Hello. I am here to tell you guys to STOP MAKING ALL YOUR GUNS LOOK THE SAME.
This isn't going to be a big thread really, just a few pointers.
- Every part of your weapon has to be machined, stamped, or otherwise formed from some kind of material (probably polymer or steel, or space analogues). As a result, there is only so much complexity you can have on a surface before it becomes expensive, weak, and time-consuming. Think about this before you decide to make all sorts of fiddly engravings or extrusions that serve no logical purpose.
- Metal is heavy. Less of it is better. Again, extrusions and random shit fall foul of this.
- Rivets do not belong on guns. Screws only belong in a very few areas on guns. Most things are retained by pins or quick-release latches, or simply by spring tension. All military weapons are designed to be quickly and easily disassembled (and reassembled) by troops, put some thought into this when you design things.
- Giant slab-sided blocky weapons are going to be seriously awkward to hold and fire. Avoid them.
- Random plaint or logos are stupid and make no sense. Add visual interest with wear, material definition (machining marks and tool marks are a big one on military weapons) and small stampings like proofmarks or serial numbers. Y'know, the kind of shit we've been using for centuries and still use with almost no change at all.
- If it is a shooty gun rather than a railgun or plasma or whatever, pay some mind to the way projectile weapons actually work and proportion it correctly. Look at real guns for help here.
There is no excuse for making the same idiotic bullshit every game dev and their mother is addicted to these days. It does not look good, it does not make sense, and it is fucking lazy. Use your own creativity and design something new from the features of something old.
Here is a good example of what to avoid:
Halo 1's AR was perfect. Everything made enough sense to avoid causing a major sperg breakdown, it looked cool as hell, and it was clean and simple. Halo 3's was still better than most contemporary games, but look at those random indents - the writing was on the wall. Reach... yeah, fuck off, that shit is gross.
Halo 2's BR was good, too. The tesselated triangles made sense as strengthening stampings to reinforce thinner metal, and overall the weapon was clean, attractive and well-designed. Then this happened:
Fuck off forever.
This express ride to hell ain't got no brakes.
I'll edit in some examples of actually good sci-fi weapons as I find them (Halo 1 notwithstanding; all of its weapons were good designs).
Originally Posted by t3h m00kz
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