Unit aesthetics

[wide whale]

Hi, I'd like to play the game but the aesthetics keep putting me off. I've been playing Supreme Commander for over 10 years. Is there any news about whether they'll change the aesthetics of the units in the future? It looks like a Lego game for kids, no offense.

[wild grotto]

The aesthetics of BAR is more inspired by total annihilation than supreme commander, which explain the "goofy" style and the look of some units.

In comparison, Supreme commander tried to make a more realistic style, with tank and boat more inspired by real one.

I don't want to talk for anybody, but i think that Core and Arms factions would have some remodel in order to match the new faction 3D qualities (which is clearly better in my opinion).

But even if this is a thing, IDK if units gonna be that improved or if they just gonna be remodeled with more polygon...

[neon surge]

The slightly toy'ish look is done intentionally

And no, new models won't change the game in this regard

[wild grotto]

i've just saw a document about redesigning TA and was surprised to saw some units sketches that look very similar to BAR units :
https://androidarts.com/rts/ta.htm

Is the autor related to BAR project ?

[quaint maple]

I wanted to add that I can't get a couple of friends to join this awesome game because they told me the aesthetics are ugly 😢
I love the game and like them so idk, just wanted to add this data point to the conversation.

[wide whale]

Why did you decide to go for a more toy-like look instead of a more realistic look?

Are you aware that by adopting a more realistic style you would have more players?

[buoyant cave]

It looks more cartoonish I suppose I would say 🙃

[neon surge]

Are you aware that by adopting a more realistic style you would have more players?
Are you aware that this is just your opinion and not everyone agrees with you?

Can't please everyone

[wide whale]

Why the hostility? I'm just trying to share my opinion; I think it's constructive criticism.

To find out the truth, we would need to conduct a survey, asking both people who are playing the game and those who are not.

[mellow quartz]

Big units (like in BAR) are less tiresome for eyes.

[neon surge]

now that you speak about it

The asthetic of BAR makes it easier to make unique looking units

[crystal iris]

Fwiw I didn't take Damgam's reply as hostile, nor did I find your suggestion constructive. I don't see why a different aesthetic would by itself have any significant impact on appeal; to me it seems mostly subjective. There are boat loads of popular titles out there with "toy-ish" aesthetics.
-# I'm not saying that your subjective opinion isn't a reasonable one to have, just that it's simply that; subjective.

[neon surge]

"I don't like it" is not constructive criticism indeed.

[mint tangle]

BAR is a fan made project which is built in with the soul of the original game,TA.The models look like that probably because they fit the looks of the models from TA

Of course with some more detailed rendering and more polygons,but all in all they keep the aesthetics of the TA models

[drowsy gust]

I will casually point out that the ta models do work in bar directly iirc.

[loud lily]

While I'm also more of a fan of the grittier TA/Supcom style the style BAR chose does give the advantage of easily visually identifying units which is a big deal when you have thousands of them in a small space.

[mint tangle]

indeed,but selecting using is kind of a problem for me lol😂

[mint tangle]

Shouldnt all of TA files be compatible with the Spring engine/Recoiless engine?They might have used to be but not now since the engine was heavily updated during the years

[drowsy gust]

Not all of them are
We dropped support for some of the extensions that are used by ta exclusivly

[high needle]

actually the best argument and probably the point where this discussion should stop (the best answer IMO is smth like "yes, it's not as spectacular as supcom, yes sometime it's a bit ugly, yes it could be improved, no we are not going to change the art direction of the game just to hypothetically please more ppl, who do you think we are ubisoft ? lol ")

[neon surge]

Unironically good answer

[timid isle]

Are we actually talking about "unit aesthetics" i.e. unit models or something else? Because I can't see how possibly anyone could think that SupCom looks better. People are continuously creating wonderful screenshots and videos in BAR zoomed in close to the units so that you can actually see what's happening close to the ground and the view is amazing. On the contrary, SupCom players play fully zoomed out even more than BAR players tend to. Also it makes absolutely no sense to say that BAR units are toy-like when the SupCom destroyer has legs and can walk on land. Unit-wise the only thing where I think SupCom is better than BAR is the experimental units. The experimentals in SupCom are exciting and fun while in BAR it's gigaboring and I honestly hate it when the game goes to t3. But that's more about game balance and unit design than unit models. Don't get me wrong, I don't want any animosity between FAF and BAR communities. But the arguments in this thread don't make any sense to me whatsoever. Also, if you want to redefine the "unit aesthetics" you should create a whole new game on top of Recoil as everything else is basically free and open-source except for the unit models (and audio etc).

[hearty pulsar]

It's more about the unit proportions, BAR units have a very exaggerated "chibi" aesthetic - turrets are proportionally bigger to the unit's body, especially on ships.

[crystal iris]

Looks like OP dipped btw. Hopefully they're happier just playing FaF

[timid isle]

Weird reason not to play, and you'll get used to it. Maybe start playing during advent, when the commanders get santa hats? I found my candycane nukes particularly funny after I had EMPed the opps' antis using spybots.

IMHO, the unit models in BAR are awesome, better than in FAF. You can also zoom out until the units are icons, then the models don't matter.

[wanton garnet]

When speaking about visual styling, of two listed games BAR units are quite distinct at the very first glance, meanwhile compared to aforementioned SupCom that is hard to look at (washed) and for Total Annihilation it's borderline impossible to get anything telegraphed out of it, even team colours. The only visuals shortcoming I can note off the top of my head BAR having is non-existence of damage particles more advanced than little smoke clouds, all of same size regardless the unit, coming out of odd places on said unit, comparing to far more professionally made C&C4 (absolute peak pleasure), or even the recent Age of Mythology remake. Like, across entire AgeOf game series people literally didn't mind the fact that barracks completely and massively ablaze and missing 30% of the building model still produce units completely fine needing no extinguishment which may appear unrealistic. People like such lively units instead, just needing a refreshed models on much of arm and cor palette. ...Though admittedly in C&C4 inclusively mechanical units do become slower with high damage and on fire, bots visibly limping. Except for Avatar, which loses it's arm cannons with damage, becoming lighter and thus faster instead, as everyone familiar with at least the Campaign knows.

[drowsy gust]

Ta had real limitations as the models are 3d

[tender gazelle]

Lets please not change the looks they're awesome models however I'd like to see some skins or cosmetics to purcahse for commanders I know you guys enable some during holidays like halloween but make them purcahseable with in game currency of some kind

I wanna keep these cosmetics even after the holidays and they could be limited and stuff

[buoyant cave]

Commander hats would be fun to have. I know they are around but I dont think casual players can get them, I want one! 🙃

[remote forge]

As far as esthetics goes, a few unit's mainly in armada would deserve rework. Unfortunatelly Protar who had some good ideas left.
Biggest esthetics problem for me is the scratched texture of Cortex.

[mint tangle]

same here

[misty orchid]

I kinda like that they look like little Legos or something, especially in some of the older loading screens.

[wooden bridge]

Honestly. The core commander could do with a new head and he would probably be personally grateful to be able to drop his arms and not feel like some tricked out waitor Lego man. And... The behemoth looks completely ridiculous. It looks like an elephant fell on its face and then didn't quite sit down properly from the shock. Don't get me started on the turtle. Or that stupid dog thing in legion with the super nail gun strapped to its face. Other than that... Everything else is awesome. Love ur work. 😉😘 but... Where as beyond all reason is like my favourite game and a boyhood dream of mine come true. I too would personally rather see my commander looking like the cybran or seraphim or some other bad ass motherfucker kicking ass and taking names instead of a robot that looks like he might have a good personality if you catch him on a Sunday.

[lapis hamlet]

This is accurate. I remember this discussion coming up for several specific units over the last year. Ultimately it went nowhere because the art director is happy with the aesthetic choice. There is openness to improving the weaker of the models but it's going to be a very tough sell especially for the high-profile units like Commanders.

I know for a fact this thread as is as it currently is presented is Dead on arrival. I can pass it on but it'll never get read.

What will get attention is a coordinated effort to make a tier list of how the units look from best to worst. Followed by interested artistic talent willing to try to improve upon some of those models that repeatedly appear near the bottom. https://tiermaker.com/categories/pc-gaming/beyond-all-reason-bar-armada-units-15763215

@me if you have the talent, or the willingness to coordinate this effort.

[drowsy gust]

@lapis hamlet I think it would be best to just nuke this whole conversation and have people restart from the top.
The op has officially left bar org.
If not nuked then just close it out completly

[lapis hamlet]

You got a point.

Start fresh gents. The premise of "redo the whole art style" won't work because it was as Damgam stated a deliberate choice.