Sim-on-a-Stick for game art

reprinted from the iliveisl blog & written by Ener Hax

last month i created an OpenSim graphic for possible use in one of subQuark‘s Mint Tin Games

i’m thrilled that it was used for the final deck of Mint Tin Aliens and six copies of that game have already been sold (even though the Kickstarter isn’t for another month) =)

it fit the style of the other graphics well and we then used OpenSim images for the game label. i’ve always thought of OpenSim as a nice way to create 3D graphics for other uses and subQuark has spoken at conferences about using Second Life and OpenSim for this purpose (you can see pics of the actual games on subQ’s blog, where this article will also be published)

proto
playtest card

if you’ve followed this blog in the past, and others for Second Life, you’ve probably seen Wagner Au talk about subQuark’s use of Sim-on-a-Stick for hospitality training videos and for creating 3D art for advertising agencies to show their clients what product displays can look like in cinema lobbies

anyway . . . we are working on another game, Mint Tin Villagers, and subQuark decided we should see about using OpenSim for most of the card art. this game has medieval villagers trying to complete a village before winter sets in and has village cards and merchant cards

the village cards are 2-sided and include a forest for lumber, mountain for iron ore, field for a cow pasture and so on. one side of the village card has the undeveloped resource (like a mountain) and the other side will have it developed (iron ore mine). the merchant cards are things like a pick axe, milking stool, whiskey barrel, and so on (thankful, i have some things like that already built) =)

today i fired up Sim-on-a-Stick 0.8 and used Singularity for my first real time. i wanted nice shadows and graphics and that viewer seems to do a good job (plus i can understand it)

i’m thrilled with the results and will go on to create the other cards, which means creating things like a cheese shop and pub, but only top views

mountain-card
first draft graphics

it’s exciting to use OpenSim for this purpose (and way easier and faster than Blender)

if you’ve never made 3D graphics, I’d encourage you to give Sim-on-a-Stick a try – it’s free and you’ll see how fast it is to learn and to build stuff

the “first draft graphics” here uses stuff that’s all included and is simply doing some terrain editing and using default pine trees. it took me less than 10 minutes to download SoaS and build what you see

the rectangles in the screenshot below are my building guides for making this the right aspect ratio for mini poker cards

have fun! w00t! =D

 

 

 

 

soas