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Thursday, December 20, 2012

What If: Thunderbolts - Week 3 Behind the Scenes

Another week, another What-If! So far I've managed to deliver on almost every single item on my "What New Thing Should I Show in My What-Ifs?" poll, except that last one, group shots. But it's coming! So anyway, the big thing this week was the mission screenshot, and I'll be explaining how I made it, a bit about the character rotating image that I show, and a even few words on that website image! :D

There's a lot to talk about, so let's get started!

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This.

The first thing I modeled, actually, was the Power Up Barrel. 



It was so important to have an object that would root the image in reality, (or that is, in the game in the real world). I think the barrels really sold that image, so it was really important to put them in there.
Another thing that makes this image look accurate is the texture on the floor. I put a bit more time then I probably should have for that, but it turned out really well. For one thing, most of the missions in SHSO have floor textures, so it would look weird without it, and for another, the grid like tiles help your eye figure out which characters are closer to one another. On the floor you'll also see a skull image. That is actually taken directly from the texture on Crossbones's face. 

the mission image "peeled away"

Some things that I added to the mission HUD which you may or may not have noticed are the two hubs and the mouse indicator. These, I felt, were pretty much essential to selling the image. I'm not really sure why I didn't add them before. Something weird that I also noticed is that, in the actual game, those hubs are just mirrored duplicates of each other! I never would've known.

The airplane on the far left is an example of the detail I add that ultimately never gets noticed. It was a last minute decision to have the mission take place in an aircraft carrier. Don't worry, I'm not an idiot. I know that there is no way an airplane would be able to take off from in that room. I guess the carrier is also a part-time museum. If you're wondering what an aircraft carrier has to do with Crossbones, I honestly don't know. It was so hard to think of a good location for the mission that I gave up! If you have a suggestion for where I SHOULD have placed the mission, tell me in the comments!

Now for...


The Rotating Character Image!
On my blog, (you may already know this), I like to show, with my review, a lovely image of the new hero, rotated to show the entire model so you can see the nice work that SHSO's modelers did.
The last one I did was of Iron Man MK II.


I thought it would be cool to see MY models done this way as well! It's pretty easy to make the image. First I render out around eight angles of the character, and then place them over a Photoshopped image of the game. Its nice and it adds yet another tool to my arsenal of awesome pictures of heroes.



Finally, I'd like to talk about the image of the website that appeared, which I know was one of the things on my poll. One of the things that makes this image special is the font: Tekton Pro. No, I didn't not purchase it, but I developed a sneaky workaround so that I didn't have to pay $15. Who knows how long this'll last, but at least I can save that $15 for in-game gold.

And that's it for this week!
Did you like Penance? Tell me in the comments!
And just so you know, more awesome is coming, not just in my What-Ifs but in the real game as well!
Keep playing. ;)

-- SHSOFan.