Hey all, it's been a while since I felt like doing any ev-nova dev. The combined monotony and oppression of college has turned me to new frontiers of boredom. Now, I'm guessing some of you remember 'Rigante', an awful attempt at a plug-in I made with the help of some others 2-3 years back.. well, I've decided to revisit the project and incorporate its core principles into a new plug-in.. which (once enough pizza and red bull has been consumed) will be bigger and badder than ever... Well, not bigger, smaller in material content, more gangster with the street cred.. if you get me haha. The plug-in will add the faction 'Rigantis', a few systems, a small rigantean (silly word) fleet of freighters/warships, some new outfits (with new sounds/FX for each), some brief preambles and the possibility of a very short storyline to accompany the package.
Here's a little background info off the top of my head, it's in no ways a final storyline idea, just a little something I thought would be nice to brainstorm and develop.
Rigantis are a race descended from the most ancient of Terran birthlines. No-one knows how far back the family lineage reaches, and even history as recent as two hundred years is steeped in bloody contradiction and mystery. As is the same with the Auroran race, the nation is torn and ravaged by an unrelenting tendency for violence. Blood Honour and Lineage are the most respected values within rigantean society, where social standing and respect are closely affiliated with these two virtues. An ambitious individual whithin military ranks is expected to kill mercilessly, constantly, economically as he seeks to impress his elders in the pursuit of power and sanctimonious glory. The arrogance and energy of the young versus the pride and experience of the elderly are only one frontier in a constant fluctuation in executive staff, and other military positions of great prowess. Although cruel, a barbaric repatriation of Darwin's survival of the fittest is present throughout all areas of rigantean warrior society. Honour is more a religious constant in society than an idea in practise. The small nation, both adored and feared throughout the galaxy, is however a faction out of its time. Fragile, outnumbered and old fashioned, the new world threatens to decimate the ancient ways of the Rigantis and its people. As neighbours' empirical ambitions expand and mutate beyond control, so the threat of invasion increases.. and in an age of increasingly exponential technological and social advancement, the Rigantis must plan carefully if they wish to survive this decisive point in the history of mankind. And err basically, that's your job in the storyline - save the universe (yey!) 
I'm aiming to model a Rigantean fleet of around 5-7 ships. Some are freighters, some are fighters, others are capital warships. Whilst working on Rigante in 2005 I sketched up a few ship concepts and designs, and choosing the first sketch - "Banouin", a light frieghter - I messed about with SketchUp attempting to replicate the design in any 3 dimensional fashion possible. I realise everythings looking a bit blocky at the moment, but this is one of my first models in sketchup and I will hopefully get a bit better as time passes. This is what I've acheived so far (the concept sketch is visible bottom-right):
I also decided to dig up Terragen the other day, but I've had no luck with new landscapes. Here are a couple of landing picture ideas I did for the original.
I haven't worked on any new outfits, drawn up any reasonably structured storyline or recorded sound experiments...but these are my starts. I'll be explaining in more detail the nature and workings of the civilisation/fleet etc in the near future, and I hope to have some new stuff up at least once a week or something... meh, we'll see.
Ideas/critique and all that appreciated and welcomed people! Thanks, Tom.
