cuorebrave cuorebrave

Again, with the humanoids!

▼

Again, with the humanoids!

Or "anthro" or whatever anyone wants to call it...

from StarControl Forums
hu·man·oid
ˈ(h)yo͞oməˌnoid/
adjective
 
  1. 1.
    having an appearance or character resembling that of a human.
 

Brad just posted a picture in Discord, of a new alien... or redesign of a current one. This started off a fiery discussion on the chat, about the level of humanoid-ness in the SC: Origins aliens. It got off-track by differing definitions of "humanoid", so I'll start this by saying my definition of a humanoid, but anyone here is free to call it what they want. A humanoid, in my mind, would be categorized by an upright standing creature, generally adhering to the form of a human: a head, eyes, mouth, arms, hands and some form of legs. Number of eyes, legs, arms or hands is not important in this discussion. If you design a human with 12 eyes, it's still humanoid. Okay, moving on:

Here is a list of the non-humanoid aliens in Star Control II:

Slylandro (organic): Non-humanoid

Slylandro (robot): Non-humanoid

KZer-Za: Non-humanoid

Kohr-Ah: Non-humanoid

Zoq-Fot-Pik: Non-Humanoid

Ilwrath: Non-Humanoid

Umgah: Non-Humanoid

Mycon: Non-Humanoid

Spathi: Non-Humanoid

Mrrnmhrrm: Non-Humanoid

Chenjesu: Non-Humanoid

CHMMR: Non-Humanoid

Dnyarri: Non-Humanoid

Melnorme: Non-Humanoid

Supox: Non-Humanoid

Orz: Non-Humanoid

Here is a list of the humanoid aliens in Star Control II:

Syreen: Humanoid

Yehat: Humanoid

Arilou: Humanoid

Thraddash: Humanoid

Druuge: Humanoid

Utwig: Humanoid

Pkunk: Humanoid

VUX: Humanoid

Shofixti: Humanoid

Here is a list of the non-humanoid aliens in Star Control - ORIGINS (Confirmed by Brad):

Pinthi: Non-Humanoid

Phamysht: Non-Humanoid

Greegrox: Non-Humanoid

Mu'kay: Non-Humanoid

Xraki: Non-Humanoid

Jeff: Non-Humanoid

Mowlings: Non-Humanoid

Here is a list of the Humanoid aliens in Star Control - ORIGINS (Also confirmed by Brad):

Humans: Humanoid

Menk-Mack: Humanoid

Scryve: Humanoid (Unconfirmed)

Dan'Nath: Humanoid (Unconfirmed)

Trandals: Humanoid (Unconfirmed)

Measured: Humanoid

Tywom: Humanoid

Drenkend: Humanoid

 

To me, this is a deviation from the original Star Control races. They all have ELBOWS, ffs! Stardock was strongly opposed to "humanoids", and while I'd love to hear what the Devs' definition of "humanoid" is, I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say on the subject. 

Original SCII aliens were a ratio of 16 non-humanoids, not resembling humans whatsoever, vs 9 humanoid-like aliens.

Whereas SC: Origins is a ratio of 8 aliens that stand upright, with arms, legs, a head and eyes/nose/mouth (in that order), vs 7 aliens that don't resemble humans whatsoever. I think that should, at the very least, be switched around. 

16:9 vs 7:8

I mean, what's the aversion to making some truly WEIRD, outlandish designs? Does everyone :shrug: and move on, or is this a legitimate concern for people?

Point being: Since Brad posted a fresh alien-redesign TODAY - IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO CHANGE THE OTHERS. Even if it's just slight!

Thoughts? Corrections to the lists? Arguments?

31,270 views 35 replies
Reply #26 from StarControl Forums Top

Update: Brad has turned the tide in the war vs. Humanoids!! Way to go!

Current tally, according to Brad:

Here is a list of the non-humanoid aliens in Star Control - ORIGINS (Confirmed by Brad):

Pinthi: Non-Humanoid

Phamysht: Non-Humanoid

Greegrox: Non-Humanoid

Mu'kay: Non-Humanoid

Xraki: Non-Humanoid

Jeff: Non-Humanoid

Measured: Non-Humanoid

Trandals: Non-Humanoid

Here is a list of the Humanoid aliens in Star Control - ORIGINS (Also confirmed by Brad):

Humans: Humanoid

Menk-Mack: Humanoid

Scryve: Humanoid

Dan'Nath: Humanoid (Unconfirmed)

Tywom: Humanoid

Drenkend: Humanoid

Mowlings: Humanoid

Reply #27 from StarControl Forums Top

Oh boy, I'm going to have fun with the quote function.

Quoting Frogboy, reply 25

I'd say the Mowlings are humanoid still.

Quoting Frogboy, reply 10

I do take issue with calling g the Mow,I gas humanoids. They’re basically upright Meercats.

Quoting Frogboy, reply 25
I'd also say the Scryve would count as humanoid-ish.  

Aren't the Scryve centaur like? Granted you can't really see that in the images.

SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #28 from StarControl Forums Top

My definition of humanoids has gotten broader since I joined the project.

been dong a lot of humanoid murderin.

Reply #29 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 25

The Measured.

It would make a fantastic lamp base...

Reply #30 from StarControl Forums Top

^Companion to the Zot? Or was in Piq?

Reply #31 from StarControl Forums Top

So what do you think?

The New Measured:

OR

The old measured (and these were in the game so it was...expensive to replace them).

 I only bring this up because SOMEDAY someone will claim online that Stardock didn't listen to Founder feedback.  This was the first guy I dealt with once I took over the Lead Designer position.

Reply #32 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 31

So what do you think?

The New Measured:



OR



The old measured (and these were in the game so it was...expensive to replace them).

 I only bring this up because SOMEDAY someone will claim online that Stardock didn't listen to Founder feedback.  This was the first guy I dealt with once I took over the Lead Designer position.

The old Measured, was, by far, my least favorite alien design. So, anything to replace him.

We're having a discussion on Discord, that I tagged you in, about the coral.

It was brought up that coral is a species of genetically identical creatures, all working together in construction gangs, to build this... living coral housing where they dwell. Also, the living "buildings" die if there's no organisms to maintain them.

Seems to me, that in the game, that would be fun to be consistent with a species of coral-like aliens. They're genetically identical. They build "living" ships, that die if there's no one to maintain them (explaining why lack of crew destroys your ship?). Could be some cool exploration of how that plays out...

Reply #33 from StarControl Forums Top

Quoting cuorebrave, reply 32

It was brought up that coral is a species of genetically identical creatures, all working together in construction gangs, to build this... living coral housing where they dwell. Also, the living "buildings" die if there's no organisms to maintain them.

Seems to me, that in the game, that would be fun to be consistent with a species of coral-like aliens. They're genetically identical. They build "living" ships, that die if there's no one to maintain them (explaining why lack of crew destroys your ship?). Could be some cool exploration of how that plays out...

Also, I think it would be an awesome, nice touch to have the cockpit be all brightly colored and beautiful looking, and moist (but not underwater). And there could be little floating "fish" creatures, darting in-and-out of the coral-cockpit. Me likey.

Reply #34 from StarControl Forums Top

I think the Pinthi are close enough to space coral.

 

The old Measured were also my least favorite.  I really like the new Measured design!

Reply #35 from StarControl Forums Top

The only thing I liked about the old Measured was the Yosemite Sam mustache and beard.  The new Measured is a lot better.