(KICKSTARTER) 28mm sci fi traffic hazards: banner/splash contest

[atropos907]

Im, nearing the final stages of preparing a kickstarter project for 28mm sci-fi civilian vehicles.
Ive prototyped and painted quite a few of these and made adjustments based how they feel on the table top.
The main purpose is to add some variety to the large empty streets of the future and get some cool cars to paint.

As it stands this is the list of models ive designed.


And here are a few of the prototypes painted. Note the picture above shows appropriate relative scale (the armored train is 10" long) The prototypes helped me figure out what rescaling was necessary and so the picture below shows minis 0-20% smaller than the finalized designs.



backdrop cg by andree wallin http://andreewallin.com, base and everything else by me.

I have sample parts out to casters at the moment and hope to get this nailed down and pull the trigger in a couple weeks.

HOWEVER. One of the main reasons I post here is to offer a contest.
A banner design contest to get something better than these, which I threw together yesterday. Ill continue to develop mine but someone may have a brilliant idea they can throw together much more skillfully than I.



comming soon


I will hold a competition, it will last for at least two weeks. After which time I will pick a winner. If The kickstarter seems to be delayed I may delay picking a winnner
A single winner will be chosen by me. However, if I feel none of the entries fit my "vision" for this I will just use my own art which im still working on.  But the one I think is the best will still get 1 free mini that Im capable of casting at the time.  
If I choose yours then I get rights to use it for whatever purpose I wish including modifications.

What do you get if I choose yours (you win).
1. If the kickstarter doesn't make it or if I by some horror never even start the kickstarter you get one copy of any miniature Im capable of casting myself. At present this includes the monobike and pod car. Ill probably have the blade done in a couple weeks (free including shipping anywhere).
2. If the kickstarter makes its base goal, then instead of 1 you get two miniatures (same or different from A through F) that successfully get funded for production for free including shipping .
3. In addition to #2, If you choose to pledge to the kickstarter (and it is successful) PM me your real contact info and what you pledged, and I will effectively match your pledge up to the 150 USD level or your pledge (whichever is lower). This means if you say pledge at a 140usd level and you want 2 lower pledges that add up to 140usd or less I will include those minis for free with your original pledge fulfillment.
4. in addition to #2, but Instead of 3, If you choose to pledge for one of the painting commission levels (up to 500 USD) I will up-to double your yield in the commission giving you a second painted vehicle of equal or lesser painted commission value (this will take longer to deliver) . If your pledge entails multiple vehicles painted , say 3 different vehicles, then you get 3 more painted vehicles of equal or lesser value painted.
5. if you pledge for even a single vehicle, inclusive or exclusive of the above, and If we get the train stretch goal funded it will be several stretch goals before there) then you get a train free. If you happened to pledge for a train then you get your pledged train and still get your free train. (free shipping anywhere)


Rules for entries.

1. Entry is a package of one banner 468x60 and one splash at least 640x480 4:3 aspect ratio. If the splash is larger it must look good at 640x480.
2. I like the eurocorp font free from http://www.pixelsagas.com/fonts.php?catid=3 and would like you to use it for at least "hazard", but if you find a better freeware font...its a risk. I also like that style of sci-fi traffic, just consider that for my tastes as I think both are in line with the style of these minis.
3. I would prefer you use one of my car images as this is about the cars. Ill attach them below.
4. if chosen you provide me the files in a layered format compatible with GIMP, or separated into a gif for each layer.
. Banners can be animated Gif's(similar to some of what you see on Dakka) If so they must be accompanied by a single banner separately that can be used where animated banners are not allowed.
6. Any images you put in the picture you must have rights to or proof it is free for commercial use or you received authorization for commercial use with nothing more than credit given on kickstarter traffic hazard webpage.
7. Obviously it must say kickstarter or have room for me to add kickstarter in the standard white-green.
8. should not be lewd or offensive PG13 if not PG (what is that, no curves or dirty looks?)
9 Images will not have ANY third party miniatures as I don't want this kickstarter to get sued. I have however received authorization from Zombie smith to include his minis as long as I give reference on the same page. If you get permission from the third party with no conditions other than giving credit, you must present proof (forward me the email so I can verify it) Dont even try GW. But frankly what would you need them for other than scale or background, and since they arent in the same image...

If you think Ive missed a rule please let me know.

You can use any image related to traffic hazards from my gallery or this page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-search.jsp?u=18662
EXCEPT you must not include the city background in the picture that has all of the painted cars as I only have authorization to use this for personal use.


Contest ends October 19th, (possibly a couple days later but dont count on it)

[anevilgiraffe]

all a bit too concept car for me... train is nice, but actual cars that get made are still basically car shaped... where are the family cars? the people carriers? the delivery vans? the trucks? not everyone has sports cars

[atropos907]

all a bit too concept car for me... train is nice, but actual cars that get made are still basically car shaped... where are the family cars? the people carriers? the delivery vans? the trucks? not everyone has sports cars

Forgot the list of whats what
A. Mono Stroller (IED)
B Crotch rocket
C. Mono Bike
D Grid commuter     -single person compact vehicle, think smart car
E Blade Mono Bike
F/0 Family Pod        -holds  family of 4 very compactly, very low power vehicle.
1 Performance Hover with optional high performance outboard parts   --2 person mustang type vehicle
2. Outboard reactor long range hover       ---3 person vehicle
3. Adaptive Clawed Viper                       ---2 person sport vehicle
4. Executive Hover                               ---2 person vehicle with a lot of room
5 FUV Family Utility Vehicle                    ---4 person vehicle
6 Viper Sport                                      --- 1 person sports car
7. Armored Train
8. utility vehicle shown below

[Dewbakuk]

Agree with Giraffe. I like the Blade Mono Bike (E) and the FUV (5) might be okay if it can have wheels but I'm not keen on the rest.

I do like the new hover cars from Antenociti as they have sci-fi stylings but still look like cars. Just wish they had the option of wheels too.

[Dr. The Viking]

Perfect for Infinity! 

[Elbows]

I like the designs okay - really hate the paintjobs.  Of course, all personal preferences - and the paintjobs look fine, but they just look wildly ridiculous - kinda like hot wheels in space or something.

Cool vehicles though.

[Andym]

I think the designs are great! The only problem I see is theres too much going on in the pictures!! A nice, simple, one tone, weathered colour scheme would show the vehicles off better. Also your background TOTALLY distracts away from your models. Stick with a white or simple background to display them.

[anevilgiraffe]

Forgot the list of whats what
A. Mono Stroller (IED)
B Crotch rocket
C. Mono Bike
D Grid commuter     -single person compact vehicle, think smart car
E Blade Mono Bike
F/0 Family Pod        -holds  family of 4 very compactly, very low power vehicle.
1 Performance Hover with optional high performance outboard parts   --2 person mustang type vehicle
2. Outboard reactor long range hover       ---3 person vehicle
3. Adaptive Clawed Viper                       ---2 person sport vehicle
4. Executive Hover                               ---2 person vehicle with a lot of room
5 FUV Family Utility Vehicle                    ---4 person vehicle
6 Viper Sport                                      --- 1 person sports car
7. Armored Train
8. utility vehicle shown below

they are all too streamlined and designed for what you think they are... if the family pod is so compact and cheap, why does it still look like something from the Jetsons... if it's low powered, it doesn't need sleek lines... the FUV, only has two doors, so puts the cabin at the back, but so far back there isn't room for 4 people in there because the front is too low and streamlined...

look at cars, the first thing is they are designed for a function, if it's a family car, they have space for all the stuff families have, it doesn't need to go at 200mph so it doesn't need to be streamlined... where is the luggage going to go? where is the roof rack going to go?

[rwwin]

I know you came here to offer a contest and not to hear critical feedback, but you threw it out there so oh well.  

I have to agree with some of the others, the designs are cool, but a little too far out and busy for my tastes.  Along the same lines, the  over the top paint jobs and crazy backgrounds aren't helping to sell the actual product - the vehicles themselves.

Cleaner lines, more utilitarian looks, simpler paint jobs and plain backgrounds and I'd certainly consider backing this project.

[Daeothar]

Perfect for Infinity! 

That!

Gents; we're talking about (playable) scenery for scifi settings. And when has function ever bothered to go over style in scifi? Yes; they're probably a lot sleeker than they would be, and probably horribly impractical in everyday use, but that's not what they're for, right?

I mean; who does not have a GW Rhino, Antenociti AFV or generic fantasy inn in their collection? None of which are even remotely realisticly shaped or (most of all) sized.

In our business/hobby, it's all rule of cool! ( added for effect)

And I think those cars look cool. Suitably scifi and slick, and they indeed cater to a sparsely populated niche. Would I get them? Not likely in the near future, but that has more to do with the current gaming trends in my group than personal preference, as I think they would be useful in a whole range of generic scifi purposes...

[tnjrp]

I like the designs okay - really hate the paintjobs.  Of course, all personal preferences - and the paintjobs look fine, but they just look wildly ridiculous - kinda like hot wheels in space or something

Agreed. While application of "fanboy logic" might explain the colours, the pix with multiple vehicles at the very least would look more appealing if more concervative colour schemes were used instead of garish ones. The vehicles are nice enough however and would IMCO look suitable with a number of "futuristic" lines such as  McVey's Sedition Wars, Antenociti's G.O.T. and Mogoose's Judge Dredd, so I'm very likely to pledge on the KS -- obviously depending on the prices and p&p involved. Not going to take part in the banner competion tho.

[Junkers]

I think the idea is good but I'm not sure about your design (maybe too futuristic for average sci-fi wargamer in my opinion)

To explain myself better, if you take a look in the Hot Wheels shelf in any toy store in the world some weeks after the store refill it, you will see that it's plenty of "fantasy" cars, because people prefer to buy some more familiar than strange and weird concept cars.

For some inspiration, I recommend you videogames like Red Faction Guerrilla or other similar videogames where sci-fi civilian vehicles appear.

Probably would look better wheeled and less strange, with more car-looking (and also, I recommend you to abandon the idea of just make sports-cars, I'm sure civilian passenger cars, wagons, buses and vans will be more appreciated by wargamers)

But is just my opinion, I wish you the best for your project.

[zizi666]

I think the idea is good but I'm not sure about your design (maybe too futuristic for average sci-fi wargamer in my opinion)
Probably would look better wheeled and less strange, with more car-looking (and also, I recommend you to abandon the idea of just make sports-cars, I'm sure civilian passenger cars, wagons, buses and vans will be more appreciated by wargamers)

Not that they're right up my alley (so no sale here, sorry mate) but if he would do all you suggest, he wouldn't be creating his stuff, would he now.
They do look like some prototypes the big brands like to create for research, so I'd say they can definitly serve in a futuristic setting.

As for sports-cars, maybe a game could be constructed with those. Maybe something like this :

 

[Junkers]

You have reason, his point of view doesn't has to be the same than mine or any other, because it's his creation and it's important to make it in his way as he conceived it.

But I think is interesting for miniature designers to read opinions of potential customers (this forum is full of them!) to have new ideas and know what the miniature market wants. (of course, just as a recommendation, the important opinion is the creator's own criteria)

[tnjrp]

I personally happen to think it's quite risky to rely on the ideas of an Internet forum for design guidelines. You always find a couple of very vocal yesmen and naysayers trumpeting their opinions on every suggestion while the bulk of the buying public is silent or absent. Hate it or love it, Kickstarter is a much more decent way to gauge what gets to the public's purse.