Game Mockup (Last Updated: 10/28/2006) Portrait/Fire Anim added

[Dhaos]

UPDATED

NEW:






Battle Mockup:
Top right mockup is a WIP of battles. I have yet to make reverse direction of units (whom would be situated at the bottom corner of the battle field)

-Red orb represents enemy leader, blue represents player leader
-HP/SP unit box is toggable (hit a key and it disappers/reappears)
-HP meters are also toggable (will toggle HP/SP/Both/None, adjustable in options and via hotkeys)

Map Mockup
-player armies are golden, enemy are silver (didn't make silver ones yet)
-brown square things are framland
-gray rock formation should probably have some grass tuffs on it
-castle and towns need cast shadows

General
-tried contrasting units more, however its hard to adjust them further without wrecking them (feel free to EDIT[/b] if you've got a better idea/explaination)
-removing the outlines makes the units very hard to read, played with it for a about 1.5hrs...really didn't like the results, units are supposed to be cartoony to a degree (I am still willing to edit the style if people really dislike it)

[Faceless]

I really don't think the character sprites work, and should -- I think -- be changed in favour of more iconic versions.
The way you've made them, they look like they need an environment (or tiles) that is in scale to them, that fits them.
I don't really know how to explain it, but they just look wrong in this/that scene...

[Dusty]

I think your sprites are lacking in contrast way too much. I honestly can't tell the details of them at all, or even what I'm looking at other than the black lines. And on that note I think you should ditch all the black outlines, they completely kill the style.

[Morph]

I quite like your see water, but i think the image is more like a map.. don't know if it used to be a map but if it isn't you could make bigger and more detailed tiles. Or you characters are all giants of course... 

[Larwick]

Fire Emblem inspired?

I really like the tiles. I really like them. I also love how you've done the map objects such as the castle and towns, bundled with detail and wrapped in neat little black border. Same goes for the item icons.

However i have to agree with Faceless that the sprites seem out of place. It's a shame because they're quite nice.

Good luck with it!

[AdamAtomic]

nice!  I really like this.  What if you put like a stand or plate beneath the sprites, to make them look more like game pieces?  I think some of the sprites could use a little contrast boost, some of them bleed together a bit.  The blob-jel thing reads a little funny, like a green pyramid?  love the ocean, it looks amazing.  I don't really like the gray cliffs along the river, they seem too sharp and weird to me.  killer start!

[Godslayer]

The archer and mage are hard to read without zooming.

What is the shiny green thing?

The water of the ocean contrasts a lot with the river water.

[fil_razorback]

I suppose it's a slime =)

[Dhaos]

NEW:

OLD:



Battle Mockup:
Top right mockup is a WIP of battles. I have yet to make reverse direction of units (whom would be situated at the bottom corner of the battle field)

-Red orb represents enemy leader, blue represents player leader
-HP/SP unit box is toggable (hit a key and it disappers/reappears)
-HP meters are also toggable (will toggle HP/SP/Both/None, adjustable in options and via hotkeys)

Map Mockup
-player armies are golden, enemy are silver (didn't make silver ones yet)
-brown square things are framland
-gray rock formation should probably have some grass tuffs on it
-castle and towns need cast shadows

General
-tried contrasting units more, however its hard to adjust them further without wrecking them (feel free to EDIT[/b] if you've got a better idea/explaination)
-removing the outlines makes the units very hard to read, played with it for a about 1.5hrs...really didn't like the results, units are supposed to be cartoony to a degree (I am still willing to edit the style if people really dislike it)

[Faceless]

This looks much better.

[DrDerekDoctors]

Looks very nice, although some more variation in the grassland wouldn't go amiss given that it's the majority of the map. Interesting that you have the battles as a sub-event of the tactical map, should make it interestingly different to Fire Emblem.

[Godslayer]

Reminds me of hero of might and magic I and II.

[willfaulds]

I'm sure you will have already referenced it but if not check out the Ogre Battle series, particularly the snes version.

As for critique I would try enlarging, or by other means - maybe even colouring?, the distinguishing features of the smaller unit icons (the gold ones) - so that the bow, sword and staff are prodominant and easily identify each unit.

If you are not texturing the main grass any further (i think its fine) reduce the frequency of blades around the cliffs.

Last comment the tree don't quite feel as though they are on the same perspective or maybe light source to me - i think there shadow is  comes too far down (compare to cliffs or rock).

good work though

[Tremulant]

I like this a lot, overall. The tiles look great, as do the larger sprites, and that beach in the corner, especially the water, is stunning.

I'm finding the gold sprites pretty hard to read, especially the archer. I think you might be trying to pack too much detail into such a small space, but the monochrome...ness... may also be an issue, as willfaulds mentioned.

There's a bit of a style clash going on too, mostly caused, I think, by the inconsistency of black outlines (the buildings are outline, for example, but trees, mountains, rocks, etc aren't).

This looks really nice though. I really love that beach.

[Dhaos]

@Faceless: Glad things look better

@DrDerekDoctors: Yeah I really need to add in some more grass/plains tiles. I'll be adding in some high grass and hills later once I decide how I want to do them. I stole the sub-battle map idea from ogre battle, <3 that game...minus its morally twisted ideals (screw you ALI and CHA)

@Godslayer: Another game I was inspired by heh. Well more 3 than anything...I and II scare me... intimately.

@willfaulds: I suppose the games I was inspiried by are quite evident >_<. You've got a point there, I've got a number of complaints about the golden unit icons being hard to see and distinguish. That is mostly due to their size. I will try to dim certain lesser details to enunciate the key details more (weapons>armor>rest of the body.) And yes I need to tweak the forest/tree shadow, its went awol when I was(n't) looking.

@Tremulant: Everybody <3s the beach ^_^. I'll be removing the town/castle black outline later too.
UPDATED

NEW: I made a portrait and a spell animation, was too tired after coding to fix all the crits (getting to them later tonight after I code some more)






Battle Mockup:
Top right mockup is a WIP of battles. I have yet to make reverse direction of units (whom would be situated at the bottom corner of the battle field)

-Red orb represents enemy leader, blue represents player leader
-HP/SP unit box is toggable (hit a key and it disappers/reappears)
-HP meters are also toggable (will toggle HP/SP/Both/None, adjustable in options and via hotkeys)

Map Mockup
-player armies are golden, enemy are silver (didn't make silver ones yet)
-brown square things are framland
-gray rock formation should probably have some grass tuffs on it
-castle and towns need cast shadows

General
-tried contrasting units more, however its hard to adjust them further without wrecking them (feel free to EDIT[/b] if you've got a better idea/explaination)
-removing the outlines makes the units very hard to read, played with it for a about 1.5hrs...really didn't like the results, units are supposed to be cartoony to a degree (I am still willing to edit the style if people really dislike it)

[Franky G]

I realy like that portrait. Personally, i think you could to expose her face just a little more. Even just her right eye would do. I think her face is a little too hidden otherwise.

 

[ndchristie]

i just made a few tweeks, mostly my concerns are the colorblandness and the stances of the soldiers, youve got a lot of nice work here.



just some ideas, take it or leave it.  i didnt touch the fire at all (and if i did....oops)

at the moment each individual piece looks great, but it's very empty as I'm sure you are aware, and that makes all of your tiles look very ineffective.  both screens suffer from this, and i dont mean to be rude but it looks like a badly designed RPGmaker 2000 map at this point.  my first suggestion would be to make the whole of the large map zoomed in more; theres no reason to see that many individual tiles (especially when there is no variation) and the effect is to create something that doesnt present well.  Cluttering a map is bad, but leaving it empty like this is much, much worse.

anyhoo, you've done some really great work here, and i can't wait to see where you go with this