh, shiny new mechs!" thing?

i think that too...
the legs and torso are disproportionaly...

PGI, fix that plz!!!

[Jin Ma]

Mystere, on 10 April 2014 - 03:26 PM, said:

It's not about foreshortening or perspective. It's that they are blocky/flat instead of rounded. Look at the legs of the concept art:

lol thats the clan pack edition. the prime/normal one will have blocky legs like in this SC