Another faction I'd like to see - only in map 6 - is the Argonians (and maybe a Hist for Dres quests) living within the Black Marsh land conquered during the Arnesian War. I thought that this would be separate from the "settlers" faction, so I want to just put it out there, although plans are likely already in place for the Lizard Men.
Sorry if this next part belongs in another thread.
I have a few requests for the master plan to take into consideration in regards to the art department.
1.) I'd like to see the design and unclaimed Objects of Tamriel forums merged. By the time something makes its way into the unclaimed forum it typically has some concept art to go along with it, as the claim originated from concept art that has come from outside the design forum (just look at the regional design threads). Claims should either have art from the get go, or a description and if art has not been made and needs to be, then it can be made elsewhere and promptly added to the claim. It might seem counter-productive, but anything that slows down the pipeline is even more so. Another thing is that models are almost always quite different from the original art, so usually the concept art and models have to evolve together (so that when a concept looks unusual as a model, the concept can be updated to become more reasonable, this can often be seen with concepts that begin very alien or bug like, and are then forced to become more normal due to Morrowind's lack of special graphical effects and low poly requirements) and the best way to do that is within a single thread. Also, a lot of good concepts are drawn by modelers, usually the easiest ones to recreate. As such it would make more sense for the concept art to be actively discussed alongside the model claim. This is not to say that the concept should not be made before, but during, but instead that it should continue to remain a relevant and flexible topic during the creation of the model.
2.) Another desirable change would be the ability for senior artists to upload new files directly to the OOT review forum by themselves. It can then be reviewed by a lead artist before being archived into the BSA. The current lack of use of the OOT claim system is really bad, just look at all the recent uploads in my "A Thread for Wolli" thread, not one of those files is in the OOT Finished claims forum or has even been reviewed (except by Haplo as he adds the files). If seniors could upload their assets - which have not originated from a claim - into the claim system, then the system would be much more stable. For obvious reasons the claim forum would be skipped and files would go directly into the review forum if the artist is uploading an already finished file. This would be a brilliant change as it would allow people to "donate" files much more easily to the project - without being scared off by the claim system, something I'm told has long been desired. The only problem here is that the showcase limits would still exist, although I'm sure there is a way around that too. On the other hand, if a modeler begins work on something that they believe will take time, and they wish to begin a discussion about it, then the claims forum is the place to post it in. The claim forum will obviously still be used to open standard claims.
Currently the modeling claim system is on par with the rumors of heard regarding 2002's claim systems; basically anyone (srsly, I'm not even in the modelers group...) Can upload anything anywhere (I've uploaded a few files into an exterior claim...) Everything should be found within the finished art forum, not in random modeler's personal thread, such as my own, Ashstaar's or Melchior's.
3.) The "Objects of Tamriel" name should just be removed at this point, we all know the forum is for. The same can be said for the names of claims themselves. Currently things appear to be numbered with a faction tagged on the end, which doesn't make sense to
me. The name of the OOT claim "n5-4-Dre" probably makes sense to someone, but I personally have no idea what the n5-4 mean, and why dre (which I have assumed to mean dres?) has been used when the claim is for Nordic Menhirs in the Redoran territory. It would make so much more sense - to me- if the claim was called "Nordic Menhirs" instead of whatever this cryptic tag means. Actually, speaking of tags, ones such as: flra, terr, ext, int, cre, char, furn and item would be much more useful for the system when it comes to categorizing and searching. The Nordic Menhirs would be known as "Ext: Nordic Menhirs" and the Nixmount would be: Cre: Nixmount. This just makes much more sense to
me.
4.) Due to the integration the Master Plan offers between members of TR, both within the same department and between them, I would like for the ability to allow certain (often large) art asset claims to be capable of being claimed multiple people at at the same time. I'm either absolutely insane, or a genius, so read on. When designing a region (and map 6, and eventually map 1 and 2 will need quite a lot of these) a lot of work needs to go into the design process: rocks need to be create or selected and retexture; the flora, including container plants, shrubs, grass and trees all has to be created; various ground textures have to be made, including 2 or more grass, dirt and scrub textures and roads and rocks; the region has to be mocked up in the CS so that the modeler can create meshes that will improve the overall feel and creation process of the region, such as models that act as borders, detailing, fillers, and the odd Swiss-Army-Model and over such highly needed and generic pieces. This entire process is pretty tiresome; I've done it. Leaving it all to a single person is somewhat cruel and having multiple claims for each aspect of the task is simply barbaric. For example: if a set of trees were to be made for the Shipal-Shin, then reviewed and finished, but then later-on they were found to visually conflict with the preferable rock models or ground textures made 2 weeks later, the claim would have to be moved back or remade and the trees would have to be reworked. It would be much easier for everyone if the entire region was developed as a whole by a group or of people all at the same time under the same claim to ensure maximum compatibility and a artistic standard between assets. One problem with this is that an artist may lag behind the others, but that is much more desirable than a single person who was making the entire claim suddenly vanishing due to stress ("real life").
I know there are not many modeler around at the moment, but given the new life (to the eyes of the public) this new site layout and the "master plan" has given TR I
hope to see a few more dropping in. As such I'll be writing a few tutorials in the following weeks (and nagging people to delete the old ones...) I want to ensure that in the case that some do arrive they'll be able to get straight into making important claims (whilst I continue to grind away fixing all the older models so that they can make us new ones...
) The art department needs bringing up to the same standard that the quest and worldspace departments have been in during recent years, and I think now is the best time to do it.
Also, first ti[m]e posting, be gentle.
