AuthorTopic: GR#224 - Castle of the Winds - Gameart Revamp  (Read 29590 times)

Offline 32

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #20 on: October 06, 2014, 04:56:28 am
I have to completely disagree on the arm positions and the colours. The original is far more readable and much stronger silhouettes. Though I would agree that the eyelines mismatching the direction of the weapons removes any sense of danger, it's very much just posing rather than a combat scene. I kinda like that in a nostalgic strange box art kind of way though. My advice would be decide whether they're fighting or not, right now they're a bit half way between.

The grey, yellow and white colours on this and the sprites make me happy. I don't know why but it has so much appeal for me and I hope you keep it  :y:

Offline big brother

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #21 on: October 06, 2014, 07:23:22 pm
I would pick more dynamic poses for the characters (unique for each, not just a mirrored version) ... It might help to not think of them as poses, but as reactions to a threat in the story the scene is telling. A dark background will suit the mood better.

Offline Facet

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #22 on: October 06, 2014, 07:42:20 pm
@32 Ah, ok; I can see the posing as being less direct and dramatic as it might be.

The eye-line/pose generally was intended as a bit of a nudge and a wink; I've been trying to take things in more of a self-aware homage/light ribbing direction, there’s a lot of gently amusing stuff going on that I didn't necessarily want to turn everything up to 11, (not right away at least; there’s a couple of other large graphics for game-over and completion that might be better candidates for more wish-fulfilment type stuff). I’m really pleased that something of the idea seems to be working for you anyway.

Talking of strange boxart! Inexplicably that was (apparently) the quick and dirty separately-packaged version in the US, sci-fi chrome pterosaurs and all (most had the shareware bundle). It also boasts of the 'outstanding sound' (silence) and 'over a hundred monsters' (about 60 sprites, although some are reused for lazy powered-up versions).     

I was pleasantly surprised at the yellow/grey skin combo myself!

On the yellow-washing, yeah contrast, though you could go for an alternate color for the shadows(see below), I just don't like the gray shadows since the yellow has such high saturation.

The massive brightness/sat. of the yellow is why I went for the grey; as a temper. Increasing the coverage and pairing with the similar ochre or even the complementary actually seems to increase its potency to me? I'm quite happy with the balance now but certainly was little leery of overdoing it at first ‘cos I found in the sprites that a little too much (grey) could turn them into corpses.   

...hm, that’s quite a lot of talk and little work from me. It may take a little while but I'm thinking maybe I should sketch up the other couple of big graphics and evaluate them as a group before making decisions (and god-forbid, finishing anything). 

Oh, just saw another reply! @bbrother: yeah I was worried about mirroring them completely but they are meant as alternate gender versions of the protagonist so I did want to imply some kind of parity, I will try a dark version though.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2014, 09:10:42 pm by Facet »

Offline Facet

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #23 on: October 12, 2014, 09:08:45 pm
Ah, I had meant to get those titles and stuff moved along but haven’t gotten a lot done; not forgotten though.

So here’s a few of the item icons I did before, bunch more unfinished. I don’t usually enjoy inanimate objects but these were pretty fun to do; quite simple, I’m not smoothing things off even if I have the colours available ‘cos I really like the raw edges, implied continuities.



The first is a (back?) pack, idk what was going on in the original either. 

Offline Parkerbaby

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #24 on: October 13, 2014, 12:28:42 am
Are some of those objects the enchanted versions?-- judging by the bright blue shine.

And idk; it seems more awkward to do these at an angle rather than vertical. Seems like you wouldn't be able to fit as much detail in. But, I'm not an artist, and yours do look less sterile and 'schematic' than the originals.

Ah, the ambiguous 'pack'. Your version is brilliant, though it looks a bit like how I remember the 'purse' to look.

Also, I love your version of the title characters! The edit isn't an improvement, imo.
Are you planning on recreating all the images? And if so will it be somehow playable?  :crazy:

Offline Facet

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #25 on: October 13, 2014, 07:04:54 pm
Metals: nah, I’m just really fond of overly shiny things! I guess I’ll either have to do something even more sparkly for the enchanted vers. or y'know... just tone that down to the light grey.

The skew does actually allow for a bit more length, but yeah; just thought it’d look less stiff.

The pack/purse is a good point, thanks. I’ll have to do that next, I guess the slightly smaller scale I went for might confuse too, where the original is as big as possible.

And great to get player feedback! I plan on doing everything needed for the early game; potentially playable, but I'm not sure if I have the resolve to make it so on my own.     
« Last Edit: October 13, 2014, 07:06:58 pm by Facet »

Offline Gil

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #26 on: November 07, 2014, 01:08:49 pm
Haha, this thread keeps amusing me, because I have a hard drive full of these myself. In fact, I met some good friends on the CotW forums I used to visit.

Example from 2006:
Example closer to what you're doing (also from 2006): http://game-designer.org/projects/cotw/pdomain/

Wow, I was bad at anatomy back then :D (my avatar is from CotW too btw, and is from 2007 IIRC)
« Last Edit: November 07, 2014, 01:10:20 pm by Gil »

Offline Facet

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #27 on: November 09, 2014, 08:52:39 pm
Ah man! and the avatar :lol: Yeah, I recognise you from poking around those couple of tiny forums; I thought I might post up my results there for anyone interested to play with. It seems like the low barrier of entry to fiddling with these graphics was a starting point for a few people. Def. fun to get back to every once in a while.

I’m loving some of those! What’s with that glut of sensible colours though? 16 col. eye-bleed or go home yo! Did you not have a go at an engine re-creation as well?

Embarrassing lack of progress still. I can’t believe it’s been so long but I just can’t devote the time atm, sorry guys.

Offline Gil

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Re: Castle of the Winds

Reply #28 on: November 09, 2014, 11:49:53 pm
I've got several remake engines lying around, but nothing finished. Maybe we should collab when we've got some time.