[DEVBLOG#163] Developing of Rim-Effect: Turians and Gangs pt. 1 (Patreon)

Hello everyone and welcome!

This small mini-series of devblogs will take you through developing a whole Rim-Effect module, from start to finish. I hope this will give you insight into how I create mods, how I make decisions, how do I pick what we're adding and what we're skipping, and how I prioritize work, as well as how I translate action game components into colony survival mechanics.

Rim Effect - Turians and Gangs is the next module we are developing for the Rim Effect series. Size-wise, it will be similar to the already released Asari module. 

As such, first thing I always design is the storyteller. Why? Because it pushes me forward and gives me inspiration. I also noticed that if I leave storyteller for last, I tend to postpone doing it for so long I eventually give up altogether. So, better to knock out the hardest part first.

I find some nice picture of Garrus, or I play the game and take a nice screenshot, and then I open up Photoshop and create a canvas so big my PC starts wheezing. Why? Because then, using my tablet and a tiny brush I can draw the thin lines that define RimWorld storytellers.

After that's done I colour it in on a separate layer. You don't need hundreds of different shades, rimworld storytellers have very limited color pallettes.

After that's done, on a separate layer I'm doing black shadows and white lights, and then I blur them in, tailor them to be a bit more irregular, and change layer properties to make them half transparent.

As a final piece we get the cool new storyteller.

Next up we're developing some space background. We want Palaven, because that's the most iconic Turian location in Mass Effect. Lets take a look at what google shows us when we google Palaven.

Ok, so, dark blue tint, burning planet, Reapers. I can work with that.

We start off with just space. Space and stars, in simple, RimWorld wallpaper style.

Next up I add the planet and the star. If you ever want to generate a cool looking planet in Photoshop, I recommend FlamingPear plugin.

Then, we put some shadow on the planet to make it a tad more interesting and to hide some unnecessary detail.

Now, we did actually turn the sun blue, so it's in-line with the source images.

Now we need to add some moons. I made sure to show some cities on the darker side of the moon and the planet. It gives people the sense of scale, so it's not just derelict floating marbles.

Now we added some destruction. Giant fires, explosions, on both the moon and the planet. After all, Reapers have invaded Palaven.

The only thing we were missing were space ships. I've added some Reapers (reused the same assets I did for Asari background image, just with a different color) and I added some brand new Turian ships. I made sure it all blends nicely and the shadows are cast just right.

As such, the background is ready, and so is the storyteller. I can assemble the mod preview image, and slap this huge thing on the top of the development document.

Next up I will walk you through what elements of the Mass Effect games we decided to bring into RimWorld with this mod. Stay tuned, and let me know what you think!