Even if i begin this topic with a specific question, i dont intend to limit the topic of this thread to just that - but instead what the title says - "the overall look of the game". This means that i'm less talking about specific details but the look as a whole. I have some ideas which i would like to bring up, but to not discuss dead topics i would first like to ask something to get a better picture of what you're aiming for.
In the development/graphics forum i did read the following in the general guidelines:
What exactly is meant with "realistic and original feel" and "comparable to commercial releases"?We aim for realistic and original feel on graphics with quality comparable to commercial releases. I've noticed that browsing trough animal-books, architecture, history, art-history and contemporary art helps finding inspiration and new ideas, and of course movies, games, books and comics of sci-fi genre.
I'm asking because one of the things which i liked most about orion 1 and 2, and which i missed in moo3, was that slight fantasy-art touch in the graphics. It did look sci-fi but at the same time it had a fantasy-touch. Imho, this did give the game a more personal and individual look - it made it feel more "organic" - as i mentioned already in another thread, that was imho one of the reasons why in orion 1 and 2 it didn't feel like that you're just on a computer-terminal and moving "numbers" around. Instead, it felt like a living universe with real "organic" lifeforms. The fantasy-influence imho also resulted in giving an instant feel of the "culture" of the different races(just like art often is the expression of culture in the real world).
Contrary to that, most "modern" nowadays games shoot for a more "synthetic", "computerized" and "shiny" look which may be "in the trend" but also feels very impersonal.
So, are you aiming for the look which defined the original orion 1 and 2, or shooting for the "modern" synthetic look of todays commercial games? Or is that issue still open and nothing decided on yet?
thanks,
- Lyx