0.4 meter icons

[Josh]

Alrighty, here are some new meter icons.


Supply


Stealth


Shields


Detection


Fuel


Ammo


Troops


Defense

[Geoff the Medio]

Nice work, although the troops icon currently suggests to me "US Civil War" or "Napoleonic Wars" rather than generic ground forces... Might I suggest a stylized boot or foot instead? Pythonic influences not discouraged...

[MareviQ]

Good job.
I'd only nitpick on ammo, as for me it doesn't really seem to be related to any kind of ammunition at first glance. (I think I know where you were going with this, but it took me some time to figure it out)
I made a quick ammo icon to point out what I had in mind - it didn't come out great, but I'd say it's easier to understand.

[Josh]

I was copying the Minuteman III ballistic missile, but it's true, they look like bullets.
So here's a whole new slew of meter icons.


Ammo


Detection


Detection


Fuel


Supply

And all the troop icons...







Just pick the ones you like Geoff. Sorry about the troops, I couldn't find one that I liked so I tossed em' all in.

[Geoff the Medio]

Is there a reason you're doing those meter icons as solid white silhouettes, and not in the style of the other icons in the image I originally posted?

The ones posted are good, but it occurs to me they're not good in the same way as the others, which might be a problem...

[Josh]

Yes I see what you mean.

I guess this is what you might call the concept phase, the part where the foundation is laid and bad icons are weeded out before somebody renders them fully. I use solid white because it's easier to read on a black background.

But to be honest, it had sort of slipped my mind Are they being modelled in 3D? I'm more of a 2D artist if you know what I mean. What should I be using?

[Geoff the Medio]

If you mean does the final icon need to be a 3D model, no; they're simple 2D pngs like other icons. I don't think they need to be renders of models either, as long as they look decent, but pd sould decide that...

[Josh]

Spruced them up a bit. Apparently Adobe Illustrator has an extrude tool that I have recently discovered...


3D Supply


3D Shields


3D Fuel


3D Ammo


Detection

That leaves troops, detection, stealth, and defenses. By the way, would you prefer an infantryman or a gun or a boot to represent ground troops?

[Geoff the Medio]

...would you prefer an infantryman or a gun or a boot to represent ground troops?

Two infanty, similar to (but distinct from) the population icon, might make sense, since both are dealing with many individual beings... Then again, population might be measured in billions, but ground troops in thousands or millions...

Perhaps see what you can do with the boot and the two infantry and see what looks best?

[Tortanick]

In my humble opinion that's the best of the set.

[edit]
Quite off topic, but Geoff. If we are to assume the equivalent of 6 billion humans (equivalent as in 1 population unit = 1 population unit for any species, weather that unit represents 1billion or 1 godlike being) per planet at the low tech levels it will take at least the eqvilient of tens of millions of humans if not more to invade. Then after the weeks/months or longer invasion you have the hard part: the occupation, just look at the Iraq war.

Anyway that's entirely off topic, lets get back to the important thing, discussing and admiring beautiful icons.

[Josh]

Good news first.

I got the troops to work, and they will work at 32x32...



...but I can't think of a way for the boot to work with it. Me? I think you can only have one or the other.



Of course, that's just me.

Edit:

Ammo_A looked a little plastic. This is Ammo_B.
It's okay that we're having a discussion about meter icons in the theory icons thread, right?

[pd]

Hi Josh, that's again some fantastic work. thanks!. I like those a lot and I think they'll work on a small scale:


Troops


Supply


Shields


Fuel


Ammo - The red color should probably change to something else, since I guess the meter will be colored in the same way and we should avoid similarity to the troops icon. I don't like the grey one though.

I'm not too sure about the detection icon. It might not work on a small scale. Also I liked the way detection and stealth were in your initial mockups. Could you maybe develop those further(those with an eye).

This is mostly about a strong, recognizable silhouette - so the way you developed those is just fine.

[Josh]

The red color should probably change to something else, since I guess the meter will be colored in the same way and we should avoid similarity to the troops icon...

I was thinking the same thing. I could send you the adobe file and you could tinker with the color to your taste if that's alright. I don't really like the red one either.

I'm not too sure about the detection icon. It might not work on a small scale. Also I liked the way detection and stealth were in your initial mockups. Could you maybe develop those further(those with an eye).

My only problem with the Eye is it doesn't look very Sci-Fi, but I'm sure something can be done about that.

[Tortanick]

looking Sci-Fi is less important than looking good and recognisable. If you look at the current menu icons, we have wheat, a gear, a gear and hammer. The eye looks cool, the concept of eye = detection is simple. What more do you want

P.S. the new troop icon is amazing

[Josh]

Thanks. Does that mean we have a consensus on the troops icon? I know Geoff wanted a boot, for example.





Anyways, more meter icons ready for perusal, though I feel that the meter icons really do deserve their own thread or "dump".

Detection icons






Stealth icons










As the list continues to grow it's going to crowd out the theory icons (to which this thread is dedicated).