Quote: Original post by comradeda
What is an appropriate look for a heavy, durable tank? Could you provide some examples?

As far as I can tell, it's pretty wide, and has fairly thick tracks, given that the player sees the mostly from the top. The gun is huge compared to the rest of the tank.

However, correct me if I'm wrong. Be more specific! :)

BCullis has some nice examples of how the objects silhouette can communicate those sorts of properties. Books with sections devoted to character design (such as animation books) go over this concept in detail.

I'd recommend some degree of caricature. It communicates more effectively than realism. It's more memorable too. The designers job is to communicate.

There are ideas in the tanks description, such as "mass-produced", that could be expanded into the design of the tank. Mass-produced suggests the tank is cheaply built by a corporation with an eye on their bottom line. Although I may be missing the point you're making.

The tank might appear less aero-dynamic and more boxy than a safer and more expensive model. Mass-produced could mean the tanks are imprinted with giant Golden Arches style logos because the corporation wants to advertise their success.

The idea that the tank is upgradeable could be made obvious with giant sockets in the back of the turret - making it prefabricated for various upgrades.

The motives of the corporation might also be designed into the tank. If this tank serves a dual purpose in peace time, such as suppressing civil unrest, there might be loud speakers or some form of propaganda. The motivations of the corporation producing the tank are a point of interest.

Those are a few ideas to get you started. Try entering some of your descriptive words into art and photo sharing sites to find more ideas. But don't try to add too much either.

[Edited by - abstractionline on December 11, 2009 1:17:07 AM]

The mass-produced things will tend to be smaller and much more conservative than the bigger units, although there is still an element of construction there.

I'm trying to avoid over-exaggeration of various traits, going for a more "it could happen, but probably won't" look. I'm attaining unit differentiation in different ways. The team colours are positioned in different patterns, and the units will be of fairly different sized.

The HAT is much bigger than the Light Tank than a direct comparison of the related art would suggest.

I will keep some of this in mind, particularly for the buildings (solid looking buildings for Turtle, disposable buildings for Rush).

The sockets are a good idea. :D

I do definitely need to think a lot more about the setting. Thanks guys.

Quote: Original post by comradeda
The HAT is much bigger than the Light Tank than a direct comparison of the related art would suggest.

You could include an indication of scale in the concept art. The likes of a soliders silhouette besides the tank. That would help when it comes to drawing textures and modelling things like the ladders. I think the current ladders make the rest of the tank look small because the ladders are big by contrast.