The Official WIP Screenshot Thread

[Aradan]

The settlement in Gorgoroth is a mining/quarrying centre (Gorgoroth has both iron and stone as resources). It has a relatively small population, no farmland and is rather bleak. NW Mordor does have grass in battle-map mode btw, it's just not there in strat-map mode.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Black grass, though, from what I recall.

[Aradan]

Well, I wouldn't call it "lush".

[Éorl]

Nope, the battlemap grass isn't black in Mordor, its a scruffy-looking dry bright desaturated beige-brown.

[Revelo]

Nope, the battlemap grass isn't black in Mordor, its a scruffy-looking dry bright desaturated beige-brown.

There's a cream for that.

[Jagmodo]

My apologies, I’m biting my tongue for a few days and just can’t anymore...

I have seen that you have invested effort to change representation of the Crown of Gondor on the units, banners, sails... While you explained why you used plain or typical image of the crown before (picture 1 - I.), your newest choice seems highly influenced by the Peter Jackson’s LotR movies. New crown looks very similar to the crown shown in The Return of the King movie (picture 1 - II.) and is therefore still inaccurate by the lore.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I certainly don’t mind if you find inspiration from certain visual style shown in the movies if those are lore-respecting but in this case it is not. I just find it strange if you have redone it that you didn’t do justice to the lore... I doubt that you didn’t know how it should look so why? Did you find Peter Jackson’s style more appealing? Is the Winged Crown too big to be placed on the shields or banners; or maybe doesn’t look good?

Here is how J.R.R. Tolkien imagined Winged Crown and there are some other artistic representations of it:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Maybe you will tell me that I’m nitpicking (as usual) but I find correct representation of faction symbols and heraldry quite important since it represents faction visually and Tolkien himself did analyzed it into details. We could see it on almost every soldier so... Also, you have moved unique objects, among them the Crown from “ancillaries” to traits, so correct visual representation could not be seen here anymore.

Yes, I know that I’m not in the position to demand anything and this post probably looks tremendously ungrateful, but since you aim to represent Middle-earth as Tolkien imagined it I thought I would share an opinion. Once again, I apologise if that post sounded too critical and focused on trivial thing.

[Éorl]

Well, Jagmodo, while what you say is certainly fair and true, I've chosen the design used by the movies because its beautiful, and it looks more like a crown of sorts. Truth be told - I didn't know that Tolkien actually designed the crown.

I'm certainly not above changing the design again. We'll have a little chat about this in the dev team.

Another truth that needs to be told: EVERYONE that is into design stuff is at odds with J.R.R Tolkien's visualization of the gondorian helmets with the wings attached and tries to come up with a design that looks elegant and not ridiculous. Frankly, the crown Tolkien designed looks a bit silly in my eyes, despite the overall beauty of his sub-creation. I think Tolkien, as obsessed with detail as he was, wouldn't mind artists coming in and changing some design details for the better if they remain true to his works in spirit.

[Éorl]

Oh well, now that almost everyone following this thread has seen them, I can officially preview them and give some info.

New Guards of the Citadel and King's spears - retaining design elements of the old versions, although rigging and uv-mapping has been cleaned up and improved where needed:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So, what is this about? We didn't have a modeller for the units in a long time, and the modellers that joined to tweak and fix the existing models here and there all left at some time, all busy with their own work.

Since I learned how to model, uv-map and rig unit models during the past 6 months, I've accumulated quite a huge resource of nicely rigged and uv-mapped meshes. A few weeks ago, I realized that tweaking and fixing several dozen models can become quite daunting quickly and also is not very rewarding. So looking at my resources, I decided to basically re-do all unit models. The above is just the beginning. This will, of course impact the time schedule a bit, but I we feel it's worth it. Rest assured that the new unit models will be previewed regularly.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Ok, so 10 more years?

[Éorl]

I believe it's safe to say that we wn't take as long as Tolkien did

[Revelo]

I believe it's safe to say that we wn't take as long as Tolkien did

Just don't die before you finish it. I don't think we need another Silmarilion on our hands.

And the new units look amazing! Top job mate.

[MasterOfNone]

The Lord of the Rings took 12 years to complete.

We're only at 8.3 years

[Aradan]

And we've released a couple of versions and some other award-winning mods in the meantime.

[MasterOfNone]

Yes - and written some books

[Dejeyo]

Amazing stuff guys. I guess I can wait until it's released (Even if that means another year or two. Or more).

[Éorl]

Nah, we can't wait that long ourselves.

[Jagmodo]

Well, Jagmodo, while what you say is certainly fair and true, I've chosen the design used by the movies because its beautiful, and it looks more like a crown of sorts. Truth be told - I didn't know that Tolkien actually designed the crown.

I'm certainly not above changing the design again. We'll have a little chat about this in the dev team.

Another truth that needs to be told: EVERYONE that is into design stuff is at odds with J.R.R Tolkien's visualization of the gondorian helmets with the wings attached and tries to come up with a design that looks elegant and not ridiculous. Frankly, the crown Tolkien designed looks a bit silly in my eyes, despite the overall beauty of his sub-creation. I think Tolkien, as obsessed with detail as he was, wouldn't mind artists coming in and changing some design details for the better if they remain true to his works in spirit.

Well, Tolkien didn’t have high opinion on himself as a painter. However, I find his paintings and sketches very good.

What I'm having issue is that if you represent the Crown as simple coronet you are neglecting all the rich history behind it. I agree that design of the crown from the movies is very nice but it does just that.

I don’t mind design changes if it retains all the characteristics it should have (helmet-shaped, wings, maybe jewel above...). That leaves quite room for experimenting...

Thank you for considering my arguments.

Oh well, now that almost everyone following this thread has seen them, I can officially preview them and give some info...

And I can officially comment that you did great job on it. Fabric texture looks amazing especially creases.

Merry Christmas to you all and your families and also happy and productive whole new year (in which this mod will be hopefully finally released. )

[Éorl]

The crown is getting changed, I'm uploading different new designs in the Dev forum right now, and the team is discussing them.

Merry christmas to all of you and your families!

[Jagmodo]

Oh, great and thanks! (Well, maybe not so much for you since you get more work to do. )

[Revelo]

Merry Christmas to everyone and your families too!