3 coloured Explosions

[9_6]

This is my try at explosions.
They have only 3 colours because The top down shooter I'm making only has a pallette of 3 *changeable* colours so don't complain about them. (actually the gray is a midtone between the 2 main colours)


Here's the only explosion that was in the game until now:


Here's a larger one that took me ages to make:


And here's the largest one which took me forever to make:


Comments & crits would be nice :)

[Terley]

looks great, not too clued up on explosions as I haven't worked on animating one myself ever so you probably would be better gettin critique from someone who know a bit more than myself.. but my opinions are that the first one looks a bit too quick to see and doesn't really say 'explosion' imo, maybe your intentions were that it was to be a quick, small, flash explosion..? The second is very nice and looks more like the generic explosion you would imagine (in game circumstances) and with some more tweaks could look even better potentially, I think you've done really well for 3 colours ('shades').. I also admire your comitment towards making a game, I always fall over at the first hurdle. 

[Souly]

It need some more power to it.
Right now the explosion just sizzles out.
I didn't see much explosion here, more the smoke of the explosion.

Your explosion doesn't have a sense of energy to it.

[Opacus]

It need some more power to it.
Right now the explosion just sizzles out.
I didn't see much explosion here, more the smoke of the explosion.

Your explosion doesn't have a sense of energy to it.

Might be so, but if you'd play the game, you'd notice it's very fast paced. And I don't think heavy explosions would fir into it.

[Rox]

They don't need to be heavy to pack a punch. In fact, they should be shorter and snappier, I believe. Right now, they just grow out smoothly, translate into smoke and swirl away beautifully. I'm mostly referring to the bigger one. It should grow to full size MUCH quicker. Depending on the physical size of the explosion relative to other objects, maybe over one or two frames. It having outlines also look weird to me, but it might fit the game's overall style. Still, I'd like to see it go BANG with a white flash, really quick in the beginning. Maybe try one of them superquick black frames to kick it off like in Jad's here. I guess I should try the game now...

[edit]
Well, that was kinda fun. And I do believe my idea would fit in the game. Everytime I've made small, incomplete shooters in The Games Factory, I've always used a placeholder explosion that was just four frames. A white circle that started out big, then shrunk gradually to about 50% size over the four frames. Even that looks great. So, kick that big one off in the same style, a sudden bright flash, and I think it'll look fine.

[9_6]

@Terley:
Thanks.
The first one is the small 'standard' explosion.
The current version of the game has nothing more than this one and it's used for pretty much everything (as long as it explodes of course ;)).
Now after discovering Dodonpachi lately, I found that my game could use those 'explosion strings' that are created if you destroy
a boss or something big and that is basically what the second explosion is meant for.

@ Souly:
Needs more power?
Power sounds good but how could I power the explosion up?

@Shadow Wolf:
The game is called Hyperwars for a reason.
I want the heaviest, huge ass 3 coloured explosions the world has ever seen in it. :D
Right now it's a bit lacking on that subject.

@Rox:
The big explosion needs exactly 2 frames to grow to its maximum size, how should I quicken that?
Basically I was going for a long, smooth 'generic' explosion and in the game, everything has outlines so explosions need that too. :)
Considering the physical size of the explosion: It's big enough to completely cover most standard enemys so it's a medium sized explosion.

I don't know what to think of those black-white flashing circles at the beginning of an explosion everyone here seems to love.
I have never actually seen that in an actual game except metal slug and I honestly didn't find that too good looking there. It just looks strange and 'unnatural'.

[Rox]

It is big enough to take its time, yeah, but it also loses impact. Try removing the second frame and replacing the first with a larger, completely white flash and see how it looks. I'm not sure, myself, that's why I want to see it.

[edit]

Wait, actually, that's a bad idea. Either replace the first frame with a bright, big ball of white, or remove... the second frame. Don't do both.

[Souly]

You need a sort of rapid expansion for about 2 frames.
A small charge frame, and then the explosion frame.
Which then goes to the smoke cloud.

Hard to explain it.
Obviously my explosion animation isn't the greatest.
But it's the only way I can try and show you what I mean.


Notice the charge and then the rapid explosion?

[9_6]

Heh all your examples (Souly, Jad) are sideview explosions and mine is top down but I think I get what you mean.
So in the first three frames the explosion should develop like this: small, huge, less huge and after that fade to smoke.
I think I will also get rid of the spiky look of the explosion frame since it doesn't really fit well.

Well well off I go.

edit: done.

->

I have also brightened frame 3 and 4 to make it look like the explosion kind of cools down (-> becomes darker).
What d you think?

[Rox]

That's quite a lot nicer. Much more energetic. It also conveys a sense of shape better this way. It looks sort of like a horizontal shockwave in the beginning followed by a small mushroom cloud that rises toward the camera before dissepating. I don't know about the outlines, though. I played the game again, and later on it gets painfully cluttered, with white explosions with grey outlines, on a white ground with grey details, and white projectiles with grey outlines... I'm not sure about the art direction in the game in general, but I'll try to not complain much about that when the theme is already set... Just saying, the game is designed to be cluttered and energetic and explodey, but the 2bit palette does a terrible job at seperating one object from another. If each object type had a different color (blue player, red enemies, green projectile, yellow explosions), it'd be a lot easier to play than it is now.

Okay, I'm done complaining now. Also, it doesn't matter that our examples are sideview, since the timing is what we were trying to explain.

[9_6]

Thanks.
I'm happy with the medium size explosion as it is now.
I've put it into the game and it looks fine if played at 20 fps.
Time for the really huge 128*128 explosion.

Considering the game itself:

I won't colour each object type sepperately since that would destroy the gameboy-ish look I was going for.
But I agree with you on the part that it is sometimes hard to make enemy projectiles out (especially on the crystal background... boy I need to redo that).
I'm not quite sure what you meant by cluttered your description was kind of... wild with you summing up what the colour white and gray were being used for.
Maybee you eyes just need to get used to the unusual lack of colours ;)

[Ryumaru]

maybe different things could have one interchangable hue? just one light pallette entry, just a tint would do great for seperation.
although i sucked ass at that game( wasnt trying) it was very fun. some of the sprites could definitely be improved, but atm there on a " this is game art, i cant make everything perfect" level.

[Rox]

Heh, no, it's not my eyes. On one background, the spreadshot type projectile just barely shows. On another type of background, the claw-shaped enemy projectiles barely show. I mean, a single one would be obvious, but when there are ten enemies and twenty projectiles and fifteen explosions constantly on the screen, telling which is which gets difficult.

But, like I said, I'm not going to tell you to change any of that. You went for a theme, and now you have it, and it looks good. It just isn't the best color scheme for such a frantic shooter. I have more complaints also, but those are purely gameplay related and have been around since Gradius, so I'm not even gonna got here...

[Ragnarok]

The explosions themselves seem to fit perfectly into the game, but individually they lack something. I downloaded the game and I must say it is very very very fun. 

[9_6]

@Ryumaru: Heh yeah some sprites could definately be improved.
In fact that's what I am working on. Most graphics look different now.

@Rox: Yeah like I already stated: some tiles need work.
And to avoid that an enemy shot isn't seen they get a white outline to stick out more.

@Delphinus: Thanks.

The huge ass explosion is finally done.
this one took even longer than the medium sized one because it needed 10 more frames.
My hand hurts now. :P
Anyways here it is:



What do you think?

[Relvox]

Looks really neat
I've given the game a quick try, got to 50%. It's funny

Anyway, maybe it could be a good idea to have the smoke dissipate outwords and not inwards (like in the prev 2 explosions). It looks a bit like an implosion or some implosion following the explosion.

Just my opinion.

Have a nice day ^^

[Opacus]

I like it, it's very smooth.
But my problem with this one is that t disolves imeadiatly.
It doesn't blow. It looks more like an implosion then an explosion. It should be small at start, become bigger really fast,
and then disolve.

[Xion]

What's that little jiggly thing it does? Looks like jello.
I like your palette. 
But yeah, it does look wierd the way it implodes like that. The midsize one is fantastic, but the biggest one...It looks good, just not like an explosion. The smoke is billowing outwards, but then looks like it's getting sucked into some black hole hidden from view.
Really good stuff, though. 

[Rox]

Wow. I'm actually envious now. I didn't think one could manage such a full, volume... volumeous... explosion, with that few colors. It's seriously brilliant. I think the shinking smoke looks good the way it is. It looks like it curls into itself in a very realistic manner. The three frames where it just barely changes size at the peak of the explosion looks a little weird, but I don't care if boss explosions look weird in games like that. Because they always do. I bet it'll fit, at least.

Hmm... you could even claim the smoke does get sucked back into the center of the explosion because of the vacuum that no doubt follows an intense blast like that. Or something.

In any case, I love that. You'll tell us when a new version of the game is out, right? I wanna see the result of blowing up a boss with the new explosions... and also get past the stupid desert boss, if I can bother...

[MoD]

What I', seeing with these explosions looks more like a kaleidoscope after the initial blast. That's okay for the earlier stages, but I think it should move faster/differently once almost all of the greys are gone. I personally like the first explosion the most, though it does need some reworking to smoothen it, the wispiness of the smoke blowing away is so fun to watch.

[Soup]

I presume this is top-down?

[Xion]

They have only 3 colours because The top down shooter I'm making...

Yes.

[Soup]

Yes.

Oops.