[Video] Leaked Thargoid models

[Jmanis]

God... permit locks mentioned towards the end of that video. Triggered.

They were fine when they weren't obtrusive, when Regor was the closest region and nothing of note was out there.

Then FD decided to lock a bunch of previously-accessible space, and throw in a bunch of story arcs like Wreaken Industries occuring inside permit locked regions like Col 70, or literally have things like Guardian space abruptly stop when it hits the Regor Sector, or to, for over a year, have the worst-kept-secret of HIP 22460, where there's a Thargoid Structure and the Federal Megaship Overlook which is painfully tied to everything going on, permit locked for over a year. It's almost like they're going:

Seriously FD, just do something with this already...

 

[ShadowWolf Kell]

The cat's out of the bag. I knew eventually someone would figure out my AspX the Icarus was really in Babylon 5 and the harbinger of Z'ha'dum.

#FreeCol70

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

More and more, I do feel like legs will arrive before atmosphere.

Which is entirely logical, because it's a lot easier to do. Fleshing out the ship interiors and a few external areas you can go to is a lot less work than entire real size planets. Even if you procedurally generate atmospheric planets, they won't add much new gameplay. Space legs could, more easily. Don't even start on inhabited planets. Star Citizen, which has been in development since forever and will be until forever, has so far delivered one full planet. And that's with funding that is beyond silly.

 

[Cosmo]

Disagree on that pic you put cosmo. That is basically a human body and head with some cosmetic changes and then silly legs stuck on it.

If your going to design a proper alien you need to think about the environment they would come from and how that would affect their physiology.

For example if Thargoids come from Ammonia worlds and have an amonia based chemistry you need to think how they would move, regulate body temperature, and what senses they are likely to have.

As an example Ammonia has a very narrow range compared to water with regard to going from solid to gas. it also requires less energy to change its state from solid to liquid etc. Its boiling point is -33C.

Low temperatures alos mean lower energy. So thargoids may be slow moving. Conversely they would use less energy when moving than a water based human.

Thargoids and other ammonia based creatures on their homeworld are more likely to be succeptable to temperature variation so would need means of regulating stable body temperature. They therefore need to have ways of releasing or retaining heat rapidly. This is likely to result in predators and prey developing heat based sight eg in the infra red range.

When i say heat i mean heat relative to their homeworld. For us humans it would be absolutely freezing. As such a human touching a thargoid would to the thargoid be like us pouring boiling water on our bodies.

They should take that into account, but also the aliens have to look cool. The Thargoid models from 2016 lack personality. They aren't interesting and unrelatable due to a lack basic facial features and expressions. A boring design makes them dull and unappealing so people don't care about what they do or who they are.

The fanart of the Thargoid has a cool alien insectoid features. They could make it more alien by adding additional eyes and such. The torso is maybe too similar to humans.

Frontier should check the alien species in Stellaris. It has many exotic and cool alien designs.

[video=youtube;ukKlWPiYdaA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukKlWPiYdaA[/video]

 

[Aldaris]

They should take that into account, but also the aliens have to look cool. The Thargoid models from 2016 lack personality. They aren't interesting and unrelatable due to a lack basic facial features and expressions. A boring design makes them dull and unappealing so people don't care about what they do or who they are.

The fanart of the Thargoid has a cool alien insectoid features. They could make it more alien by adding additional eyes and such. The torso is maybe too similar to humans.

Frontier should check the alien species in Stellaris. It has many exotic and cool alien designs.

Why the hell should they be relatable? They're aliens. They should be alien to us.

 

[Cosmo]

Why the hell should they be relatable? They're aliens. They should be alien to us.

I mean if they have no face and emotional expressions then it's too boring to look at or interact with.

 

[Phazon Xenomorph]

I mean if they have no face and emotional expressions then it's too boring to look at or interact with.

We are lesser than them in everything including tech. They shouldn't be remotely relatable. Their thoughts, ideas, emotions if they have them, should be alien to us. Their faces might have no emotion because maybe they use pheromones like bugs, or are telepathic. They shouldn't be able to be comfortable interacting with.

 

[PhanttoM]

I mean if they have no face and emotional expressions then it's too boring to look at or interact with.

Body language. We're talking about 3d models that can be animated after all.

Ripley vs. the Alien queen in "Aliens" come to mind — specifically the scene where the alien queen orders her minions to back off, after Ripley threatens to burn the eggs. Brillant scene done with nothing but body language on both parts and some hissing that means nothing to us.

*Edit = scene added for those 2 guys who haven't seen the movie. *
[video=youtube_share;zPkMd2nLRzQ]https://youtu.be/zPkMd2nLRzQ[/video]

 

[William J Smith]

All this is just speculation, but the INRA logs we've found indicate that the thargoids use telepathy, and vocal communication methods along with who knows what else.... most likely infra red signalling and smells.

And at the moment all we have is a few grainy pictures , and a couple of models someone could have knocked up in their own computers.

Came back and tell me what a thargoid individual behaves like when confronted by a human... if you can get a video of that encounter .. so much the better*

Bill

*unless its one where the bug tears off the human's head and eats it..... lets face it..... we all seen THAT movie

 

[Cosmo]

We are lesser than them in everything including tech. They shouldn't be remotely relatable. Their thoughts, ideas, emotions if they have them, should be alien to us. Their faces might have no emotion because maybe they use pheromones like bugs, or are telepathic. They shouldn't be able to be comfortable interacting with.

It does not matter how scientifically accurate they are, because when they're dull most people simply don't care. Stellaris does a much better job with alien design for insectoids.

Check some alien designs of Star Control. For example the Ur-Quan look totally alien. Their big eyes and mouths makes them more interesting than the faceless, emotionless husk of that Thargoid model.

[video=youtube;2PUsLMSLam0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PUsLMSLam0[/video]

Body language. We're talking about 3d models that can be animated after all.

Ripley vs. the Alien queen in "Aliens" come to mind — specifically the scene where the alien queen orders her minions to back off, after Ripley threatens to burn the eggs. Brillant scene done with nothing but body language on both parts and some hissing that means nothing to us.

*Edit = scene added for those 2 guys who haven't seen the movie. *

The Xenomorphs have a much better and sophisticated design. Their faces have more expressions which makes interaction interesting.

Whereas the Thargoid model is bulky, sluggish without a proper insectoid face. They seem to always have the same facial expression. That is boring and bad for storytelling.

 

[da_wae]

I want my freak ing White Star.

 

[PhanttoM]

I<snip>
Whereas the Thargoid model is bulky, sluggish without a proper insectoid face. They seem to always have the same facial expression. That is boring and bad for storytelling.

So far we have not seen them textured or animated.

Anyway, I just think we have vastly different opinions on what makes an interesting alien.
I personally find the necessity for eyes or mouth lean towards predictability — which is why I also liked the movie "Arrival", which had some super creepy aliens because they had no recognizable eyes or mouth.
It fit perfectly with the whole "we don't understand them at all" plot, which is also the case with the Thargoids.

Speaking of Arrival reminded me of another way of communication — sound. With Frontier's excellent sound design, I'm interested to hear what they will sound like.

 

[Slange Lands]

Have you noticed Commander Yamiks' avatar is rather Thargoid shaped, the same sorta flat head even? Perhaps a bit stylized, an Italianate Thargoid.

Uh oh, maybe Commander Yamiks really is a Thargoid?

No wait, there was no swearing in that video...
Commander Yamiks has been taken over by a Thargoid Princess!

Help!

Wait no. That's sorta cool.

 

[Aldaris]

I mean if they have no face and emotional expressions then it's too boring to look at or interact with.

Why though? Sci fi gets a whole lot of abuse for humans with prosthetics type aliens. It does so because it's lazy and boring. Aliens should be alien. There's no need for them to be relatable or have expressions. Sci fi needs utterly alien weird and terrifying aliens in it, not yet more aliens that for some non-sensical reason have the same expressions as humans.

 

[Cosmo]

Why though? Sci fi gets a whole lot of abuse for humans with prosthetics type aliens. It does so because it's lazy and boring. Aliens should be alien. There's no need for them to be relatable or have expressions. Sci fi needs utterly alien weird and terrifying aliens in it, not yet more aliens that for some non-sensical reason have the same expressions as humans.

Aliens with expressionless, static faces are not terrifying, because they convey no emotion. That is why the best and most memorable aliens in science fiction do have that.

Such as most of the Zerg have animated faces. The Protoss lack a mouth and nose, but they wear decorated armor and their eyes glow and change shape. The Xenomorph lack well defined eyes, but they have big jaws with sharp teeth. Their mouths convey emotion.

The leaked character model of the Thargoids isn't complete so maybe they didn't add facial features yet.

 

[Comandante]

Interesting. The heads shouldn't be final though, because it lacks personality and looks too bulky imo. They should have detailed faces.

This would be a better design (torso and head).

Cosmo... I've read your posts for years now, but will be reporting this particular message to TJ since this is clearly off-topic. Why have you shown a human male next to a human female?

Also... Anyone else... Where do the original images come from? Too much Onionhead during Christmas, still waiting to dock with reality #o)

 

[VR Golgot]

Also... Anyone else... Where do the original images come from? Too much Onionhead during Christmas, still waiting to dock with reality #o)

Yamiks seems to have got the original image from this German forum, then dug further and found the better images. Both he and Platypus seem fairly happy from talking with their mysterious pro contacts that the images are in some way legit, and the latter says they started circulating as early as the 2.1 beta.

It's intriguing, and if true I wonder what the intended use was. (My suspicion is a simple pilot model for the Tharg ships makes the most sense, if the pic does represent something reconstructed from game files).

There's a guy on Reddit who's pretty convinced it's a high poly sculpture though, not a game mesh, IE:

These images can't be result of game files datamine. This isn't a game mesh in any shape or form - it's a sculpt from a sculpting software, like zbrush or sculptris.

​I.e. polygon heavy model. And I mean HEAVY - 10-20 millions polygons easily.

While technically possible - there's no point in putting such thing into a game.

Which to my unprofessional eye would suggest shenanigans somewhere

 

[Aldaris]

Aliens with expressionless, static faces are not terrifying, because they convey no emotion. That is why the best and most memorable aliens in science fiction do have that.

Such as most of the Zerg have animated faces. The Protoss lack a mouth and nose, but they wear decorated armor and their eyes glow and change shape. The Xenomorph lack well defined eyes, but they have big jaws with sharp teeth. Their mouths convey emotion.

The leaked character model of the Thargoids isn't complete so maybe they didn't add facial features yet.

They don't have to express themselves to be terrifying, they just have to do terrifying things. You mentioned Aliens earlier in this thread. An Alien face doesn't express anything. It has zero emotions to express from its face. It's still terrifying because either it is absolutely going to kill you in horrible ways, or it's going to take you for implantation and you'll still die in horrible ways. Its actions is what makes it terrifying, not its face which doesn't express anything. The Blob is terrifying despite having no humanoid features at all precisely because it is so alien AND you die in horrible ways. If we're talking just pure horror genre, Jason and Mike Myers scare people again because of their actions, as they express zero emotions and their faces are hidden.

The zerg express zero emotions. They don't have any. The Protoss do and they're less scary for it (not at all scary) because they're basically humans with prosthetics.

So yeah, absolutely something without a face definitely can be terrifying. Fear doesn't NEED an expressive face to occur.​

 

[Cosmo]

They don't have to express themselves to be terrifying, they just have to do terrifying things. You mentioned Aliens earlier in this thread. An Alien face doesn't express anything. It has zero emotions to express from its face. ​

I don't think so. If the Xenomorph didn't have a mouth it would be significantly more boring to watch in movies or games. Why? Because it wouldn't look as terrifying nor convey a plethora of emotions in different situations.

It's still terrifying because either it is absolutely going to kill you in horrible ways, or it's going to take you for implantation and you'll still die in horrible ways. Its actions is what makes it terrifying, not its face which doesn't express anything.

The lack of facial expressions makes it a lot less terrifying. They could design glowing alien rocks as the most dangerous aliens in the galaxy. However that doesn't invoke fear and isn't interesting to look at.

The Blob is terrifying despite having no humanoid features at all precisely because it is so alien AND you die in horrible ways. If we're talking just pure horror genre, Jason and Mike Myers scare people again because of their actions, as they express zero emotions and their faces are hidden.

The blob is one the most boring aliens ever designed.

The zerg express zero emotions. They don't have any.

They do, check the Zerglings, Hydralisk, Mutalisk, Ultralisk, Infestor, Drone etc. They have cool memorable designs with notable eyes and mouths yet still look alien. Not some faceless blob that is dull due to a lack of facial features.

Even the Overmind, which is a giant eye, has multiple expressions because the eye moves and the pupil changes shape.

[video=youtube;a_5WK9cqiic]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_5WK9cqiic[/video]

The Protoss do and they're less scary for it because they're basically humans with prosthetics.

The Protoss are humanoid aliens so they have many similarities. They have some distinct alien features such as their legs, hands, faces and psionic powers. They don't look like humans with a few cosmetic changes such as the Klingon.

[video=youtube;mVBA4JSBjn0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVBA4JSBjn0[/video]

So yeah, absolutely something without a face definitely can be terrifying. Fear doesn't NEED an expressive face to occur.

Not nearly as terrifying as aliens who DO HAVE FACES with facial expressions.

When the alien blob is:
threatening = same expression
angry = same expression
scared = same expression
hurt = same expression
amused = same expression
dying = same expression

A living rock or blob with deadly abilities is still a boring rock and blob. Because they cannot convey interesting emotions to humans.

This is why the most popular alien characters are not faceless blobs.

 

[Aldaris]

I don't think so. If the Xenomorph didn't have a mouth it would be significantly more boring to watch in movies or games. Why? Because it wouldn't look as terrifying nor convey a plethora of emotions in different situations.




The lack of facial expressions makes it a lot less terrifying. They could design glowing alien rocks as the most dangerous aliens in the galaxy. However that doesn't invoke fear and isn't interesting to look at.



The blob is one the most boring aliens ever designed.



They do, check the Zerglings, Hydralisk, Mutalisk, Ultralisk, Infestor, Drone etc. They have cool memorable designs with notable eyes and mouths yet still look alien. Not some faceless blob that is dull due to a lack of facial features.

Even the Overmind, which is a giant eye, has multiple expressions because the eye moves and the pupil changes shape.

The Protoss do and they're less scary for it because they're basically humans with prosthetics.[/FONT][/COLOR]



Not nearly as terrifying as aliens who DO HAVE FACES with facial expressions.

When the alien blob is:
threatening = same expression
angry = same expression
scared = same expression
hurt = same expression
amused = same expression
dying = same expression

A living rock or blob with deadly abilities is still a boring rock and blob. Because they cannot convey interesting emotions to humans.

This is why the most popular alien characters are not faceless blobs.

Mouth != expression. The mouth of the Alien expresses nothing. It is simply a mouth. It has no eyes, or eyebows. It's mouth can't display disgust or anger or anything, because it has zero emotions. It is utterly alien to humans, and its actions are what makes it terrifying. You're massively over exaggerating what it can display.

As for the Blob, it isn't just about its design, but what it instils, which is fear, and it does so without any expression or humanoid features at all, because of its actions. You keep ignoring the fact that fear and terror can come from actions, from what is utterly alien to us. Something doesn't need a face.

They don't. By definition within the hive mind the zerg display zero emotions. Just because it has a face doesn't mean it's actually expressing anything. They don't display fear or anger, simply the same expression constantly, and again it's because of the fact they can kill you in horrible ways that makes them scary, nor that they have eyes (which display no emotion) or mouths (which display no emotion). The Overmind is simply a looped animation portrait that doesn't react to anything. It isn't displaying anything.

Your claim of not nearly as terrifying is utterly subjective as different people get scared by different things. A living blob is still going to kill you, and it's going to be painful. Doesn't need a face to make that scary which is my point all along. I notice that you ignored the Mike Myers and Jason point, two people in horror that scary people without expressing anything at all.

The most popular aliens are so because they're interesting stories/design going into pop culture. Your xenomorph is one of the top aliens ever. Doesn't display jack with its face. Still scares people.

I get it, you don't like the design, but that's utterly different than saying that something can't be scary without a face. It can.