Screenshots from beta1 v0.65[b].010

there were here just a minute ago...

sry kosc, thought i had made a double post.
But now they are here

I hated you for a minute..... just a minute....


Thanks for reposting!

No new carrier pics?

beautiful...

well good news is that my new computer will be bought w/in the month (dammit, how long has it been?) so I'll get to see this stuff (in full rendering) first hand soon.

The Dunov is perfect imho... Looks like a converted freighter with a big ass gun stuck on the side!

The new lighting effects on the ships / stations is excellent!

Also did you see that on the Marza, it has the words Dreadnaught on the inner side of the big 3 barrel gun ? Its all bad-ass beat up too, like its been in some serious fights!

Carrier added

The carrier and dreadnaught are 100% improvements, every TEC capital ship feels just right to me now... even the smallish KOL which some don't like...

Also did anyone notice that on the bottom of the capital ship construction bay, there are 4 mini bays for fighters? Have they always been there?

took some time to get the right background. Like it better then the others. Makes the ships look better, and more spacey

Take the trade station, it doesnt look as good on more brighter backgrounds. I even changed the view, so it would have more dark in it.

Maybe they should use more lights on the ships and darken the univers abit more?

But indeed, they did some nice art work

i believe they are new as well

What is their purpose? Blair? Craig? Yarlen? Bueller?.....Bueller?

got a new "girl"friend?

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/

Go watch it... until you do, you are deprived!

Good stuff. Looks sexy to be sure. The lighting effects and design have a nice gritty but elegant feel.

Do you perhaps mean that ambient light is too bright in relation to direct light? Ambient light seems to have been set up to fit the backgrounds, which are rather bright. But as far as I can see there is very few to reflect ambient light in empty space. So all surfaces that aren't directly lit should be very dark, unless a ship-mounted spotlight lights them.

Just compare the backgrounds of SoaSE and the following picture of the ISS: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/assembly/hires/sts104-332-027.jpg
The backgrounds from SoaSE are inspired by pictures with an excessive period of exposure. Surely pitch black is boring, but perhaps Ironclad could fiddle around with brightness to see wether other settings give a different and less cartoony impression. Freelancer did quite well. Space looked like an empty cold void, but not boring.

*Edit: I'm not saying that all backgrounds are bad. Some are in a nice dark blue. But on other screenshots I saw bright orange backgrounds and (millions of lightyears away) nebulars glowing as bright as the cloud there outside my window.

Im not saying, they are very bad. They are on the right track. The small stars in the background, have a nice look.

But if you look at the first image in fullscreen, you can see what i mean. Its like (if any of you ever tryed it) when windows is set to 16 or 256 colers.
I dunno if its my resolution 1680x1050, but i did change the settings in the nvidia control panel to AT 16x and AA to 16Q, for the screenshots.




Compare this screenshot of the new colony ship with the one above.
The more blackish background makes it look better.
But this is my opinion

haha Multi you are being ANAL They look fine the way they are...

The word ANAL i think means unique cause using google, i got some very disturbing images

Anyways, its just my opinion

Were you able to see what i ment about the background?

anal is the adjective form of ass.
it also means (in certain context, like above) "cranky".

now, those disturbing images (probably mostly of... asses) is because you literally searched a synonym for it.

@Multi

I know next to nothing about photography but I thought that pictures of space tend to appear overly dark b/c the exposure time isn't long enough to capture the dim light from stars. That being said, I also find that some of the backdrops are a bit too colourful.

I'm in the muted camp as well. How does that old saying go... "black is beautiful baby!" Touches of color make the view far more majestic and lots of color make it look literally like sky to me.

gotta love the new marza.

I did, I went over your replies and the pictures. You're right. I think overall, what you are describing, is that the actual game pieces aren't integrated well enough with the universe. It needs a touch more of a organic and ambient feel. I.e. not to look like pieces laid over a background.

But I like your ideas, especially with lighting. I can't believe I even overlooked that. The ships look like they're pre-scripted pieces wherever they are and not really affected by the space around them. The cool thing is that you could probably get away with just skinning in effects like that (darken hull, making lights and their field of dispersion actually appear) rather than playing with the engine. It sure would be pretty .

[edit] P.s. Love the black skybox you have in your screenshots on the other thread. Very Space Above and Beyond feeling.

exsacly

I love the new carrier, although I did like the old design as well. Is the KOL still the same? Even if it does, I can only imagine what it looks like with the improved lighting (post pics please)  . Can someone get me a topside view of the dreadnought? I just want an idea on the length to width ratio. Thanks!

As far as bright backgrounds go, it is my understanding that most of space is dark. True it would be somewhat boring if the game didn't have some nebula and other colors in the background, but are there any systems that are dark and, um, "cloudless", much like the night sky here on earth?