Warbreakers - Research 1

Although I don't plan on modelling them, I thought the first thing to do was to establish the look of the infantry on each side.  Step 1 - research the actual uniforms:

French Uniform

British Uniforms

German Uniforms

The first problem is that the French and German uniforms are pretty similar - both a blue-grey colour, both with similar webbing; while the British uniform is shades of brown.  I can see a couple of different solutions to the problem -

1. make the game British vs German - assume that the french forces are engaged in a different section of the western front, or only act as NPCs
2. Make the game world a bit more "alternative" and a bit less "history" - a war between two big empires in a vaguely european environment

I'm unsure whether the second option is the better one - on one hand, it would allow more freedom with the designs and setting, but on the other hand it would mean a lot more world-building, and I would be in danger of producing a valkyria chronicles rip-off

Warbreakers - Concept doodles

A couple of quick speedpaints to try and establish the correct atmosphere (partly for me,  partly for the game).  First, something nice and cinematic...

Followed by something a little closer to an in-game screen

In terms of game scale, I'm leaning towards something more tactical than strategic, like Company of Heroes, as it means the vehicle models can be a bit more detailed and interesting than for a larger-scale game like Command and Conquer.

Warbreakers - The setting

First things first, I need to establish the "rules" of the game universe before anything else; everything should develop from there.

The year is 1919, and the Triple Alliance (now reduced to just the British Empire and France, after the chaos of the Russian Revolution) and the Central Powers remain locked in bitter trench warfare along the length of the western front.  America continues to maintain it's neutrality in the conflict, and the supply U-Boats and zepplins of the Central Powers have so far thwarted the Allies attempts to starve them into surrender.  The technological war continues to see-saw, with the Alliance currently having a slight lead in ground combat, but ominous rumours are reaching the high command of a new and devastating weapon being developed in the depths of the Austrian mountains...

Warbreakers - The Proposal

After talking to Alan, my proposal for the Minor project is:

Vehicle design & modelling for a real-time strategy game, set in an alternative history World War 1.

Part of the reason for selecting WWI as a time period is the relative lack of other games set in the period; another reason is the freedom presented by the transitions that occured (both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air flight; the invention of the tank and armoured car; the use of both cavalry and bicyle-riding troops in battle; etc.)

Step 1 is creating the world, so it's time for the research to begin.

Tank Design

Sort of a spin-off from the APC designs, I wanted to try designing a tank that matched the "language" (for want of a better term) of the APC.

 Since one of the features that developed during the APC process was a tendency towards unmanned/remotely operated turrets, I went with the idea of the crew being located inside the hull, so the turret has a much narrower profile.

This is an alternative turret design, trying to emphasise the "remote controlled" aspect by using an oscillating turret design.

APC Design 8

Since there appears to be a theme developing in the weapon systems (unmanned turrets), I thought I'd run with it.

The naval-inspired SAM launcher missiles looked a bit small, so this system uses bigger ones.  It also uses a different radar to the other systems, but that's mainly as an experiment.

APC Design 7 - Air Defence continued

Moving on to a more modern type of air defence, the SAM

Although the missile looks a bit small, I suspect it would be a pretty nice design for a video game, since there wouldn't be any need for the missile to respawn out of thin air.

And to match the naval-SAM inspired launcher, a naval-radar inspired radar vehicle

Or a more modern arangement