Shmup Shots

[EyeCraft]

I posted these in the Intros thread, but I thought I'd post them here so they're up for more open critique, if you feel so inclined to oblige. It's been a few months since I've pixelled anything, and my eyes are a refreshed and seeing lots of things I could tidy up, but my skills are perhaps somewhat bluntened.



The more I look at it, the more I think I will redo that night sky backdrop, and the cave backdrop, too. Anyways, C&Cs if-you please! 

[Opacus]

I gave you some earlier, and I still stand by that either the BGs need reduced contrast, or the sprites increased - or both.
Cause your sprites are blending in with those (gorgeous) backgrounds.

[Hishnak]

This looks exactly like a game I played called Titan Exodus. I just spent half an hour trying to find the right version but to no avail. I'm serious though, that player ship sprite looks copied...and the way the game looks, and the rocks. I guess nobody will believe me If I don’t' have the goods though  I couldn't keep silent though. The Celtic symbol in the top left of the right screen is also a prominent figure in the other game which leads me to believe that the similarities aren’t an accident.

[Feron]

This looks exactly like a game I played called Titan Exodus. I just spent half an hour trying to find the right version but to no avail. I'm serious though, that player ship sprite looks copied...and the way the game looks, and the rocks. I guess nobody will believe me If I don’t' have the goods though  I couldn't keep silent though. The Celtic symbol in the top left of the right screen is also a prominent figure in the other game which leads me to believe that the similarities aren’t an accident.

this is the only close screenshots i could find:
http://satansam.co.uk/screenies/messy.png
http://games.whahay.net/screens/Titan_Omega_Revelations_2.PNG
http://www.dsl-tools.de//bilder/1163245908.jpg

and personnaly, even if they did inspire eyecraft, he did a wonderful job!!   

[Hishnak]

That’s the first game...Titan Omega Revelations I believe it's called. There was a demo of the second Called Titan Exodus. The player ship from Titan Exodus is nearly identical to eyecraft’s.

I don't know, maybe I'm not seeing this in perspective but as I said, I just couldn’t keep silent on something I found slightly fishy.

[Opacus]

Doesn't look the same to me. I mean, the design is alot like it, but they're definatly different pixels.

[Hishnak]

That’s not the right one either, dang, I'm going to email the guy and get the right shots just to validate my story and keep myself from looking like a fool out to tear down peoples reputations (some how I think its too late for that  )

[LoTekK]

That’s the first game...Titan Omega Revelations I believe it's called. There was a demo of the second Called Titan Exodus. The player ship from Titan Exodus is nearly identical to eyecraft’s.

I don't know, maybe I'm not seeing this in perspective but as I said, I just couldn’t keep silent on something I found slightly fishy.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not seeing what you're seeing.

[AdamAtomic]

great start eyecraft, i'd definitely up the contrast of your ship, and maybe increase the contrast along the edges of the level, otherwise it could get frustrating for players!

[Hishnak]

While I'm waiting on the shots from the actual game I'll just post this one from the other one.



Take a look at the score font, its almost identical. The rocks look very similar as well.

I have nothing against eyecraft, just to clarify. I'm not out to hurt his reputation or anything.

[LoTekK]

I agree with the previous crits, in that right now the player sprite could quite easily get lost among the background (especially in the second shot). Very pretty so far, though, nice forms and detail on the tiles. I'm liking the water splashes in the first shot, though they may be a bit too contrasty compared to the rest of the shot, and more importantly, to the waterfall itself. For the rocks, maybe they could have a gradual fadeout of detail the further from the rock-edge they get? Seems a tad busy with the detail level relatively uniform throughout. Keep the focus on the important bits, ie. what the player can collide with. Imho.

Take a look at the score font, its almost identical. The rocks look very similar as well.

I've posted shots of the game. The ship is far from a copy. Derivative of any number of side-scrolling shmups, maybe, but yeah. The rocks look vaguely similar, sure. They're rocks. And the font? It's a font.

I have nothing against eyecraft, just to clarify. I'm not out to hurt his reputation or anything.

They way you've worded your posts suggests otherwise, or at the very least a seeming lack of tact. Calling someone out in the manner you've done, without anything more concrete than "I'm sure they look the same" simply seems to me to be bad form. :\ A PM would've been more appropriate, methinks.

I'm serious though, that player ship sprite looks copied...and the way the game looks, and the rocks.

[Feron]

I've posted shots of the game. The ship is far from a copy. Derivative of any number of side-scrolling shmups, maybe, but yeah.

you posted a shot of the earlier version, you must go beyond a simple google search.

The font is practically identical, aswell as some similarities with the player ship. 

Is your game available for download eyecraft?

[LoTekK]

you posted a shot of the earlier version, you must go beyond a simple google search.

Not to sound snarky or anything, but I would think the onus of posting accurate shots would lie with the person doing the accusing... side-by-side with the accusation.

[robalan]

Just to note: I remember seeing some of these (or very similar shmup bg's, anyway) posted here by EyeCraft as wips.  I'm pretty sure these are his.


As separate pieces, all of this works really well.  However, the sprites are a bit too desaturated and dark, which causes them to get lost when it all gets put together.  Bring up the brightness and make them stand out, I'd say.  It might be different if they're moving, but in a shmup you want to be able to read enemies, player sprite, bullets, etc. at a glance.  Good stuff, though!

[selur]

I want to present you my another boring opinion 

there are two posibilities:

1)  EyeCraft is one of the developers of this game called Titan Exodus 2

2)  ... or he is a little gfx ripper   


however graphics (or it's redraws) looks good

[Hishnak]

I believe eyecraft made those screenshots. I'm just saying that the similarities to this game I've played are too close for comfort.

[selur]

Hishnak
I agree with you, but we talking about TitanExodus 2 , so we should wait and listen what Eyecraft will say about where from are these screenshots.

[kingkumquat]

I would just like to point out that the only sites that mention Titan Exodus 2 (Exhibit A and Exhibit B) use the same e-mail address address as Eyecraft does. The author in the second link also uses the same avatar as Eyecraft.

I would have to agree that there is some much needed contrast as the screen is pretty busy in the second screenshot, and the ship gets lost in the background (at least to my eyes). I know you said you might redo the cave backdrop, but the area where the waterfall hits the rocks looks strange. More specifically the straight edges of the falling water below the foamy splashes. But otherwise, your rocks are very spiffy.

On a side note, I'm wondering about the enemy behind the waterfall and how that would work in a SHMUP.

[Ben2theEdge]

If I may interject my two cents,
These screens have clearly been inspired by R-Type. But Titan Alpha Omega what's-it's hero ship looks like it's actually directly traced or modified from R-Type III.

The similarities between these screens and Titan are the result of them both drawing inspiration from the same source. And I would argue that these which Eyecraft posted are not only more original than Titan's, but more successful.

Having said that I have the same criticisms as others - the ships and even the "P1" overlay look fine in a still image but those muddy colors seem like they would be lost in a fast-moving game.

[EyeCraft]

Oh wow, lots of replies.

Yes, the game is Titan Exodus 2. It's my own personal "Duke Nukem Forever", and it has had countless iterations, of engines, of graphics. 2 demos of it have been released in its time, as well as a beta. But they're all old and horrible now, haha.

Titan Exodus, Titan Omega Revelations (and TOR 1.5), Titan Genesis (abandonware, unfortunately) are all creations of James Whitehead of satansam.co.uk, a good friend of mine. And in times past, he did like to trace a bit, oh well got him where he is today, I suppose...

The waterfalls are probably the oldest things in the screenshot besides the backdrop, so I'll have a go at tidying them up and making them look a little more dynamic.

I'll have a go at tweaking the contrast of the sprites and the backgrounds to improve the readability. In motion I don't think it's as bad, but in static screenshots they definitely melt in.

As for fading the rocks out as it gets away from their surface, thats actually how the rocks used to look (very similar to the purple rocks in the screenshot of TOR). But they looked really flat and crude, so I redid them to their current form. EDIT: actually I think I have some ideas which might help this.

Thanks for the feedback   

[vellan]

i find it hilarious that this entire thread was an argument over a rip-off -- meanwhile the author created both.

pure comedy gold.

[Hishnak]

That’s crazy...I knew I had seen those graphics before. So you’re the actual author while the other dude is the poser? Dang, sorry for any confusion I caused...

[robalan]

Heh, glad that all got cleared up.  And noting the date of latest update on those sites, I suspect that it was these rocks that you posted on the old blue pixelation a couple years ago.  Anyway, good to see you back, and I look forward to seeing some updates.

[Draco9898]

That’s crazy...I knew I had seen those graphics before. So you’re the actual author while the other dude is the poser? Dang, sorry for any confusion I caused...

That's very ironic.

Congratulations Eye, I always dreamed of making beautiful pixel art like this, but haven't achieved such an effect yet. My hat is off to you. The backrounds are insanely nice.

[Joseph]

aw that is pretty funny....

with the art:
they're very well done.  contrast is a slight issue with the character though...the character and enemies are the main focus of the game and honestly i'm more attracted to the scenery more than anything.  anyway, great work.

[EyeCraft]

Holy crap...I think I deleted the latest project file of the game! All I have is the binary. I'm going to have to take screenshots of it and rip my own graphics out of it before I can edit them...this just gets more and more ironic!

[Zee]

Wow, I've got backups of backups of backups here, just scads of picture literally cluttering up my hard drive and gfx folders so I DON'T have that problem.

I mean, haven't you ever had this happen before in any of your other games? Or were you just atypically lucky?

[selur]

well shit happens..    over two years ago I was drawing graphics for a game. Because I'm not skilled, drawing takes me a lot of time (months and months ...) I was making backups on other hdd (which was connected to the same computer). And one day... it happend.
My PC get burn ... I've lost everything including my computer 

... but now I making backups of buckups like Zee 

[Draco9898]

I backup everything on a nice little 1 gig USB drive. Oh yeah, losing work sucks, even if you think you've made trash.

[EyeCraft]

I thought I had backed it up. On 2 different machines, and a DVD. But I played tricks upon myself, it seems  . It wasn't too much of a hassle to get it all back though. I've been fiddling with the contrast of some of the sprites, do you reckon I'm on the right track?

[Draco9898]

they are more readable now, yes, you had the same problem I had, but mine was more drastic. nice.