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Boarguts — SC2: Protoss Stargate
Published: 2011-02-14 04:33:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 11773; Favourites: 75; Downloads: 236
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Starcraft 2: Protoss StargateModeled by Phill Gonzales, final texture pass by Ted Park!
The Starpart was a interesting redesign because we were trying to glorify Protoss construction style differnces from the other two races. Switching to a 3d engine allowed us to build more complicated shapes and feature more interesting animations. The idea was the Protoss were capable of building more organic shaped structures, and along with the floating parts the thought was to play upon their elite alien technolgy.
Most of the Protoss structures only had a couple revisions and finalized long before we shipped. I personally feel like we were just starting to grasp what the Protoss style should look like. Several earlier attemps came under fire due to comparison to the new Blood Elf race in WoW, so we moved away from the flashy engraving. The buildings we have serve their purpose, but I wouldn't mind revisiting the Protoss buildings one more time. Just wait until you see what Mr.--Jack is doing for Heart of the Swarm... great stuff ahead!
This building was another significant turning point in the way we produced art for Starcraft 2. Ted Park was tasked with the modeling duties for this building, but admitted he'd rather texture someone else's model to use development time more efficiently. Before I had even finished offering to model the Starport Ted had reassigned the task to me. The turnaround time for art improved by playing our strengths and resulted in many more collaborations between Ted and myself. Although we still do the entire process independently from time to time, the speed and consistancy of the team-up benefitted Starcraft 2 tremendously.
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Comments: 14
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I rather like the floating bits on the different protoss designs; they really sell the idea that the protoss are more advanced technologically than the terrans, and that their design aesthetic emphasizes elegance as well as practicality. As I mentioned before, the protoss design aesthetic seems to incorporate elements of race car design--sleek curves and graceful arches, making their technology look very elegant and refined rather than the rough-and-ready look of the terrans.
I tend to agree that too much fancy engraving would detract from the overall look--the clean metal looks very nice, and I'm afraid that too much detailing, like elaborate script engravings or whatever would detract from the simple and clean elegance of the designs. Not that I'm cutting down the blood elves of Warcraft (far from it--they're one of my favorite WC3 races, actually, and I'd love to see more of them in a future WC expansion, since I don't play WoW that much), but you really do want to keep the different races' designs and motifs separate or it would end up looking too much like they were ripping off from one another or cause them to blend together in people's minds. (That, and the "StarCraft is not WarCraft in space!" comment keeps coming to mind... )
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You are correct, the Protoss architecture is intended to look manufactured in a way that is quite alien and vague. Complex organic shapes were key!
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I really like how the Protoss have a design aesthetic that looks ergonomic and sleek. Because they are millions of years more advanced than the humans, floating parts and refined looks show that the 'Toss don't have to revise their technology as often. Think Man of Steel, where the Kryptonians have been using much of the same tech for the past 100,000,000 years or so because technologically, they reached their peak and figured out what works for them, very little tweaking is required. The protoss have probably made some advancements but not many. Terrans are at the other end of the scale where they may seem futuristic to us, but their tech still relies on the rules and limitations of human technology, we didn't have the luxury of using psionic crystalline technologies left over from alien 'gods' to start with, so everything has to be engineered from materials we can make or mine. Humans being a young race, still have to rapidly adapt to all kinds of phenomenon due to not figuring out a technological language that is comfortable enough to serve all their needs While the protoss are the most visually pleasing to the eye, the Terrans are boxy, mechanical, with a hint of cowboy and R.A. Heinlein. I also noticed how the Protoss buildings really look more like self-automated structures that require little or no Protoss personnel to operate where the humans, despite using tech like AI, still need a human pilot, operator, or hand in EVERYTHING. Every structure they make IS a building and has WINDOWS! I Absolutely LOVE your stuff, hope to see more SC2! I also like the idea that the protoss don't have fancy glowing engravings on their technology, it makes them practical but the design shows how religion rules EVERYTHING they do.
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Thank you for the appreciation! I haven't worked on Starcraft since 2010 <3
The main goal with Protoss visuals is that it didn't need to make sense to human construction - they are advanced and their manufacturing has no rivets or tooling that makes sense. Their aesthetic is alien!
Terran are fun, Military design is the best mass-produced situational hardware to draw inspiration from!
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Any time. Love your stuff!
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One of my fav features in overall building design is the Stargate showing what ship is under construction, was a nice touch, and with all the unit buildings their active animations are very cool. I always thought it was a little unfair though, that enemy players will be able to see what's being constructed.
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Showing what was under construction was actually a big discussion point when this building was being made. I forget what the turning point was to get that visual in game, and I guess it doesn't make a super huge difference if somebody is diligently scouting their enemy anyways.
We even had to address if it was fair to show if the Terran Bunker was occupied or not!
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replace the ship in construction with a stereo typical UFO.
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My absolute favorite looking building in the whole game, followed directly by the robotics bay. Amazing job.
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