[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/22f4a6a069229282e8c5ba4169a1e373c2e2ed0b.png[/img] [h2]Prelude[/h2] This was originally posted in 3 parts over at our [url=https://discord.gg/bTWMfWkjuw]Dinolords Discord[/url]. For more deep dives and sneak peaks, you are more than welcome to jump over and have a look around ! This is about the journey I took to make our new Viking Ships. These magnificent vessels are something I’ve wanted to take a crack at for a while but the opportunity just hadn't presented itself until recently. The main issue is that we don’t currently have naval combat, so what are the use cases here ? But on the other hand, the game is about Vikings invading England, and the Viking ships are such an essential part of their cultural identity and mythos that it was important to establish how Dinolords Viking ships might have looked. Not only that, but the research that goes into medieval cultures and time spent coming up with our variants of them helps us get to “know our factions better” if that makes sense. So research like this has a direct value on the ship, but this whole process also has an indirect value in that they help shape the visual language of the faction, and therefore, a big part of the game. One thing that’s also worth keeping in mind is how our Vikings differentiates slightly from the history you remember, since they found dinosaur eggs about 20-30 years prior to the game. It’s not that long ago, but as a modern day comparison, it’s not that long ago the internet was invented either. Disclaimer. I’m not an expert and anything I say might be wrong. I’m just learning about stuff here and I wanted to share what I’ve discovered. [h1]Part 1: Cranking up the Jam and going online.[/h1] [h2]Knowledge is a river. WINK[/h2] When I started to look into Viking ships more seriously, I already knew a lot. [olist] [*] They had dragon heads, [*] They had cool flowing planks on the sides that kind of went up into a peak. [*] They were slim and mano.. Mani.. manoeuvrable and they worked well in shallow waters. [*] Uh Yeah There is no 4 so apparently I didn’t know that much, but who doesn’t like more points on a list ? Those are the best parts ! [/olist] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/484837abc9bca4539c6a7f8f1f52e937e24c4383.jpg[/img][i](Example of a Viking ship bow at least partially peaking. Showing The Gokstad Ship. Great picture by Karamell from [url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gokstadskipet1.jpg]wikimedia[/url])[/i] So i sat down and started to think on how to make a Viking Ship that would both be recognizable as that, but would also look specifically Dinolords. [h2]Seeing is Believing[/h2] One thing to note. I think it’s really important to have things that not necessarily work, but they need to look like they work so when you look at it - it might not have actually existed, but it looks like it would have existed and you can kind of see how and why it would have worked. This is something that I also share with some others on the team and we try to bring it with us when we consider designs and concepts. All the above meant that it was time to research. My paltry knowledge could only get me so far. Unfortunately there is no learning montage in real life so I had to do it old school. I kicked over my bookcase on my way to the pc and went on Wikipedia. Then I went to other Viking ship related websites and things started to look up. At the stern. Of a ship. A Viking..ship. [h2]Ship Types[/h2] According to [url=https://www.danishnet.com/vikings/types-viking-ships]danishnet.com[/url] There are multiple Viking ship types, and each of these had subcategories. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/89c9eb68c4e6281446d8195336707b93d9fcba9d.jpg[/img][i](Might also represent the before image of a safety brochure of why you shouldn’t keep open fires near fabric. Incredible Image by [url=https://pixabay.com/users/wolvie_74-19251019/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=6366228]Óscar CR[/url] from [url=https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=6366228]Pixabay[/url])[/i] [b]Warships[/b]. These are the ones you think of when you think Viking ships. They were for carrying Vikings to battle. We have Snekke types, Drekkar and other types here(sorry to the ships that got left out. Skeid. I'm looking at you). The Drekkar ships are the ones with mounting points for - presumably dragon heads. I say presumably for as it turns out, the dragon heads show up in text and drawings, but have never actually been found. Not yet at least. [b]Heavy Merchant Ships[/b]. I don’t think i need to explain this one. They carried items of value. Like goats and sheep and maybe a little barf from those goats or sheep, or a drunk Viking. [b]Light Merchant Ships[/b]. The same but less sheep. [b]Small boats[/b]. Hello. The interesting thing here is that the small boats designs are still used for small Norwegian boats today. Super cool. That’s long lasting ship design ! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/22a81ecc2241499d598ee69b28eb20693845668b.jpg[/img][i](Norwegian Snekke. Photo from [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/65001151@N03]Alan Wilson[/url] from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK. wikimedia)[/i] Imagine a fleet of these. Put a Viking shield on there and you’re good to go… Oh wait, that’s … Uuh…This might be the wrong boat. search for Norwegian snekke and you’ll find it. Probably. Maybe. I had learned much, but I needed to know more, like basic ship design based on the above picture mistake. But also, how were the bows and sterns constructed ? This is foreshadowing by the way. Running into the street and asking the first stranger I meet about it, while frantically shaking them, didn't seem like the best solution. So I needed to find another way. That leads us to… [h1]Part 2. The journey to the Viking ship museum.[/h1] After all, what’s better than looking up old ships online ? A lot of things. But in this case, what I wanted you to say was “[i]going to visit them in real life![/i]” So that’s what I did. [h2]Expectations VS Reality[/h2] Meanwhile in the land of … Unity, experiments had been taking place. In Unity. What are the odds. Trying to implement a full scale ship proved, like expected, a bad fit for the game. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/cf3b0ee7c17971bd556dc135bd9a83fd3e8eb3f4.png[/img][i]“Oh my. That’s quite the Viking ship you have there. It’s literally the size of my village, and WHY is it entirely on land. Does it have wheels ? Does it even count as a ship when you can park it across the only main road to and from the village ?” - Presumably the first character you meet after arriving with this. [/i] So I Needed to play around with scale until I found something decent. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/06a7362a33d3b4d224b49b9b733cfbc444261555.png[/img][i]“Why is it still parked on the main road ?? I have goats to feed !” - Presumably the same character when you arrive in something more reasonably sized. [/i] [h2]Let’s GO[/h2] Then it was off to the museum. I already knew that in the 1960s they found 5 original Viking ships partially preserved at the bottom of the bay where the museum stands today, but they also reconstructed these as seaworthy ships, using period appropriate tools and have sailed around in them. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/51efcdc3960c3739c2d6bdc1524ac5e8e8796e1c.jpg[/img][i](The bay where the ships were found. Presumably how it looked in the viking ages. Classic viking architecture on display. Photo is by [url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jami430]Jami430[/url] and from wikimedia)[/i] This was super cool. Especially the idea of visiting and boarding a reconstruction for really taking in some of those more intimate details. “[i]BUT isn’t this game actually seen from an almost isometric viewpoint ?[/i]” you might ask. Well huzzah ! Is what I have to say to that. You’re right of course. But investigating something up close really helps with discovering what areas to focus on and where you might want to get creative or even skip things. Traversing the museum building and the associated area, The following really stood out. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/9fbbf3fd7381935cda0bcab044bacb80d3b1c56e.png[/img][i](Viking ship.) [/i] [h2]The Bow and the Stern.[/h2] The sterns were made from a single piece of wood, and then the planks actually ended further down, and the peaks were literally carved into this single piece of wood. This was a revelation to me in how to approach the ships and give me some ideas for both how to unwrap and texture the hull, as well as some of the finer details. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/2096add877834747bcbd93b7c93afe505987aca3.png[/img] [i](Original bow or stern from a Viking ship. Note how it’s a single carved piece of wood with holes for bolt attachments).[/i] [h2]Shield mountings.[/h2] Multiple interesting things came from this. First of all, the shields were partially obscured because the mounting points were planks with holes in them that you could stick the shield into. But even more surprising was that when the shields were mounted, it seems that they would cover some of the oar holes, so it’s likely that they only used this for intimidation at landfall or when sailing with the sail. Another point that leads to this is that the shields apparently added significant drag to the ships, slowing their top speed quite a bit. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/5053c35ecb308fb8eb6518334fd5be898fae1aa4.png[/img][i](Original viking ship, shield mounting point) [/i] [h2]Speed.[/h2] Speaking of speed. Keanu and Sandra Bullock were great picks for leads in that film. Oh right. But Viking ships were also very fast. Reconstructions show that they can match the interceptor.. No, that doesn’t make sense. There's no ship that can match the Interceptor for speed.. But that’s a debate for another time. What I really mean to say is that Viking ships can match sailing ships going all the way up to the early 20th century in speed. That’s quite the engineering feat to remain unbeaten for several centuries after. I guess they had a.. Need.. for speed.. OKAY I’m sorry. I couldn’t leave it hanging there after all the other references. (For anyone doing a quiz, the movies referenced here are Speed, Pirates of the Caribbean and Need for Speed. Which is a video game first and foremost, but was also made into a movie. Who knew) I didn’t have a picture showing the speed of the ships, So instead I’m giving you a quest. Go to [url=https://theroarbots.com/dinosaur-pirates]https://theroarbots.com/dinosaur-pirates[/url] and look at the pictures I found by searching for dinosaur and ship. Incredible. Where was I.. OH Watching the real life size remains of the ships were impressive and boarding one of the reconstructions was a lot of fun, even if it didn’t sail anywhere at that time. I felt the whole trip gave a lot of insight, and now it was time to take everything and put it into the model. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/73d26ac5576275a95cd137548da79242f60539b1.png[/img][i](Most pictures say a thousand words. This one just says two. [b]Leg Day[/b])[/i] Spoiler alert I had already been doing some of this stuff. Of course. But the story wants what the story wants and it didn’t feel natural to incorporate here. So I’m saving it for next time. If you’re ever in Roskilde, Denmark and even have a passing interest in Vikings or ships (or maybe even Viking ships?!?) I highly recommend you go yourself. It was - In two words - Super cool. Next up is: [h1]Part 3. The third part[/h1] [h2]Time Constraints VS Knowledge[/h2] I knew I wouldn’t have time to make more than a mainline variant of the ship but I’d want to keep my options open for a future return where I could make a cargo version, so I decided to compromise with a ship shape that allowed the boat to be used as both a warship and a cargo ship. This means a slightly wider midsection of the boat, and a floor that could easily be cut into multiple pieces. At the same time, Learning about how the peaks were done, allowed me to cut the seams for the sides in the unwrap, the texture layout if you will, in a way that were both true to the real ships but also allowed a larger surface area for the smaller parts of the peak. The same can be said for the bolts, which now flow with the planks, until the single piece stern or bow, where the bolts go up the sides where the planks would attach to the stern or bow. I Guess you could argue that this is peak ship design ohoho. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/1ffc7d8e88b8d094af73d15c55f066e9353bb39e.png[/img][i](blue lines are the sweat of their enemies. Red lines are.. the seams where the texture is going to be split up. Obviously)[/i] [h2]Seats & Shields[/h2] The seats were something I went back and forth on. I was going to add chests as some Viking ships used those as both seats and storage for each Viking, but I only really saw these planked seats when I went to the Viking ship museum. I decided to lean towards that, and then return to look at the idea if I do find time for a cargo variant of the ship. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/073a57ca0b8e37a13cd0081d3168846f0ab5c60e.png[/img][i](seating arrangements. Or well. Top view.)[/i] I was originally going to have Viking shields hang over the side, held up by some item inserted on the back, but learning about frontal shield inserts at the museum, I opted to add these wood and metal holders to the outside of the ship. Usually you don’t see modern renditions of Viking ships with parts of their shields covered on the front, and it was something that was both surprising to learn, and something I wanted to integrate in some way, as I felt it - and this is sort of ironic when you think about it since this is true to their actual design - would help our ship design stand out. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/e46a49565b5e3f9a6df1e67bf160628b15bbe173.png[/img][i](shield mounts)[/i] During this I also learned more about Viking shields themselves. How they were usually made out of wood planks, strengthened in the back and bound by leather, not metal on the sides. A lot indicates that they were bound in leather on the front as well, but I wanted to maintain the more macro detailed wooden look so I opted to simply bind the sides. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/44c3acd1749844ee37f1d195430a9696a8867475.png[/img][i](viking shields left is the back, right is the front)[/i] [h2]The Head of the Snake[/h2] The Drakkar ships with their mighty snake / dragon heads are something I thought about a lot. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/ed0943754bf58056c79f14cc5aa9d4346fe7e7f2.png[/img][i](that’s not how the meme works ? well phooey to that.) [/i] But I also thought about them in relation to this project. This was both something that’s iconic for Viking ships and something that’s only been found in drawings and not on real ships. That made them the perfect place to differentiate the look of our ships. Drawing inspiration from our Dinosaur lore, I used a wonderful T-Rex skull model, made by our Intern turned Colleague, Philip, as the centrepiece for the ornament. I then proceeded with adding the classic Viking Ship snake tongue, and then it came time for finding a way to hold the Dinosaur skull in place. One minor -unrelated- note here. Viking Helmets DIDNT HAVE HORNS. [h2]Viking Helmets[/h2] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/966c658127c0df7c252b1813f19b1e3a976c1ecc.png[/img][i](Contrary to popular beliefs, Viking helmets had neither horns nor trees growing out of them. Superb Image by [url=https://pixabay.com/users/minnettside-14215796/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4806867]Christoffer Nyland[/url] from [url=https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4806867]Pixabay[/url].)[/i] Viking helmets and their horned legends are a sticking point for many Danish people. Especially when pointed in the wrong direction. But where did the legends come from, where did they go, where did they come from, cotton eye joe. That is the question and that is the answer. Or a question.. And an answer.. Maybe not the right one. Moving on. Ceremonial helmets with horns have been discovered and that’s the most likely origin, but I wanted to do something more. So I decided to build this entanglement that sort of resembles a horned helmet - top piece - for the t-rex skull. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/f733bb511144b4cf4f61e657a8aa833e2281e4c3.png[/img][i](ornamental bow. No you don’t need to bow. This is a bow !)[/i] I had originally envisioned this in wood, which led me to the idea of twisting two layers of branches around each other but I ended up changing the material to copper. #gamedev There's a reason though. It’s a material we use quite a bit for our Dinolords Vikings and copper is also used for old statues and castle roofs which only added to my opinion that it was the right choice for the ornamental helmet and horns. Also I liked the aesthetic and contrast that it brought to the ship. It’s a game that’s seen from far away, at an almost isometric point, so having focal points that draw you in is always advisable. Finally I added some red painted lines, but tried to get the look in line with the nordic drawings from the time period, and I also had small ornamental details go down the bow and the stern like they did on many of the ships discovered. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/a4d7ac4fec32d2e32ff85263e77da4c8b2037f46.png[/img][i](Here I seamlessly shrunk the ship so you could see the bow and the stern at the same time, using special effects. Magic !)[/i] [h2]What's for the future of the ship ?[/h2] Well. Like previously mentioned, I want to make a cargo version at some point, drawing inspiration from one of the ships I took a picture of. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44682436/b299d629061c262ea1432658430de19d19dd3948.png[/img][i](Looks so cozy ! Just add a T-rex and you have the boat scene from jurassic park 2. Or you know, maybe Moana. Tomato tomato.)[/i] Another benefit is that the things learned about their construction methods and even their materials, mean we can hit something that feels more grounded - even if it isn’t realistic. That can help the player immerse themselves in a universe which features fantastical things. Like 5 meter tall lizard chickens. We really want to make something that feels like it could have existed even if the concept is ridiculous. Researching and understanding how people lived back in those days allows us to make something that strikes a balance between the rule of cool and something that looks realistic. If that’s the impression people are left with when playing it, then we succeed. Well that and “wow holy shit what just happened” as a T-rex throws it’s body through your castle wall during a thunderstorm. Thanks for following along. I’d love to know your thoughts and talk about all things Dinolords and be sure to let us know if you want more of these deep dives.