What do you think a realistic (non-hollywood) alien might look like?

[Protostar Studio]

Before I even begin modelling I have to first have a basic concept of what realistic intellectual aliens might look like for my game. First, considering that they are intellectual they need sort of exoskelleton or skull to pretect their brain, or whatever central commanding organ one may have. Secondly, they need moderate sensory, we have eyes, ears, a nose, a tongue, and nerve endings that allow us to feel. I'm thinking that the standard intelleginet ET could have all or just one of those things. Next is how they communicate, this could be through the color and agle of a gil, the noise made from a nosteral or mouth, signals like sign language or perhaps via some form of brainwave communication. Next we have nagivation (how they move). The only real reason that we are bipedal according to evolution theory is that there were less forests to climb and sleep in and we needed to be taller to see preditors hiding in high grass. I'd say any form of navigation works. Finally and most importantly, how the intelligent organism modifies his or her enviroment. We do it with hands and thumbs by making tools. One might have something similar to hands except with sunction cups and pure muscle with no bone like the human tongue.

What do you guys think a realistic intelligent ET might look like?
I'm drawing my idea as we speak and I'll post it once finished.

[Mandle]

Next we have nagivation (how they move).

Actually "navigation" would mean "how they know where to move to", like sensing the planet's magnetic field in the case of many Earth birds. I think you mean "locomotion" or "mobility".

(BOOOO!!! Language Nazi...BOOOO!!!)

Here's some stuff I've heard from Xenobiologists over the years and also a few of my own opinions:

It seems most likely that advanced intelligent life would have a head at the top of their body located on top of some sort of swivel, like a neck, and that their sensory organs for at least sight and hearing would be on that head. The reason being that it's just the best way to see as far away as possible, thus alerting you to any threats coming your way faster. The same reason for the neck: It's too slow to constantly turn your entire body to look around for threats. The reason for the hearing organs being on the head with the eyes is for ease of calibration between what you see and what you hear. Two eyes seems most likely as it's the maximum needed for depth perception and having more might not be the bonus one would expect: For us it would be incredibly confusing. But the alien might have a vastly superior visual center to us, or even have backup eyes that it can intentionally use or not use (kind of like windows in a house, choosing which to look through at any given time). Anyway, it seems eyes make the most sense in sets of two facing in the same directions. The mouth is a different matter and it's actually quite a "design-flaw" in a lot of Earth-life to have the mouth on the head on the same side at the eyes. This means that many animals are left more vulnerable while eating, hence the swivelling ears on many animals, both predator and prey. Another flaw is our mixed-together breathing and eating systems, adding the chance of death by choking. These last points about flaws are kind of off topic I guess, unless of course the alien race had altered their natural evolution or had actually been designed and bred by an even more superior race. But what they also mean is that there is no real reason for the mouth to be on the head or the nose/mouth system to be connected, whereas there are very good reasons for the eyes/ears/head/neck system to be integrated together.

Anyways, can't wait to see the sketch!

[Cassiebsg]

Actually I'm less stuck to predefine physical aspects of what an Alien would have. Thrust be told is, all we know are humanoid and "earth" bound creature forms, which makes automatically incapable of conceiving any other form of life. But what makes a form of life intelligent is their brain and how they use it, now where it's located.
Maybe the brain could be safely tucked in the middle of a tick "safe" inside the body. Maybe they don't even have eyes, but "see" with the help of a radar and sensors. However in order to be able to build stuff they would need some way of grabbing and handling stuff. Just look at a snail, even if they're IQ could be measured to 200, there's little chance they could do more than what they already do.
We tend to see our form as the "superior" and ideal form, but like Mandle pointed out, we have a lot of design flaws. And knowing how live evolves, then there's no reason to believe that there's a perfect life form out there. Chances are they are also full of design flaws.

This is also a point I have, and continue to think about, as I have yet to decide how the aliens for my BSG game will look like. Weird aliens would work, but humanoid ones would also. And it's easier to created humanoid one...

[NickyNyce]

Half alien, half robot. This is not an original idea, but it does seem plausible. The human race is moving in this direction, and I think it's only natural to want to be able to become something more than we already are. Smarter, stronger, faster, all done with computers, robotics..etc. The great thing about creating aliens is that there is no wrong answer. When it comes to creating aliens for a game though, depends on what you want them to do on your screen and through game play. What would be fun..?.. and what would be boring for the player.

[Crimson Wizard]

I apologize for barging in, but this topic does not belong to Hints & Tips forum section. The Hints & Tips is only for helping with games walkthrough.

I suggest moving this topic to General Discussions or Critics Lounge maybe (should ask moderators).

[Hopper_Tabby]

If you've ever watched the original run of Cosmos with Carl Sagan, then you've probably seen the episode where he talks about "what if" scenarios concerning life on Jupiter. Even since I first watched that episode, I've had to get used to the fact that intelligent life might not look even remotely humanoid. I like the designs from the episode where Jovian intellegent life consists of filter-feeding blimp creatures, predatory mosquito-shark gliders, and a few other types he touches on briefly. Cool stuff: The original clip. 

[Atelier]

I've had to get used to the fact that intelligent life might not look even remotely humanoid.

Yeah, the question doesn't really make sense because environment is everything. You need to define an environment before thinking about what characteristics something would need to have to survive there, and so what they'd look like. The Universe's potential habitats are so broad.

[faerieevenstar]

I LOVE this thread. I have nothng to add really right now, but will go away and think about it. I just wanted to remind myself to come back here, as this ios the kind of thing I like to think about

[Queen Kara]

*throws two cents in*

If aliens do exist , I think most of us wouldn't / can't say for sure what an alien would look like. For all we know , the so-called "crazies" ( ie alien conspiracy theorists , those who have claimed to have been abducted , those kooky "ancient astronauts" guys , ect. ) They could be right. Maybe not a hundred percent right of course but there could be SOME truth to their claims and beliefs.

Until and unless it happens to you...you aren't an expert on aliens. Don't pretend you are. You should stop calling others crazy , even if they are. So what if they're crazy? As long as they aren't hurting other people or themselves....Let them be "crazy". They're not hurting anybody. They're just telling stories and maybe being stupid and weird , yeah....but they're not hurting anyone. Weird stories , but stories nonetheless. Why let yourself get so worked up about it anyway? What did they ever do to you? What's so upsetting about it? You're afraid they may be telling the truth and you just can't deal with "omg aliens"?! Is that it? Or are you just annoyed about and get tired of it? 'cause I can kind of understand that.

Until and unless it happens to you , you can't and don't know for sure on the whole "do aliens and ghosts exist?" For all we know , unicorns can exist and have learned our language and are just not appearing to most of us because they know what huge butts we are. I say humans aren't all that great on the whole even though good people do exist among us. So I don't blame other creatures at all for avoiding us like the plague whenever and wherever they can. Hahaha. We do have this knee-jerk reaction to kill anything that scares us and things we don't understand. We're the real monsters. ( Ever played Always Sometimes Monsters yet? Yeah, the title is kind of stupid but I get it's meaning and what they were driving towards with the game. )

But from what I read , if any of it's true...it would not be a cool fun experience. It would be terrifying and some aliens do reportedly look like the stereotypical "greys" / "grays" and "reptilians" we see in the movies sometimes. I've read some interesting alleged "true stories" of other creatures as well that may or may not have come from space. Like this one person claims they saw something that looked like a mix of lion , human , and scorpion. And they were HUGE or pretty big. I would love to see something like that from a distance and if they were non-hostiles I would love to make friends with one of THOSE creatures if they really exist. Hahaha!

But people can lie. Some people lie. People can and will betray you.
I'm not saying all alleged taken - ( abductees ) - are liars but...I am not going to trust them all either.
They are strangers and while the stories can be interesting to read , take 'em with a grain of salt.
Sympathize if they swear up and down they are telling the truth but having _some_ skepticism is healthy.   

It can be hard to judge what the truth is at times , especially online.
But darn, they sure can make for good scary / interesting stories , eh?!

Nothing short of going through an ordeal themselves is ever good enough for hardcore skeptics. ( in my opinion they are stupid narrow-minded snobs )

And nothing will ever sway a believer from their belief.

Those who believe don't need "proof" , they already have it via their own alleged experiences and faith or whatever.

*shrug*

But why wouldn't aliens grow , learn , and evolve just like other creatures?!

Why wouldn't they be able to look like us or be in disguise with some sort of technology or stuff like in that show Face Off with good cosmetics and prosthetics and what not or whatever...you know what I'm saying...?? *blushes and laughs because she can't spell some words right apparently* I hope you get what I mean. Like magic movie tricks...you can so much now in the business , it's awesome and fun to watch the transformations but people who are masters of their art ...that skill could be used among outsiders ...others as well if they learn / know it. Aliens could learn to disguise themselves in various ways but then again why would so many of them simply not bother or seem stupid enough to not take better care if they are going to take people and mutilate cattle and whatever else it is aliens do.... *shrug* Know what I mean, Vern?

Why would they remain basically unchanged from what they may have been or were originally.... ? *shrugs again*

I don't know. I'm not an expert or anything. I'm more interested in bat people - ( well anyone or anything with wings really ) -  unicorns , grim reaper and other psychopomps, fairies , merfolk, leviathan, behemoth, other giants, elves, vampires, and other so-called imaginary...legendary...and mythical creatures that fascinate me... than in aliens or bigfoot. I don't get obsessions with aliens or bigfoot. Even though I am not sure what to think about aliens other than "ok , aliens are obviously evil from everything I've read about them if they really do exist. Even the ones that are supposedly nice are probably faking it...if they're anything like humans than in a way they're worse than humans because they're so different and you'd think aliens would be smarter than us and everything...since they are allegedly older species and blah blah blah..."

Those are my thoughts. LOL

So , if I saw an alien I'd probably be angry...maybe scared for a while or longer...I don't know , but certainly angry. I would try hard to control the urge to be a judgemental killer , if they exist I'm already biased against most if not all of them.

I would be really angry if they tried to manipulate my emotions or succeeded at manipulating me...because I read some , if not all , aliens can do that. Ugh.Heh.

But thankfully it hasn't happened and I doubt it ever will. I really wish that if they do exist they continue to leave me and my family alone. They should leave other people alone too. And if the MIB exist they are not like the kinda cool guys in the movies. From what I've read so far, the "real" MIB are jerks.

Anybody else here play Spore?...or Creatures? I don't have Creatures yet but I finally have Spore and played that for a while. The creatures we make in Spore. What if there were really creatures like the ones in the spore-pedia? Would you think it would be awesome or scary or both , fellow Spore fans?
Wooow...my post ended up being sooo long. Sorry about that, folks.