2 Explosions. 1 Big 1 Small

[Lelle]

Heya all,

my first post here! Thought I would post these explosions Iīm making, maybe for use in a future mobile game. The large one is a bit too large though on series 40 phones I guess! :]

EDIT: Latest revision:

details further down.









I havenīt made any AA yet since I donīt know what kind of background Iīm going to use.

Any pointers and critique most welcome!

Edit: Here is an early mockup of "the game" havenīt had time to do much yet :]


Cheers,

Lelle

[zeid]

Very nice style palette, etc. main fault is that they both end so abruptly. I think a few more frames of the smoke dissipating would serve it well.

[Lelle]

Thanks for fast reply! You are totally right about that, I will make some more frames to test.

If it ever turns into a mobile game though I think I will only get like 4 frames to play with :-|

Thanks again,

Lelle

[baccaman21]

Hi Lelle and welcome to the boards...

Not a bad start - looks rather 'metal slug' (I can see were you get your influences from) - I was gonna point you to a Metal Slug GFX repository but it appears to have gone down since I visited it last (shame) - ho hum... so, I've tried to make a quick edit myself to demonstrate my point.



Note how to emphasise the main explosion by added a couple of 'anticipation' frames in at the start... these frames are played rapidly... and have NO detail in them... - what you're trying to do is show the viewer that the FLASH  you get prior to the main blast... then you go BANG - into the main explosion, that you've managed to recreate pretty faithfully - however... it's rising to rapidly (for my liking) so i've also pulled the frames down a few pixels and made is slow down over time... I've also added a couple of tweens at the end to slow down the dissapating smoke... it could do with more time spent on it tbh but i'll leave that for you to figure out...

I'll be curious to see how it goes with the larger version.

Good luck

[ptoing]

yeh, mslugdb is no more it seems :/ lame.

Some time ago i was analyzing the metal slug explosions and as far as that goes, it's the best reference for pixel explosions EVER.

You can see that the fireball is broken up into "bulges" which flow downwards while the whole thing moves up, the actyal movement of the ball is not that big at all.

[DrDerekDoctors]

Yuss, as Ptoing points out it's that rolling motion of the explosion which really makes them special. Have a look at CPS2 games like Captain Commando and some of the other Capcom scrolling beat 'em ups for further inspiration. However as a first pass, it's not bad at all.

[Lelle]

Whoa, thanks all for kickass feedback! I will try my best at changing them for the better!

And yes Metal Slug explosions makes my heart skip a beat every time I look at one. I will try to analyze some and learn as much as I can from them. As pointed out my explosions are too static, or doesn't have any movement or life in them(like the rolling bolts of flame etc.).

Will post updates as soon as I get the chance :]

Cheers,

Lelle

[legofreak]

yeh, mslugdb is no more it seems :/ lame.

Some time ago i was analyzing the metal slug explosions and as far as that goes, it's the best reference for pixel explosions EVER.

You can see that the fireball is broken up into "bulges" which flow downwards while the whole thing moves up, the actyal movement of the ball is not that big at all.

i dont believe they are moving downward as much as they are staying in the same place while the core of the explosion moves upward

[Joseph]

lego-
I see where you would notice that, but look again.  check out the top balls, which roll down overtop of the balls underneath.  they are moving down, but not a whole lot.

with these explosions...they're not bad, but seem to fade way too fast.  good luck.

[baccaman21]

Thanks for fast reply! You are totally right about that, I will make some more frames to test.

If it ever turns into a mobile game though I think I will only get like 4 frames to play with :-|

Thanks again,

Lelle

just noticed the 4 frames reference!?

That's not a great deal of frames to do a reasonanle attempt at an explosion effect... If this is the case, then I suggest you try something different... something less realistic and more stylized...

just out of interest - are you aware of any sprite scale limitations or indeed what phone you're gonna be targetting it on? - from my (very) limited experience on Mobile phone games there screen dimensions vary quite dramatically from phone model to phone model... I've never really got a handle on this aspect of them as I've not really had the need to go there... but for your benefit perhaps someone like, adam (tierney) and/or ptoing and/or (a few others who's names escape me) could shed some light?

[Lelle]

Yea, 4 frames is not a lot. But still good practice though even if I scrap 3/4 of the frames :] On larger phones, like the 60 series size isnīt such a big deal, but on smaller phones with a 64kb limit itīs a huge deal :/

The screen resolutions Iīm aiming for is the series 40 phones which has 128x128 and series 60 phones which has 176x208. Iīve made graphics to mobile games before but that was a while ago, I usually just draw as much as I can then use everything that there is space for. Even if you have to throw most of it away itīs always good practice :]

2 sprites from an old game, not much to work with such low number of frames but at least you can see that they walk hehe. Also my old computer was kinda screwed up so anything I drew back then is totally "bleeched" :[



EDIT: Oki finally completed the revision and thought about all of the things said here, I hope. Even added the detonation frame similar to what Metal Slug uses and it is a nice effect I must say! :]





So what you guys think, better, or worse hehe?

Cheers,

Lelle

[Faceless]

Well the first 2 frames don't seem to make any sense at all to me...
As for the rest, it's much better than the original, but you don't get a sense of the explosion growing before dying out, which could partly be a result of the sheer amount of vertical movement you've included.

[ptoing]

Don't give the flash any form, make it just round, that works better.

[Lelle]

Okey I changed them to have round forms. Though maybe they should be larger than the explosion-to-come?

Also toned down the vertical movement in it a bit. Now itīs more like it's being eaten up from below :]



Thanks for all the help again all, itīs getting better every time!

Cheers,

Leller

[baccaman21]

yup... certainly getting there.. you've get the prinicple down now - I suggest you stick with this and develop more using the same principle but focus some more on the dissapate

you've not quite nialled the 'rolling' effect that you see in the Metal Slug stuff but it's not far off...

keep it up though you'll figure it out...

making good BOOM explosions is a great animation skills test...

[ptoing]

Yup, getting there. The circle should be a bit bigger than the first actual explosion frame. Make it so that the 1st explosion frame can fit in the circle completely and then a bit bigger.

Also I would remove the antialiasing on the flashs, that will look weird if it's drawn on any other background.

[Lelle]

Sorry about the AA dunno why I took the lazy way.

Fixed now, also made them a bit larger! :]



I will keep working on the rolling effect, sure was good practice!

Cheers,

Lelle

[ptoing]

Make the ash in the last few frames travel further up.

Basically you have to see it like this:

Something explodes and some kind of fuel/burnable material is burned. Heat/Fire travels upwards, the fuel is heavier than the fire obviously and the fire burns downwards eating the fuel while traveling up (that's where the rolling comes from).

At the end when all the fuel is burned the flame dies and only small particles of ash are left which travel further up on the heated air.

[baccaman21]

Not bad for a first post...

[Lelle]

Not bad for a first post...

Thanks, sure glad I posted on this helpful forum!! :]

Okidoki, I changed it some again to make the ash travel a bit higher. Starting to look like an explosion now :]



Cheers,

Lelle

[AdamTierney]

To be honest, the Metal Slug explosion is very stylized and doesn't look realistic, so I don't see the point in trying to copy it for your game. You'd do better to invent your own type of explosion. Everyone who sees that will say 'Oh, Metal Slug.'

- Adam

[baccaman21]

right lelle...
you need to check your pallette usage over time... (frame to frame)

You've got some dark greys in there somewhere that on frame 11 -are starting to creep into the dissapation sequence... this is the right thing to do - but you need to carry on with it through the remaining frames - so by the end of the sequence you've kind of cross faded totally from the yellow/red hues to the grey ones... but in order to do this you'll need to manipulate the pallette somewhat and add a couple more greys or consolidate the pallette down and edit the sequence accordingly. (these colors appear brielfy on frames 6 and 7 too) - if you use them then be consistent across the sequence.

Also, your pallete zero (transparency color) - when you next set your pallette up - should be a vivid color sayt bright magenta or green - any color that you're not likely to place into the main piece of art by mistake - in this case you've got orange background and there are a few stray pixels in there that I don't think you meant to use... simple mistake, easy to rectify...

Other than that... nearly there... keep it up... I'm off for the w/e now so over and out... I'll check back monday.

[baccaman21]

To be honest, the Metal Slug explosion is very stylized and doesn't look realistic, so I don't see the point in trying to copy it for your game. You'd do better to invent your own type of explosion. Everyone who sees that will say 'Oh, Metal Slug.'

- Adam

oop contravertial...   but correct in some respects - I agree from the POV that perhaps you should be reconsidering it's usage in the game - but as far as an excercise in movements concerned it's still valuable...

[Lelle]

To be honest, the Metal Slug explosion is very stylized and doesn't look realistic, so I don't see the point in trying to copy it for your game. You'd do better to invent your own type of explosion. Everyone who sees that will say 'Oh, Metal Slug.'

- Adam

Thanks for pointers Adam! But what in it makes it look too "Metal Slug:ish"? The flashes in the beginning totally feels too much like MS and it felt weird to even use them for this and I wouldnīt dare use it for any game. But the other stuff, like the "rolling" flames, how could I get away from that when I'm aiming for an explosion for a vertical scrolling military shmup, cause in my eyes it kinda looks like an oily military explosion now. I donīt think my own "invented" blue flashing lightning explosions would suit such a game hehe :] How would you rate the first explosions I made in regards to the same matter.

Baccaman21: Thanks for feedback. You are right I need to clean it all up. I was thinking of doing it after choosing the frames I would use if I were to use it for a game.

Cheers,

Lelle

[ptoing]

In fact the metal slug ones are not really all that stylised. As far as physics of flame movement goes they are not, as far as actuall amount of particles and smoke and such goes they are heavyly stylised. In most cases you have way way more dust flying around, and explosions are also faster most of the time.

check 1:40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpILAkwquhA

and here 2:16 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaPTTVRavoc&mode=related&search=