Concept art

[Migel]

Spooky One! It is great, but I think you should remove the "tail" and set legs closer - it will look more human-like. I know you don't want that, but now it look a TOO strange. I can help with texture and try to add standart animation.

[Imposeren]

Spooky One! It is great, but I think you should remove the "tail" and set legs closer - it will look more human-like. I know you don't want that, but now it look a TOO strange. I can help with texture and try to add standart animation.

Do you realy think that it'll be better?

And what about G-like pose?

Here is quick dirt grab-resculptings for your proposition and my mine.

P.S. Any recomendations for retopology? (Poly count, etc.)

[Imposeren]

P.P.S. How about more "strange" aliens?
(this one can't go by itself, it requires floating disk)

[Destructavator]

Now these look nice, these really do look alien, which is something I think we need more of for this project.

[bayo]

And can't we use already done things from Tremulous?
http://tremulous.net/manual/#x1-40002.1
And they have a nice "Battlesuit" too

[Imposeren]

Now these look nice, these really do look alien, which is something I think we need more of for this project.

Are you talking about shevaar-inspired model, or about "Picky-hand"?

Any ideas, recomendations? What do you think about Migels remarks

[Destructavator]

Actually I was referring to both aliens, and yes, I saw Migel's post, although as far as recommendations for what it needs to go into the game, Winter is the one in charge of officially approving/denying models.

...But as far as I'm concerned, I like them.

[Ain Soph Aur]

i dont think these models are appropriate... no offence, but looks like a hand full of meat to me. nothing really original or functional

@Imposeren
keep in mind, i am just an user, not a developer 

[Winter]

We're not going to include anything just because it looks weird. Form follows function. Bodies are well-designed things, produced by thousands of years of constant development. There has to be a reason for the aliens to look the way they do, they must give the impression of being capable of surviving on their original home world(s) without assistance, and they mustn't be clumsy.

Nothing that falls short of those requirements is going to get my approval, I'm afraid.

Regards,
Winter

[Migel]

but looks like a hand full of meat to me

I see it diferente - as a natural organic armour shell, and they are capable of surviving like that. Something like ...snail, slug in the shell. Maybe if I draw a simple skin (no details, just main theme) we all (including Winter  ) will reconsider our opinion.

[Imposeren]

Nothing that falls short of those requirements is going to get my approval, I'm afraid.

The  first one is just a variation of what Shevaar may look like.

The last one even have a story.
Once this aliens were parasites that used other species as mounts and as tools. With evolution they learned to used their four oposed pairs of limbs as a "hand". When new techs were discovered there was no more need of live mounts. Their "shell" is just like human hair, they don;t need it anymore. In fact it makes their life harder, but they keep it to make something like "shellcut"

[Winter]

A couple of problems.

1. Is it meant to be scary? All I'm seeing is something ugly and silly-looking. There's not one iota of credible menace coming from that overdesigned drawing.

2. UFO:AI is a sci-fi/horror game. A silly concept like having to have their shells trimmed doesn't really fit with a serious game, and is actually in complete opposition to all established canon/backstory.

How do you expect me to take designs seriously when you totally ignore how they would fit in with our existing content? That's how every other model/sound/concept gets rejected, and yet nothing ever seems to change.

Regards,
Winter

[Imposeren]

2. UFO:AI is a sci-fi/horror game. A silly concept like having to have their shells trimmed doesn't really fit with a serious game, and is actually in complete opposition to all established canon/backstory.

Shells trimming is not a concept it's just a little extra to explain it's look. Almost any creature have something that they realy don't need but it was needed by their ancestors. Concept is simple: they are weak but intelligent creatures that depend on their techs and on controlling other creatures. They survived in long-long past because they were body-controlling parasites.

I told this "story" just to explain why do they look like this and why are they still alive

Does visual or "historical" concept not fit in existing content?
This was just first attempts. I can keep trying to make something new but I need some feedback to adapt easily.

P.S. Clumsy one is just a fighter-runner. Only needed thing for it are legs, hands and some sensors on "head". It doesn't care for anything else in it's body so they may have any appearance. All these mall things on it's body is just "decoration". This decorations will be just texture details on low-poly model. And those bubles on back are some sort of glands

[Hertzila]

Just asking but why would a parasite infect another parasite when they both do the exact same thing? Shouldn't XVI more like try to kill them all? Or are they not anymore parasites? Also if it was a parasite, shouldn't it be REALLY small, small enough NOT to gain sapience?

[Destructavator]

Perhaps a different approach would work better for modeling something that Winter could approve:

I'd suggest, before starting a new alien model, to think about what lower creature form an alien could come from, the type of planetary environment it may have started in, etc.  (A volcanic, rocky planet?  A mostly ocean-covered/aquatic planet?  High-gravity?  Low-gravity?)  Then think along the lines of how it may have evolved over time, through different forms, how it survived and lived, what prey and predators it may have had and how it adapted to hunt and/or avoid being hunted.  Think it through, going through at least several levels of development, until you have something that could be intelligent for a reason and be able to manipulate tools (fire a plasma gun).

If you have a "game-plan" idea of the background story of how an alien creature came about before and while you model, its much better than just modeling almost at random something that looks big, ugly, and scary, then working backwards trying to explain all of the creatures features, attributes, and abilities so it got that way.