68 Responses to “Wildlife in Cortex Command”

1. john - # October 1st, 2009 at 10:29 am

   when new build comes out???

2. Numgun - # October 1st, 2009 at 10:37 am

   “I mention this because I don’t like drawing pinups of the Cortex Command characters with huge ‘Goofy’ feet, even though they bother me less when seen ingame. It would be nice if the promo art matched the actual ingame graphics though.”

   Data, you heard the man. One of those “better feet collisions” specials over here bartender!

3. GaGrin - # October 1st, 2009 at 10:38 am

   I like the Flora and Fauna designs and I strongly agree with keeping the “crabish” creatures on the basis of it giving CC a strong visual identity.

   As far as the feet go, I say do what makes you comfortable – so long as the designs stay consistent and remain “Cortex Command” in style I don’t think anyone will mind.

4. CrazyMLC - # October 1st, 2009 at 10:45 am

   Life on the planet seems very hazardous and there doesn’t seem to be much rain, I doubt an old redwood would grow in conditions like that.

5. Ghost Bear - # October 1st, 2009 at 11:03 am

   Jumper crab reminds me of Antlion from Half-Life 2

6. Allen - # October 1st, 2009 at 11:10 am

   Are whitebots from this planet too? because the dropship MK1 seriously looks like a crab, as though it was inspired by a crab-dependent society. Sort of like how cows/bulls are so important throughout western mythology and art.

   I think domestic crabs – cattle crabs, workhorse crabs, crabs you can ride around on- might be hilarious looking and fun ingame. The ones pictured already have an “Oddworld” feel about them, and having domesticated versions might add the variation you’re looking for without requiring you to squeeze even more designs out of one animal.

7. Foogooman - # October 1st, 2009 at 11:33 am

   I think trees might be able to work out. Maybe have them as forground objects, but actors could walk through them and let’s say… only 5 percent of the bullets shot their space would get hit… meh. Yeah, it wouldn’t really work, trees are too big. Some smaller flora would be nice though.

8. Mapleleaf - # October 1st, 2009 at 11:39 am

   That balloon crab is incredible. It looks completely harmless and unaware of whatever’s happening around it

9. Zhukov - # October 1st, 2009 at 11:59 am

   Regarding feet:
   Now that you mention it, the Coalition guys and the Ronin could both use a slight reduction is shoe size.
   The dummies are fine as they are. So are the Browncoats, large heavy boots suit them.

   Regarding wildlife:
   Before seeing those images, I would have thought crabs and a few plants wouldn’t provide nearly enough diversity to be interesting. However, having seen what you can do with a crab, I think you guys could get away with it.
   That said, a few other species couldn’t hurt. Maybe some avian-ish lifeforms? Or some kind of burrowing creature to take advantage of destructible terrain?

   Regarding trees:
   I for one would be perfectly content with background trees.

10. joe - # October 1st, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    “When I was younger I thought big feet and big hands were really awesome. Lately I’ve been moving the focus up to the torso where I feel the interesting parts are.” Ah, the wonders of puberty.

11. war_man333 - # October 1st, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    Balloon crab and the last crab both look awesome.

12. The Monster King - # October 1st, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    I enjoy the idea of wildlife, make all of ‘em plants and crabs!

    Plants would be more surprising if they didn’t have a visible health meter…

    You know, thinking about it, I think I’d like no visible health meter at all. That can probably be modded out though right?

13. Roon3 - # October 1st, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    Arne actually posted something. Cool!

14. a10050 - # October 1st, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    ”Foogooman – # October 1st, 2009 at 11:33 am

    I think trees might be able to work out. Maybe have them as foreground objects, but actors could walk through them and let’s say… only 5 percent of the bullets shot through their space would get hit.”

    I would give my feet for this to be implemented. I wouldn’t need them because I’d be too busy siting behind the computer destroying trees! Please consider this.

15. Will - # October 1st, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    The trees and plants sound epic, but I like the graphical style as it is! :<

16. lafe - # October 1st, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    need more wildlife, this will be awesome. make sure the balloon crab can explode or pop into explosive shrapnel.

17. tim i am cool - # October 1st, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    the stilt crab looks like it would run around like a gazelle or something with those long legs.

18. Fooby - # October 1st, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    Last one = Tank Crab.

    How I figured it out: Check a few posts back, the image scroll over text says “tank_crab”…

19. Arne - # October 1st, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    The Jumper is actually an effort not to rip off the Zelda 1 Tektite too much.

    I think the foot collisions now are defined in the ini file. It’s some sort of invisible ’snow shoe’ of points. I think… us, last time I checked (old build now) the foot part was slightly offset, making it look like it was too long. Yeah, I could imagine examples where large heavy feet work.

    I had some ideas for making a crab avian, like flattening out some legs to make wings, slimming the body, etc. The crabs btw, survived the extinction by borrowing and cocooning, almost going into a fossilized state.

    The drop ship does indeed have crab features. I haven’t thought about that. It probably turned out that way because I tend to use certain kind of masses when I design. I has an idea about a lost civilization of Lobstermen. They’re gone now, but left a bunch of ruins. I was thinking they could look like the Lobstermen in X-Com, because I liked those. It also rhymes with the Crustacean theme.

    Ideally the game should tell you about the state of an actor using other methods than health meters (bleeding, limping, fainting, etc). We had a brief discussion about it once. One problem is that an actor can be lightly crushed very slowly, so no wounds arise. Still, they could limp or faint. We’ll see.

    As for trees being semi-transparant, it’s a bit random, but could be fun. Tumbling is another thing to consider. Shooting through vegitation IRL can cause the bullets to lose accuracy (and speed), I’ve heard. Anyways, trees might be low on the priority list. It’s quite possible that modders can do them if we don’t have time to, unless a very special actor class is needed.

20. Madmax - # October 1st, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    I actually like the odd proportions the characters have, the Coalition especially, their huge head and feet give them more of a sense of being a little killer puppets in my opinion.

    Also the new wildlife concepts are awesome, the Missile Pine and Stilt Crab especially.

21. Smithno13 - # October 1st, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    Knowing this community, if that missile pine doesnt make it into vanilla content, somebody will make it anyways. Thats an awesome, lulzy concept.

22. Boba_Fett - # October 1st, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    Are the crabs going to be able to attack? I would love to lose soldiers to seemingly harmless wildlife..

23. Bremze - # October 1st, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    The bit about an ancient civilization of Lobstermen sounds awesome. How would their architecture look like? Something similar to the cities that lived in giant crab shells in Morrowind?

24. Joe Mikkel - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    IMO, the huge heads make for way too easy headshots. Their aesthetics are kinda odd too, but do fit in with the retro feel of the game. As to species : stick with crustaceans, but perhaps add a few new ones – like a predatory land-shrimp that hunts the crabs

25. pieman - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    “Is it boring to just have different types of crabs”

    IMO, yes! I was really hoping for some kind of awesome monsters, or other very unique ancient species from the planet. But hearing that there was something that wiped out all but crabs… That was disappointing to hear. Even if there is a monster that derived from crabs… it still doesn’t feel right. I’d like to hope that there is more plans for wildlife than just plants and crab based things.

    But looking on the positive sides, I love some of those sketches, and I’m glad the crab has quite a family.

26. Azukki - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    Graphically, I’m slightly in favor of feet staying big, because it contributes to the cartoony graphical style CC has, but it’s no big deal with me if they’re shrunk.

    But in gameplay effect with the current engine, actors need a good amount of surface area on their feet so they don’t dig much due to walking. If the feet are going to be smaller, find some way to lessen the wear and tear on terrain that the smaller feet will inflict.

    Also, you currently can’t shoot feet. The feet should probably get some collision ability with other mass objects. Even if you’re going to shrink down the feet on standard actors, there will likely be some specialty actors where the feet will be a significant target.

    On the subject of fauna, I think all crabs is a bit much. Having the encountered wildlife primarily be crabs is great, as it will make them iconic, but making it a limiting factor is kinda lame. The designs you have right now are excellent. I especially love the balloon crab. Creative, unique, derivative crabs is a great direction to take them to. But encountering something other than a crab now and then would be good. Surely there are some other forms of life that survived. Maybe some are large predators that think you look tasty?

    As for flora, actors for the hostile types shown would be great. Specialty actors for trees, like you said, has potential to be awesome at the cost of complexity. A segmented truck with various Attachables as features on it could work out pretty well.

    But the problem with the segmented tree trunks is that current ‘joints’ in CC can not bend. They’re more like a weld. Attachables could definitely benefit from having bending and snapping abilities. Aside from being essential to trees, this would be useful for CC’s attachables in general.

27. Yoshiyoman - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    nice pic! i like the ballon crab, he looks like a metroid.

28. Lizard - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    You should make other wildlife than crabs, like lobsters, magnetic lobsters.

    I think people with braces might have a hard time eating those…

29. Azukki - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    Also, feet rotating to the surfaces they’re stepping on would be good, graphically and technically. Maybe doing this would distribute weight better and solve the dig-walking problems that would arise with smaller feet?

    This is really more Data’s field, but it ties in with the smaller feet thing.

30. Captain Kicktar - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    I believe that the crab should become the CC mascot, but I think it already is.

31. Captain Kicktar - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    I think that the crab should become the CC mascot, altough I think it already is.

32. Azukki - # October 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    If the jumper crab had his eyes on his big back legs, that could be pretty cool. Does he have any at all, currently?

    Also, those pink plant bits aren’t gonna fly with the current CC palette. I’m saying this to point out that the palette needs improvement, not to discourage you from colors it lacks.

33. Arne - # October 1st, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Some of the wildlife will be dangerous, but the regular crabs will probably be mostly harmless.

    I think it’s fun to elaborate on the crab phylogeny. There could be other introduced species on the planet, such as escaped biological experiments, bounty hunters and I don’t know what. Limiting the flora gives us an excuse to keep the terrain simple.

    The Lobsterman civilization needs to be fleshed out still. All I have now is a couple of scribbles of them and their ruins.

    Yeah I really want to redo the palette, better ramps and more coverage. My monitor was mis-calibrated when I did it, and I didn’t think about ramping and cross-ramping.

    Added tongue-in-cheek pinups to the text-wall above.

34. DTP - # October 1st, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    ARNE you’re such an art nerd. i love you.

35. Madmax - # October 1st, 2009 at 6:21 pm

    I really hope you don’t plan on adding female Coalition characters, it would kill the cold hard emotionless clone feeling of them to me.

36. Foa - # October 1st, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    Okay, keep the crabs, and add a few more major types of animals.

    So I’d like to have only three types, the CRAB based, the LIZARD based, and the FISH based ( Don’t limit the fish to the water ) animals.

    And is the cocoon crab the default crab or a burrowing crab?

37. Arne - # October 1st, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    The green soldiers are probably some kind of sexless creature, genetically engineered to be physically tough and easy to grow. While they look human, they might be simplified so that they lack certain organs (like a brain?) and have backups of others. Since there are aliens in the CC universe, it’s even possible that the clones are mix of different species or have borrowed parts at least. They should probably be a bit like Boba Fett though, anonymous under the mask.

    It’s even possible that the brain you play isn’t human. Aliens could just prefer to use humanoid bodies for combat, because tiny squid bodies don’t work that well.

    I’m not sure about the crab designs yet, how they will relate and such. The cocooned crab might be a fossil, or a still living creature. This would indicate that they are tough creatures when it comes to surviving. Anyways, I’m just playing around with ideas at this stage, nothing is set in stone.

38. Azukki - # October 1st, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    Those two coalition sketches look too silly for the tone of the coalition, but the protoclone ironically looks like he would make a good speed-based specialized unit.

39. PsyberianHusky - # October 1st, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    I like the current way the Coalition look. The big feet make them cute. If you wanna change it, it is your game. However I love the graphics for the Coalition as is. Realism is important for somethings, but Cortex Command looks good to me as is, if anything I could give the Coalition slightly bigger hands and feet.

    On a side note I hope the overall motif of the Coalition gets fleshed out more(I.E. a dropship) and I would love more artwork of grunts.

40. Mooseral - # October 1st, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Personally, I think that the big Coalition foot-braces make sense in a few other senses, too. It means that you can excuse them for carrying around gigantic Gatling guns and missile launchers, without killing themselves with them.

    Could also work a bit like Portal’s magical foot braces; falling 40 feet without killing yourself is so much easier when you have metal strapped to your legs!

    “One problem is that an actor can be lightly crushed very slowly, so no wounds arise.”

    As things work now, at least, this really isn’t a problem; same thing IRL. Someone can be perfectly happy and healthy until their face gets slowly crushed by a car.

    On the note of fauna:

    If all of the native species of CC’s world were crabs and cactus plant things, it would probably work fine. However, I’d also add in invasive species introduced by alien colonists, which might even be at “war” with the native crab-species in certain regions. It might make sense to make the crabs somewhat symbiotic with the plants.

    It would be awesome if the ecosystem were actually alive, and somewhat resilient to the player’s advances. It would also keep the players on their toes in low-resource missions, and give more value to their actors. Not to mention that it would keep the players apart somewhat, adding an additional element of strategy.

    /verbositude

41. 411570N3 - # October 1st, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    I was laughing for five entire minutes at the “NONE SHALL PASS” tree.

42. Towelie - # October 1st, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    As for me i`d like more creatures,at least such as in the begining title.

43. Azukki - # October 1st, 2009 at 11:59 pm

    If you’ve seen old builds’ primitive AI obstructed by a wall, that isn’t exactly a new sight. Their brutal solution was a staircase of their own crushed bodies,and it looked exactly like that while building up.

    While there have been extreme improvements since then, the AI is still lacking in navigational ability. It seems hesitant about using its jetpack. Probably because it’s embarrassed at how it will fail to land on the ledge it’s flying up to, like it usually does.

44. AaronLee - # October 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 am

    Bending/breaking sounds like something an actor (base of the tree?) with attachables could do with some basecode modification.

    Really we’d jsut need more sophisticated low-joint-stiffness behavior. (Right now, it’s distance only AFAIK) If we included the ability to ‘torque’ the angle of attachables at low enough stiffness, I bet you could make some bendy trees.

    The basics are there, I just don’t know how efficient it would be.

45. AaronLee - # October 2nd, 2009 at 12:33 am

    PS: At Psy, what, mine isn’t good enough a dropship for you?

    As far as fauna goes, I’m all for it! The idea of explodey, trappey omg surprises as yopu’re exploring a “pristine” sight is interesting, and centering some gameplay around clearing unexplored areas of hostile wildlife infestations appeals to me.

    Not to mention if those cocoon crabs would wake up when dug at, then be able to attack the digger. Overall; it would give the terrain some life.

46. Geti - # October 2nd, 2009 at 3:11 am

    wow, arne does some PR. nice work. really loving most of the crab and plant designs, especially the balloon crab.
    for trees, it would be interesting if FG images could be added, that would obscure any actors behind them, in the same way a background image is obscured by actors, however their destruction would have to beimplemented as well, considering the ground below them would be dynamic. it would give forests a feeling of depth though. actor trees would also beideal, especialy if flexible

47. Arne - # October 2nd, 2009 at 6:23 am

    Thanks for your feedback.

    The Coalition guys in my post aren’t really done seriously by the way. I do not know how humans will look yet in terms of style. I don’t want them to end up like looking like Megaman on the Megaman 3 cover. In some ways it is more horrible than the first one.

48. Rook_PL - # October 2nd, 2009 at 7:15 am

    Maybe make only big objects (ships, vehicles) collide with trees (it would be quite logic to be unable to land or move around a mech in forest) but the little ones (infantry) walking (randomly) in front or behind them.
    I’m all for presented food chain (plants->crabs) if they are to fight each other. It would be super cool to have species to crabs specialized to eat some particular species of plants.

49. Numgun - # October 2nd, 2009 at 7:57 am

    –TREES

    Well, for the trees to work like in that dream I’d see them as pseudo-background objects. By that I mean they are actually interactable, but are in the background.

    So you have a forest and you’d want to get your soldier through it to the other side. If it’d be a complete object, you’d either have to mow down the whole forest like some capitalist lumberjack with dollars in your eyes or fly over it because walking simply though it wont work.

    So heres the deal:
    The trees would be in the background, and actors/craft can pass by them. However, any particles will affect the trees
    and if the tree is gibbed, the gibs will collaple down like normal gibs and crush stuff.
    In short actors do not interact with trees, but particles
    (aka bullets, jet exhausts, fire) can interact with the tree.

    This could allow you to build enviroments that will look lively, interactive, but be able to play without hinderance.
    (Plus the trees can work as cover which is part of the game so its a win-win situation.)

    –FEET

    Right now, the feet feel pretty good. This is because of the head size that makes it up for it. If you’d reduce the head size, only then the feet will start looking wierd and goofy. The whole thing is how much towards realistic or cartoony look you want to go for.

    Do note that the cartoony look will promote more arcade like gameplay and more extra dramatic effects than a realistic look.

    So far I’ve enjoyed the size of the actors and how they are built and proportioned. The enviroment art has also helped to make them look great together. The only thing is what I’ve been confused with is the devices size in the game.
    Like some guns seem much larger and more cartoony compared to others and vise-versa.

    –PALETTE

    DO EET. Make a better one indeed. And the fact you mentioned your monitor wasnt calibrated just supports the cause.

50. Wacky - # October 2nd, 2009 at 8:11 am

    I want a blocking tree

51. Kaworu Nagisa - # October 2nd, 2009 at 8:39 am

    I love the idea of life evolving on the planet according to the story (which means it is realistic and follows common sense).
    Love it. Do it! You won’t regret it

52. Numgun - # October 2nd, 2009 at 8:45 am

    Destroyable barrier plants like those organic things in metroid fusion that you needed to shoot at to proceed would work too.

    Variety is fun : 3

53. ZevN47 - # October 2nd, 2009 at 8:50 am

    Awesome… I like the idea for trees and the balloon crab would be interesting… I wonder if the balloon crab is a hydrogen filled crab (Hindenburg?) because that would be interesting.

    I had a interesting thought for trees… Could you make an actor detection/Drop ship detection with Rays and then have 30-40 frames of tree bending for lua to play as the actor pushes against the tree and when the last frame is played the tree gibs… I suppose you could also do this to how much force is applyed to the tree… might have to look into it…

    Anyway I think the priority should be on diversifying the wildlife instead of making more crabs… Now I’m not saying you need a million and 1 creatures but I was thinking some giant insect life or some more primitive life would be interesting. I think this should have the theme of the Pre-Reptilian Era of Earth(crabs, fish, various crustaceans, plant life, etc.) but with artistic liberties taken (aliens and stuff).

    another thing… I thought of one kinda crab… The Shield crab (thought it up when I saw a horseshoe crab on Google images).

    Lastly, I think the coalition look fine but need to look more gritty*(like they are vets) this is a war not a pansy fest. Or they could (as the campaign progresses) have more gritty graphics* as they become more veteran soldiers.

    *could benefit from improved pallet

54. ZevN47 - # October 2nd, 2009 at 8:54 am

    Crap I forgot something:

    I think we should have more options than just “Flash White” in lua. This could be very useful for modding maybe a “FlashColor = G(33)R(48)B(78)”

    … Srry for Double post

55. Petethegoat - # October 2nd, 2009 at 10:22 am

    Hey Arne, are you an anarchist perchance? Your signature in the first image suggests that you are. This pleases me. :3

56. S - # October 2nd, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    I’m really liking these updates, even if there’s no new build, it’s fun to see what’s going on, and what is being thought about.

57. Pyrokinesis - # October 2nd, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    Not that I know anything about the coding or limits thereof in CC, but after reading all of these tree posts, it seems to me that trees can either be a)background and do nothing, b)regular terrain that gets shot up just like everything else, c)an actor that can bend and gib, but actors can’t move through, or d)something that actors can move through, but won’t bend or interact as well.
    Those crabs look awesome. All of them. So do the plants. I wouldn’t mind having mostly crabs and plants as long as there are more awesome variations on both. And I have never noticed the proportions for any of the limbs/features to be really off, although I’m always too busy blowing things up to really stop and look at some Coalition dude’s feet.

58. wereguy2 - # October 2nd, 2009 at 6:58 pm

    Damn, I absolutely LOVE your concept art

59. Karvey - # October 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm

    We require humanoid crabs with gunz >:)

60. washaa - # October 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am

    Would this open up to missions where you protect and cultivate the wildlife, able to research new stuff from observing them? Fun.

61. Raintail99 - # October 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    I vote that crabs be the dominant creature, but have evolved into many different types.

62. Vash - # October 4th, 2009 at 9:59 pm

    I like the proportions on the Female coalition and the Grunts in the two tree concept pictures. What I mean is like the big, cartoony heads and the tiny feet.

63. feras - # October 5th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

    I like numgum’s idea of a tree. I also think it’d be cool if the coalition clones had different faces under the mask and that the mask would be easier to shoot off.

    I think the proto-clone and even the two stylistic-clones would make cool brain units or other new kind of special actors. I wouldn’t mind them being more expensive regular actors either.

    I just thought of a new idea, that you could customize your brain unit and use it kind of like an avatar. Like you could change it’s helmet and mask, boots, armor, and default loadout.

    As a side note, I think it’d be really useful if you could save presets between games and not just in the current game.

64. Lizard - # October 9th, 2009 at 8:51 am

    That customizeable brainbot idea sounds awesome, and one could have different frames that one can buy, then customize those.

65. sylverone - # October 19th, 2009 at 10:06 am

    A family member of mine has complained about the “cartoony” style of the characters. He would prefer smaller heads. I could handle it however it ends up, though.

66. VladDracul - # October 20th, 2009 at 4:18 am

    God… I would give my left foot, a kidney, and my big toe’ toenail to have super bendy, super strong trees that I can ram a drop-ship into, and just WATCH it be sling-shot’d away.

    Dropship: Incoming tree, prepare to be broken!
    Tree: *Bend. Fling!!* NO U!

67. Azukki - # October 30th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    Prop up dead headless robot.
    Glue Balloon Crab to neck.
    Explode it.
    Enemy assumes victory and leaves?

68. Tezzet - # December 9th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    i really like the idea of using crabs as the sole fauna.

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