Wheel Reinvention - The Oolite Icon

Selezen · Post by **Selezen** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 10:47 pm

I like it! I think that's my favourite of all the ones so far. Simple, easy to use as rank insignia and easy to make into a real badge too!

Leave out the drawings in the middle though, I think...

How about silver and gold options?

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 11:11 pm

Feel free to beat me with the "back seat driving stick" here. But you could probably centre the nose of that ship up a little (keeping it at the same angle and the tail end + exhaust would still balance out the eagle head.

Also have you considered engraving it rather than embossing?

Side note, if you need another rank you could make harmless JUST the blank centre. Like a coin. Historically it could be seen as space fairing is "taking the kings shilling." Thinking about it, if the first 2 ranks were laser etched into the coin 1) the inner ring 2) the ship

Then for the first 3 ranks you would have a subtractive system instead of an additive system of ranking. (pragmatic, cheap and easy to implement). Why waste money on people who are in all likely hood going to be creamed all over deep space?

From then on all the bits are effectively bolt onto your existing badge. From a manufacturing side this makes perfect sense.

Every man leaves the station with at least one coin in his pocket.

As a side note the upper band (I think obtained at dangerous) is just screaming out as a place to etch a pilots name!

Lucidor · Post by **Lucidor** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 11:46 pm

Selezen wrote:
Leave out the drawings in the middle though, I think...

Don't you think it would look too empty?

The colour was supposed to be gold by the way.

(Guess it looks more like brass to everybody else)

Also have you considered engraving it rather than embossing?

Yes. That would complicate things enormously. Could probably be done with a normal map, but I'm just not good enough with 3D to pull it off.

I don't quite get how the subtractive system would work, but it's probably a good idea.

Small adjustments. Flipped the head to more heraldicly correct and maybe give it better balance wrt the cobra.
Made the cobra a little more three dimensional and moved it up a little.

Lucidor · Post by **Lucidor** » Sun Jan 10, 2010 11:58 pm

The blend file, in case anyone feels like adding personal touches:
http://www.box.net/shared/99dsxbu3id

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:32 am

Lucidor wrote:

I don't quite get how the subtractive system would work, but it's probably a good idea.

Well, it's one thing to design a logo from scratch, but another to think about how that logo might have evolved, in the game reality. This is a badge that's given to every single person who captains ANY two bit ship. So from that it is logical to assume that early rank increases are going to be kept
A) Cheap
B) Easy

With the first few stages of rank as they stand your talking logistics. Replace the centre with one with a worm hole on it, then replace them again with one with a worm hole and a ship in it.

Doable but much easier to take your "coin" to any office and they just etch your increased rank on it.

THAT'S UP TO A CERTAIN POINT. After which the powers that be will invest more in the badge add ons. Why? Because it reinforces the sense of reward and breeds value into the system.

Design wise I like the idea of bold on extras (it kind of goes with the ethos of the game) but design also (sometimes) has to ask the question why and how? In order to make a wider sense.

Pedantic I know. But rewarding.

Lucidor · Post by **Lucidor** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 12:49 am

Wow, you are well versed in the badge and stamp business.

Considering that this is far in the future, maybe they have made advances in manufacturing technology so that every galcop office could have a micro foundry standing in a corner?

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:08 am

Well you know what sentients are like; anything to save a buck.

Selezen · Post by **Selezen** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:28 am

I think would be easy enough to make, maybe with magnets to attach each part on.

Here's a thought though... it could be on a holographic backing, so that the badge starts off with the full badge in black (the base holo colour) with only the middle section coloured silver (Harmless).

When kills are registered, the badge is "updated" with the new rank, changing and filling in the bits as required, thus the black bits change to be silver as time passes. When reaching the higher ranks bits can change from silver to gold, finally becoming fully Gold when reaching Elite!

The middle section with the icon can change as required too. Dark Wheel operatives can have a different design, naval pilots have the navy logo. It could also be used for bods on the forum too!

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:58 am

That's a sweet idea, you could work a slight flicker and raster lines into it, that would look quite cool against a black background.

Speaking of black backgrounds what are the chances of getting some different forum styles? Maybe a cool black one and one that has most of the graphics stripped out so it (to an off hand bosses glance), looks like a work speradsheet.

these look pretty:
http://www.phpbb.com/styles/db/index.ph ... b_id=11735

http://www.phpbb.com/styles/demo/3.0/in ... yle_id=395

with some alteration:
http://www.phpbb.com/styles/db/index.ph ... b_id=11375

http://www.phpbb.com/styles/demo/3.0/in ... tyle_id=46

http://www.phpbb.com/styles/demo/3.0/in ... tyle_id=60

Wolfwood · Post by **Wolfwood** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:09 pm

Lucidor wrote:
Considering that this is far in the future, maybe they have made advances in manufacturing technology so that every galcop office could have a micro foundry standing in a corner?

There are already plans for 3D printers that can print their own parts and thus multiply. I'd imagine that any such device would be rudimentary in far, far future.

Unless the society collapses at some point, of course. (but then there are the multitude of alien cultures that might not have collapsed, so...)

Lucidor · Post by **Lucidor** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:16 pm

ClymAngus wrote:
Speaking of black backgrounds what are the chances of getting some different forum styles?

Did you look at my proposal to integrate the forum into the main website?
http://uploaded.joskar.com/lucidor/oolite_forum.png

Personally I don't mid dark backgrounds, but I think most prefer light coloured ones.

Test with different colours:

The black is visible against a pitch black background.

I'd imagine that any such device would be rudimentary in far, far future.

Just my thought. Makes forgery easy too, so there should be some code on it that anyone can check against the Elite Federation database.

Selezen · Post by **Selezen** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:03 pm

A silver outline around the black "holoemitter" would make it stand out nicely, I think. The central "wings" section could be the base badge and could start out silver with the rest of the badge being black. I'd need to have some time with a graphics app to show you what I had in mind, I think...

As for the forum style thing, I made a phpbb template for another forum I used to frequent: http://www.golden-throne.com/forum

The style could easily be modified to fit with Oolite's "new look"!

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:37 pm

Selezen wrote:
As for the forum style thing, I made a phpbb template for another forum I used to frequent: http://www.golden-throne.com/forum

The style could easily be modified to fit with Oolite's "new look"!

AAAAHHH! ORANGE!
<<falls off chair>>

Lucidor · Post by **Lucidor** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:48 pm

It's a well made theme. I think I would prefer it white-ish though, perhaps with the orange parts black or a dark grey.

JensAyton · Post by **JensAyton** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:53 pm

Lucidor wrote:
Personally I don't mid dark backgrounds, but I think most prefer light coloured ones.

I certainly do, even though i perpetrated the current oolite.org.