Rosier: Heh, glad you like! I might also do things such as title screen and cutscene stuff. Of course the dream would be to have a little playable demo on the actual hardware. Also, I agree with the sword thing, but Griffith used more colors and the sword was an easy opportunity for a different palette, but maybe it's better just to keep it with his.
Cherno: Thank you! It's a great story that has influenced some great things ( Dark Souls, enough said) I'd encourage you to read the Manga if you have any interest! Warning; gallons of blood and quite a bit of sex.
Rikfuzz: Thanks for the interest man! I really do need to get them up on my website once I can get it going the way I'd like to. You guys get to see pretty much all I do this stuff wise- however I do cross post on twitter my instagram stuff which has anything from painting to sketches to slice of life stuff. @chrispariano
Kullenberg: Thank you! You are not wrong about the tree at all, it's mostly half assed by me. Below is an image of the original scene, I believe it is supposed to be a spruce or pine, but I know nothing about tree anatomy.
Cyangmou: Hey! My original excuse for the sword was that I was trying to conserve sprites, but you are right, realism means nothing to Guts, and neither should hardware limitations. I've spent two more sprites on it, I think that's all I can justify giving it for now.
Thanks for the edit! I wasn't completely sold on the portrait in the first place, but I didn't know where to take it.
Heh, it's funny, because I dont think YOUR guts looks too much more like the "real" one than my Guts. I think we all have an idea of him that's slightly different than anyone elses. Miura is pretty inconsistent in his drawings ( not any more than other manga artists; and it's quite understandable when you realize how long it's ran and how spaced out the chapters are). Also I was referencing the latest anime adaptations of him when doing the portrait. You're definitely right, I was trying to do to much with the angle of the head. Ditching it for pure horizontal and verticals is better.
I will most likely try for another Griffith closer to the range of the Guts one, but for now I just shaved off a couple of pixels on the nose.
Kasumi: Thanks so much for dropping in! I actually was sending you a personal message last night inviting you to drop some knowledge on me, but my horrible internet ate it and I needed to go to sleep!
Yes, I would ideally like this to be able to work as a game on the console, and not just be a viewable image.
My new version below I counted in at 52 sprites, which is a lot, but it's not too much, right? ;] I want it to fit the restrictions, but will push the limits whenever possible.
Ah, this bit is something I never would have known. I've edited it so there is a tile of space on the top and bottom, I hope this would be enough because I don't think I can spare anymore without aesthetics taking a dive.
Noted. I've redone the griffith sprite and overlay in a much less dumb way. with this one I would even be fine with it not having the overlays. However, I must admit defeat on the 8 sprites per scanline rule. This one hits hard and I don't know any way out of it, I know I basically can't with the way they are posed. Can you tell me about any magic that might would make me feel any better about this?
Luckily, the game does not intend to scroll. This would be a battle only screen and completely static. It might would have a traditional top down rpg overworld style for everything else, but it would not be a traversing sidescroller ( although I guess it could be if the portraits were battle only? Kind of the opposite of what you were suggesting, heh). I would intend to have mutliple enemy portraits that would show in a similar fashion. Would this mean that all of them would have to be on every tileset? Only Griffith would appear on this background, but many different enemies would appear on multiple different backgrounds.
For the font, really it's just one of few pixel fonts I have in photoshop and I happen to like how it looks! You mentioned that variable width fonts are possible, how would that be done?
I also wanted to ask you about the 8x16 sprites. Could they be of any use here or no? I read your description of them in the restrictions guide, but it soared right over my little head.
New Version:
New Griffith:
This is a shot showing just a little of how i'd arrange the gameplay stuff I had in mind. Imagine a kind of turn based system That relies on prediction, catching little cues on animated sprites, and knowledge of how starting certain actions prevent changing into others on the next turn ( vertical slash- high can't change into thrust- low, but it can turn into block- high or horizontal swipe- mid, etc) all done under a reaction timer bar to add pressure and emulate the quick reaction time necessary to read and counter an opponents move, and learn how to mitigate the damage of mistakes that you've already selected previously in the action tree.
And the original scene. Is it too late for a *spoiler warning*?