Adding a pirate ship - will it be easy for a third party artist to get a pirate ship ingame?

[LordStark]

Hi there,

Just wondering, if I hire a 3d artist to make a 18th century pirate ship with working cannons, for this game, is it likely they will have difficulty putting it ingame?

What is the learning curve like for a 3d artist who knows nothing about the game?

[Stan`]

Hey @LordStark

It depends if they do models and textures or if they do the integration. If they do the integration, manipulating text files might be an (although short) steep learning curve.

If the cannon are turrets, they should be modeled separately. There isn't (as far as I'm aware) currently a way to restrict turret rotation, so if they are they will be able to shoot 360°. 

Another thing to take into account is the way to make muzzle flash for cannons. You have to work some quirks with anims to be able to do that.

[LordStark]

The cannons would just be on the side of the ship like the cannons in the ship in Master and Commander? Would they need turrets? I assume they should be fixed.

[Stan`]

If you want them to shoot independently yes. If not no. So for instance it wouldn't be able to shoot from both sides to different targets. It would shoot the same one. 

It doesn't have to be 100 turrets it could be two one on each side.