graphic-zilla-blog

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G.R.T Thunderchild

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Working on the “Thunderchild” Heavy assault/bombardment G.R.T, a literal walking battleship bristling with guns equivalent to that of the Schwerer Gustav, in terms of primary weapons anyway, and with a mountain of Armour and Point Defense, nothing says “Bring The Thunder” like 5000 tons high explosive per volley. This project has basically gone from me making a level for an audience, to me making a level for me, justifying the endless hours i spend re-working the G.R.T and Empire industries in general in my head... and i don’t regret it, sticking this thing together has been brutally satisfying. Finally having an excuse to only let a sliver of the ideas i want to put out, out, is great, and there’s so much more I need to do. As for the G.R.T itself. A G.R.T is as much a weapon as it is a status symbol, to actually put one on a battlefield is to demonstrate a show of force so great, its equal to moving nukes to Cuba, as in this instance, not only can the nuke move itself, but it is borderline fully automated, can produce and execute its own strategic plans on the go and to top it off, can withstand practically any form of hostile interaction by stepping on it, if needs be and is borderline sentient. 

Now for the Thunderchild, the Thunderchild is part of a new generation of G.R.Ts as part of a new project “Mountain King” which can be easily converted for different situations, it can be used as an aircraft carrier, cargo transport, fortress, ect, however the Thunderchilds current purpose is to crack open a facility called the “Orbital Ring Security Command Center” aka O.R.S.C.C, a massive fortress in the Falklands which uses a secure ‘Tight Beam’ network, linked by the CRM-114, the facility however has ‘fallen’ into the hands of a rebel group of unknown origin, and they are causing the Orbital Rings security to go haywire, causing vast amounts of damage, no known deaths, however that might soon change if the ‘rebels’ are not stopped as they are gradually ‘breaking’ their way through into each security system, which does include large orbital cannons designed to shoot down space debris, but could easily rip through any space craft. the issue is the facilities communication to the Orbital ring is completely inaccessible to outside sources because of the CRM-114, it and its orbital counterpart are closed circuit encryption devices that prevent any message that isnt started with the current encryption code, it is basically impossible to crack as CRMs only come in pairs, the other CRM is in space on the orbital ring and completely inaccessible at this point, however the one in the O.R.S.C.C is, so what if its in a structure with uncountable defensive measures and designed to withstand repeated nuclear bombardment, its on the same rock as the people who designed and built it, and so its easier to blow up.

This is the players primary objective, securing the CRM-114 from the facility while its being shelled with all kinds of interesting weaponry which would make any US general giddy with excitement. - will finish later -

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The Tyrant twin cannon anti-mech battery, this arm based instrument of death is primarily designed to pick of mechanized units, from light transport buggies to APCs. The purpose of it being on an arm is to allow it to fold into the Armour of its carrier for extra protection. In addition, it loads by retracting back and receiving the shell into the back of the breach, this is to prevent say, a magazine exploding, I will set up a proper loading animation for it at a later date, but for this being a rig and model i made in roughly 3 hours, its not half bad.

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G.R.T point defence design roughs, including what might potentially be primary batteries. Oh, in addition to shells. I think im going to keep things a little more simple, opting for more laborious loading techniques, such as having each arm fold back and receive a new shell directly instead of through a belt, for the larger caliber weapons anyway. As for the smaller caliber guns, i can simple make up some excuse about them receiving ammunition while safely stored away within its carrier.

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Hand held weapon design ideas (all revolver based) These are mainly heavy duty weapons for taking out vehicles or multiple hostile infantry at once, if someone is really annoying you. As for the Jack action based revolver cannons (the bottom 2 images) they are more for destroying vehicles, employed by only the most insane of individuals who either wish to have their torso severed from their legs from the recoil alone, or just really hate some poor bugger who’s going to be hit by the thing. Oh, and they make excellent sidearms for mechanized units. As for the more... stable revolvers, they are practically .50 Barretts in a more “Compact” form, the specialized unit of which carries this weapon will no doubt carry a barrel extension with foregrip and a scope, to convert the thing into an actual sniper rifle, ready to make JFK look like the product of a casual game of darts.

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Orbital Ring access system building design. One (the tower) is basically a space elevator, the rest are launch loop stations, not sure which one i will develop, but i think i’l go for 4 or 6, possibly 5 if i choose to have a 2 part level where the antenna is the first objective, then the station as the second, and finally the ring, having a neat little 3 part level structure.

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Orbital Ring train cockpit design with reference/inspiration images. The first is a Cuban crocodile, the second, a Mil Mi 24, third, an Sd.Kfz. 251 and lastly, the DDG 1000 Zumwalt. I chose this images as reference because they all look pretty cool, they all ave a common theme of a sloped front, the DDGs Deck-house inspires the weird but oddly cool looking communications component above the cockpit (the strange tower thing) The Cuban crocodile for the cockpit window and heat shield design, the Mil Mi 24 because its one of the most unique looking aircraft with its double domed cockpit, inspires the concept of having small viewing domes for curious passengers to peer out of, the Sd.Kfz becuase eh... i just like half tracks.

I do intend on expanding these ideas, i actually do have another sheet, its just missing.

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The Claymore twin cannon P.D.C this is going to be a sort of burst shot gun, i need to figure out how to rig it so that one barrel recoils roughly 0.5 seconds after the first. Rigging this thing has been a real pain in the ass frankly, wasn't expecting it to be so tedious, but hey, it worked out in the end.

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Rapier twin barrel P.D.G. I also figured out how to capture a GIF. As for the turret, its exactly what it looks like, a twin barrel point defence gun designed mainly to shoot down small, incoming targets such as missiles and slow uncontrolled projectiles, however, if you wanted to say... defend against attacking soldiers, it could easily fill the role. As for how its come out, i’m fairly happy with it, i’m not sure about texturing it however as i know for a fact it will be one hell of a pain in the ass.

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Had to re-learn how to actually rig, and it appears to have been successful, the object doesn't explode if I key a sub-controller with a keyed primary so that’s good, if I knew how to capture a GIF, I would. I think ‘kneed to set up a more logical control system for the barrel rotation, maybe a button which activates on a certain key input. As for the model itself... it looks like shit, I think i’m going to basically straight rip the phalanx, just give it duel rotary guns instead of having the gun separate from the radome and targeting section.

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The 20mm Under-barrel revolver, 6 round capacity and capable of basically cutting someone in half, hence the name “Gutter”, as big a danger to the user as it is the person its being used against. I don’t intend on using it as the final product, but I will develop it.

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Scimitar PDF (Point Defense Gun) with control points. I tried and will continue to reduce the polygon count and actually, well... have actual polygons, anyway, the main inspiration is the Phalanx defense system ( En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Phalanx CIWS. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS [Accessed 18 Apr. 2018]), this is the first version, I think il go with a duel single barrel design similar to that of the German Gepard SPAAG. (En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Flakpanzer Gepard. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flakpanzer_Gepard [Accessed 18 Apr. 2018])

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“Experimentation” I just sorta did it because i was bored and wanted to do some metal work, i guess i could make some benign reference when it comes to the Armour structure/layout for the mech i plan on designing.

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The ‘Fire in the Sky’ Venus Sky Rig, a large fuel production station that’s main purpose is to convert Venuses atmosphere into a viable fuel source for aircraft. it has 2 large landing strips on the top with launch rails, the idea for this level is far more free, i was contemplating adding a grappling function so the player can swing around the elaborate structure.  

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Venus Cloud City Doughnut developments, I think i’m going to focus on the middle, i really like the idea of a floating fuel production/conversion rig high in the atmosphere of Venus, basically a floating petrol station but for blimps.

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Venus Cloud City blimp transportation ‘Palisade’ because you need to get from one city to another somehow.

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Venus Cloud City developments, I will develop the more doughnut style designs, but for now, these work. I kinda want to stay away from the generic sci-fi city look and go for a more unique looking design maybe experiment with a more ship like look with portholes, similar to the third (bottom) city design