Designing spaceships for Jumpgate Evolution
Steve Hartmeyer (programmer for Jumpgate Evolution) has written another dev diary for MMO Gamer, this time about what goes into designing the ships for their upcoming space combat MMO.
According to Steve many of JGE's ship evolved from those in Jumpgate Classic. The process, which usually takes several days, is a very art-intensive exercise that starts with the creation of a style. From there a concept for the ship asset is created, a model is built and then put into a form that the render engine can use. Finally, stats (which won't be considered final until the game releases) that defines the ship are chosen.
It's a very detailed entry, so those of you looking to get into the industry as a modeler will definitely want to give it a read.
