Sunfish Frigate

[Tortanick]

I like this new one a lot.

Why? Mimicking the shape of lifeforms on this planet doesn't necessarily add to aerodynamics or practicality (especially considering a good amount of FO ships are probably meant for space flight only and never encounter frictional substances like air or water).

Basing designings around a form rather than pure function is less practical, but since this is outer space with no gravity or friction its a lot less of a problem than it would be for planes or boats; so any race that believably is willing to sacrifice a little practicality for beautiful spaceships could do so (possibly with slightly weaker or more expensive ships): A race who truly values art, or a race who is trying to make a point "We're not only advanced enough to make spaceships, were advanced enough to make stylish spaceships that look like fish" for example.

P.S. Master of Pizza, doesn't the last set of fins on a flying fish point up/down not horizontally like the others?

[shrinkshooter]

Basing designings around a form rather than pure function is less practical, but since this is outer space with no gravity or friction its a lot less of a problem than it would be for planes or boats;

Yes, I know. But function comes first and then you can do the artsy stuff. pd said he doesn't want any arbitrariness; with this line of thinking, it seems you could basically make anything that looks nice and call it a ship. But I don't want to talk about that; it's just that supposedly alien ships are being based off of forms from a single planet in the universe. Perhaps I am being picky but that should not be so.

[pd]

There is nothing wrong with being inspired by animals or plants or anything familiar from this planet. Actually it's a great way of communicating something, because one is expressing ideas based on a common vocabulary(we all recognize a fishy form and associate it with water, we all recognize something that looks like a wing and associate it with something flying).

No arbitrariness means, you should have a reason for everything(most of) what you do. This reason doesn't have to be based on actual function(we aren't doing industrial design) but can be based on something we imagined. In this last case, it has to be shown/explained visually though. It has to look as if it could work. This is where we can use this common visual vocabulary everyone has.

I'd like to see the designs evolve further away from the animals they are based on, and still convey their essence.

[Tortanick]

But function comes first and then you can do the artsy stuff.

That's a very 21st century Western human way of thinking There is no reason to assume aliens would agree, if the race designer says they happily spend extra money, or sacrifice quality to make good looking ships then providing their style isn't too outrageous as to be a nightmare to model I see no reason why that should be a problem.

with this line of thinking, it seems you could basically make anything that looks nice and call it a ship.

I agree, but I don't see anything wrong with that; no one minded when the Borg turned up in giant cubes.

But I don't want to talk about that

Too late

it's just that supposedly alien ships are being based off of forms from a single planet in the universe. Perhaps I am being picky but that should not be so.

Well assuming that humans arn't the ones building these (I actually could imagine us doing it as a form of boasting about their cultural and technological superiority) there are ways to get around that, the easiest thing to do is to handwave it away as a coincidental occurrence of a fish like kingdom (doesn't have too be identical, just similar outlines) on another planet. Considering how most alien races in Si-fi look like human-animals or rubber forehead humans a quick glance at our story section says that we can get away with this and still be WAY above average for creative aliens.

[pd]

We have to keep in mind that in the end we design for humen, since they are the ones playing the game. For a design to be successful, the player has to be able to relate to it and this works by using forms, shapes, colors, patterns, proportions we all have seen and associate with something based in our world.

Considering how most alien races in Si-fi look like human-animals or rubber forehead humans a quick glance at our story section says that we can get away with this and still be WAY above average for creative aliens.

I've explained this in the past, but oh well: This does not have to do with a lack of creativity. It has to do with the story telling. In TV/Movies there is usually a lot of communication involved. How to we communicate? Using language and body language. So if aliens are similar to humen or animals those tools can be used just as well. In a video game we might be able to get away with something more freaky, but even then it has to be rooted in familiar things. Otherwise it's just some arbitrary crap.

[Tortanick]

We have to keep in mind that in the end we design for humen

While I agree with the goal, I'd personally try to design for the alien race in question, in my opinion creating ships based on what the aliens probably would create themselves will usually be a better design for accurately portraying that alien race to our human audience* than starting with our human audience and working backwards to the aliens.

That said design is a very personal process, so what works for me isn't right for everyone

* But still not that good at doing so, at least in my case. I could never tell much about aliens from their ships

I've explained this in the past, but oh well: This does not have to do with a lack of creativity. It has to do with the story telling. In TV/Movies there is usually a lot of communication involved. How to we communicate? Using language and body language. So if aliens are similar to humen or animals those tools can be used just as well.

Weather or not there is a good reason for them to uncreative wasn't the issue (although I do admit you make a good point), all I was saying was that since our aliens are very creative we can afford to relax a bit in this case and still be creative overall.

[pd]

We have to keep in mind that in the end we design for humen

While I agree with the goal, I'd personally try to design for the alien race in question

You misunderstood. Of course the designs we create are supposed to be done by an alien race. I'm all for this, as you might have noticed from some of my other posts. BUT, everything we do is going to be seen by a human(the player). The designs need to be understood by humen and that's why ultimately we design for humen. Everything else doesn't make sense, really.

[Tortanick]

Your right, I did misunderstand you.

[Josh]

60% of all communication is non-verbal. Go figure.