12 replies to this topic

[Punk KMSD]

We all know the story of these contested Mechs, or some of the story. As of a few years ago we got most of them back into the Battletech Mech stable, however there are a handful of these that still cannot be used. I took it upon myself a few years back to rework the designs, I remember having a few conversations about these with Jordan and Randal but do not recall if I ever sent them over to Smith and Tinker or BattleCorps. I do remember there was a buzz around the time of that MW5 video that they produced about Harmony Gold getting snippy about the Warhammer that was in the video, if this holds any water I do not know as I never felt the need to breach the subject with the powers that be.

My main drive was to take the now cannon 3060 era Reseens and mesh them with some of the design aspects of the Unseens, I wanted them to look like they could have been the ancestors of the 3060 versions. At the same time I had to push things around and make shapes different then their Unseen counterparts as to not get the Harmony Gold lawyers in a tizzy...a bit of a balancing act to say the least. Also, I wanted the 'Mechs to feel like they were designed in the 1980's, when BT came out, spicifically 1984. Most 80's robots were big and boxy, and thats how I wanted them to look. Like they actually had weight and substance.

I worked on some of my personal favorite 'Mechs from the Unseens. The Archer, Marauder, Rifleman and Warhmmer.

Gallery; http://punkywily.dev...allery/33603996

Archer For the most part this design is complete, there are some clean up and details I want to add but I think that the overall shape is good, I like the massive legs on this puppy, looks like it could step on a city block and keep on truck'n.

Rifleman My all time fav. Sure it's just a BlackJack with more armor, but I'm a massive fan of long range support 'Mechs. This one needs some torso adjustment and work on the legs, again I still think the shape is good and I do like how the radar dish turned out.

Marauder This one needs adjustments. It just looks off from various angles, I'm going to keep working on this one, something is missing from it. I do like the lower legs and arm Gunpods, those stay.

Warhammer This one took abit to get right but out of all of the four I think I nailed this one. The first version, MKI, was tall and lanky like it's 3060 version, that woulden't do, so I made it abit stubbyer and more box like. And I gave it fangs..why?, don't know, I thought it looked cool. MKII is the final version.

I liked it so much I did a little animation just to show that a little tweeking goes a long way. MKI on the left, MKII on the right.

Animation;

There are still more unseens to do, still working on the Longbow, Valk, Stinger, Wasp, ect, ect. 12 in all if I remember correctly.

So, these are my takes on these designs, I can't wait to see what the talented artists for this game come up with as I hope to be back piloting a Rifleman one day soon.

Edited by Punk[KMSD], 06 November 2011 - 02:50 AM.

[Grafix TM]

Glad to see you joining us at the darkside of deviant art

[T S Hawk]

what do you mean still can't be used? i have seen on the IWM website plenty of reseen versions of the unseen.

[Grafix TM]

He probably means "Cant Be used for games that charge $$$" to be exact. Most FREE community games have some or all of the unseen mechs in their games/gameplay but the stipulation is that they can NOT charge $$$ or make a profit from those games otherwise that is a violation of the IP rights.

[Punk KMSD]

T.S. Hawk, on 07 November 2011 - 10:11 AM, said:

what do you mean still can't be used? i have seen on the IWM website plenty of reseen versions of the unseen.

Hawk, they got the rights to use the old artwork for a bunch of the 'Mechs. The Reseens are re-invisionings of those old designs, and most of them are from the 3060 + era. If you look in the 3025 TRO the majority of those 'Mechs had to be redesigned, but we got some of them back for use.

[Punk KMSD]

Grafix™, on 07 November 2011 - 02:49 PM, said:

He probably means "Cant Be used for games that charge $$$" to be exact. Most FREE community games have some or all of the unseen mechs in their games/gameplay but the stipulation is that they can NOT charge $$$ or make a profit from those games otherwise that is a violation of the IP rights.

Bingo. Which is why the Mektec packs have throw out 'Mechs like the Marauder, Rifleman, Shadowhawk, Valk, ect...because they are not charging for them therefore they are not violating any IP laws. The battlepods use alot of the Mektec models but since they charge for use they cannot use the Mech packs with the Harmony Gold 'Mechs.

[Datum]

Punk[KMSD], on 08 November 2011 - 03:16 PM, said:

Bingo. Which is why the Mektec packs have throw out 'Mechs like the Marauder, Rifleman, Shadowhawk, Valk, ect...because they are not charging for them therefore they are not violating any IP laws. The battlepods use alot of the Mektec models but since they charge for use they cannot use the Mech packs with the Harmony Gold 'Mechs.

Saaaaayyyy, this is a Free 2 Play game under development, no?
I think if they tune that right they could get away with the unseen designs...

[Grafix TM]

Datum, on 11 November 2011 - 11:40 PM, said:

Saaaaayyyy, this is a Free 2 Play game under development, no?
I think if they tune that right they could get away with the unseen designs...

Yes but you still hav to PURCHASE the initial Game to play which means there is a transfer of $$$

[feor]

Grafix™, on 12 November 2011 - 04:32 PM, said:

Yes but you still hav to PURCHASE the initial Game to play which means there is a transfer of $$$

Actually, probably not, most Free to Play games don't require you to even purchase the client nowadays, you just go download it off Steam. (or a website). The few that sell the client in store don't, they sell some special retail only toys, and the main game client just comes free with the stuff.

That having been said I doubt the legal eagles will be able to get away with having the Macross unseen in game without some redesign work being put in. (The Crusher Joe and Dougram unseen are 100% legit since Catalyst settled that issue, so there's nothing stopping the Battlemaster, Shadowhawk, Griffin, etc. from being in game)

As to the OP, I can appreciate the work that went into those models, but I don't really like them. They just lose something as compared to the originals. Too blocky, I think. The Rifleman and Warhammer's not bad, but the Marauder & Archer are just... uhg. Sorry, not to my tastes.

[Freyzen]

pretty awesome

[Adridos]

Why necro such an old thread?

[PraetorGix]

Why ask such a silly question? (not to mention you are too necroing the thread) The guy's just giving his congratulations to the artist, give him a break...

[FrostBear]

Greets all, as i was searching some nice BT, MW, and Mech Wallpapers. I came to this nice site: the Art belongs to Shimmering Sword, and he made lot of nice Redesigns of Unseen, like the allout Fav, Marauder and more. Mybe PGI Designer look at it too, and get some nice Ideas to overwork the Unseens.

Enjoy the Pix and we see us on the Battlefield. Take Care.


http://shimmering-sw...deviantart.com/