Hey guys,





The time has come for us to give you what we promised. However we did mention a little challenge and here it is: a new community competition! We are asking you, creative minds and Automatons lovers, to design the Automatons ship model(s).





GUIDELINES

• Propose any kind of drawing, concept art, model for the Automaton ship(s)
• The community will choose their 3 favourites submissions via a forum poll that will last a week.
• The community will choose the grand winner thanks to a G2G vote that will last a week.
  
  

PRIZE

• Amplitude will modelise the ships following the winning design and will include them in game.
• The official Endless Space artbook signed by the Amplitude Studios Dev Team members
  
  

SUBMISSIONS

• Keep in mind that this should be the result of your own work, without any copyright infringement.
• Submissions must be posted in this thread: zip and attach your work, as well as uploading your work directly, as it will allow everyone to view your attachments without downloading anything.
• Do not hesitate to describe your work and inspirations.
• Talking about inspirations, you will have to take into account the existing Automaton lore, written by Panzer:
  
  
  
  "The Automatons were created by a long dead civilization known as the Reyans who perished many millennia ago due to the gradual self-destruction of their world. Decades of uncontrolled industrialization and technologies that relied on a highly toxic underground fuel caused irreversible damage to the ecosystem and atmosphere of their planet. Realizing that they were doomed, the Reyans attempted to build a massive fleet of migration ships to escape their planet, but most of the ships either exploded on launch, or stalled in the atmosphere and fell to the ground. The Reyans despaired… and so they decided to leave a legacy in the form of one of their greatest technological achievements, clockwork beings. Having a very old and proud history of clockwork, the Reyans had achieved the maximum potential of the technology in their creation of massive clockwork men to which they gifted all the traits of a young species. Within a year of the creation of the clockwork men, the Reyans committed mass suicide so as not to suffer through the affects of a dying planet, leaving their greatest creations behind, alone, and lost.
  
  
  
  Over time the clockwork creations of the Reyans developed a simple society of their own and began exploiting the technologies left behind by their creators. All was well for the young civilization of machines until one day a large Endless ship crashed into the planet spreading the dust it was transporting all over the surface. The dust modified the machines, gave them enhanced abilities and over time even sentience. The deadly and toxic fuel that used to power the machines was also replaced, but strangely the new fuel became dust. In only a few weeks, the clockwork machines had evolved, become truly sentient, and gained new purpose in existence which was unheard of in even the most advanced AI’s created by the Endless. They came to call themselves, the Automatons and with the newly gained freedom of dust they began learning…and advancing.
  
  
  
  The Automaton Civilization stayed on their planet, learning to live in a symbiotic relationship with nature as the planet healed over time. They used the knowledge of their creators and their new dust engines to produce massive floating ships on which they lived in order to protect the healing ecosystem on the planet from their involvement. Over the course of centuries the planet healed and the Automatons learned to live with and love nature while still developing immense industrial capacity and production within the hulls of their floating ships --which had also grown over time. But eventually the Automatons calculated that their dust supply would run out and their civilization would die, so they uncovered the old ruins of the crashed endless ship and began developing their own vehicles for space flight..."
  
  

DEADLINE

February 27th, 12 pm CET.





LINKS & REFERENCES

Automatons community wiki page

Official competition page.

Picture of the artbook.

Not to be 'that guy' but shouldn't that be up to the original creator of the faction?

Lol, don't worry I will participate in this competition, fairly, just like any of the other entrants I already have a look for thier ships, so I will hopefully find time to start working on them soon! Other than that, thanks IGNcom for the "support" we shall call it haha

Just looking out for ya Panzer!

At least I wasn't the only one thinking that when I read it XD. But it'll be much better with them having their own ships haha. Cravers don't look too well on them, I would've understood them being sowers, since they are both machines, and they do look a bit like factories



If it's drawing, do we need a sketch/draw for every type of ship?

Hehe was thinking the same thing, good to see that panzer will participate too



Moments like this i feel sad that i cant paint or design anything

So just to start this ball rolling...







In all seriousness something omni-directional would be awesome, we don't need aerodynamic rockets for all of our ships...

Haha, I can't either mate, but I'm still going to try. If I draw a horrible painting, but the concept of it is good, and it gets picked. They'll fix it themselves anyway. (Just an example)



Wait, you made that Kareal?

Pretty happy to see that Automaton's will finally have their own models!

Oh, I am so excited, thank GOD I decided that taking AP Studio Art was a good idea . Now I just have to find time that doesn't involve school work, to actually do concept sketches for the Automaton ships, I am betting that I will lose out to one of the Modelers that will make a 3D render of a cool bad ass ship though. Only time will tell and Good Luck to everyone, may the automatons be forever strong!

Eh, I don't know, 3D renders don't mean everything, and will probably be submitted last minute because of how long it takes to actually make them (Around a month for detailed ones). And hey, at least you'll beat people like me with little sketch... practice? experience? and or classes



But yes! Good luck to everyone participating



IDEA! Panzer, you sketch some, I'll model?

Lol, its an idea haha, but I think I'll go it alone on this one simply because I have a specific sense and vision that I want to convey that a 3D render wouldn't give you in the time that we have to make it. I am barely Okay at modeling which is why i am deciding to sketch this out

But understandable :P. Just don't laugh when you look at my inexperienced garbage, I mean sketch

Here is an updated concept for an Automatons dreadnaught. While big and tough you can see the mechanical elements showing through. The outer skin would be the same shiny, shimmery green used for the Automatons as shown in the sample images.

Isn't an organic machine craver? And are those... solar panels?



Ah I see, first pic didn't load the first time



Gah, just wish I had a bigger sketch book.

Another Competition, yay! Since I am a very poor artist and only use "Microsoft Paint", please forgive the bad drawings and try to imagine it as good as you can. If I failed to explain something well enough, please let me know.



Even though the designs are very angled (I cannot make them more rolling with paint), please consider almost all angles rolling and round (like the automatons themselves). Also, most pictures miss the toothed wheel in some rings or other cosmetic designs, that I could't add with "Paint". Of course this designs are just basic suggestions, able to be modiefied as seen fit. Also it is almost impossible to design a ship which is not already somehow created in a simmilar way. None of my modells is supposted to be copied from another ship, but I can't guarantee that you will find similarities to other modells. (Like my Dreadnaught looks a bit like a Stardestroyer from Star Wars, or the Battleship looks like a UFO from Independenceday).



For the colors, apart from my describtions I recommend gold, silver, bronze, platin and quicksilver as well as the oily black as the most fitting colors for the ships, underlining the artistic and artificial nature of the Automatons. The "organic" nature is inside the Automaton Paramteres and does not need to be shown in their ships (since the Automatons themselves are made of nonorganic Material themselves!).



I hope you like them:



The Corvette:

The small Corvette is a light and fast ship. It's spheric center has several whit-glowing "windows" and it is divided by a spinning black, oily toothed wheel. Two metallic Rings spin around the center in a great circle, allways in 90°, and the center where they meet beeing the only point to touch the sphere. This is the front of the ship as well. The weapons are attached to the external Rings, while the bridge and any critical parts are centerted inside the sphere.







The Destroyer:



This ship has a perfect ring-formation. It consists out of 2 dark-metall (dark grey) rings, sourrounding an unmoving core. The UFO shape make it the perfect warmachine, while the two rings rotate horizontaly around the core in oppoite directions. The Core-plating is darker than the rest of the ship, while it is beset with hundreds of small lights. The edge is also beset with small lights - and of course the weaponry of the ship. The Rings run slowly around each other, providing gravitation and flexibility with the weapons. The edge is also not perfectly round, but beset with big teeth, like the wheels of a clock. (Not possible to show that here, sorry!)











The Cruiser:

The Cruiser has a more classic Space-Ship-Form. It has a oval Body with two rotating Platingcircles, which provide moving defense against incoming damage. When the plating takes damage by the bridge, its rotations minimizes the threat of a second hit in the same spot. The white-blue of the engines is secured underneath the circles as well, while the yellow weaponbays for kinetic or beamweapons are allways locked in place for accurate fireing. Several missile-launchers are located at the top and the bottom of the ships (see picture). The Bridge is heavily fortified with small, red windows which remind at infrared camera objectives. The plating has a metallic shine and is carved with lines, remembering the viewer of the automaton design.







The Battleship:



It is the perfection of the Destroyer, but much bigger and way more capable of raining death upon the enemy. Similar to the Destroyer it consists of 2 (even bigger!) rings, rotating around a empty center, but extended by two more rings, running in a 30° angle from the ships horizont diagonal to each other. The ships inner rings and the core look like platin, while the two diametrical rings are of a deep black. The platin is shiny while the black rings seem to consist of thousands of oili little wheels and machienes, rotating with their main-ring-srtukture. The ship has no obvious engine and the center opens many bays for fightersquadrons and other ships to enter the hangars. (A bit like the ship from independence day: http://mysteryoftheinquity.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/independence_day__extended___xvid___1996_-fanart2.jpg) I cannot draw it perfectly as I imagined it. So think of the two vertikal Rings as crossing each other two times in the external Ring:







Variant of the Battleship:







Dreadnaught:

The Automaton Dreadnaught is a long Ship, where a third oft he front is cut like a Claw of a Crab, but more symetric. The Center of the Ship is a giant sphere surrounded by 3 concentric rings (like the Core of the Ship in Event Horizon http://dvdrone.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/event2.png, or the machine in Contact http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6jkaic3Ta1qj80i1o1_1280.jpg). Around the core, it widens a bit, before it slims back together to two big engines. The plating looks almost like liquid quicksilver, because of the billions of shiny little components, working around the clock to repair any damage. The Core ist dark black like a black hole, while the rings shine in a pale, spheric blue. The toothed wheels at the Claws (3 per Claw) and the two at the engines, are of a blue, oily black as well, looking like small teeth, carving into the quicksilver of the plating. The whole ship seems to have a wierd life of its own. The Engines emit a white fire, that leaves a trail of white behind for just a few kilometers, before it starts to fade into the dark of the galaxy.







And finally here is a quick drawing by my Girlfriend, where you can see more details. For example diffrent kinds of wheels and rings as a variant:







As Scoutships, i recommend the Corvette-modell, but without the Rings. More like a mechanical sphere or flying eye, than an actual corvette.

The Colony-Ship could look like a sphere with a wide stake-like bottom and between two tooth-wheel rings, rotating diagonal around the sphere. The stake-bottom is designed to carve into stone and earth alike, when the whole ship makes the landfall - securing the sphere and its ring as good as possible from damage, so it can function as first colony base.



For example:

I am a terrible artist, but I will try my best to describe my idea. Imagine the Dreadnaught is 4 slightly smaller clockwork spheres rotating around a large central sphere. The spheres only touch at the point of the interlocking gears on their surface. The spheres continually mirror each others movements as they orbit. Each sphere pulses an engine glow to the "rear" of the ship, but always has weapons facing towards the "front" of the ship. If it were not for these tell-tale signs, you would not be able to gauge the vessels orientation in space. You simply continue this theme with the other ships. For example the smallest scout ship would simply be two small equal-sized spheres rapidly spinning around each other. Also, since dust is now the Automatons primary fuel source. They would leave the slightest shimmering trail of dust in their wake.

I've been doing some sketching while on the bus, and wanna flesh out my ideas a bit more before posting.

So far, it looks like Veers (From what I gather from your concepts) and I are taking somewhat the same path.

Codename_Veers wrote:
Another Competition, yay! Since I am a very poor artist and only use "Microsoft Paint", please forgive the bad drawings and try to imagine it as good as you can. If I failed to explain something well enough, please let me know. Even though the designs are very angled (I cannot make them more rolling with paint), please consider almost all angles rolling and round (like the automatons themselves). I will add all other ship ideas in this thread if possible. I hope you like them:



Dreadnaught:

The Automaton Dreadnaught is a long Ship, where a third oft he front is cut like a Claw of a Crab, but more symetric. The Center of the Ship is a giant sphere surrounded by 3 concentric rings (like the Core of the Ship in Event Horizon http://dvdrone.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/event2.png, or the machine in Contact http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6jkaic3Ta1qj80i1o1_1280.jpg). Around the core, it widens a bit, before it slims back together to two big engines. The plating looks almost like liquid quicksilver, because of the billions of shiny little components, working around the clock to repair any damage. The Core ist dark black like a black hole, while the rings shine in a pale, spheric blue. The toothed wheels at the Claws (3 per Claw) and the two at the engines, are of a blue, oily black as well, looking like small teeth, carving into the quicksilver of the plating. The whole ship seems to have a wierd life of its own. The Engines emit a white fire, that leaves a trail of white behind for just a few kilometers, before it starts to fade into the dark of the galaxy.







The Corvette:

The small and slimm ship is similar to the Dreadnaught, except for the size. It hast two, toothed wheels running in a 90° angle together in the center of the ship, around a core, hidden behind a devine silver looking platting, carved with tastefull curves and lines, remembering the viewer at the automaton physique. The Engine is shining in a warm orange, remembering the viewer of the hellgourds on the jungleplanets.



[ATTACH]5581[/ATTACH]



The Destroyer:



This ship has a perfect ring-formation. It consists out of 2 dark-metall (dark grey) rings, sourrounding an unmoving core. The UFO shape make it the perfect warmachine, while the two rings rotate horizontaly around the core in oppoite directions. The Core-plating is darker than the rest of the ship, while it is beset with hundreds of small lights. The edge is also beset with small lights - and of course the weaponry of the ship. The Rings run slowly around each other, providing gravitation and flexibility with the weapons. The edge is also not perfectly round, but beset with big teeth, like the wheels of a clock.



The Cruiser:





The Battleship:



It is the perfection of the Destroyer, but much bigger and way more capable of raining death upon the enemy. Similar to the Destroyer it consists of 2 (even bigger!) rings, rotating around a empty center, but extended by two more rings, running in a 30° angle from the ships horizont diagonal to each other. The ships inner rings and the core look like platin, while the two diametrical rings are of a deep black. The platin is shiny while the black rings seem to consist of thousands of oili little wheels and machienes, rotating with their main-ring-srtukture. The ship has no obvious engine and the center opens many bays for fightersquadrons and other ships to enter the hangars. (A bit like the ship from independence day: http://mysteryoftheinquity.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/independence_day__extended___xvid___1996_-fanart2.jpg)

Corvette looks like a Star Forge from Star Wars

So obviously, thank to Kareal, I guess we all have similar ideas? :P

Anyway, this is a quick concept I did to get my idea out here :P Basically this is the direction I'm going to be going in, still going to fix it, maybe create an idea for all ship types? Depending on how much time I find to work on it



Edit: OK so! I guess while others have ships with rings on them, I'm going to have a floating ball with rings :P Ball being inspired by the automaton head







Here's my engine concept :P it's a work in progress