Latest Screenshots

[hoggy]

I'm with Sykotyk on the demon pictures here, once you see them all together and in context they work really well. The mixture of surreal images and bizarre montage allows you to add your own interpretation and really makes them strange compared to the serene human factions.

Khan 48 - They'll be modelled like the other factions so we'll have demonic wall/gates,buildings etc.

tai4ji2x - The units for all the factions come from a range of periods, I tend to go with whatever looks best :)

shifty157- I wanted the generals to be on horseback as their first choice as i find generals on chariots are less fun to play, don't ask me why, they just seem to move in a less decisive way. He's carrying a closed fan in his left hand.

[tai4ji2x]

tai4ji2x - The units for all the factions come from a range of periods, I tend to go with whatever looks best :)

k, that's what i figured. still, i'd recommend changing the chinese general portrait to an earlier period depiction, to match better with the chinese units

[shifty157]

shifty157- I wanted the generals to be on horseback as their first choice as i find generals on chariots are less fun to play, don't ask me why, they just seem to move in a less decisive way. He's carrying a closed fan in his left hand.

I thought it was a fan but i wasnt quite sure.

I agree fully with not putting the general on chariots. Theyre too cumbersome and die too easily for a general. But i was asking if you were going to use the chariots at all. I remember you were kind of annoyed because you couldnt figure out how to skin it and i was wondering if you managed to figure out how. Even if you cant reskin them i htink theyre worth using.

Too be honest i was kind of hesitant about the demon pictures too for the same reasons. But i guess if everyone whos actually building the mod says they work fine then ill have to believe that. How will you do the demon unit cards to keep them in the same surreal style but still make them easily distinguishable at a glance?

I still cant wait to see the firelances in action. Watch them rain death on enemy formation. Thatll be pretty awesome. I guess you would need a new animation for them though. Any progress on getting an animator?

[blindfaithnogod]

firelances anyone?


anyway they obviously need some tweaking. and new animations. but i thought you guys would like a look.(shifty)

[ramareddy]

That's is way cool guys, I commend you.

Out of curiosity, how is the Indian faction doing?

[hoggy]

not started on the Indian faction yet, it's next after the demons are finished.
here are the chinese bodyguards:

[shifty157]

Thanks blindfaithnogod. Much appreciated. The effect looks pretty great. Have you edited the javelin mesh to be a rocket or do you still have to do that? They look like they could be quite a potent force though i wouldnt my troops anywhere near there.


Thats an interesting idea making the general's bodyguard horsearchers. its cool from a strategy standpoint but will they be able to hold their own in melee? It wouldnt be too good if enemy troops could chew through the general's elite bodyguards like normal horsearchers. Perhaps counteract their bow and sword prowess with severely limited ammo and few numbers?

Regardless thats some impressive work.

[saundersag]

I agree with shifty and i think that the body guards should be heavy cavs, as this would allow you to make them luxiourious, as they would be made of nobles which would be very wealthy also i reckon that they seem slightly strange compared to the rest of the chinese units as they wear black while all the others are bright colourful. I reckon they woul make a good unit however not as a bodyguards.

Also the firelances look very good but there seems to be too much smoke, theere needs to be more fire compared to smoke. Well that is my opinion.

However this mod is truly awesome and one of the rtw mods that i am really looking forward to.

[DragoonXXIV]

I think the Chinese bodyguards are excellent especially if they're good at shooting and close combat, like the russian boyars in M:TW. Remember the chinese liked archery and many of their famous heros started battles with a few quick arrows then charged into the foray. The one suggestion i have is that they have a strong shot but a very limited number of arrows.

[Khan48]

Old gunpowder made lots of smoke. Anyways it would be cool to set them all of and when the smoke clears nothing left. Horse archer general is good. People ususally keep them behind the lines anyways and i'm sure he'll make them good in melee

[hoggy]

yep, bodyguards will be good archers and as close combat.

Here are the chinese standard bearers:

[Burns]

Neeto.

[hoggy]

..and been going through doing bits and bobs of polish, here are updated chariots with proper colours and umbrella:

[The Panda Centurion]

Woah! That standard almost made me wet my pants! Great job, hoggy.

[shifty157]

I love the standard bearer. It looks so cool.

The darker red wood and the umbrellas make the chariots look so much better as well.

Awesome work across the board.

Is that it for chinese units then? Besides reskinning them for the other faction. I also notice you need to make a banner but didnt you already make one a while back?

[ramareddy]

That is just awesome. I can't wait to see the Ox-chariot.

[Goth]

The one suggestion i have is that they have a strong shot but a very limited number of arrows.

i agree with Dragoon but wouldnt the bows be long bows?

[Khan48]

I like how these models look but i was wondering w/ all the extra umbrellas and banners on the back of japanese soldiers does the game slow down? Otherwise looks great!

[soibean]

just a few ideas for names for the demon buildings

wall of bones
wall of souls
(I have no idea how you would make those into 3D models so goodluck there)

I dont know if you wanna name the road upgrades but you could have something along the line of...

Highway to hell (april fools )
actually something like pathway of the damned or some such

[DragoonXXIV]

i agree with Dragoon but wouldnt the bows be long bows?

not necessarily, remember the chinese (and mongols) had composite bows, or if you perfer in Chinese myth, sheer massive arm strength.

[Revolting Friendship]

There's no with-holding the excellence of your work Hoggy, that standard is unbelievable, and the chariots simply made me happy. Seeing them going through a pack of kappa like that, well, it's truly poetic.

I tried to wait to comment here until I would have something constructive to write besides just pure praise, but it seems, that won't be happening anytime soon... Obviously I think your samurai are excellent, given the focus of this mod. With that said, you should know that I had some complaints about the units in S:TW, I just think yours are both better looking and more accurate.

The swords are perfectly well curved too I might add, given that the avarage sori(curvature) of a 65-70cm(standard lenght cutting edge) blade had only a 2-2,5cm dip at the deepest point... That's an approximation tought, but anything more than 3cm is a rarity and found mostly on o-gatana and no-dashi-blades.

Keep up the excellent work, you and Blindfaithnogod, who is also making a tremendous effort.

I would have to say thought, that I'm not exactly exited about the demon-pictures, I would have rather seen the same kind of line-work as Blindfaithnogod is using, as it feels more asian. Secondly, I'm all with the bizarre path here, just look at japanese mythological creatures and the word will gain a few dimensions, but I think it should again be asian bizarre, not what I enterpret as medieval europe bizarre. Those pictures reminds me more of the scare-pictures of hell and pergutory commissioned by the catholic church, rather than what you would expect from asian horror/myth.

Sykotyp, could you please consider to revise your art, adding a more asian flavor to it? Wether it's japanese, chinese or indian I do not care, but that's what I'd rather see.

But if you guys feel like what you have is what you want, then just ignore me. Sykotyp's work does have energy to it, so I'm not saying it's shit, on the contrary, but I just feel it doesn't suit.

[Sykotyk Rampage]

Hi

Well first, please reference my post #176 for a broad explaination for the pictures.

Please try to expand your view of the fantasy mod Blue Lotus; it actually encompasses a very wide geographic and cultural area. It reaches from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the cold tundra of Siberia. It stretches from the Caucuses and Himalayan Mountains to the volcanic islands of the Pacific Ocean. The time period is well fantasy.

So the culture of the “Demons” is not restricted to just “Asian”. China, Japan or Korea as different as each of those cultures believes are the rest from factions encompass a much larger cultural and geographic game area - Mongolia, Russia, Tibet, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Pacific Islands, Sri Lanka…Islam, Buddhism, Theravada, Hinduism, Daoism, Shinto, Sikhism, Confucianism, Qi Gong, Animism, Jainism and yes even a dash of Christianity 1498 India style etc… so as you can see the list we referenced is very extensive.

Every picture is actually referenced from those believes. The demon generals, civilians and buildings have a mixture of all those cultures. Fire chasms and gaping holes to the netherworld – fiery demons red and “devilish looking” -dragons and sea monsters –snakes, spiders, turtles and frogs- decaying “zombie” two headed skeletons –birds, bees and bats are mention throughout these cultures history. We just by-passed the pictures you are accustomed to seeing, the pretty “WATER COLOUR” drawings that give the demons a rosy outlook on life… LOL ..we made the numerous pictures "asian bizarre" and directly referenced from the art and litature of the vast cultures of the area.

Like post #176 these are only a small fraction of the pictures, and in a complete view and context they separate the demons out from the "worldly" factions.

Here is my reference for the first picture... of course it is twisted to demonic.
Azi Dahaka ('fiendish snake') is conceived of as partly demonic and partly human. He was probably originally the 'snake' of the storm-cloud who was a counterpart of the Vedic Ahi or Vrita. In the Yasht, he is described as struggling for the Hvareno, or Kingly Glory, against Atar (Fire).

Well take care and keep the posts coming…

Sykotyk

[Revolting Friendship]

Well first, please reference my post #176 for a broad explaination for the pictures.

Been there, done that.

Please try to expand your view of the fantasy mod Blue Lotus; it actually encompasses a very wide geographic and cultural area. It reaches from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the cold tundra of Siberia. It stretches from the Caucuses and Himalayan Mountains to the volcanic islands of the Pacific Ocean. The time period is well fantasy.

So the culture of the “Demons” is not restricted to just “Asian”. China, Japan or Korea as different as each of those cultures believes are the rest from factions encompass a much larger cultural and geographic game area - Mongolia, Russia, Tibet, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Pacific Islands, Sri Lanka…Islam, Buddhism, Theravada, Hinduism, Daoism, Shinto, Sikhism, Confucianism, Qi Gong, Animism, Jainism and yes even a dash of Christianity 1498 India style etc… so as you can see the list we referenced is very extensive.

I can't help but look to the cultures represented by factions in the mod instead. I really feel like they matter more to the choice of graphics than the topographic features and historic cultural and religious distribution of asia.

And here you also hint to my actual point, the fact that the demon faction should draw character from the cultures it's derived from, which is already appearant in the factions unit rooster.

....We just by-passed the pictures you are accustomed to seeing, the pretty “WATER COLOUR” drawings that give the demons a rosy outlook on life… LOL ..we made the numerous pictures "asian bizarre" and directly referenced from the art and litature of the vast cultures of the area.

No you didn't, you made the pictures "sykotyp enterpretation of demonical energy bizarre", and referenced only textual accounts of the demons attributes. You just said yourself that you found asian depictions of demons to rosy, so you ditched them. There's no hint of indian, no hint of persian, no hint of chinese, no hint of japanese flavour in your pictures. Still, the demon unit list and the demon models gives an overwhelming asian flavour, mostly japanese/chinese/korean. The "rosy" kappa in the above screenshot for example. From where do you suggest that their appearance has been lent?

Like post #176 these are only a small fraction of the pictures, and in a complete view and context they separate the demons out from the "worldly" factions.

That they surely do, and so we arrive at my argument, they seperate the demons to much, so much it's not good. The demonic energy of your art has lost it's asian origin in everything but theory.

This is how I feel, and really, your reasons to feel exited about your art are my reasons for not doing so, so there was never any point of bringing them all up, I didn't make the first post out of ignorance you know. Sure this is pointless unless you are affected by it, I'm just hoping you will be.

I'll also point out that I am trying to help here, I don't want you gone, I would rather see how you would handle a rework of your graphics. I've already reworked all my stuff from scratch on someone elses suggestions(and I hope you are still satisfied Crusher of Eval).

[Tricon]

Hi. Another lurker coaxed into the open by this fine mod (and EB, to be totaly honest).
Looks like I will end up with about three installs of RTW... sigh.

Please keep up the good work. All of you.

On the demon faction art: I commend the energy of the pictures. At first I did not like 'em, then I did, and now I'm not so sure.
It's a matter of expectancy... and I really did (and do) not expect the demon faction to be presented by ...by ... this. I envisioned a kind of "Khali" feeling to the artwork, or maybe russin folklorish as in the stories of the Baba Yaga (unit or building hint, btw.). But that's just it: that was how I wished it to be. But it's your baby, and I'll just be happy to take what you all give to the comunity.
I just have a hard time envisioning the asion demon units milling about in such enviroments.

Anyway, kep up the great work!

[hoggy]

hehe, I think we're going to have to agree to differ. I'm quite happy with the contrast in styles and Sykotyks interpretation. Good to get feedback though

[Big_John]

the more i look at sykotyk's representations, the less i dislike them. they seemed so alien the first time i looked at them, but going back and looking at them now, they don't feel totally un-asian, imo. really, the main thing that bugs me about them is not the content of the pics.. it's the glossiness. the demon portraits are just so shiny.. like something from a glossy magazine cover or playing card or something. i think in-game the portraits and other pics will seem less out-of-place, once everything is put together.

[Revolting Friendship]

Sure thing, I can handle that.

[Biggles]

Nice mod man really looking forawd to it

[Sykotyk Rampage]

[Big_John]

i like this last set

whereas before, the impression i got was 'blood-n-gore', this set evokes more 'nightmare', which i like more. not saying that approach is any more valid, just more my liking. the small pics are great too, b/c they don't seem to shiny, which was my only real complaint. and who/what is that last one.. it's pretty wicked.

edit: aww, you changed the last pic.. well, it was wicked, whatever it was.