Why Are SCI-FI Guns So... Bad?

[@MarcusVance]

Here's another scifi gun trope that bothers me. kzbin.infoT-GJ7aPNYFA?feature=share

[@jordancambridge4106]

If you think they look bad then that is a you issue and not the gun itself because what makes you think your opinion fact when the vast majority of people never question the looks at all proving your opinion wrong. So maybe you just have shitty sci fi ideas instead of understanding reality. Why do you hate reality?

[@thevisitor8906]

Some guns are made to be recognizable and iconic, such as the needler from Halo While others are made to be aesthetically pleasing and satisfying to use… such as the needler from Halo

[@boomtube7732]

God I love the Needler... Halo has some of my favorite sci-fi weapons: The Beam Rifle, Fuel Rod Cannon, Spartan Laser, they're all so distinctive and fun to use!

[@RemmiCat]

Hehe its an armor piece now

[@chestermicgun]

My favorite sci fi gun

[@CoolVictor2002]

I think his favorite weapon is the needler 🤪

[@Pyroholiday]

Covenant carbine

[@plumdowner1941]

Mass Effect, collapsing into tiny boxes aside, actually has some decent sci-fi weapon designs. One barrel for conventional ammunition (as conventional a tiny piece of metal accelerated by space magic anyway) and a second for certain weapon based abilities characters can have like a high impact round that knocks a person over. But the actual shape is quite conventional, though the designs for various races in the galaxy do have their own cultural flair to keep things from being bland.

[@bru9383]

Damn straight

[@AbdefFable1]

The weapons being able to collapse for easy storage is actually a point in their favor. And I wouldn't say it's space magic since most the weapons are either 21st century ones (the grenade/rocket launcher, snipers and literally a nuke attached to a rocket launcher) or just rail guns operating similar to present day guns

[@AbdefFable1]

Also the heat sink in ME1 was better than having to find ammunition all the time in later games👌🏽

[@StarFreighterPilotGothJesus]

The fmg9 collapses into a little box, there's actually a few guns that collapse into themselves

[@rpk321]

​​@@AbdefFable1 Being able to collapse is not a point in favour. It just means that there are way too much empty space. Meaning the guns have more bulk than is necessary.

[@Fuerto203]

I can think of 3 reasons 1: If Sci-Fi went for more practical designs, then they would end up looking too much like modern day guns and different franchises would get similar designs for their weapons. 2: It can be part of the storytelling in designing weapons with a specific purpose in the setting. A cool weapon designed to be underslung your arm and fired with one hand for space ship boarding is cooler and better story telling than just giving your space pirates a conventional smg for example. 3: Rule of cool

[@bruvance]

Half of them aren't even remotely cool

[@deltathetraveler5541]

​@@bruvance That's your opinion and I personally love the BFG.

[@MrJHM007]

There is also, at least in cases where aliens are very different from humans, that the gun is not designed for human hands. How would the gun look like, if the owner has 3 arms, with 3 fingers on each, or just a mess of tentacles?

[@ORLY911]

also we don't know how compact energy based weapons would actually look like until we actually make them, as is, the best we got are lasers the size of a room. Developments in ballistic tech can also drastically change and impact how a gun looks. So until then, make the guns have unique silhouettes and visual features to enrich visual and gameplay experience.

[@MrJHM007]

@@ORLY911 there will be some similarities in the same way a flintlock has a compareable form to a modern pistol. Things like a way to hold it, aim it and fire it will be likely have the same, functional design.

[@Waldemarvonanhalt]

Only sci-fi guns I've seen keeping things simple are the blasters in Legend of the Galactic Heroes 1988 OVA. No weird oversized pistols or rifles. Pretty sleek and well-proportioned.

[@titan1umtitan]

If you’d count it, I think titanfall keeps things realistic, but has that futuristic technology to it

[@qui-gontimtherandomraptor1072]

But what about my boi M14A Class Pulse Rifle?? Can't overlook Aliens ;-;

[@lampshade6579]

I'm a semi-freelance artist. And a lot of indie devs higher me to assist with art design. I usually design things more connected to gameplay, and weapons are a big part of that. Like how swords in media are usually very impractical and just sorta look cool. We also do that for guns. But the problem is guns are a mechanism, not a stagnant shape like swords or spears. So when we design a gun just to look menacing, it's usually way easier to notice the flaws on how it could never work in real life. Usually we have to design 20 - 100 weapons depending on the scale. And making the process take longer to make weapons look more practical just lengthens the process by quite a lot for something most people won't care about.

[@pacifistminigun3987]

Very good point

[@W1ldSm1le]

Guns with very few exceptions are a static layout though. Unless the shape of a human body changes radically having all the controls usable with the right hand and a comfortable spot for the left hand is pretty standard. The only real change is ammunition/mechanism forward or behind the right hand while shouldered.

[@newbienoobframebyframe4108]

Most people are morons. Stop making things for "most people" thats where your fuckin it up... Least common denominator bullshit is horrible for entertainment especially.

[@Nuhbuddys]

Hey.. So.. I've wanted to design weapons for video games since video games were a thing. Can you tell me a little more, please? Are you designing them in a program like Blender or drawing with pencil and paper? Where do you go to get ... I guess people request certain styles, sci fi, medieval, steampunk, straight up modern military ... or do you just create a bunch of different weapons and let people choose? I really would LOVE to draw guns all day... I've made quite a few I'm proud of.. The Egyptian flamethrower. The Bazookling Hook. A napalm-filled toilet paper roll launcher.. The list goes on. I figure... if NO job I have is going to pay a decent wage, might as well do something I want to do.

[@lampshade6579]

@@Nuhbuddys 1.) I do sketch mock ups with a drawing tablet on my computer, then begin making the art/model/sprite really whatever the game needs. You can really deign them in whatever medium you want, but I think most fined it easiest to at least sketch it out first. 2.) I'm assuming you mean where do I go to find jobs? Well I started by looking for online job applications, and also advertised with social media and on other platforms. Then just did whatever job I got, but lately my networking has been paying off. So I usually have specific studios/people contact me requesting to do work with them. 3.) Those all sound like very fun ideas, and passion is the first and most important step in mastering anything. Keep going at it, and keep pushing yourself with new concepts and ideas you find challenging. 4.) Yeah that's a good view point to tackle it from, I do it cuz I made a challenge for myself to get really good at drawing in a month. But then I just kept going, and now I'm a very fast and skilled worker. But do whatever you want to do, and find what your strengths and weaknesses are. And you'll do great. Good Luck with your passion.

[@InvictusByz]

I encountered this concept in a block-based warship building/fighting game called From the Depths. The more I learned about effective design, the more my designs naturally drew closer and closer to modern warships.

[@tubeyou222100]

I feel that Hollywood is ignorant of firearms and they have no idea how to design something that they hold in contempt.

[@InvictusByz]

@@tubeyou222100 That's probably gonna be part of it, but not everyone in hollywood is gun-averse. If that were the entire story start to finish, then we wouldn't have any movies or tv depicting guns well, or any particularly great sci-fi weapons. Star Wars has some pretty good weapons IMO, and Stargate had a pretty overt love affair with the P90.

[@shoelessbandit1581]

Honestly Hollywood needs to go back to bolting random parts onto existing guns like in starwars or aliens.

[@alecratterree9576]

Except everyone bitched about it when they did that for Andor

[@shoelessbandit1581]

@@alecratterree9576 you mean the under folder aks that were barely modified? They had much better examples in rogue one and the mandalorian

[@alecratterree9576]

@@shoelessbandit1581 you say that as if the E-11 wasn’t literally just a sterling or the DLT wasn’t literally just a Mg 34 it’s honestly not the worst one

[@shoelessbandit1581]

@@alecratterree9576 yeah it's a sterling with random crap bolted on almost like it's peak sci-fi weapons or some shit. The pulse rifle from alien is just a Thompson and it's amazing

[@TheWITE-FOX]

Lol those are the two movies I immediately thought of

[@thinkingboi9508]

My guess is that most of these guns were designed by artists, not actual weapon designers. If i remember correctly most of Killzone's vehicles and weapons were made by actual vehicle and weapon designers, and both the Helghast and ISA's assault rifles are one of the coolest looking ones i've ever seen.

[@xkavarsmith9322]

Dang, that explains so much about the feel of realism in Killzone. I just have one quirk, and that is the choice of sidearms. The ISA should have the semiautomatic because it's cheap, more futuristic and easy to mass produce, and the Helghast needs the revolver because it prioritizes their philosophy of firepower, accuracy, resource conservation and fetishization of past glory. Six shots, six kills.

[@user-3550]

What if they put some research in modern firearms design to kinda predict our future gun designs

[@tylersizelove7521]

Those were awesome games. Those weapons were slick bullpup designs.

[@nicknight1728]

Do my eyes deceive me or is that a comment pertaining to Killzone? Thank you for making an old man happy.

[@foxglow6798]

The UNSC’s firearms are pretty realistic considering the threat they’re up against

[@shadoeboi212]

Halo 1 hand gun doesn't have sights

[@starhammer5247]

​@@shadoeboi212No, it does. The ODST pistol is the same gun, the magnum, it just had the smart link scope removed. The magnum used by Spartans have smart links which do the aiming for them as it links with their helmets.

[@shadoeboi212]

@@starhammer5247 in halo 1 the magnum handed to by captain keys on the bridge is specifically his duty pistol meaning he could not have used the smartlink effectively making it have no sights. also if you look at it it cant have any front iron as underneath the smart link module it is flat in the original model and the remake model. the ODST variant having irons is a definitional retcon

[@starhammer5247]

@@shadoeboi212 Or the developers didn't think people would be that anal about the details. Or the iron sights are hidden underneath the shroud. Or you're looking too deeply concerning a game design thing that the developers can't be fucked to make multiple variants of. Do you really think they'd make, model and code a second magnum model just to add a small and unimportant detail? Besides, this shit was in the book that came out before the game. That and Halo 2 also had the magnum without the smart scope, it had a full set of iron sights.

[@Whiskey-cr9dq]

@@shadoeboi212 every UNSC service member has a neural link installed when they begin their service that’s probably what gives them a cross hair or smth idk

[@FRISHR]

Because they’re gonna sell it as toys for children so it can’t be too realistic.

[@Aerowind]

A non trivial amount are also going to be existing gun designs with shit bolted on to them. Because of this, it's always going to be bigger than the starting weapon. Like I have an airsoft gun and if you unscrew all of the sci-fi parts on it there's just an M4 hiding underneath it.

[@infernaldaedra]

That's how star wars did it they just took WW2 guns and sawed them up and glued pieces of sci-fi to them

[@KoeSeer]

that's basically majority of star wars gun. bunch of ww2 prop guns with weird attachments.

[@jxblades716]

@@KoeSeer solos Mauser or officer pistol i forget is the most notible

[@skiddle-e-dewyour-mums-a-j8752]

@@infernaldaedra I remember realizing that after I installed the outer rim mod for blade and sorcery and took a closer look at the guns

[@drunkonsuccess779]

I always figured it was because we were incapable of knowing why they were made weirdly, there had to be some futuristic purpose that we couldn't comprehend because we are behind those in the sci-fi situations.

[@jemerage8885]

This makes more sense to me.

[@Weed_Dante]

Titanfall is the best example for good sci-fi guns imo. Because the guns look and work like something that would exist in the future

[@stonewilson3337]

Titanfall is the best example of a game. Period.

[@Weed_Dante]

@@stonewilson3337 definitely

[@davidcenturion961]

P2020= Glock with ammo count

[@__sanchez2094]

​@@stonewilson3337 the only correct opinion

[@Madara8989]

Mass Effect 1 was a stellar example of realistic sci-fi weapons. They looked like evolutions of modern weapons, but utilized the in-universe sci-fi tech to give it advantages over the real variant. The main change in design being how "bullets" worked. Instead of using small cases filled with explosives to propel projectiles; they miniaturized and harnessed the tech from the mass effect relays to instead fire small metal shavings at relativistic speeds. Instead of loading a gun with a magazine that holds XX amount of bullets, the gun would be loaded with a small chunk of inert metal that would have pieces of it shaved off and launched out the barrel.

[@beastamer1990s]

It's to imply technology that is beyond our understanding. It's not "impractical" it's "necessary to it's unknowable function"

[@puddel9079]

Mike Pondsmith actually had to give a very pointed explanation about how CDPR should make the guns for Cyberpunk 2077. Apparently they hadn't considered that practical mechanical efficiency endowed that dangerous quality to the weapons.

[@MadM0nte]

MP is per usual very based.

[@octoberwildsmoke9065]

Dangerous? What's dangerous?

[@chucklefuck]

​@@octoberwildsmoke9065 Weapons that look like they actually work can be more intimidating than flashy impractical ones

[@Ghost_Text]

​@@chucklefuck a more noisy cricket facade.

[@carso1500]

@@chucklefuck why?

[@lplayerjohnny9778]

Tbh, I personally think that scifi guns look good if they make sense based on their functionality. For example, The pulse rifle from alien. Sure it has a lot of exterior bulk but in the end its basically just a fixed underbarrel weapon mounted on a normal assault rifle with a carryhandle. The magazine is placed well, all those work well, if you just sit at it and look at it from a technical standpoint and can clearly follow why everything is where it is then its a good design. If it is just supposed to look weird then its not well designed.

[@Zafer258]

Id say they were designed to look cool, but not to function. And now, what looks cool, needs to be functional too.

[@mikabelanger4239]

Man basically summoned up Ork thinking from Warhammer 40k

[@TheSpeep]

Fantasy swords suffer from this too. Specifically spikes, spikes everywhere, all the spikes. Pointless spikes, spikes thatd get stuck while cutting, spikes on the guard, spikes on the handle, SPIKES!

[@ekamandalaputra5517]

​@@TheSpeep it would be suck if i use it

[@spookzer16]

​@@TheSpeep And sometimes spikes that would literally jab into you if you used the weapon!

[@solomonexpress2445]

These look lame though

[@isaiasaguirre342]

In Star Wars the weapons look more realistic since they used ww2 guns as a base and atached random pieces in them, such as putting scops in pistols, talking out the magazines or adding and extra ones. There is other guns that are invented for the saga completilly but they still have some of a realistic desing.

[@shijin8947]

I will say, the titanfall universe has some of my favorite firearms mostly because they just look like future versions of what we have now, i tend to really enjoy the more pratical firearm designs in sci-fi that the creaters put just a flourish of quirkiness into

[@AlienSliker]

Yeah, titanfalls gun design beats real life sometimes

[@fluffywolfo3663]

Concur'd. They gotta have at least some quirkiness (like how Titanfall has an entire family of guns that's basically the Vector + the Remington ACR) so they feel distinct, otherwise it's like... "can't I just buy this at the store?"

[@letssuperfuntime]

My people.

[@red_phoenix0570]

this is something I've thought about a lot since I'm kinda working on a game of my own right now. for futuristic guns, I think the design principle I will use is to base the guns off of modern ones but do a bunch of changes to one. for instance, I've currently got 2 in the works. one that uses a similar to the p90 body, with a side-inserted p90 magazine for a more bulpup design, and probably with recoil being transmitted downward in the same fashion as a vector. I also have been brainstorming a ar-style rifle with two integrated mag wells. one bulpup mag well for rifle rounds (using a heavily curves magazine that sort of curves to the bottom of the rear grip) and the second forward one for another caliber, or more likely 12 gauge buckshot, magazine fed. another I haven't given a ton of thought to yet would be a heavy caliber semi auto sniper rifle, with internal tube magazine similar to a shotgun tube mag or old lever action rifle. (yes these designs are weird but they will be wielded by a combat robot)

[@khango6138]

I think the problem is that we humans have pretty much perfected the design of small arms to fit a humanoid soldier's ergonomics. These weird scifi guns are bad ergonomically because they're still meant to be used by a humanoid soldier/space marine/starship trooper. But, I haven't seen too many fire arms made to fit alien warriors that aren't humanoids (Mass Effect has some nice ones for the non-humanoid aliens). From scifi novels, my favourite arms and equipments so far belong to the uplifted Portiids from Adria Tchaikovsky's "Children of Time".

[@deadchivalry1698]

I was about to suggest Mass Effect as a good example. There are some very ergonomic weapons and there are some not so good ones. But the not good ones tend to be designed for aliens and so make sense within the context of the story.

[@SorakuFett]

​​@@deadchivalry1698 Yeah, you can tell the alien ones with grips that are big and awkward in a five-fingered hand but would work well in the multitude of three-fingered races' hands.

[@thatguyinthecorner4648]

Mass Effect is a funny example because in spite of that it does also have giant scary turtle men who will occasionally menace you with a human pistol clearly too small for them. Not enough to be cartoonish but it does look kind of silly in a "this guy could definitely find a better tool for him" sort of way

[@christiangibson2733]

It's funny because it makes the cricket from men in black a top tier weapon

[@CaptYid]

Bro hasn’t seen a single Star Wars movie

[@danielbickford3458]

I would have assumed that it's a combination of rule of cool and the very high likelihood that a lot of these gun designers haven't held anything more violent than a Nerf gun.

[@rokkfel4999]

Not just that but also creativity people will call out some guns for looking to real or looking to much like a gun in real life

[@filiformis]

And sometimes the gun props that show up in science fiction are literally painted Nerf guns.

[@RockyPixel]

@@filiformis the Longshot is particularly popular for that.

[@WallNutBreaker524]

I think it's just rule of cool, considering were talking about a bunch of game devs working for big companies, and they're based in America, with the countrys SECOND AMENDMENT. Nerf gun my ass.

[@naamadossantossilva4736]

​@@WallNutBreaker524 Most artists are from leftist areas,like California.They don't tend to learn much about guns.

[@irefusetogiveupto80s65]

Bolters seem very good looking tho

[@fluffywolfo3663]

my favorite sci-fi gun(s) would be the M41A1 Pulse Rifle from Aliens... and everything from Titanfall 2. Sure, there's some missteps, like the M41A1's impossible magazine capacity, but almost all of these guns make _sense_ in a way few do. For example, the pulse rifle works because it's sort of a caricature of gun trends of the time - the way rifles had shifted into something more SMG-adjacent, the grenade launcher, the laughably small caseless ammo...

[@ezragoldberg3132]

That sound of the Pulse Rifle... Amazing!

[@GunNr-]

And the concept of the pulse rifle is not completely outside reality. Case less ammo do exist. Where the sci-fi comes in is making it work without exploding

[@zacheryeckard3051]

​@@GunNr- Or fizzling.

[@fluffywolfo3663]

@@GunNr- I've seen artwork and prop versions of M41a1 ammo, it actually doesn't look that different from G11 ammo lol

[@_GenericAmerican]

The C.A.R., Flatline, and L-STAR are my 3 favorite looking weapons on Titanfall 2.

[@Tango_Hendrix]

The Atlas .45 could work pretty good, I'd think.

[@JustABaptistApoligist]

I think the AUG and FAMAS are great examples of this

[@Lancersilva]

Although the problem with them is that they’re bullpups which have a myriad of issues (mostly ergonomics, but even then people who hate bullpups like the Aug). But they are a step in the right direction for being advanced looking and practical. I think they would be more popular when caseless ammunition is at a point where it’s readily available.

[@JustABaptistApoligist]

@@Lancersilva I think so too, as well as mechanical optimisation for their firing mechanism

[@byron2FZ]

F2000 as well. Given Bungie basically accidentally copied its silhouette for Halo.

[@Lancersilva]

@@byron2FZ I still find that fact hilarious

[@starhammer5247]

​@@byron2FZCompletely unintentional and accidental plagiarism. That shit's just funny.

[@Townes888]

Bruh assault rifle from fallout 4 looks like an airship more than a gun

[@Postaldude2003]

It looks like a ww1 machine gun was raped by the guns from Wolfenstein

[@ninjakoule9878]

there is a book series in my language, where the main characters straight up print alien weapons to look like AKs

[@justindunlap1235]

I could honestly see that, we've became a spacefaring race but we still want the gun were used to

[@Rat_Fบcker]

Well if we can make weapon shoot plasma i'm sure they'll make it shape like AK

[@stoneklint3191]

which book

[@yeetguy7571]

Bro is NOT hatin on the Atlas 45.

[@Demonskunk]

In order to make a gun look ‘scifi’ you need to break it from reality, and breaking it from reality ends up either making it look stupid or like a toy unless you do it *Juuuust right* And that’s a hard act to pull off.

[@MrDoggoCraft]

And then you have star wars Just strap bits of plastic to ww2 guns

[@chadmann2724]

Fusionfall did a great job with Numbah Five’s ive cream pistols. Like a really great job.

[@mikkelnpetersen]

I like the bolter, simple and yet one of the most deadly ones.

[@Paul-A01]

Sci fi gun designs peaked with the Nerf Longshot

[@gamesux420]

If they made sci-fi have realistic guns it would be boring. The whole entire point is that's its not current modern tech. Imagine if he said "Why doesn't the Enterprise look like a space shuttle?" I fucking wonder If "the only answer you can come up with" is that real life gun manufacturers would start copying movie guns for their efficiency then you have a lot more thinking to do...

[@thelasthunter7906]

I still personally love the look of the Atlas .45, as its just super aesthetically pleasing to me in a way I cannot describe

[@opticloki4750]

Plus built in fore grip as the mag

[@micahsmith2066]

It kinda tickles that Kriss Vector part of the brain

[@CelicaSNC]

​​@@opticloki4750 the mag well actually. Like seriously. The mag well itself is a built in foregrip and counter weight

[@opticloki4750]

@@CelicaSNC it was implied

[@Drbeattles]

tbh its not that stupid. with exos the front heaviness could be mitigated and by having the mag in front of the grip you could use double stack mags without making the grip awkward to hold. as double stack 45s are very wide and is part of the reason for mass adoption of 9mm

[@nepi7847]

I'd say that Respawn entretainment nailed it with titanfall's (and later apex's) firearm design, they're plausible but look futuristic, and you can see repeating patterns on guns that are manufactured by the same in-universe companies

[@jemerage8885]

Why does it need to be plausible if it's science... FICTION?

[@elishafollet5347]

​​@@jemerage8885its just cool to see something in fiction that actually could be plausible some times y'know, at least in my personal opinion that is.

[@nef36]

The best way to make a sci fi gun is to decide on a feature/firing mechanic that wouldn't work/be impractical IRL (plasma, railguns/coilguns, etc), or decide on some kind of limitation, and try and figure out how people would build such a gun under such conditions. While also making it look memorable and aesthetically pleasing. F*ck.

[@KevinC2793]

just use the Star Wars cheat and glue greebles on real guns 🤷‍♂️

[@ashleyhamman]

I feel like the Tribes universe made decent use of it, with the "Spinfusor" weapon type.

[@KevinC2793]

@@ashleyhamman spinfusors are unique but suffer from the issue that there is literally no reason to use them over traditional weaponry.

[@ashleyhamman]

​@@KevinC2793 I see advantages them, but they would hardly be a go-to outside of one specific role. I do think a weapon that fires an unguided explosive charge on a nearly flat trajectory and is relatively easy to carry would be quite desirable in rural warfare though. Mortars require teams, rocket launchers and recoilless rifles are bulky and heavy, and ATGMs require keeping aimed at a target. It's unclear to me if spinfusors have any anti-armor capability, but it seems like an obvious weapon to attack unarmored vehicles and lightly armored APCs and IFVs with.

[@chronictimewasterdisease]

we did, invent rail guns tho, it's just that they are the size of trebuchets, like real life real guns are almost as tall as a house, but on the other hand when they fire what you end up with is pretty much a re-usable nuke, there's also the fact that the power consumption of that beast is comparable to a particle accelerator

[@odinlindeberg4624]

It also bears mentioning that guns in sci fi movies are often dressed up versions of real guns, for instance one of many different variants of the zorg gun prop from Fifth Element is built around an AKS74U, if I remember correctly.

[@ls0l4ce]

I really like the guns from Warframe since they are basically a modern equivalent of primitive weaponry. Not to mention the fact that some are made from the material of a Warframe steel like flesh

[@JustABaptistApoligist]

A fellow warframe player, tell me what is your favourite gun in game?

[@ls0l4ce]

@@JustABaptistApoligist Hard choice... I'm between my Ninkondi Prime and my Zaw Nikana.

[@JustABaptistApoligist]

@@ls0l4ce nice, my personal favorite is either the fulmin or quellor

[@ls0l4ce]

@@JustABaptistApoligist Understandably so, both good weapons with the right build. I have mine with rivens so they're always my trusty backup tools.

[@harrogeorge7878]

I love the cedo, it’s my favourite warframe weapon and is a bulky shotgun made for the chunky boi Lavos. It’s effectively a “Saw” the classic machine gun but with a thicker barrel. I specify that machine gun because of the dinner place magazine in the same place as the saw launcher.

[@Jayalen]

Also I'm sure if you show a bunch of ww2 soldiers a Kriss Vector, they would think it's an ugly gun when in reality it has the best recoil management in a firearm

[@platinumchromee3191]

The very shape of the gun is cool

[@TheAngryAsianAnimations]

I disagree. For example if you design a good looking gun that can make bullets from a triple A battery (fictional of course) that design couldn't be translated into real life because its ergonomics would center around it not having any excess weight. Same with thigns like guns that don't need a barrel to be accurate. Or a gun that relies on smart fire. It can still look/be cool if the design actually makes sense for the science of the fiction. But then it can't translate to the real world because that science no longer exists. Scifi guns usually look bad because they are designed explicitly to look outlandish and by people who don't understand guns. It's also why guns in less outlandish scifi like Halo will look better because they are designed to be more in line with real guns and less out there.

[@vivienboo1576]

Germany: idk what you mean, you call our G36 futuristic for some reason

[@JonnesTT]

I'd wager it's because they're purely playing with imagery. Like... when a child paints a house. Noone asked them to make their guns realistic until recently. So they didn't even though about it.

[@alyxgurr755]

Something looks bad when it's not a design but an art piece.

[@MM94402]

Gotta remember most sci-fi guns go for identifiable and practical making it look like it could work in that world but not irl

[@thegermanfool8953]

>straight-to-the-point >no BS I like this channel already

[@AntonioZL]

My favorite sci-fi weapon is the Standard Issue Pulse Rifle from Half-Life. It has the perfect blend of alien technology and recognizable bits.

[@callsignapollo_]

My favorite part about the AR2 pulse rifle is that it was apparently designed as a combine flaregun for the cut borealis chapter that wouldve been in the arctic at night. They kept the original animations and just made not a single-shot. If you fire one shot and reload, thats the original animation sequence

[@whatisbow2865]

I mean there are actual high tech weapons that look futuristic like the G11, XM8, XM25

[@kashmerlangston545]

What was wrong with the Atlas .45? Just a front-loaded pistol.

[@Notllamalord]

Because future guns will look like modern guns, it’s too boring

[@g4fly4ever8]

I think it would be to emulate how if you showed a modern rifle to a 1700s Musketeers it would look very weird

[@Jojo-zn3bv]

The white and black gun you showed when you said BAD, actually goes hard

[@robertharris6092]

The "magazine" youd see in a plasma rifle would likely be a battery. So it can be placed pretty much anywhere on the gun.

[@Joshua_N-A]

Isn't plasma supposed to be a superheated neutral gas?

[@TheR3d3mpti0n]

​@Joshua N. Ajang then it'll be a canister placed anywhere in the gun

[@goodolrainbowpet]

it could also be that people designing them have to make something that uses nonexistent technology so there is no telling how it would work in practice so if it looks strange you can assume thats the only way it could look while functioning

[@tellg0t090]

there's also the fact it's probably not a one to one switch there might be different design requirements when building a plasma or laser weapon (or whatever other random projectile) so it doesn't fully make sense to base it 100 percent of existing guns

[@evanf1443]

I mean I personally enjoy when guns look sci fi enough to get included into things. Examples are the p90 being used in a few sci fi movies and the assault rifle from halo looking suspiciously like an FN F2000. Not to mention all the Star Wars blasters

[@nekobyoneko444]

Personally I feel the most solid designs are those that either went out of fashion due to material strengths vs cartridge power (i.e.. top break revolvers) and those that are modified for new uses like the halo shotgun. The designs need functional purpose not just "cool shape". I especially love designs that feasible could work just no one wants to make them because non superhuman or augmented people would get their ass kicked by the gun. The KS-23 is a good example, mostly lower power riot and utility rounds because 4 gauge hurts.

[@shadowhenge7118]

Springfield Hellion with caseless ammo would be epic. Basically an Aliens Battle Rifle.

[@venerablebrothergoriate5844]

That’s why I really like guns like the USMC’s armory in Aliens. You’re not left wondering which part is which. Everything on those guns is pretty self-evident as to what it’s there for

[@diamond5914]

Destiny has some pretty good gun designs, Hakkë’s line of guns actually fit more towards how ours look in real life to fit with their motto: “for the people”

[@NicholasUmstead]

Fallouts laser weaponry looks somewhat user friendly, most futuristic guns look so strange to me but something about that laser rifle speaks to me lol

[@BlackSabbath628]

Which Fallout laser weapons? I'd agree with you if you were talking about the Wattz 1000, but not for the AEP7 or AER9 series which are the standard in the Bethesda games. And of course there's the infamous Institute laser weapons.

[@Skaramine]

That Rifts hand blaster brings back memories. 😂

[@dimasakbar7668]

Warhammer 40K: make em CHONK and slap some skull onto it.

[@der_fisch_42]

If we have enough time and money, we could easily replicate bolt rifles/bolters. They’re basically obese assault rifles mixed with grenade launchers

[@platinumchromee3191]

Bolter essentially shoots jet-propelled redbull can sized rocket

[@Mike-my7uf]

Some really cool Sci-fi guns i remember in video games: -Cerebral Bore from Turok 2 -Farsight from Perfect Dark -Moonraker from Golden Eye -BFG from Doom -Nikita Launcher from MGS1 -Chainsaw gun from Gears of War -Bolter from War Hammer 40K

[@REBRANDEDgamer]

I read the rifts equipment list too much. I recognized that first pistol instantly.

[@meloncholy428]

some of the guns from Advanced Warfare were pretty cool and looked at least practical. My favorite were the two rifles that had built-in 3d printers that would print out ready to fire rounds.

[@CSMDenji]

*Manufacturer adding light* America: ill buy your whole stock

[@anothernerd6464]

Aha, I present you with the storm bolter. Compact semi automatic rocket launcher, designed to be wielded by the children of demigods (and sometimes nuns)

[@kellmalleus5825]

Thank the Emperor somebody said it before I had to. Well done, Imperial citizen.

[@ProudAmericanMan]

For the starship troopers one, when you run out of ammo just wack the bug in the head.

[@Excalibur01]

It's because the people who develop these guns as props or even in games are NOT gun people

[@ileeee69]

Or it's just for entertainment purpose, they are made to look fun and interesting for a simple bread-eatter not to be functional, same with any other "fantasy-something" designs, also there are more and less realistic ideas in fiction

[@hotdog4260]

A note to designers. The answer to this riddle is when creating interesting powerful tech you must also design an inhearant drawback or complication that has to overcome for the weapon to be considered effestive. Massive overheating, blinding muzzle flash, toxic spent carriages, overbearingly heavy or loud. From there you just think realisticly about the design features one would implement to overcome these drawbacks. If your solutions make sense and work cleverly or even seemlessly then you will have a good looking weapon. Also CONTEXT what environmental factors effect the people who use this weapon in your fiction that might not be present in real life warfare? Zero gravity? Invisibility? Energy shields? What features would these people find most useful. If you can use real world design logic to make weapons for unrealistic scenarios then beutiful designs will arise when you come up with a creation that 'would' work really well IN the context of your fiction.

[@zM00Nx]

Was recently admiring the R301 in Apex legends. Great example of a gun that looks futuristic, but also functional. Also in Apex there is the R-99 sub machine gun and the Longbow DMR which are weapons that are clearly supposed to be built on the "R301 platform".

[@fishii8237]

I like how guns like the P90 and vector are still used in scifi movies

[@noodlelova3]

I've seen plenty of guns in fiction that look like completely functional weapons. We just don't press our metal or make our parts the way some fictional people do.

[@TonyTheTaco0830]

That COD Advanced Warfare pistol at the end had me rolling I completely forgot about it

[@Seektheday]

The rifts art is perfect here

[@colechestnut6627]

They did a good job coming up with the pulse rifle in the Alien movies, factory made, basic, ammo counter, possibly muzzle attachments, comes with built in grenade launcher and could be cycled out with different attachments.

[@secretagenttau2233]

The only thing I can think of for BIG sci-fi guns is that the power miniaturization hasn't been mastered yet. That was literally an issue in lore for Fallout laser/plasma and power armor. It wasn't until the invention of the Micro fusion cell(MFC) AND THE fusion core(for armor) that they were able to start sleeking the weapons

[@MiJi_29]

Lmfao not the Atlas 45 at the end 😂

[@spetznas.]

The Pulse Rifle from Alien was really cool.

[@leesouthcott8184]

I appreciate you showing Battletech's Mauzer 1200 Light Support System

[@eljefeamericano4308]

Aliens gave us gold with the Pulse Rifle, and that wearable mount for the Smart Gun. In video games in particular, especially recently, I think a huge part of the problem is that the developers look down their noses at real guns, and gun owners, so they have no expertise left inside their companies.

[@TheFunniBaconMan]

As a gun enthusiast/geek, I love when a Sci-fi setting has believable weaponry. One of the reasons I like "Aliens".

[@romemedina4712]

Legit immersion into the style of the story. If they're something out of our imagination the design should be as well. Theoretically working weapon designs that leave you staring at the weapon in minor shock are the best.

[@robertnett9793]

In the sci fi game my friends an I are working on, weapons by and large didn't change that much in the next 1000 years. People still use guns - alongside beam weapons. Simply for the reason, that it's easier to build and maintain normal guns on some backwater planets... and simply because the concept works. It makes things dead. Changes are mostly due to the weapons could be used in 0G enviroments - like several forms of recoilless guns or glass ammunition, especially built to NOT destroy things inside a spaceship.

[@einargs]

The best sci-fi stuff comes from thinking up a cool limitation or aspect and then figuring out why that would be the case. In the honor Harrington series, David Weber wanted spaceships doing broadside duels and came up with the idea of the drive creating impenetrable wedges of distorted gravity above and below the ship, leaving the broadsides and bow and Stern as weapon mounts but also targets. And that gives space combat there really cool depth. You gotta do the same thing with guns, and that's really hard.

[@Astartes-6969]

Elysium is a great example of good futuristic guns, in the film they use real guns but modified them with futuristic equipment to give it more punch.

[@gene1491]

Almost as if they were science fiction...

[@roger4845]

Exactly. These guys are pretentious

[@Rohnon]

That's why I like guns being based on prototypes or unadapted guns, like the pancor Jackhammer or the HK-caseless ammo gun.

[@Jumbatato]

Gun 3 looks like a stick you would find in your back yard

[@shinesparkss5193]

I love what Star Wars did with its blasters. The team went out and rented a bunch of WW2 guns to use as props, I believe, and then they modified them to look more “sci-fi.” They couldn’t change them too much, though, because they would need to return them.

[@devinhallsworth5531]

My favourite scifi gun story is the Star Trek Next Generation phasers. Roddenberry wanted the show to be more peaceful so he told the props people to make the phasers look as little like guns as possible. The cast complained CONSTANTLY that the TNG phasers were impossible to aim at anything.

[@JPG.01]

I might have to mention the H&K G11 project. That gun looked more sci-fi than most sci-fi guns :D

[@lucalarocca2207]

Bro tried to sneak the Atlas 45 in there💀💀

[@potatoheadpokemario1931]

In Fallout 1 and 2 the energy weapons have the same graphic as the regular weapons

[@ferrisbueller9991]

Keltec is a great company for Artists to reference for sci fi guns. P50 is awesome. Like a P90 pistol.

[@doubl3tap51]

Colonial Marine pulse rifles look SICK tho

[@randie_endik]

Same as characters and vehicles.. It needs to stand unique, iconic and easily recognized if ones came from particular franchise or saga or brand. Making ones design realistically that ends up as close as other thing or the real thing wont sell the franchise.. That's works not just guns and characters, it's pretty much rules all design, which includes environment and world too.. just the whole idea of design in the first place..

[@pu-FP]

The atlas 45. At the end, i loved built in grip design, making it effective as a primary not just a secondary, because games try to make us believe pistols arent effective as a main means of defense/attack when in reality a well trained operative ESPECIALLY in CQC would be a menace with that ergo and stopping power the atlas 45. Has. I think it would a beast in real life