Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Souly on September 05, 2007, 10:54:08 pm
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Alright lets get straight to the art shall we.
Updates:
Sept 17 - Walk cycles, shooting animations
Sept 17 - Storyline has begun to develop.
Sept 18 - Shooting animation, walkcycle with shooting animation.
Sept 19 - New mockup, worked on shooting animations smoke.
Sept 24 - Portraits, new mockup, demos!
Sept 26 - A new programmer has submitted a demo.
Oct 4 - Some new animations.
Oct 6 - New mockups and an explosion animation.
Oct 11 - New tile design, created 4 new characters some scientists and a big robot.
Oct 17 - I think I finally worked out the kinks on the claw.
Demos:
Demo 1 (http://aiongate.com/terra/lectro/demo1.zip)
Demo 2 (http://aiongate.com/terra/lectro/demo2.zip)
Demo 3 [NEW] (http://aiongate.com/terra/lectro/demo2.zip)
Mockups:
(http://i22.tinypic.com/9prl9e.gif)->(http://i20.tinypic.com/2ahfrit.gif)->(http://i23.tinypic.com/4gqdts.gif)->(http://i24.tinypic.com/zu1h0h.gif)
Misc:
(http://i21.tinypic.com/28wknc5.gif) (http://users.nexopia.com/uploads/1296/1296053/Lectro/portaits.gif)
Lectro's Animations:
(http://i10.tinypic.com/6g00vw5.gif) (http://i15.tinypic.com/6gybpdd.gif) (http://i14.tinypic.com/68h04gp.gif) (http://i11.tinypic.com/504wu0y.gif) (http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/shootup.gif) (http://i13.tinypic.com/62863px.gif) (http://i24.tinypic.com/1195gnr.png) (http://i17.tinypic.com/4klcn40.gif) (http://i1.tinypic.com/521edfq.gif) (http://i17.tinypic.com/6frvb14.gif) (http://i8.tinypic.com/6h7k7x4.gif)
Bosses:
(http://i24.tinypic.com/wbv139.gif) (http://i22.tinypic.com/2potm52.gif)
Enemy Animations:
(http://i18.tinypic.com/4r8dsi8.gif) (http://i12.tinypic.com/4t9cpk8.gif)
Skeleyton
(http://i11.tinypic.com/52wiqu9.gif) (http://i1.tinypic.com/6hepjjp.gif)
Minion - Angry Minion
(http://i17.tinypic.com/53opcoy.gif)
Blip
(http://i14.tinypic.com/628y78p.gif) (http://i23.tinypic.com/14e0ztv.png)
Midget Zombie Mafia
(http://i23.tinypic.com/bgb9jc.gif)
Some small scientists.
(http://i23.tinypic.com/20k975t.gif)
Robot.
(http://i6.tinypic.com/66y9axk.gif)
Sxullz
(http://i12.tinypic.com/52z7s3o.gif)
Grlmm
(http://i4.tinypic.com/53t8b4g.gif) (http://i12.tinypic.com/5xoahsg.gif)
Godfather
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I've got someone helping me with the storyline, so here's what he's come up with so far.
Backstory:
Long ago, during the time known as the information age, humanity attempted to grow closer together in the bonds of friendship. However as the earth's dwindling supply of non-renewable fuels and energy sources, the nations of the world fought amongst themselves to gain the last remaining sources of energy to keep their electricity-driven economies going.
By 2050AD, despite desperate attempts to seek a replacement of the old energy sources, the world was on the brink of an energy crisis. The more desperate people grew, the more they put aside their differences to work to solve their common problem. Finally, there was hope. A UN special task force was able to put together a viable alternative fuel source; if a massive shaft could be drilled into the planet's molten innards, the resulting heat released could be harnessed into energy enough to power the earth fifteen times over.
The nations of the world came together in a new spirit of co-operation, powered by desperation and the spectre of doom should they fail. Having expended the very last fossil fuel reserves on earth to do so, the massive thermal bore began operation in 2061, and once again, there was enough energy for all.
However, as the energy crisis faded, the need for co-operation faded as well, and humans began to fight amongst themselves once again. As the conflicts once again intensified, the nations made one last agreement: No one nation would be able to destroy humanity's lifeblood: the bore would be kept as neutral ground, and to ensure it stayed that way, a fortress was built over it, one maintained not by humans, but by machines.
The fortress was built around a massive automated defence AI, known as "godfather", it controlled the thermal bore and all of it's facilities. This central computer was given it's own production facilities, and ordered to protect the borehole. Over the years, Godfather built a huge ring of defences around the central complex and the borehole. The entire structure became so big, that Godfather and the humans simply began referring to it as "the city".
As the years passed, many attempts were made by the huamns to conquer the borehole and the city over it, all of them failed, but Godfather began to notice a disturbing trend; the human weapons were advancing, growing in effectiveness with every attack. Godfather attempted to develop new weapons of his own, but found that the combined duties of defending the city, controlling production and developing new weaponry was too much for even his formidable computing power.
Godfather came up with a solution quickly. He constructed two copies of himself, in smaller bodies; Lectro, the ultimate fighting android, to defend the city, Grimm, to develop more effective weapons and defences and Sxullz, specializing in appropriating raw materials and turning them into new members of a growing android defence force, patterned after creatures of human myth.
For many years, this new arrangement worked well, damage from human assaults on the city was reduced to a minimum, until one day...
The power cut out...
Game Story:
Prologue: Turbine Complex
This stage serves as a tutorial, Lectro starts with all of his weapons. Lectro is ordered by Godfather to find the source of the power outage by descending into the bowels of the city and into the borehole. After learning basic movement controls, Lectro is confronted by a group of "skeleton" attack bots, which attack him on sight. After dispatching them easily, he questions why supposedly friendly bots would attack him. Godfather reassures him that they were merely rogues.
Lectro makes it to the turbine which produces the energy from the borehole, as he inspects it, he realizes nothing is wrong. That is when Sxullz and Grimm appear and attack Lectro. Confused, Lectro is no match and is quickly defeated. Being left for dead, Lectro is tossed into the sea, but not before he learns from Sxullz and Grimm's conversation that they were under orders from Godfather to get rid of Lectro...
Stage 1: Argendhal
Lectro is washed ashore and his circuits dry enough to allow him to move again. He attempts to regain his bearings, but since he cannot find any reference points, he concludes that he is very far away from the city. After looking for (and finding) a source of thermal emissions, Lectro finds the town of Argendhal, which is under attack by Godfather's bots. Lectro surmises that Godfather was not satisfied with Grimm and Sxullz's measures and has ordered his troops to ensure Lectro's total destruction.
Lectro finds that all his weapons have been lost and realizes the he must save the town so that he may be able to find replacement weapons. After he does so, the grateful townsfolk reveal to him that Godfather's bots have been seen elsewhere, and that without the energy provided by the city, human weapons are useless against them. The townsfolk also give Lectro his basic [plasma pistol] weapon, which had been found washed up on the coast.
Finally, Lectro learns that when the city was built, the 8 nations which contributed to construction were each given a keycode. When all 8 key codes are brought together, they de-activate the city's defence systems. Lectro now has an objective; find all 8 keycodes so he can shut down and repair the Godfather AI.
Stage 2: Vittorium
The first of these countries is the naval power of Vittorium. When Lectro enters, he is mistaken for a soldier of a hostile power, Carminium. Because of this, he is constantly attacked by Vittorian minion soldiers. Discovering that Vittorium's keycode is on display in a museum, Lectro fights his way into the museum, recovering his [autocannon] weapon (which had been found and mistakenly identified as an artifact) and the keycode.
Stage 3: Mapalyph
The country of Mapalyph has been completely overrun by Godfather's forces, who are actively looking for the keycode. Lectro has to recover his [EM sensors] from the riverbank at the end of the level before backtracking in a cutscene and using the sensors to find the keycode.
Stage 4: Armendal
The once proud country of Armendal is nothing but a blasted wasteland now. Lectro muses on the flaws in human nature before moving on to discover that Godfather's forces are combing the area to find the long-gone nation's keycode. Lectro has to use his EM sensors to find the keycode as well as his [flamethrower].
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I kind of liked the previous style more. But you hit a weak spot but Cave Story is probably one of my most cherished games ever. I'd like to see more from both. I think your original coloring of the cave story esque character was fine. I don't like that bright sea foam green.
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the new character reminds me of an electrical plug. I love it haha
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Souly:
The hero has a mohawk! <3
I think the tiny-ness is really cute... You should name the hero "Teenie 'Hawk". :crazy:
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Holy fuck more updates.
There's been a change in colors, the green was bothering me.
(http://i11.tinypic.com/6hhvbcg.gif)
Run.
(http://i9.tinypic.com/4mb5ws5.gif)
Looking up
(http://i14.tinypic.com/68h04gp.gif)
Lookup run.
(http://i2.tinypic.com/63wflth.gif)
He's got a gun! :D
(http://i18.tinypic.com/4thjl0n.gif)
He can aim it too.
(http://i13.tinypic.com/62863px.gif)
Shoot and run.
(http://i17.tinypic.com/4klcn40.gif)
Jump.
(http://i1.tinypic.com/521edfq.gif)
Run and jump.
(http://i18.tinypic.com/4r8dsi8.gif)
And omgwtfbbq is that a skeleton?
(http://i12.tinypic.com/4t9cpk8.gif)
They'll sneak up on you.[/quote]
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I know the skeleton run is really stiff-legged, but I find it very appealing. (It is a STIFF, after all).
I think the look-up animation should be a full, big head tilt instead of the eye thing you've got going on. A simple shift of the eyes is too subtle to be noticed at such a small scale.
I really like the character. He's cute.
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I like your sprites and ive always LOVED your black and white sprites. :D
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(http://i11.tinypic.com/52wiqu9.gif)
Minion
(http://i1.tinypic.com/6hepjjp.gif)
You wont like him when he gets angry.
(http://i17.tinypic.com/53opcoy.gif)
I call it a blip.
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I love the style, do you have a programmer too or is this just for fun?
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Nope no programmer, just for fun at the moment.
I might decide to make this into a game, if I don't get carried away with something else.
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It wouldn't be hard turning it into a game, something like that could be put together in a very short time if it's not supposed to be truly advanced.
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The blib needs a color.. the only thing that makes me thing it should stay white is cos of the hat :)
maybe it can be cute and pink when its sleeping, and evil red when awake or something?
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Wanted to do a grey scale, tiny shoot 'em up side scrolling mockup.
I honestly made the same mistake yesterday. Unless you're talking about one of the other chars, in which case, sorry!
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(http://i4.tinypic.com/6cfdfu9.gif)
Do you think the details for the background is too much?
I wanted to have simple characters, and detailed scenery.
Also, not digging the grass too much, it clashes due to how simple it is..
I'll get around to fixing that but at the moment, I'm too tired to go on.
(http://i6.tinypic.com/66y9axk.gif)
Threw together a quick run animation for the piratey guy.
His legs are a little wonky, but I'm seriously ready for bed.
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Sorry for the double post, but I had an update on the mockup.
The pirate definitely didn't fit into the scene..
So I switched him with a blip, seemed more suitable.
Also fixed up the grass, hopefully that helps.
(http://i13.tinypic.com/5x4wpkm.gif)
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Coming along nicely! :D It needs a little more contrast, though, and the darkest green in your tree seems a bit random at the moment. I played around with the colors a bit, and I think a darker ground might make the pirate fit in a little better.
(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/soulyedit.gif)
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the tree trunk lacks volume
In the run animation, the far antennae thingy seems to morph--I don't understand the reasoning in the width changes.
This looks like it's coming along nicely
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Thanks for that edit Arachne. :]
I agree with the darkest green, and I like what you did with the ground.
As for the Pirate, I'm thinking of making him a boss so I'll try to make him a nice robot like ship scene. :B
Darien: I was trying to make it look like his head was turning while he was running.
I agree with you that the morph looks strange, I'll see what I can do.
Also; for anyone who cares I've downloaded flash and I think I'm going to start trying to make this into a game.
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Hey Souly. Nice stuff you got going on here. So good that it inspired me to do an edit, even though it's not so cool:
(http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee177/stevetera/66onkhe2.gif)
I gave your walkcycle a go and tried to improve it. Sub-pixel animation works great in theory but it's pretty hard to be done.
One thing I've also changed is the dark horizontal lines on the "ears" (looking like an "E", close to the head) and the dark stripes on the body. I think it really hurt the character's readability...
I also took your saturation courageous enterprise and made things more colorful. I've used the previous green "skin" tone, because I though it look better close to the orange.
Concerning the animation, all I did was stretch his arms a little bit further on the off-ground frames and tweaked the pixels of the "antennae" thing, in a desperate attempt to make the perspective look more natural on the frames where the head is turned.
I don't think my edit is a complete wreck but it's not so good either.
Anyway, keep up the good work! Looking at your mockup definitely makes me want to try the game. Will it actually get to be a game? I hope so! ;)
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(http://i19.tinypic.com/6f6lown.gif)
Hope this fixes all the problems that were brought forward.
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Sorry for double posting, just expanded the mockup a bit.
(http://i6.tinypic.com/6bxhc2a.gif)
(http://i14.tinypic.com/628y78p.gif)
Was trying to do my first gun shooting, but seems I'm having problems figuring out how it's supposed to look...
(http://i12.tinypic.com/52z7s3o.gif)
Grlmm reaper. :B
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quick edit on tree trunk, mine's on left. Using every color every where like you did on the trunk makes it look very flat.
(http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/6760/treeeditlk9.png)
I like the reaper, :y:
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Used your darker purple for my update.
(http://i1.tinypic.com/628xap1.gif)
Hope I fixed what you were talking about with the trunk.
(http://i11.tinypic.com/4ucanih.gif)
Mafia boss?
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(http://i18.tinypic.com/678o5lk.gif)
I know it looks wonky, I just can't pinpoint what it is... D:
This has been the hardest animation so far due to his size.
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His hands and feet are moving forward/backward at the same time (respectively) so it might look better to have L foot and R hand forward and then same other way. That might fix your problem.
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souly, it does look wonky, but i am picturing that sprite walking with rickets. try it out.
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maybe try more interesting shapes?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/cavestorytree.png)
My advice is to steer away from precognitive 'generic' things such as the "straight trunk with a ball of leaves on top." You ask any kindergartener to draw a tree, that is exactly what they'll draw... you've just improved on their methods a bit. On a seperate note, with such imaginative characters you need an imaginative environment to fit them. Right now there's a sort of contrast of themes.
my two cents
-Dan
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(http://i4.tinypic.com/53t8b4g.gif)
I realized the legs and feet weren't in sync.
And it looked like the legs weren't doing a full rotation.
Hopefully this looks better.
Dan: My weakness has always been scenery and backgrounds, as you can see in all my work I've never done 'em.
So I'm basically just stepping into the water, but I do understand what you mean about straying away from just basic shapes.
I'll see what I can do.
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(http://i19.tinypic.com/4pe4k6x.gif) -> (http://i12.tinypic.com/5xoahsg.gif)
I know it's not needed to make a second post, but since I'm going to bed now I wanted to bump my thread :y:
With the newest update that I was working on.
Update, think this fixes some of the problems I had found with it.
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you're so afraid of drawing new frames from scratch the animations come out like puppet shadow... puppets. The jump anim: it needs a redrawn stress frame, one for the landing and inbetweens through those.
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I'll see what I can do to fix what it is that's making them look like shadow puppets.
Also I'll try and fix the run jump animation for the mafia boss there.
For anyone who cares, I'm trying to find a coder for this project.
So if there's anybody who would like to help out that'd be great. :D
Also, would any of you mind helping me brainstorm some ideas for storylines?
Cause I'm horrible at story making. D:
And if I can just get an idea to link these characters together then I'll be able to go in a direction with these characters other then just random makings.
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Okay, I think I have good story advice, but bear in mind I never actually end up writing anything, so a lot of this is stuff I've been taught but never used myself. I'm assuming you're aiming for some variation on the standard adventurey plot, because this is a platform game and all that.
First up, tell us who this kid Lectro is. So far all we know about him is he is the protagonist and he has a plug for a head or something. Is there a whole society of these plughead folks somewhere? Is he a robot? Where did he come from, and all that. Even if he's just an empty vessel for the player to inhabit, you should provide some origin for him.
Then, who's the main villain? You should design a villain to inspire some specific emotion in the player, and also decide what emotion drives the villain to... to do whatever it is he's doing that you're supposed to be undoing. I'm pulling this stuff from here (http://www.giantitp.com/articles/rTKEivnsYuZrh94H1Sn.html), which is a pretty solid reference for fleshing out a villain. Since the villain is the character who basically drives the story, you really ought to get him figured out. Then you figure out what the villain is working towards, and what he's done to piss the player character off so much.
Then you script a final confrontation, and the end of your game. Always start at the end, and you'll have a solid ending to draw towards. That's the most of it, actually. From there, write a beginning, throw in more characters, boss fights, just roll with it. It's mostly scripting bits of gameplay, puzzles and battles and that, once the overarching plot is in place. Just build towards your conclusion.
And that's how you write a game (or so I'm told). It's like with the art, people on criticking forums prolly won't do it for you, mostly because we don't know what kind of story you want to tell. Post your ideas, and people will tell you what they think.
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(http://i6.tinypic.com/53jod4l.gif)
Gave him a new gun.
I can't animate smoke all that well...
Edit:
(http://i7.tinypic.com/6b8we8n.gif)
Doubt this makes it any better.
Edit2:
(http://i3.tinypic.com/537zofs.gif)
(http://i1.tinypic.com/4u9ura1.gif)
Slowed it down for better viewing.
New gun means new walk cycle with the gun
(http://i2.tinypic.com/63wflth.gif)->(http://i17.tinypic.com/53ag4ly.gif) -> (http://i11.tinypic.com/504wu0y.gif)
I also changed the footing in the 3rd frame should make the walking cycle much better.
I'll fix the original walk cycle with these changes and put them next to each other.
Yay new walk cycle.
(http://i11.tinypic.com/6hhvbcg.gif)->(http://i11.tinypic.com/4ka85s5.gif)->(http://i10.tinypic.com/6g00vw5.gif)
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I've got someone helping me with the storyline, so here's what he's come up with so far.
Backstory:
Long ago, during the time known as the information age, humanity attempted to grow closer together in the bonds of friendship. However as the earth's dwindling supply of non-renewable fuels and energy sources, the nations of the world fought amongst themselves to gain the last remaining sources of energy to keep their electricity-driven economies going.
By 2050AD, despite desperate attempts to seek a replacement of the old energy sources, the world was on the brink of an energy crisis. The more desperate people grew, the more they put aside their differences to work to solve their common problem. Finally, there was hope. A UN special task force was able to put together a viable alternative fuel source; if a massive shaft could be drilled into the planet's molten innards, the resulting heat released could be harnessed into energy enough to power the earth fifteen times over.
The nations of the world came together in a new spirit of co-operation, powered by desperation and the spectre of doom should they fail. Having expended the very last fossil fuel reserves on earth to do so, the massive thermal bore began operation in 2061, and once again, there was enough energy for all.
However, as the energy crisis faded, the need for co-operation faded as well, and humans began to fight amongst themselves once again. As the conflicts once again intensified, the nations made one last agreement: No one nation would be able to destroy humanity's lifeblood: the bore would be kept as neutral ground, and to ensure it stayed that way, a fortress was built over it, one maintained not by humans, but by machines.
The fortress was built around a massive automated defence AI, known as "godfather", it controlled the thermal bore and all of it's facilities. This central computer was given it's own production facilities, and ordered to protect the borehole. Over the years, Godfather built a huge ring of defences around the central complex and the borehole. The entire structure became so big, that Godfather and the humans simply began referring to it as "the city".
As the years passed, many attempts were made by the huamns to conquer the borehole and the city over it, all of them failed, but Godfather began to notice a disturbing trend; the human weapons were advancing, growing in effectiveness with every attack. Godfather attempted to develop new weapons of his own, but found that the combined duties of defending the city, controlling production and developing new weaponry was too much for even his formidable computing power.
Godfather came up with a solution quickly. He constructed two copies of himself, in smaller bodies; Lectro, the ultimate fighting android, to defend the city, Sxulls, to develop more effective weapons and defences and Grlmm, specializing in appropriating raw materials and turning them into new members of a growing android defence force, patterned after creatures of human myth.
For many years, this new arrangement worked well, damage from human assaults on the city was reduced to a minimum, until one day...
The power cut out...
Game Story:
Prologue: Turbine Complex
This stage serves as a tutorial, Lectro starts with all of his weapons. Lectro is ordered by Godfather to find the source of the power outage by descending into the bowels of the city and into the borehole. After learning basic movement controls, Lectro is confronted by a group of "skeleton" attack bots, which attack him on sight. After dispatching them easily, he questions why supposedly friendly bots would attack him. Godfather reassures him that they were merely rogues.
Lectro makes it to the turbine which produces the energy from the borehole, as he inspects it, he realizes nothing is wrong. That is when Sxullz and Grimm appear and attack Lectro. Confused, Lectro is no match and is quickly defeated. Being left for dead, Lectro is tossed into the sea, but not before he learns from Sxullz and Grimm's conversation that they were under orders from Godfather to get rid of Lectro...
Stage 1: Argendhal
Lectro is washed ashore and his circuits dry enough to allow him to move again. He attempts to regain his bearings, but since he cannot find any reference points, he concludes that he is very far away from the city. After looking for (and finding) a source of thermal emissions, Lectro finds the town of Argendhal, which is under attack by Godfather's bots. Lectro surmises that Godfather was not satisfied with Grimm and Sxullz's measures and has ordered his troops to ensure Lectro's total destruction.
Lectro finds that all his weapons have been lost and realizes the he must save the town so that he may be able to find replacement weapons. After he does so, the grateful townsfolk reveal to him that Godfather's bots have been seen elsewhere, and that without the energy provided by the city, human weapons are useless against them. The townsfolk also give Lectro his basic [plasma pistol] weapon, which had been found washed up on the coast.
Finally, Lectro learns that when the city was built, the 8 nations which contributed to construction were each given a keycode. When all 8 key codes are brought together, they de-activate the city's defence systems. Lectro now has an objective; find all 8 keycodes so he can shut down and repair the Godfather AI.
Stage 2: Vittorium
The first of these countries is the naval power of Vittorium. When Lectro enters, he is mistaken for a soldier of a hostile power, Carminium. Because of this, he is constantly attacked by Vittorian minion soldiers. Discovering that Vittorium's keycode is on display in a museum, Lectro fights his way into the museum, recovering his [autocannon] weapon (which had been found and mistakenly identified as an artifact) and the keycode.
Stage 3: Mapalyph
The country of Mapalyph has been completely overrun by Godfather's forces, who are actively looking for the keycode. Lectro has to recover his [EM sensors] from the riverbank at the end of the level before backtracking in a cutscene and using the sensors to find the keycode.
Stage 4: Armendal
The once proud country of Armendal is nothing but a blasted wasteland now. Lectro muses on the flaws in human nature before moving on to discover that Godfather's forces are combing the area to find the long-gone nation's keycode. Lectro has to use his EM sensors to find the keycode as well as his [flamethrower].
(I updated the 2nd post with this)
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Your latest animation is awfully fast. It barely gives the smoke time to disappear before another shot is fired, so I don't really think it's needed at that speed, and the direction isn't very smoke-like. To me, it looks a bit more like some kind of ghost jumping out of the barrel. I gave it a shot, but I don't think the dithering I tried on the smoke worked that well. :-\ (http://www.retinaleclipse.com/shootedit.gif)
I like the idea of the Godfather, but for such an elaborate plot, it doesn't seem very plausible to me. If you're looking for alternative energy sources, why not just use solar energy? We're talking about thousands of zettajoules hitting the earth every day. Our energy consumption today is not even a thousandth of that, so I don't think it would be worth the trouble to drill into the Earth (a teeny tiny fission reactor in principle) when you have the sun (a fusion reactor the size of a million Earths) right out there. :D
Edit: I was actually hoping for something more pirate-related to go with the cartoony style. He looks like a pirate mouse more than a robot to me. I think it needs to be grimmer and darker if you're going to have such a depressing story to go with it. :D
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Hello, I'd just like to introduce myself as the guy doing the story.
To answer your question Arachne, an upscaled geothermal plant is indeed more plausible than most of the more mainstream alternative energy sources currently being pushed forward by environmentalists today. Allow me to explain by tackling each one:
Solar Power:
Solar panels are unreliable, and fragile, also consider that only a tiny fraction of the sun's energy hits earth, and only a tiny amount of that surface area can be covered with solar panels at any one time. considering that one thousandth of the earth's surface is already the size of ireland, factor in the fact that solar panels only work at 30% efficiency and and that they don't generate energy at night, that's an area the size of france. Considering that we're talking about CURRENT energy consumption, not counting developing countries with OMGWTFBBQHUEG populations and potential industrial capacity like India and China, that's an unacceptably large amount of land area if you also add the fact that even more panels would have to be built to replace ones which are wrecked i nstorms, tornadoes, wars etc...
Wind Power:
Little known, but true: Wind turbines only work at about 25% of their rated capacity under IDEAL conditions. Add to that the fact that wind farms aren't working at ALL most of the time (when there's no wind, or the wind is powerful enough to damage the turbine), you get a very inefficient source of energy. In fact, there are sources out there saying that the energy produced by a single wind turbine in it's total life span is LESS than the energy required to construct it, and that's not including the fact that a good portion of the turbine's parts are made of petroleum products anyways.
Nuclear Fission:
Ah yes, good ol' Fission, bane of Homer Simpson and Greenpeace alike. Nuclear is actually the most plausible source of alternative energy availiable today. Of course, there are only three things you have to mention to the average person to turn them anti-nuclear for life: Toxic Waste, Dangerous Radiation and Chernobyl.
Nuclear Fusion:
Man-made nuclear fusion, it don't exist yet. and frankly, I don't thin kthis one will become viable (read: profitable) for a long time yet...
I hope that answered all your questions there. If it didn't feel free to send more my way. As for me, I have to finish writing this outline...
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Can't seem to get that boom to work, also reworked the smoke.
Didn't like the dithered smoke too much.
(http://i18.tinypic.com/4vgqueq.gif)
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Cataphrak, thanks for taking the time to clarify. :D
This is more what I think of when I hear android. Nothing wrong with being original, though. ;)
(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/evilectro.gif)
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(http://i5.tinypic.com/4xzynmc.gif)->(http://i10.tinypic.com/4y67v47.gif)->(http://i14.tinypic.com/4y8v7sx.gif)
Update on the shooting animation.
Edit: Slowed it down.
Edit2:Changed the 3rd frame, the recoil was too fast.
Archne, I was actually planning on something similar to that for the boss's body gaurd.
If I was to go with the current storyline then I guess he would be a prototype for a new version of Lectro.
(http://i4.tinypic.com/68kd8hg.gif)
I was thinking of making him a bit more evil with green prongs.
I actually had this already made, funny you made a similar edit.
UPDATE!
(http://i14.tinypic.com/4lfbrk0.gif)->(http://i6.tinypic.com/68lwtx2.gif)->(http://i8.tinypic.com/6h7k7x4.gif)
He can run and shoot now. :D
This was the hardest animation up to this point.
Edit: Fixed some errors with the laser.
Edit2: Realized the flash on the face wasn't in the run and shoot.
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I believe that the smoke at the shooting animation needs some work yet. As Arachne pointed, Its movement is quite unnatural. I've done an small edit, trying to follow your style:
(http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/8991/4y8v7sx2rr4.gif)
Edit: link fixed, sorry
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Your image isn't appearing dfcastelao.
(http://i15.tinypic.com/6gybpdd.gif) (http://i19.tinypic.com/534q3ys.gif)
Also, worked on a new looking up animation since there is a new gun.
Decided he should look straight up.
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Ah I finally see your edit, I see what you mean with the smoke.
(http://i17.tinypic.com/6frvb14.gif)
Hopefully that fixes any problems.
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Guess this is my triple post since no one replied I decided to whip up a new mockup.
(http://i8.tinypic.com/4oprypt.gif)
I don't think the colors match the them too well but I think it's a step in the right direction.
(http://i10.tinypic.com/68mouxe.gif)
Made up a tile set for this scene.
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To make this scene more interesting , I would make machines and other technological stuff mix in with the cave. Like, encrusted in the cliffs, with possibly animated moving parts. The machines could emerge from inside the cliffs sometimes into the playable area and make gameplay elements like gates or traps. There could also be some in the background. Another thing that could make for interesting visuals would be underground lakes or waterfalls in the background that drop into killer pits.
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Haven't done any updates in a bit.
(http://i2.tinypic.com/505xpg9.gif) -> (http://i9.tinypic.com/5yltdn9.gif)
Decided to start making some character portraits.
Edit: Tiny minuscule update.
Edit2: New mockup with some new tiles. :D
I couldn't think of anything original for the spikes...
The cave ceiling probably seems too low but that's just because this is just a pathway down further into the cave.
(http://i15.tinypic.com/52bkk28.gif)
(http://i18.tinypic.com/6fou03l.gif)
Tileset.
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It seems wrong how the tiles fade to a flat brown based on how far away they are from the surface/cave area. It's kind of like pillow shading, no offense intended. It seems like it should be either consistent throughout or layered according to depth or varied based on where the light is. Also, because it's all right-angles, it gives away your tiling.
The character portraits look cool, but they don't seem to add anything that isn't present in the sprites themselves. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
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It would be AWESOME if the Lectro dude got his prongs stuck in the soil ceiling (or possibly in female end sockets in some more techno areas) when he hits it by jumping. Maybe a ground pound-like attack could do the same for the ground.
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OMG i love it! try to show us like having him animate (jumping shooting etc.)
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Alright I have two coders working on demos for me.
Here's what they have made so far.
And because of the demos I have realized something major wrong with the jump animation.
They are just realtime examples of Lectro moving around.
The first one is just flat land so I could see the movement.
The second one has some terrain but the tiles have to be updated.
kronoman: http://aiongate.com/terra/lectro/demo1.zip
Move: Left, Right
Jump: Up
LazyCow: http://aiongate.com/terra/lectro/demo2.zip
Move: Left, Right
Jump: Ctrl
Edit: Made a turn animation.
(http://i21.tinypic.com/akyjc9.jpg)
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Very nice stuff you have here, Souly.
Are these going to be played in 2x? Because at 1x, most of the smaller characters don't look like much.
I think the Godfather needs another frame where his right hand goes forward more and his left goes back a bit more, since the walk-cycle feels like it needs more.
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in test 2 the physics feel like your in low gravity i think the physics in the first test are better. But so far its awesome and i'm looking forward to a finished version. Good job.
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All I asked from the coders was to make a simple movement demo and then work from there.
That way I can see any flaws in my animations.
Such as the jump animation.
The frame where he tilts his head back is all wrong, it might be good if I was to work on a double jump.
But unless I do that the animation would be better without it.
Anywho I have some portrait updates.
(http://users.nexopia.com/uploads/1296/1296053/Lectro/portaits.gif)
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It's been 12 hours, not a full day but I might as well post some updates.
(http://i24.tinypic.com/1195gnr.png)
Turn animation, which will happen when you interact with an item.
(http://i23.tinypic.com/14e0ztv.png)
Also tried making a buried animation for one of the Midget Zombies.
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Characters are looking great. The dirt tiles, however, bore me. Add just a *wee* bit of interest in the color scheme. The shadowy area could probably be given some sort of tint.
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NEW DEMO (http://aiongate.com/terra/lectro/demo3.rar)
(http://i22.tinypic.com/1622ype.png)
Too pink?
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Yes, that's looking better. I think you've introduced some contrast issues now, however. Rocks are looking too harsh and bright.
(http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6185/1622ypeki1.gif)
Trying to add interest in the color scheme. Modeling colors after reality isn't a priority here. This was achieved by basically just screwing around with different hue and saturation combinations. Mine's a little more desaturated that it probably should be, although it might make character sprites pop more.
But yeah, the idea is to move away from using straight ramps. Your original has earth that goes from light brown to dark brown and grass that goes from light green to dark green. You rarely ever want to see anything like that in pixel art.
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NEW DEMO (http://aiongate.com/terra/lectro/demo3.rar)
(http://i22.tinypic.com/1622ype.png)
Too pink?
NOT TOO PINK!
Introduce another buffer color between the darkest and closest-to-darkest shade you have :O It'll look fantastastic!
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Alright, out of no where another coder has come up with a new demo.
Check it out (http://www.jopera.at/platformer.zip)
He's introduced scrolling, along with skeletons for enemies.
They don't kill you, just hurt you.
He's also just input some default stars and such for collectables.
Move- Left and right
Jump- Up
I don't remember what start was, I think it was Z or enter..
Sorry for no graphical updates I'm formatting my computer atm, I have everything backed up, I just have to try and get my drivers without the internet. :yell:
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/34xlrts.gif) -> (http://i23.tinypic.com/ouazyr.gif)
Better?
I really didn't like the blue sky...
And that horrible dither for the sky to ground...
Edit:
Fucking around with the pallete.
Looked kinda cool so I uploaded it.
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Really like the black one. Makes everything stand out.
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Neon green on nightmare black is a DELICIOUS contrast, I tell you.
Now for atmosphere, different layers of parallax clouds in the bg would look totally atmospheric. <3
Loving it, thanks for fiddling around with the colors, you're acheiving new cool things everytime <3
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You know, I liked that I felt a sort of "weight" with Lectro in the demo. I kept playing a "clunk!" sound effect in my head whenever he jumped and landed.
Maybe if I make a cool thread programmers will come along and make stuff for me too!
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i dont like how some of the tiles are mirrored....the ones right next to each other especially...
other than that, the animation is good, the colors are good(i love the blue and green ;D)
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Neon green on nightmare black is a DELICIOUS contrast, I tell you.
This man is right! Use the blue!
I also love the spike pits. But why does all platform grass have to look like that?
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(http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/shootup.gif)
Created a shooting up animation.
I decided to start making all the animations transparent, doesn't look too great on the light background however.
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Yeah double post..
(http://i23.tinypic.com/2u77ng9.gif)->(http://i21.tinypic.com/5d53k9.gif)->(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)
Anyways, I was thinking that the tiles really didn't really feel like cavestory so I tried what pixel did with their tiles.
Edit: fixed some repetitive issues.
Edit2: more repetitive issues.
(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)
(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)
(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)(http://i22.tinypic.com/k4i5jm.gif)
Tiled it for ya.
Example:
(http://agtp.romhack.net/images/projects/cavestory/0.png)
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Yep, triple post.
But it has something significant cause I think I've found a direction for the games tiles.
(http://i20.tinypic.com/2jdjn0o.gif)
(http://i21.tinypic.com/33u6goy.gif)
Also, used his rock palette just so that I could compare the two.
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Wowza, diggin' on those rock tiles, you can't tell where they begin or end! Is our protagonist going to have to blast through some fallen boulders to get to his goal?
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Souly, great work so far. I can wait to see new weapons popping up soon. Shotguns and battery bombs maybe?
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(http://i22.tinypic.com/2a98si0.gif) -> (http://i22.tinypic.com/9prl9e.gif)
Tried adding a door down at the bottom, don't know if I should try and make a door.
Or just leave it black.
Edit: added the bigger blocks.
Created a bunch of blocks.
(http://i20.tinypic.com/6xq82o.gif)
On a side note this is my 420th post.
Which is a sacred post and it shall be remembered. :D
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Don't you think you're approaching a bit too close to Cave Story?
Though the rock tiles look great, it's weird how the edges look... Hollow? They're not whole, if you know what I mean, you can see the cutting work done on it.
Maybe pixel the edges differently?
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Don't you think you're approaching a bit too close to Cave Story?
Though the rock tiles look great, it's weird how the edges look... Hollow? They're not whole, if you know what I mean, you can see the cutting work done on it.
Maybe pixel the edges differently?
It was my original goal to make something that had the same feel as cavestory.
As for the edges in the mockup, it's because they were just cut out of a pattern.
I really just did this to see how the texture went with the mockup.
I have yet to actually do the appropriate tiles using the texture.
(http://i23.tinypic.com/15hfkba.gif)
Purple started to bug me...
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Please can you do something with the square tiles? I mean, everything just spells out A.W.E.S.O.M.E now except for the 'square tiles inside of rocky cavey stuff' that just scream CAVESTORY
Plus, I think you could do something about the flatness of the surfaces. I have some ideas, I just have to find the right time and computer to show you ;D
I don't really think that cave story is the epitome of independent platformer gaming art, so if you can expand upon it and find your own approach, that would be golden and wonderful. Yes. That's just my couple of bomus points.
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(http://i23.tinypic.com/2pqj5g3.gif) -> (http://i23.tinypic.com/2llosuu.gif)
Does giving the squares a purpose to be there help?
Edit:Changed the color of the tiles.
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I don't mean this as an offense but aiming to recreate Cave Story's style is setting a modest goal for yourself, to say the least. Don't get me wrong I like the work so far but Cave Story seems to have been elevated to some graphical pedestal where it's the greatest thing since cheez-wiz. The fact is if you want to build off of what Pixel did in Cave Story you're going to have to be able to look at it with a critical eye and identify where Pixel's failures were so you can overcome them.
Now, this is art, so those failures/successes are pretty subjective. I know that I personally felt like the areas in Cave Story felt very barren. I didn't feel like there was any kind of coherent game world. There are a bunch of winding tunnels, because the game needed winding tunnels. And there are doors here and there, because the game needed doors. But who dug out the tunnels? Who put the doors there? Looking at Cave Story you get very little sense of actual story through the artwork, ironically. It's all incredibly generic.
I guess my point is that Cave Story has been done already, so if you're set on doing this project you have an obligation to surpass it, put a twist on it, take it in a direction that Pixel never thought of; otherwise I don't understand why an artist of your skill is bothering with it.
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I don't mean this as an offense but aiming to recreate Cave Story's style is setting a modest goal for yourself, to say the least. Don't get me wrong I like the work so far but Cave Story seems to have been elevated to some graphical pedestal where it's the greatest thing since cheez-wiz. The fact is if you want to build off of what Pixel did in Cave Story you're going to have to be able to look at it with a critical eye and identify where Pixel's failures were so you can overcome them.
Now, this is art, so those failures/successes are pretty subjective. I know that I personally felt like the areas in Cave Story felt very barren. I didn't feel like there was any kind of coherent game world. There are a bunch of winding tunnels, because the game needed winding tunnels. And there are doors here and there, because the game needed doors. But who dug out the tunnels? Who put the doors there? Looking at Cave Story you get very little sense of actual story through the artwork, ironically. It's all incredibly generic.
I guess my point is that Cave Story has been done already, so if you're set on doing this project you have an obligation to surpass it, put a twist on it, take it in a direction that Pixel never thought of; otherwise I don't understand why an artist of your skill is bothering with it.
You make an excellent point Ben.
I'm trying to figure out an original idea that will help my project become original and not just a Cavestory knock-off.
But visually I was hoping for the same style as that of CaveStory, however I was hoping to work out the errors Pixel made, such as repetitive tiles.
Which I think I have accomplished at the moment, however it's no where near perfect but personally I think it's pretty good start. :B
(http://i20.tinypic.com/2ahfrit.gif) -> (http://i21.tinypic.com/15d7ue0.gif) ->(http://i23.tinypic.com/4gqdts.gif)
Brought back the purple, gave the pillars some contrast.
Edit: Went back to the greenish version instead.
Edit2: Realized the background was still a light purple..
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(http://i23.tinypic.com/ouazyr.gif)
I liked this better :( I wonder if this is good critique enough. But still. Just saying. The sky, the green grass, the fading tiles, I liked it. :\
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Your latest tiles are nice but I do fear it's a little TOO close to Cave Story. I think it'd look cool if you added some like candles in the caves and maybe those big blocks you could do a carving of like a lion head or some gothic/gargolyish thing. Might add to the environment. I guess maybe I'm thinking a mix of Castlevania and Cave Story. Keep it coming.
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I'm working on throwing some misc stuff in there to make it not look so boring and just plain.
Anyways, much like cavestory a lot of the impacts are going to be particle effects using this explosion animation I made.
(http://i21.tinypic.com/28wknc5.gif)
Used a couple references on the cloud dissapearing, cavestory was one of them (obviously)
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You know, I liked that I felt a sort of "weight" with Lectro in the demo. I kept playing a "clunk!" sound effect in my head whenever he jumped and landed.
Maybe if I make a cool thread programmers will come along and make stuff for me too!
If someone had art for me and a good idea, or wanted to just make art for me, I would be completely willing to do some programming.
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The first demo is pretty terrible in my opinion, in terms of the programming of the character's movement. It feels slow and unresponsive and for some reason pressing left in the air makes you move left really quick though pressing right just acts more like how one might expect.
The slow and unresponsive feeling is often what happens if the acceleration is too slow. You can use an acceleration model of control for the player's movement rather than velocity based and it can make things seem less "jumpy" when they turn around and such, but if the speed cap takes too long to reach it ends up feeling unpleasant.
One of the great things about Cave Story is how finely "pixel" tuned the controls to make it a complete pleasure to play.
The newer demo by the other programmer wouldn't run on my computer, so I can't speak on that one.
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Great work! I can offer my two cents, in the gun firing animation for the main character, the smoke after the shot seemed, to me, at first like a squrit of liquid
later!
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(http://i21.tinypic.com/16c6eqh.gif)
I'll be making two seperate flame animations.
Cause right now it looks a little repeatitive.
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wow...those newer tiles are awesome ^^
i just really dont think they match with lectro or the other tiles...
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I liked this better :( I wonder if this is good critique enough. But still. Just saying. The sky, the green grass, the fading tiles, I liked it. :\
Whereas I agree, I still like the newer rocks. I think it'd be cool if you could somehow quickly fade the detailed new rocks into a flat dark space so that there are no wide expanses of dense, stony detail.
Also, one rock in the tileage sticks out to me like a sore thumb: the one with the perfectly horizontal line going halfway through it. You see? Just get rid of that line, please, man?
Also also, some of those square blocks could be half-covered in rubble and buried and barely showing and stuff, you know? So as not to just be like "Block and Notblock" distinction between tiles. Have some at angles, show that they haven't been there invulnerable to the elements for ages.
Also also also, brighten up those torches with some vibrancy. Your character is much 2 bright to be alone with such high saturation, and so it makes him look a bit misplaced. In fact, I think the tiles as a whole in your latest are far too grey.
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At first I wasn't going to say anything, because it was looking pretty fly, but the more I come into this thread, the more I am reminded of cave story and the underside.
You can very easily tell that both are influencing your work, and to me it seems a little too heavily even. You had something snazzy and original going on, but the more you work on it, the closer it gets to another carbon copy of the 2, down the the tiles. Sorry man, but to me you're taking steps away from an appealingly original thing here.
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I agree with Quark and everyone else. Homages can be great, but it's usually the things a homage does differently that make it great.
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(http://i20.tinypic.com/33278kw.gif)
Fire is hard to animate...
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you're taking steps away from an appealingly original thing here.
Listen to Quark. Think about where Lectro belongs. He belongs in a world like your first idea, not your latest weird dungeony cave thing. (Why not throw in some unique design elements, like electro torches or something?) You're being a bit too generic.
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(http://i21.tinypic.com/2hx3j45.gif)
I combined both the ideas...
I don't know if this is better or worse.
Made a new background, I also changed the color of the rocks.
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all that warm red brown is pretty overwhelming now, including the new background. it may be too busy. regardless, i would suggest toning down the brown.
i edited the torch animation, hope it'll help.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/staplefish/torch.gif)
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Oh alkaline, that edit is beatiful. <3
I will study it plenty and hopefully, it's hard cause I use MSPaint so I have a hard time seeing the full animation as a whole.
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I agree with alkaline though I am not sure it is the rocks that are causing the problem. Toning it down a little might help, but I think the color of the rocks goes very well with Lectro. The color of the blocks are seriously clashing and making it seem chaotic I think. Maybe if you try to change the color of the blocks it would help.
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LOADS of potential - but HUGE readability problems. Every version you've posted thus far has failed to emphasize the correct areas and make things readable for gameplay.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/lectrocritique.png)
Foreground - less contrast, more brightness, slight hue adjustments
Background - darkened, desaturated, and hue-shifted. that is really all thats needed to make this live up to it's potential.
...that and *IMAGINATION*
I love cavestory, but take this beyond that. You're limiting youself by doing so
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How about something like this?
(http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6883/whataboutthisgt8.png)
Lol, I guess Indigo had the same idea but im slow. :blind:
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/zu1h0h.gif)
You have a point with the background color and not seeming like it's actually in the background.
I took the colors you used in the edit for the background, but that's all I changed.
I also gave the torches some highlights, don't know if that helps them or not...
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The new background looks good, you can really see what you want to focus on now. The purple tint is good, it makes the colors almost fully complimentary.
Despite how similar others say the tiles are to cavestory, I think they have their own thing, but the blocks stuck in front of the more natural looking foreground...that seems pretty signature Cave Story/whatever other game to me. Try sticking them behind the rock tiles! I bet that'd look much more natural.
:C Level editing in MS paint, I sympathize with ya, hooh.
Another thing, I recommend toning down the highlights on the pillars, just to make them more background-like.
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(http://i23.tinypic.com/bgb9jc.gif)
Some small scientists.
Yeah I hate using MSPaint.
But I've grown used to how it feels.
I hate that there are no layers, but I've tried Graphics Gale and I didn't like how it felt.
Yep, double post.
Going to bed and I'm too lazy to edit the other post.
Anyways, I finished the day with a new update.
(http://i24.tinypic.com/9ktkcx.gif)
Big robot guy.
Started working on a larger scaled boss.
So far I've only got his head made.
(http://i23.tinypic.com/waj6fo.gif)
Too lazy to edit your post? Do it again and you'll see the consequences. :mean: - Panda
Sorry Panda, wont happen again, it was 6 am I just wanted to post it and goto bed.
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Big robot guy looks a little flat, I recommend adding some shadows and highlights in selective places
(http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/618/mrrobotbn9.png)
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I tried to give him a body.
(http://i22.tinypic.com/2potm52.gif)
Larger scaled pieces are harder.
I also am having a hard time thinking of good original attacks for the bosses...
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Oh boy, boss attacks! He could spawn tiny helicopter robots out of his head hole, or shoot homing fireballs. I'm sure you wanted to make him bounce around, based on his design. Maybe you could make his head extend combined with a simple biting animation.
And there's always gun and laser turrets that happen to be lying around...not like giant robots don't need their own security system.
Maybe Lectro can hop into his head to initiate a hacking mini game so you can shut him down.
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I hate that there are no layers, but I've tried Graphics Gale and I didn't like how it felt.
Force yourself to stick with it. Open up some SNES spritesheets, switch the colour depth to 8bit mode and do some recolours. In 8bit mode, after selecting a colour with the eyedropper tool, any changes you make on the colour selector will change that colour throughout your drawing. If that plus layers doesn't make you perm delete every copy of MSpaint on your computer, then there must be something very wrong with you :P
Good stuff so far. Keep it up.
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(http://i23.tinypic.com/20k975t.gif)
Edited the smaller robot up a bit.
(http://i22.tinypic.com/33f6zdd.gif)->(http://i24.tinypic.com/25oxqug.gif)->(http://i23.tinypic.com/zjjvp1.gif)
Death from above.
Edit: His head was much too flat
Edit2: There was a glitch happening with the body.
Time to try and animate those claws.
(http://i21.tinypic.com/fkvdi1.gif)
Rotation
(http://i23.tinypic.com/2zp356q.gif)
Snap, trying to learn motion trails.
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Your motion trail starts before movement but should be during and/or after movement, also your motion trail begins at a spot on which the original object never was. A good way to create a motion trail is by making the previous frame black and pasting the next frame on top of it so you can see what are the exact changes in the object. Then you can use for example an outline of the black (silhouette of the) previous frame to base your motion trail on.
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(http://i21.tinypic.com/2le03rs.gif)
Any better?
I started the trail from where the wide open claw was.
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Something about how the motion trails form small points just seems inherently wrong to me. When I see motion trails like that, I think, ok, a sword shape would make that; very little movement from the base, a lot coming from the end, therefore forming a sort of pointed looking motion train. But the claw is so rounded, it's kind of tricky. I'm probably not making that much sense.
In any case, the motion trains from the closing ought to be diagonal somewhat, instead of horizontal. Unless the claw thrusts forward as it closes, which would be pretty damn cool.
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There is a properly defined name for motion trails in the gaming industry. They are called 'swooshes'
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(http://i23.tinypic.com/rkod41.gif)->(http://i23.tinypic.com/2dc8gsl.gif)
I think it's starting to look better.
Edit: added another swoosh so it shrinks instead of dissapears.
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On the opening frame the swoosh gives me the impression that its 'bending' so that the tip comes open first. Maybe a few thin lines that get thicker towards the tip of the month may look a little better.
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(http://i23.tinypic.com/wj6s12.gif)->(http://i21.tinypic.com/236wbm.gif)
Any better?
Edit: Should I open his mouth more?
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Haha, I was gonna comment on that I don't really want speed lines when the thing opens but then I realized it looked like teeth with made the psycological impact of the attack being ferocious so much stronger.
And now I really like it :D
.. Hehu!
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/25f0h03.gif)
To hell with motion lines, thanks to Frankiesmileshow for the help. <3
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I like the new one, but still thought motion lines in this one were great: (http://i23.tinypic.com/rkod41.gif)
Maybe try the new one with motion lines, for reasons Jad said.
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I like the newest claw, looks much more forceful. The motion trail on the others just looked wrong.
I can't wait to see this big bad boy animated. :D
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Jelly-like claw has its charm too, would love to see it in a game :D :D Feels really different from what I'm used to see in games as well, so go for it :O!!
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can i ask you a question Souly?
what software are you using to make that game?
are you planning to port it to another platform?
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I agree with Jad, if you don't use the jellyclaw for this boss use that basic idea as a springboard for another.
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/25f0h03.gif)(http://lorne.lastchancemedia.com/Images/TricksandCrits/Swooshies.gif)
???
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Yea I like that Sherman Gill. Maybe it's just me but the trails should'nt be the same colors as the actual metal. Maybe a little darker? ???
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some of the pure black pixels around the jelly claw make it look messy in some frames...
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I think the main problem with these motion trails is it disappears too slow, and therefore looks, umm, too fluid.
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Doesn't look anything like a claw anymore. Nothing sharp about it. Sure, the animation has improved, but I don't think it reads as it should any more. The bounce in the end is too much. I'd make an edit but...I can't pixel at the moment (T_T). Also, the lag at the ends of the claws makes it too jellylike as well. I would suggest something that doesn't deform as much, and with a bit more snap to it.
Maybe keep the nice fluid opening, hold it fully open for a sec, and then snap shut, reducing the closing animation to maybe one or two frames.
...
I dunno, it sounds good in my head.
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/23k7xw2.gif)
Okay, I tried throwing the motion trails back onto the claw.
Sorry for the lack of updates, I got a job.
I work 4 days on and 4 days off.
I can only get time to pixel on my days off.
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/23k7xw2.gif)
Okay, I tried throwing the motion trails back onto the claw.
Sorry for the lack of updates, I got a job.
I work 4 days on and 4 days off.
I can only get time to pixel on my days off.
I think that while the claw is opening the motion trails don't look right, the claws are just opening too slowly. I think If you remove those trails and just have the closing trails it would look best, or maybe if you just sped it up.
If you want it to look like it both opens and closes ridiculously fast (using motion trails for both open and close), you could speed up the opening (by removing frames if not by just speeding up timing) and then have it hold in the "open" position for a split second so that there is a break between opening and closing.
I think the claw after closing might be jiggling too much, to me it is giving the impression that it is a squishy claw rather than a claw with a lot of force behind it that is made of metal.
My attempt at an edit:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/blukn173/claw3.gif)
All I did was remove two frames that caused the excessive jiggle, and made it open its mouth a little slower because the jump from closed to open was irking me.
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/23k7xw2.gif)
Okay, I tried throwing the motion trails back onto the claw.
Sorry for the lack of updates, I got a job.
I work 4 days on and 4 days off.
I can only get time to pixel on my days off.
If you're gonna have motion trails, make the little middle trail-one come back to we can have TEETH-TRAIL-CLAWS! :D :D
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Just tested your demo under wine on Linux. Here's proof of it running, though it seemed sluggish. Not sure if that's wine or your physics and I have no Windows box to test it on. As for the your pixels, I'm mighty diggin' 'em, though the little jiggle on your claw at the end bothers me, just because metal doesn't do that. Maybe that's just me.
http://noproduce.com/screens/screenshot-openbox-wine-lectro.png (http://noproduce.com/screens/screenshot-openbox-wine-lectro.png)
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Haven't gotten a chance to work on it for a while.
Got rid of the wiggle and fixed up the trails a bit.
(http://i22.tinypic.com/kamnah.gif)
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I made a demo too, I hope you dont mind.
http://www.myran.com/lectro.rar
The .exe is for Windows and the .nds is for Nintendo DS
X jumps on Win, B jumps on DS
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I've been watching this trail thing for a while now and been meaning to comment for ages... well... here goes...
Can I just say... Trails really only work when the underlying movement is Rapid... they're best used as a way to indicate further action in a limited frame count...
By adding trails to movement that allready reads well (and that's a compliment) only helps to confuse the message and messes up the overall motion and gives the impression of something extra that shouldn't realy be there (if that makes sense)...
personally I'd do one of 2 things,
1. Ditch the trails in favour of a higher frame count.
2. Reduce the frame count and keep the trails...
The stretch and squash you've got going on is really nice... plus the overeach (on frame 7&8) help to emphasise the snapping action... it's a really nice sequence without the trails man... in all honesty you're overworking it now. Move on to something else.
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I made a demo too, I hope you dont mind.
http://www.myran.com/lectro.rar
The .exe is for Windows and the .nds is for Nintendo DS
X jumps on Win, B jumps on DS
Sorry, it runs really slowly on this computer. D:
Bacca, I hope this is what you're talking about.
(http://i23.tinypic.com/s6ha4m.gif)
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Good, now you need to get rid of those random black pixels around the edges.
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Sorry, it runs really slowly on this computer. D:
Really? That's a shame, and pretty strange too. I guess your graphics card has no 3d hardware support at all?
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Good, now you need to get rid of those random black pixels around the edges.
(http://i23.tinypic.com/ouxt9g.gif)
Better?
Oh and since I've been using GGale I re-worked the explosion.
(http://i21.tinypic.com/28wknc5.gif)->(http://i20.tinypic.com/n6e2cl.gif)
Old->New
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(http://i24.tinypic.com/wbv139.gif)
I tried removing the opening of the claw.
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Looks much speedier now...:)
The highlights on the interior edges seem a bit on the bright side in that first open frame...Might just be my monitor though...
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Okay I'm done with the claw animation at the moment.
I'll try and animate the robot with it, but right now ggale is being weird wont let the above layer be transparent.
So I can't animate it easily.
(http://i21.tinypic.com/2vjo9dc.gif)
Started working on a new character from the same series of robots.
It was inspired from something I saw a while back on PJ.
Having a hard time thinking of a good body for him.
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hey souly...
you ever heard of the film Hardware? Came out in the late 80's early 90's and had a load of guest appearances from musicians like Lemmy (motorhead) and Karl Mccoy (Fields of the Nephilim) - it was a cyberpunk film about a battle droid that ends up in someones flat in some future distopian society after a big war (usual kinda crap that's so derivative these days) - point being...the battle droid is kinda very similar to what you've got going on there...
have a shufties (http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/decade/1990-1999/hardware/)... you see what I mean?
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Inspired by Robotriot's Moobot piece, perhaps.
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Inspired by Robotriot's Moobot piece, perhaps.
Ah yes, that's the one!
Couldn't find it on PJ after I had started on this.
(http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/cga_moobot.gif)
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I would advise you change the big bricks because they are very much a rip off of the underside
(http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/2933/brickif2.jpg)
(sorry that it's jpg'd)
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I cannot open the latest demo.
I have a 22 inch monitor and it won't go below 800x600 res. So the file gives an error because the resolution cannot be changed to 640x480.
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I would advise you change the big bricks because they are very much a rip off of the underside
(http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/2933/brickif2.jpg)
(sorry that it's jpg'd)
Which in itself is then very much a rip off of Cave Story. This has been said earlier in the topic, and explained as well.
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There I just hope that we can go a bit more for skill and good looks than for creativity and originality (because I myself sometimes use excisting conceptart or games or movies to base art on)
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I would advise you change the big bricks because they are very much a rip off of the underside
(http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/2933/brickif2.jpg)
(sorry that it's jpg'd)
I've already said that the style was inspired by cavestory.
So there are obviously going to be similar objects in a game that is also inspired by cavestory. :/
I'm aware how close the tiles are, and I'm trying to sway away from making a direct clone of cavestory.
Anyways, I thought I'd say sorry for the lack of updates.
I just moved into my own place, so this is the first time I've gotten online in 2 weeks.
We're getting our internet set up really soon so once that's set up I'll hopefully pump out some more updates. :D
I cannot open the latest demo.
I have a 22 inch monitor and it won't go below 800x600 res. So the file gives an error because the resolution cannot be changed to 640x480.
I still don't have an official coder.
I haven't heard anything from any of them in over 2 months...
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great work. nice caves.
just two things:
- the "giant cutters" of your big boss seems too much "organic" imho (which is odd for a cutter)
- i like your "ground & cave" mockup, but i'm not convinced by those "progressive sky-to-underground-dirt tiles.
HTH.
keep up with the good work.
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trails=motion blurs, so they should only be there to transition from one frame to the next when there arent enough inbetween frames.
when you make them remain a bunch of effects can be done, I know....it's not like I've never seen anime, but they should never retreat slowly, they should always look forceful in their movement..
this is a mechanic animation so it'd be good if you actually had like one frame of actual movement done with a bunch of trails (taking advantage of the shiny metal surface) a couple of frames in the end of the anim as a really rough shaking antic, and then motion blur it back into closed position with some more shaking and maybe even some sparks or some kind of impact effect when the claws close up
EDIT: nevermind, didnt notice u were done with this...=/ robot looks fine so far as long as you're planning to cover up that butt and chest with extra detail
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Ladies and gentlemen I apoligize for my neglection on this project.
It happens.
Anyways, I thought I'd post a small update as well as link everyone to the wonderful movement testing we're doing for lectro.
(http://i34.tinypic.com/dmtjq1.gif)
The vat of molten lava needs work...
I haven't done this style in a while, gotta pick it back up again.
www.boomersnet.nl/lectro.zip
Arrow keys are move, Shift is jump ctrl is shoot
You can also aim up and diagonal by using the arrow keys while running.
You can also slide slowly down walls and shoot off them.
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Upwards aiming is totally screwy. Sometimes He'd shoot diagonal up while standing still, sometimes he'd shoot horizontally while aiming up, sometimes I had no idea what was going on (with the aiming). And if you shoot while moving horizontally then stop just as you fire, the shot will come out diagonally then quickly straighten itself to vertical. Also, I think it'd be better if the diagonal shot was at a straight 45degree angle, instead of the weird steep angle it is now. Sometimes when I went to slide down a wall, he wouldn't, or his arm would come off, or he'd just spaz out for a minute. Once, after I got him to spaz out, he couldn't even get near a wall in mid air without spazzing out again. I also got stuck in the wall once.
I find it strange that he can slide down the rough rock but not the smooth stone block.
When he jumps, that little kick he does at the peak of his jump looks out of place - like it should be done much earlier, when he first leaves the ground.
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(http://i38.tinypic.com/18ytdg.gif)
Vertigo-Zero is coding this not me, I'll get him to look into it.
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the mockup cave (~ 2 posts above) is really interesting in how it's not using any 'straight' tiles. I failed to find the "grid size" you've been using for this, and i thus fear that you're not been using any ... Will it still be possible to build such interesting levels only with the 12 tiles you identified ? the "machine" mockup seems to suggests you had more available stuff in the former mockup.
I liked the idea of "holes" in the rock, but it is not working that nicely below your machine. I'd rather expect the machine (in your latest post) to be installed over a super-solid area, showing large rocks rather than holes (maybe it fits the lowest level of a cave more than this kind of pedestal ?)
sorry if i sound completely confusing...
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hi hi make a game like cave story/the underside!funny idear! :P
that is the program you use too make the game?(i love make games but can`t find a good program! >:()
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hi hi make a game like cave story/the underside!funny idear! :P
that is the program you use too make the game?(i love make games but can`t find a good program! >:()
This is pretty much the best post I've ever seen on this forum ever. :angel:
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hi hi make a game like cave story/the underside!funny idear! :P
that is the program you use too make the game?(i love make games but can`t find a good program! >:()
This is pretty much the best post I've ever seen on this forum ever. :angel:
thanks! ^-^
that is my first post here! ;)
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I remember seeing Souly's stuff about years ago (before I managed to forget I had an account here), some serious progression, great to see.
(http://i24.tinypic.com/34xlrts.gif) -> (http://i23.tinypic.com/ouazyr.gif)
Better?
I really didn't like the blue sky...
And that horrible dither for the sky to ground...
Edit:
Fucking around with the pallete.
Looked kinda cool so I uploaded it.
I must say I am quite partial to this ^^ version of things, but is all good. The little plug/rabbit guy's an interesting character.