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[Seriphyn]

I think a major problem with EVE RP, or at least shortcoming, is the fact that "visualization" is troublesome. I'm talking about the designs of the four empires, in terms of station and ship design, and how this transfers planetside...the only piece of reference we have right now is the chron art...let's take DUST. The two trailers we have of DUST look absolutely generic sci-fi. So far, we've seen Gallente and Caldari assets, but they are pretty much indistinguishable, and all look Caldari by virtue of being black/dark. I've mentioned this before, but hopefully this is improved. In fiction, Gallentean cities are described as crystalline, with spires and multi-tiered cities...well okay...but this and this look pretty generic to me. Incarna will fix this, hopefully, but what we need, I think, is the ability to actually SEE things go down. Right now, everything feels generic post-contemporary sci-fi outside of space.

How about this for visualization?

Gallente = Mass Effect
Caldari = Starship Troopers (1997 film)
Amarr = Dune
Minmatar = Er, well, I'm sure one can pick something :3

I suppose it's a question of imagination, but not everyone is going to want to really wrack their heads to provide a decent "image" of something. Gallentean design may be similar to utopian sci-fi anime/manga, in the sense of cleaniliness and utopian motifs...like the cities in Appleseed

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Here, we have an almost indisputable example of how a Gallentean city may very well look like. The issue is that people like CCP Abraxas will describe a Gallentean city as so, clean and pristine, while another fiction writer will hedge in generic industrial stuff, ignoring the biomechanical look of Gallentean starships. Let's hear stuff about drones and automation, make the Gallenteans attractive in this regard. Without visualization, all we're left to is walls of text, and right now, all we got is RL notions of democracy.

This applies to all factions, or maybe it's just me. If we've given more eyecandy, we can better visualize RP and the world we want to immerse ourselves in.

[Andreus Ixiris]

If you look up Antifan's stuff, it's pretty awesome.

I've always visualised Andreus' home city of Calluya, Intaki Prime, to look like this:

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Here's a fact that may interest you: Andreus hasn't spent more than six hours in the city of his birth since he was 12 years old.

[Bataav]

The first thing that came to my mind were the official CCP trailers.

The Dust 514 trailer from a couple of years ago for example gives some sneaky peaks into an Intaki city district for example.

[Seriphyn]

The first thing that came to my mind were the official CCP trailers.

The Dust 514 trailer from a couple of years ago for example gives some sneaky peaks into an Intaki city district for example.

That's what I mean. It looks so damned generic that it might as well be Caldari or Minmatar...Intaki cities are described as flat-roofed, composed of wood and stone in other sources, correct?

[Chowda]

Does Tikraul District on Intaki V have a major city?  I'm guessing by "district" they mean the area of the planet they are fighting in.

The setting in the trailer looks to be an industrial area somewhere on the outskirts.  Take it from me, industrial areas all look the same.

[Chowda]

How about this for visualization?

Gallente = Mass Effect
Caldari = Starship Troopers (1997 film)
Amarr = Dune
Minmatar = Er, well, I'm sure one can pick something :3

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For Caldari, how about Blade Runner:



or the hive industrial cities in Warhammer 40K:

I'm guessing you are referring to Arrakis  from the miniseries for Amarr:

[Ken]

A lot of my thoughts aesthetics were reflected in my choices for these images.

[Ammentio Oinkelmar]

I could envision the Minmatar cities to be something like Kuzutetsu from Gunnm,
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or maybe a desert city a'la Hokuto no Ken,
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or even something in the style of Fallout series,
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[Lyn Farel]

I was actually going to suggest Blade Runner for some minmatar cities. Overcrowded and dirty. But could totally be a gallentean or caldari underground district as well.

[Benjamin Shepherd]

Ooooh hooo hooo, Seriphyn stole what I said earlier today on Steam to him regarding which media IP fit with each race. 

[Casiella]

Seriously, the Minmatar are not, like, living in ruins and shacks all over the place. It's neither Fallout nor Mad Max. Pator is not, generally speaking, a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

[Ken]

Ultimately, I don't think it does the setting justice to lump these massive interstellar civilizations into one aesthetic.  Things vary from planet to planet, and even continent to continent.  Perfectly reasonable for there to be a Gallentean city out there that's all dull and utilitarian or to have a Caldari city made of shining and gleaming curves.

Seriphyn stole what I said

Did you mention to him that you felt your comments were intellectual property of some kind?

Seriously, the Minmatar are not, like, living in ruins and shacks all over the place. It's neither Fallout nor Mad Max. Pator is not, generally speaking, a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

While I wholeheartedly agree, I won't be shocked to see Dust 514 Minmatar architecture that fits precisely that motif.

[Ammentio Oinkelmar]

Seriously, the Minmatar are not, like, living in ruins and shacks all over the place. It's neither Fallout nor Mad Max. Pator is not, generally speaking, a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Okay, if you say so. I find these frugal designs kind of cool but I guess it's realistic that few cultures would actually seek to build unpolished structures.

[Casiella]

There's a difference between unpolished ("it works and that will have to do") and living in decrepit ruins.

I don't doubt that Minmatar architecture is highly functional and that they find ingenious ways of reusing materials. But let's not extend that to caricatures...

[Amann Karris]

Someday I'll have to post a long, drawn out rant on world building and the need and/or reasoning for concentric circles in EVE planetary art assets.

Needless to say, while I understand the need for "OMGSKYSCRAPERS!" in sci-fi art, the realities of it would be an interesting case study in crisis management.

However, the short version; you need specific ground conditions in order to make big, tall buildings.  Seeing as how all worlds in EVE were colonized instead of having native populations, the colonists would have gathered around spaceports; for this reason, you'd have them on prime land, with a population expanding outwards.  Think of the logistics of planetary interaction; how do most people organize their colonies?  Generally speaking, in concentric circles, branching out to resources as needed, with the spaceport/hq in the center.  It's the most efficient way to do it (aside from dusting off and nuking the site from orbit to make sure. )

In short, I'm not a big fan of the "arcology" style of buildings in sci-fi settings.  Maybe around spaceports, but that's stretching it.  I'm far more of a realist, and as human nature focuses on short term benefits as opposed to long term resource planning, the easiest way to expand a city would be how it is now; resource exploitation and expansion.  Everything in EVE that I've seen supports this, right down to planetary art assets.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying the images you've shown contradict my statements.  On the contrary, I think they are wonderful inspiration.  I'm just looking at this from the perspective of implementing these ideas into a fictional background.

Ultimately, I don't think it does the setting justice to lump these massive interstellar civilizations into one aesthetic.  Things vary from planet to planet, and even continent to continent.  Perfectly reasonable for there to be a Gallentean city out there that's all dull and utilitarian or to have a Caldari city made of shining and gleaming curves.

I agree.  100%.  A unified design aesthetic would be very, very hard to implement for one simple reason; it's expensive to import building materials, so the local builders would be limited (almost exclusively) to available materials.  There would be some general design principles followed, and the degree to which these principles would be followed would vary based on a multitude of other factors.

Again, not saying any of this is wrong, simply pointing out some considerations.