Subset Games Forum

Awesome I love steampunk! If you're looking for more ship designs, ever heard of Guns of Icarus Online? That game would be a well of inspiration for this mod. http://gunsoficarus.com/gameplay/ships-3/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dFtbn6e8ZI

They have some really cool ships like the spire.

I kind of assumed that you'd do a whole new sprite sheet.
I mean, re-purping the existing stuff is possible, but you'd be better with fresh platformer sprites.
Keep most of the rooms as 1 block high max; if you have system rooms they can be 2x2 and have a gantry in the room sprite.

I like the smog idea. Like ventilation.


Thought for weapons; lasers seem too futury, maybe change the 'common' weaps to cannons?
Like low-power, ammo based weapons, using single-shot blast for aiming.

WhiteWeasel wrote:Awesome I love steampunk! If you're looking for more ship designs, ever heard of Guns of Icarus Online? That game would be a well of inspiration for this mod. http://gunsoficarus.com/gameplay/ships-3/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dFtbn6e8ZI

They have some really cool ships like the spire.

The ships in Guns of icarus are awesomely designed! I especially love the spire because of how different it is to the normal depictions of steampunk. I will definitely add "vertical" type ships in the mod. The only slight problem with those kind of ships is that it doesn't leave a lot of space for rooms. Strangely-shaped airships are a must-have for the mod, so don't worry!

Gencool wrote:I kind of assumed that you'd do a whole new sprite sheet.
I mean, re-purping the existing stuff is possible, but you'd be better with fresh platformer sprites.
Keep most of the rooms as 1 block high max; if you have system rooms they can be 2x2 and have a gantry in the room sprite.

I also assumed I was making a new sprite sheet. I might have misread someone or wasn't clear myself :O

For the rooms, that's the general idea. There wont be any problem for the first ship... It's kinda crowded. That's why the second ship is a lot bigger, like that it leaves way more room for experimentation.

Gencool wrote:Thought for weapons; lasers seem too futury, maybe change the 'common' weaps to cannons?
Like low-power, ammo based weapons, using single-shot blast for aiming.

Lasers are definitely going to be replaced by something else. I think cannons are the best bet for now.

About oxygen, maybe you could take the reverse route and make all crew immune to suffocation damage? I think this is possible, but I might be wrong. Then you don't need to add O2 systems to any ship, as long as you remove the graphics and alerts for lack of O2.

Kiloku wrote:About oxygen, maybe you could take the reverse route and make all crew immune to suffocation damage? I think this is possible, but I might be wrong. Then you don't need to add O2 systems to any ship, as long as you remove the graphics and alerts for lack of O2.

Sorry for the soon-to-be double post. (the moderator needs to approve the previous message for some reason (anyone knows why?)) (so Whiteweasel and Gencool, I did reply to your posts, but its not showing yet)
It is possible, with a modified Engi med-bot. But that means there's an augmentation slot that is used, the Medbay needs to be powered by a human(zoltan) and there wouldn't be any fires. At the end I think it's better off having oxygen. Thanks for the feedback though!

Here's my list of airship names in no particular order. And yes, I know perfectly well some of these are already taken so don't bother correcting me please.

1) The Icarus
2) The Valkyrie
3) The Polaris
4) The Whisper
5) The Aurora
6) The Phoenix
7) The Griffin
8) The Pegasus
9) The Hippogriff
10) The Harpy
11) The Manticore
12) The Peryton
13) The Gargoyle
14) The Fairy (or Faerie)
15) The Wasp
16) The Peregrine
17) The Bird of Prey
18) The Dragonfly
19) The Umbra
20) The Lunaris
21) The Javelin
22) The Dart
23) The Shuriken
24) The Chakram
25) The Spear
26) The Mistral
27) The Monsoon
28) The Hurricane
29) The Dust Devil
30) The Blizzard
31) The Cyclone
32) The Perseus
33) The Gemini
34) The Virgo
35) The Orion
36) The Caelus
37) The Horizon
38) The Jupiter
39) The Horus
40) The Apollo

From the AE R&D thread:

Russian Rockman wrote:I just accidentally discovered that room images do not automatically get readjusted to the size of the room they are in anymore!!!!!!

What does this mean exactly??? Well that means that ship modders can actually have a lot more details on the interior of their ships now.

Say you want to make a crew quarters/dormitory in an empty room. Well now you can, without having a system in that room.

So forgot what I said about the ladders. The problem remains that room images still don't work at enemy ships (well, nothing seems certain anymore with that latest find, but as far as we know from pre AE testing these don't work.)

I noticed that the second ship lacks some detail in comparison to the first. As you probably want to do a complete new set of ships for player and enemies, you can kind of set the quality standard yourself, but IMO it's cool when the style and quality is at last coherent. There is also still more that could be done with the ships, specially in regard to shading, to make them appear more plastic. You are not limited to one colour scheme either and ships shapes could have various styles. Also with side view you are not limited to just classic styles with balloons on top and seaship-like bodies. The different styles might even represent the engineering style of different factions, so ship design might have to take that into account.

I didn't mention that before, just wanted to add that I like the project title a lot. It's catchy and smart.

a Sir wrote:

Sleeper Service wrote: IMO you won't have much choice in the matter as you can't just remove the oxygen system without causing further problem (crew will suffocate.) There is the Engi Medbot workaround, but that would deprave all of your ships of one augment slot and you still need a crewmen to power the medbay to get this to work. So you might not get around incorporating oxygen somehow, with whatever lore explanation you choose.


That won't be possible for all rooms, as only rooms with systems can have room graphics assigned. Also: re-spriting crew animation is pretty complex and a lot more work.

The ships look solid though. Keep up the great work.

I guess the mod will have to have some sort of Oxygen system :/

Is it possible to change the default white room texture? That might solve the ladder problems...

I'm actually looking forward to making the crew animations. It sounds fun!

Thanks for the feedback I actually have almost no experience in art so the compliments mean a lot to me

@ the ladder problem... the "Russian Rockman" found a new trick with AE.

Rooms are no longer re-sized to fit the room dimensions... meaning you can make the image go off the room you want and stuff... like this.


(the room image, 1 single image)


(The Kestrel with those images)

One of my posts yesterday seems to have disappeared into the void so I'l rewrite some things.

WhiteWeasel wrote:Awesome I love steampunk! If you're looking for more ship designs, ever heard of Guns of Icarus Online? That game would be a well of inspiration for this mod. http://gunsoficarus.com/gameplay/ships-3/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dFtbn6e8ZI

They have some really cool ships like the spire.

Guns of Icarus has some awesome ship designs! I love the spire because of how different it is to the normal steampunk airship! One problem with "vertical" ships is that they don't leave a lot of space for rooms. But don't worry! Strangely shaped ships are a must-have for the mod!

Gencool wrote:I kind of assumed that you'd do a whole new sprite sheet.
I mean, re-purping the existing stuff is possible, but you'd be better with fresh platformer sprites.
Keep most of the rooms as 1 block high max; if you have system rooms they can be 2x2 and have a gantry in the room sprite.

I also assumed I was making a new sprite sheet... I might have not been clear somewhere before.

The rooms problem seems to have been solved by Russian Rockman's discovery!

Gencool wrote: Thought for weapons; lasers seem too futury, maybe change the 'common' weaps to cannons?
Like low-power, ammo based weapons, using single-shot blast for aiming.

Lasers aren't going to be in the mod for sure. Cannons seems like the best bet for now...

Darth Baron wrote:Here's my list of airship names in no particular order. And yes, I know perfectly well some of these are already taken so don't bother correcting me please.

This is amazing! Thanks a lot!

Sleeper Service wrote:
So forgot what I said about the ladders. The problem remains that room images still don't work at enemy ships (well, nothing seems certain anymore with that latest find, but as far as we know from pre AE testing these don't work.)

R4V3-0N wrote: @ the ladder problem... the "Russian Rockman" found a new trick with AE.

Rooms are no longer re-sized to fit the room dimensions... meaning you can make the image go off the room you want and stuff... like this.

That's really good for the mod! The whole side-view aspect of the mod seems like it works for now. For the enemy ships, I guess we can just wait to see what else the awesome modders will discover! It shouldn't be THAT big of a problem... Only some minor visual defect.

Sleeper Service wrote: I noticed that the second ship lacks some detail in comparison to the first. As you probably want to do a complete new set of ships for player and enemies, you can kind of set the quality standard yourself, but IMO it's cool when the style and quality is at last coherent. There is also still more that could be done with the ships, specially in regard to shading, to make them appear more plastic. You are not limited to one colour scheme either and ships shapes could have various styles. Also with side view you are not limited to just classic styles with balloons on top and seaship-like bodies. The different styles might even represent the engineering style of different factions, so ship design might have to take that into account.

I also noticed the second ship doesn't have as many details as the first... I was running out of ideas what to put on it. I'l try to make all the ships not THAT detailed or else it will take me a really long time to make each ship. I'm not sure how to improve the shading... I'm not exactly an artist. I kinda thought those two ships would be equivalent to the Kestrel and the Fedederation Cruiser, both from the same faction. I'm trying to make a ship that looks like a realllly big hot air balloon, but I'm not quite there yet.
I changed up the colors a bit and detailed the second one a bit more:




Also... Ship number 3 is complete! Updated the main post. This ship is from another faction... a bit more oriental. The ship also uses a different method of flying... using hot air and steam to propel itself forward and wings to stabilize itself. I tried to replicate the general shape of a Chinese Junk ship for more authenticity.


The next ship will be from another faction and I will try to make it really unique. It's hard to not go back to the stereotypical steampunk ship design.

Sleeper Service wrote: I didn't mention that before, just wanted to add that I like the project title a lot. It's catchy and smart.

Thanks! I wanted it to really sound like FTL, but in an alternate universe... Light being in Lighter is a really nice coincidence though!


Thanks for all the replies! I'll keep on working, and will keep everyone updated!

a Sir wrote: The next ship will be from another faction and I will try to make it really unique. It's hard to not go back to the stereotypical steampunk ship design.
Thanks for all the replies! I'll keep on working, and will keep everyone updated!

Unique you say? How far are you willing to stray from the stereotypical steampunk design?