Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 54 (October 5, 2008)

Bandit LOAF · 10-04-2008, 17:00

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first weapons page:

Quote:

CONCEPT: This was one of my very earliest concepts - I wanted a unique way to include the weapons in the manual, which is something other booklets haven't done. What I was picturing was those cheap newsprint advertisements for car dealerships or grocery stores -- just badly put together and BUSY as all hell. I think it ended up being slightly too slick to get that across... but it's close! So many fonts, colors, text directions all at once...

REFERENCES-

"Gar's Emporium" - The smugglers den from Action Stations - apparently it escaped the event horizon!
The image in the corner is Bhurak Starkiller, taken from the original Claw Marks.
The images are all from Origin's Privateer source models, rendered out anew. Note the cheapo rainbow effect to cover their jaggy edges.
Gun specifications come from the original Privateer.
Credit pricing is my own; although there were plans for an economy in Arena early on, this was created well after that was dropped.
The "Mark" numbers on the guns tribute/add to the Wing Commander I blueprints, which gave these designations for the holy trinity of Wing Commander guns (laser, mass driver, neutron).
"most efficient" - A nod to Wing Commander fans like Mark Minasi who calculated that the Tachyon was by far the most cost effective gun in the original Privateer.
"Hades class ships" - There's a retcon! The massive awkward plasma weapons in Privateer are the same type found years later in Secret Ops. Go figure!
The font along the side is the Kilrathi font from the Wing Commander movie, as published in the Confederation Handbook. I used a downloaded version someone made and tried not to use any of the 'non canon' letters... but that may have been abandoned in order to spell something in the background.
In general, the gun descriptions are all designed not to hurt any of the 'how-it-works' descriptions from past titles.

--
Original update published on October 5, 2008

AD · 10-05-2008, 21:26

Quote:

This was one of my very earliest concepts - I wanted a unique way to include the weapons in the manual, which is something other booklets haven't done. What I was picturing was those cheap newsprint advertisements for car dealerships or grocery stores -- just badly put together and BUSY as all hell. I think it ended up being slightly too slick to get that across... but it's close! So many fonts, colors, text directions all at once...

I think the concept actually works really well in the printed version. Stuff like the extra text printed sideways to cram it in on the side works so much better on the printed page. When we see it in the PDF we just wonder why the page wasn't just made bigger... It's more readily evident when you have a hardcopy in your hands though. Same with the kilrathi text on the outskirts of the pages...

Gamer8585 · 10-06-2008, 16:01

Quote:

The font along the side is the Kilrathi font from the Wing Commander movie, as published in the Confederation Handbook. I used a downloaded version someone made and tried not to use any of the 'non canon' letters... but that may have been abandoned in order to spell something in the background.

...so....did he spell something with the Kilrathi letters?

Mekt-Hakkikt · 10-06-2008, 16:29

Yup:

"FAB CHEAP OMG COOL NO MUCH BUCK "

(Just in case: yes, I'm serious)

10-06-2008, 16:29	#4
Mekt-Hakkikt Mpanty's bane Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Wiesbaden, Germany Posts: 4,639	Yup: "FAB CHEAP OMG COOL NO MUCH BUCK " (Just in case: yes, I'm serious) __________________ "Khasra! I have heard enough of Khasra!" For the Glory of Sivar!

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