...The Development...
...A Few 'Behind the Scenes' Shots and Info...
All shots can be clicked on and enlarged.

Blood Amongst the Stars draws upon it's originality of concept to produce something very much unlike any other current CnC Generals Mod. Featuring a unique locational damage system, a specialist zero gravity physics environment, and plenty of well thought out solutions to various problems such as energy shields that actually go up and down as they take damage and regenerate once more, and even limited directional firing, it's certainly one to keep your eyes on.
BAtS is expected to be of extreme visual quality, featuring high quality precision design and equally detailed texture and skin work. Compelling visuals, accompanied by fantastic game design and unique mod solutions should turn BAtS into something truly remarkable.

Developing the Scenery

So far, even the basic scenery has taken a great many evolutions. In this short section, I hope to take you through these subtle changes, as they progress further and further into the realm of extreme graphical quality. We're still working furiously to improve these as much as possible before we hit release.

Through the Stages so Far

This isn't the earliest shot that we took during development, but it is however one of the most critical. This is the first shot with a real background texture, our very early concept of having nebulae styled textures didn't really work as well as planned, although it's still possible that such effects may reappear for special maps set inside gas clouds. You'll also note that radar colouration was already in effect at this point, with the underlying texture actually appearing on the radar screen, as well as warp rifts being very visible over the top of this. It was clear at this point that we intended to make a large variety of maps and textures, with accompanying radar colourisations to go with each. An experimental particle effect is also somewhat visible, an early effect which included the odd asteroid fragment passing the screen during play. Although that in itself has been saved for missions based in dense asteroid missions, the particle effect has spawned a number of exciting concepts, such as having thick fog, representing fighting in dense gas clouds or even something more sinister!

Ambershee: Warp Rift Textures
Rybolt: Space Background, Asteroid Model

This first attempt later gave way to actually getting round to skinning the asteroid clusters shown in the previous shot, as well as refining the background textures to simpler star fields and giving the warp rifts a slightly altered colour to match, making them easier on the eye. A new fading technique was used in the creation of this map, making some edges more harsh than others, making for what will later become increased variation amongst warp rift designs.

Ambershee: Asteroid Textures
Rybolt: Space Background

After some serious pixel-by-pixel editing of thirty-two 512x512 frames of rift texture, this second alternate version was created, with a much darker and a more threatening colour and feel. Fortunately, it was around this time that a technique for allowing different types of new rift texture sets to also be included for ever map. This version also allowed for the rifts themselves to become as animated as the asteroid clusters, with many asteroids floating around unfathomably and the softly eddying currents of the warp rifts themselves adding to the busy atmosphere supplied by the game.

Ambershee: Red Warp Rift

My obtaining Photoshop, and the knowledge in the ability to create many different warp rift variations spawned a short creative pulse, whereby five different variations of warp rift were spawned. Although some of these were not accurately blended into the surrounding scenery as they were before, they still did have this potential at the time.

Ambershee: Warp Rifts

Now, I've thankfully invented a fantastic overlay system that allows placement of large individual textures over the top of the somewhat repetitive existing star field textures with great ease (one the hard job of getting them into Worldbuilder (or Galaxy Builder as the Dh4RTS modified version has been named!) is dealt with, they have varying success in visual quality. Whilst I continue to battle with the visual quality of the individual overlays to render their appearance ingame at the very best they can be, I also battle with their file size, and their apparent ingame size. Some of the larger textures are admittedly up to 10 megabytes on their own, which really needs to be dealt with, and I'm doing my absolute best to reduce these as far as possible, keeping them up to the high visual standards demanded by the mod itself.

As to where the images came from, most I obtained by taking and editing ultra-high resolution photographs taken by the Hubble space telescope, making these space phenomena images as utterly realistic as possible - after all, how more real can you get than the real thing itself?

You may also now notice that the shroud has had a slight red recolourisation. This was concocted to avoid confusion with the otherwise very dark backgrounds that inhabit the mod thus far. There are still issues with the overlays in general, as many lack detail and many also lack the necessary transparencies to fit into their world better.

The first image is a gigantic nebula image, shown there at approximately five screen widths wide and three tall - something particularly spectacular in terms of experience, although it needs work on graphical quality. The second was a fractal image supposed to look like a warp rift seen from a great distance. I still think they look like this, even if the graphic requires work. The second is a fantastic and finalised small nebulae texture, the third is also finished, being the famous 'Cat's Eye Nebula' that many may have previously heard of. The last is a distant spiral galaxy texture, which is also a very large overlay in itself, also requiring some work before making the final cut. I'm currently working on getting about forty of these into Galaxy Builder at the moment!

Ambershee: Giant Overlay Decals

Lastly, another interesting piece of work is the enormous Planet models we're working with. These models will be truly gargantuan ingame, sometimes being responsible for covering a great deal of the map, and turning it into impassable terrain. These hugely detailed leviathans are currently being worked on, and we're hoping to include animated axial rotation, as well as separately animated atmospheres and rings. Later, we'll even be including orbiting moons and comets that whip in and out of the map unexpectedly, maybe even a truly terrifying star model, with the necessary particle and lighting effects to go with it!

Rybolt: Planet

Designing the Units

With the invention of an almighty cunning locational damage system came the introduction to a whole new world of pain when it came to designing units. Fortunately, during the development process, our ship were being designed minus weapons systems and other external features - just as raw chassis, making them prime candidates to receive a great many turrets and other useful bits and pieces, such as shield generators and fighter bays. However, plans had not always been like this...

Through the Stages so Far

One of the very first models made for Dh4RTS (the pre-title working name of BAtS) portrayed a very large battleship with some interesting features that are likely to be seen again as time goes by, as well as a few that are visible in current model designs too. This early version of what was to become either the Thunder or Lightning class battleship, and it's design is likely to be very similar with it's final rendition.

Rybolt: Human Battleship

The first concept model spawned an entire series of small pieces, a handful of which are shown below. The original extremely bulky design had been abandoned in favour of more fluid designs, reminiscent of modern submarines. These new machines looked far more aerodynamic, and it was the unusual design that we stuck with, deciding that the atypical blocky or bulky capital ships were outdated and in need of a more suitable replacement. The first design in this selection is the second rendition of the Human Battleship design, although the first thing to go was definitely the unnecessary red turret, the rest of the model remains intact. Now, each and every green firing step will mount a small turret, and the red turret will be replaced by a main turret weapon instead. A great many smaller features will protrude from the hull, possibly making it the most detailed unit ever to grace a CnC Generals mod. The second is a far smaller vessel, the Stickleback Corvette. The Stickleback is the smallest vessel in the Human fleet (other than the tiny one man fighters of course!), mounting an insignificant three weapons turrets on it's entire body. The Stickleback itself is only really a little larger than the red turret on the Battleship prototype, giving an idea of scale between the objects. The third object is a Human Cruiser prototype, although at the present moment it requires some work, mostly in creating a suitable surface for weapons turrets, as well as shortening the object itself, making it less pencil thin.

Rybolt: Battleship, Cruiser, Corvette

Following these second stage prototypes (which will make it into the game), a selection of miscellaneous models arrived. Designed in a similar fashion, the Fighter Wing and Human Repair Station are two models that will also make it into the game. The Human Repair station will later gain some serious additional appendages, turrets and some of the most uber particle effects I'll ever get the pleasure to work with.

Rybolt: Fighter Wing, Repair Station

Creating the Special Effects

BAtS relies upon an incredible quantity of special lighting and particle effects to achieve the majority of all it's special effects, including those that have currently been completed; the early designs for weapon firing special effects.

Through the Stages so Far

The first evolution was mostly an experiment into seeing what could be achieved, with some fairly bland results, but also a few absolute shockers too, that will likely make it into the final version, and dictate the path for other weapon effect designs to take. From left to right; Lasers, Plasma Cannons, Pulse Weapons, Tachyon Weapons, Neutron Beams.

Ambershee: Weapon Effects

It wasn't long before these designs were modified slightly, with the second evolution of special effects instead relying upon more complex multi-part beam, lighting and particle effects to achieve more spectacular effects. These will hopefully alter advance further up to the standard of the fantastic Neutron Beam weapon effects. Notably, the Plasma Cannon effect became the effect for the many-barrelled Anti-Fighter Battery turrets instead, Lasers were advanced slightly, and Plasma Cannons got a new swirl-shot yellow effect, which is prime for further development. From left to right; Lasers, Plasma Cannons, Pulse Weapons.

 
Ambershee: Weapon Effects