Marshymallow

If they get another art pass then there is no reason to worry about the barn not getting the same. However, it is sort of weird to think they spent at least a couple months working on these when in essence they will have to entirely replace them at a later point. Feels sorta, well... wasteful, I guess I'd put it. Which is sorta why I'm a little worried that these aren't intended as placeholder models.

If they weren't complete, they did a very bad job at doing so since they had put a ton of effort into models that, if they wanted to match the quality already seen in the game, would have to be almost entirely redone. I'm not just talking about textures, I'm talking about the core design of buildings here. The outrage was justified and I get that you like the idea (and, surprisingly, so do I) but that doesn't justify really poor execution that was pretty obviously not thought of as poor by the team seeing as their tier 2 and 3 have the same lackluster design ethic.

I think it's very important to note that, while the textures are the most obvious inconsistency with the barn (and honestly still in ways the same problems appear in the 0.90 buildings) there are more large-scale issues that would be very tough to fix. Many buildings are very simple and honestly badly-modeled, with their intended purpose hard to understand. You want models for something as often seen as what is in essence the main menu for playing game to be striking, unique and speaking of their purpose, and many of them really didn't. This is made even worse with the tiers added to 0.90, where almost every building is a nondescript structure with lots of windows and doors meant for... something. This is a game, visual representations of purpose are one of the most vital things you can do to make something intuitive.

They were obviously incomplete in the same way that the currently ingame ones are incomplete, I agree. The texturework, design concepts and consistency proved that they had not taken the time to create an effective, coherent concept for each tier before modelling, but that does not mean it wasn't intended for release. Much the opposite, I like the concept of starting low tech. Starting with very simple, worn-out buildings and going up to high-tech would be cool, especially if it matched the gameplay with things like unmanned rockets and basic planes to start and then leading up to the assets we know today. However, do not confuse a poor aesthetic with a poor attempt at making a poor aesthetic. Even with the tier 1 and 2 we see ingame, you have inconsistent texturework, modelling and honestly some really amateur mistakes that have nothing to do with the intended art style. Something does not have to be done badly to look crummy - in fact, I'd argue making something look worn down but still visually attractive is one of the coolest and most interesting projects an artist can work on but Squad did not manage that with the barn or the new tiers seen ingame.

To be fair, one of the problems somebody pointed out to me with that kind of idea is that the parts don't match the building aesthetic. All parts are designed to the general aesthetic of the Bac9 base (or if you want to be more accurate, the Bac9 base was built to fit the modern parts). So they would have to make special low-tier parts and that's a massive additional workload that I don't think Squad has made any claims to working on. ...Uh. The barn stuff wasn't concept, it was in-engine. The same modelling techniques used for it were used for the currently ingame tiers one and two because they were developed at the same time and intended to go in at the same time. As completely inconsistent and weird as the barn's execution was, based on a few buildings it is very obvious it was intended to lead into the later two tiers.

Bac9 is sadly busy with other stuff, but it's not like he's the only modeller in the world capable of making consistent, interesting designs. Heck, I think that even Squad's in-house team could get similar results if they considered some of the same workflow and methodology (for one, working out concept art of something before going straight into it in order to make sure things look right).

To be fair, it's not like they didn't have these assets running before as well. These were going to be tiers 2 and 3, it's just now they're 1 and 2. This is not representative of some massive stylistic change on account of people hating the barn or something - no, this is what was intended to follow up after the barn. You can tell from some of the building colors and assets for that tier one that this is the case. And the barn could be a good idea, but personally the execution was lacking. A really good modeller could've made something both consistent and unique-looking for that instead of the honestly amateur presentation we saw then, and well... these new tiers don't look much better.

I agree with that as well, there's obvious problems with the parts being all designed around the 0.21 aesthetic (aka the Bac9 base) which makes all older bases feel... well, distinctly out of place. But I'm not really sure if there's a way for them to deal with that while having progression without either having textures update with bases upgrading or (god forbid) bring back the old textures for parts. Remember these tanks?

The barn, while as a concept okay with me, artistically was all over the place. Nothing felt consistent, either internally or with the later tiers. This same lack of consistency is seen in the new buildings they've shown which, while consistent with eachother do not have any relation to the final tier in color or design which I think is an honest shame. Personally, I hope that a better modeller comes along and redoes these tiers. I like the concept of progression from a somewhat murky start up to a fully modern space center (preferably including a start with mostly remote-controlled or non-controlled rockets for maximum fun), but the current buildings really just aren't up to par for what the game needs imo.

I think you can have tiers both feel unique but not be completely different to the point where seeing two together makes you scratch your head. For one, the color scheme change going from tiers 1 and 2 to the final, Bac9 space center is really ridiculous and should not be a thing. If they wanted to make a progression, at least in my opinion the way to do it would be to have the primary color of the base start off as red-orange (say, painted wood and orange bricks) then slowly move the color towards yellow and add more grey (ie concrete and other building materials) in order to finish off with Bac9's space center and have it feel natural. That way, each tier looks sorta unique while not having this massive, confusing stylistic change that will make the between tier look be completely jumbled. I don't think the farm was bad in terms of concept to be honest, it was more execution. Stylistically it was all over the place and it didn't have a solid core to make it feel like a single, cohesive project - instead it felt like assets were dragged from dozens of other projects and popped into a single game (which is not the feeling you want for a professional title).

Long time player, first time (in a long time, anyways, whoops I didn't remember posting before) poster here. To be honest? No, they really don't satisfy me. As somebody who has spent a decent amount of time learning about art theory, it really doesn't feel like the new buildings have been thought out in a way that allows them to both be consistent throughout tiers and visually striking and memorable within the tier itself. For one, the colorscheme stays exactly the same for the first two then radically changes for the last, which is honestly really jarring and not what you'd expect from a progression system. Secondly, the buildings themselves are markedly lower quality in terms of both pure technique and concept than what we had before - a lot of previously iconic buildings are made up almost entirely of primitives in a not particularly aesthetically pleasing way. Something meant to look poor or cheap can still look really cool, and I don't think Squad pulled that off this time around. Here's to hoping they improve it at some point.

Thanks! Your design seems to be Jebediah-approved, mine are more contemporary. Someday, I\'ll have the lack of sanity to try such crazy concepts. Speaking of designs, I decided to make a final biplane. I\'d done 2 engines, 4 engines, where else was there to go? ] I went with a single engine design. This meant I had to actually think about balance for once, not to mention it being even harder to get it off the ground. But, it\'s actually probably the best flier and the most fun! This plane is flimsy. I wanted to try and simulate the cloth wing feel of an actual biplane... Instead, it just allows you to jettison your wings. Still, it\'s a fun ride and the jettisoning serves a purpose! Water crash safe! Only problem is that like all my other designs, it\'s really grumpy when it comes to vertical controls. Feel free to try and fix it, I know you guys on here are smarter than me.

I\'ve been messing around with designs for a while now, and I decided to try out making biplanes. It turns out that it\'s actually not too bad of an idea, considering that the extra wings do help force the center of balance towards where the wings are at. I started off with the Mark 1. This thing is clunky, slow, and certainly not able to get far, but it takes a lot of effort to get it to go out of control and it\'s light enough that the parachutes will allow it to survive a water landing every time. After getting the basic ideas out of the way, I went onto the Mark 2, with four engines and hopefully a bit more maneuverability. Well, uh. It has four engines. It\'s a little easier to take off in, and I\'d say it\'s more fun to fly overall. However, both of these planes do not have much in terms of range, and are at most just fun toys for taking off and landing. Hope you guys enjoy them! By the way, if anyone has any tips on how to make a more stable design, I\'d love to hear them as I am quite nooby.