AuthorTopic: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...  (Read 182252 times)

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #150 on: January 12, 2010, 09:38:04 pm
Wow. Lots of dislike in here. :D
So, to explain the thinking behind some of these ideas...
Yes, the walk is slow right now - it was mostly a test to make sure the rig worked. The final animation is meant to be much quicker, more acrobatic, and smoother. I've since improved the rig to include bending the torso, neck, shoulders, and made the feet smaller, so I can do more with the motion of the legs. There's also a major element missing right now - the gun. As originally intended, this guy would have a shoulder-mount weapon (that upgrades as the game progresses) that independently tracks enemies. Something along the lines of this:

And yes, the Karmans from AT 43 have been among my main inspirations for this guy - them and Cygor. I'm still very much in progress of working on this character.
The scaling of this guy is also off - the camera was improperly set up - It's about 25% closer than it should be. The "facing away from the camera" issue is another thing entirely. I was trying to be utterly consistent in the camera angles used by these sprites - which lead to the camera being slightly behind the character. If I'm honest, I sort of like this - seems a neat diversion from the standard sidescroller formula where the main character is the main focus of the scene. This way you're more focused on what's going on *in* the scene, than what your character's doing. *However*, I have tried the camera facing the other way, and it doesn't look nearly as jarring as I might have thought. I'll do a post with both options whenever I get the animation and character to a good point.

As for the name of the game, here's the basic story:
Your character is an uplifted, human-level intelligence scout gorilla (who's been genetically altered to have several other animals survival traits, sense of smell, hearing, balance, reflexes, that sort of thing think 50% Cougar). You're returning to your home planet for debriefing. While in orbit, you signal your controllers of your arrival. As soon as your signal is sent, your ship is targeted, fired upon, and shot down. You wake up next to your wrecked scoutcraft somewhere outside the city. Your goal is to find out what happened to your controllers, and why all the dwellings and city outskirts seem to be deserted.
Thus the name - Absent Eden. There are no people here, just psychotic utility and police bots. All of them intent on eliminating you.
Not the most original, but hey. :D

One final note: After reading some of the criticisms posted in response to the gorilla, I considered replacing the gorillacat with a more conventional character - even an anime-style guy pulled almost directly from the video I posted as inspiration. I ran this idea past my friends here at work, guys and gals who's opinion I trust enormously, and I was threatened with physical violence if I replaced the monkey. So for now, the monkey stays. I shall try and make it more interesting, however. :D
Give me a few days to work out the animation. It's not my strong suit (I've never really animated characters before) and I'm still learning.


Offline Conzeit

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #151 on: January 12, 2010, 11:15:20 pm
hahahaha, monkey's good. The walk just seemed unworkably slow :p then I looked at that "walker" game and realized it would be ok if it worked more like a shooter game...which from that picture it looks like it might be what you do.

Maybe I should wait to get the frontal look of the lil fella, but I feel like you should try more options with the design before settling on this. I like the gun monkey pic you posted, and the other gorillas of the AT-43 and they fit with what you got with the bad guys, but the gorilla seems like he isnt up to the quality of either your previous stuff OR the AT-43 series....it's your hero after all, you should think about it a bit more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZItE4FQU784&feature=related Real gorillas are fun too, maybe you should watch them a little so you make your own caricature of them and your own armor configuration

I'm liking the look of the spiderbot more than the Gorilla the way it is right now. I feel like the model itself isnt too attractive looking, the shapes are sort of clunky instead of emphasizing the basic forms that compose him (as opposed to the wasp or the spiderbot) so the blue/white lines lose their purpose too since they stop drawing your eyes around the basic shaps and instead just sort of add directionless detail. Also, the thing that differentiates him the most from the enemies (other than color) is his biologic parts, and they're looking pretty drab and boring right now...think of all this and try diferent designs before settling on this one!

IDK how you might want to do the gun...but I think it'd be fun if it was something gorilla-ish, like maybe he doesnt fire it by pulling a trigger but by smashing it on the floor, or smashing it against his head or something lol....maybe it could be stick shaped or ball shaped...it'd be fun to have something like that so maybe with diferent items he smashes it in different ways and different attack patterns come out :p

EDIT:
Give me a few days to work out the animation. It's not my strong suit (I've never really animated characters before) and I'm still learning.
wow, really? you mean spiderbot and such were your first tries? that makes it all even more mindblowing!! I'll readjust my crits accordingly when you post the blu ape then =D
« Last Edit: January 12, 2010, 11:40:49 pm by Conceit »

Offline linx

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #152 on: January 13, 2010, 02:53:56 am
--Starts plotting on how to kill the co-workers--
Gorilla just seems too big for this. I expected this to be fast pace  :(

Offline Konrad

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #153 on: January 13, 2010, 07:35:41 am
..., but the gorilla seems like he isnt up to the quality of either your previous stuff OR the AT-43 series....it's your hero after all, you should think about it a bit more!
I'll second that. The AT-43-gorilla you posted looks much morge organic and as if he's wearing an armor/shell.
Your gorilla looks really flat, and more like a robot. I'd prefer the organic look.

I think it'd be cool if the armor/mechanical parts would resemble powerups. So in the beginning the gorilla would look more or less like a normal gorilla, after collecting powerups the bodyparts get covered with mechanical parts (i.e. high-jump-upgrade > mechanical legs).

Offline CrazyMLC

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #154 on: January 13, 2010, 08:04:57 am
Well, the gorrila idea doesn't make too much sense to me, but I like the theme of mammals vs bugs.

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #155 on: January 13, 2010, 09:39:26 am
Conceit: Okay, I definitely agree with you on the quality thing, and I hope I've at least touched on that in the latest set. And yes, these are indeed the first character models I've ever made in their entirety. I've made a couple of torso only models before, but not done a whole lot of animation. It's all a learning experience.
linx: Hey, now. I guarantee that they're tougher than you are.  Anyone who can make it through crunch time on 3 sequential Tomb Raider games are not to be F**ked with.
Okay, latest animation set, both from the front and the back. I've removed the armor on the nearest arm, added the back mount for the gun, added the cat ears, and a host of other changes.
Moving a lot quicker and smoother now, too. Re-scalled, as well, though I'm noticing that the back view one is...slightly larger than it should be. Damn these touchy cameras.

As always, thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
 

Offline Konrad

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #156 on: January 13, 2010, 12:19:38 pm
- Why those ears ?!
- I rather liked the darker fur. Something in between ?
- I think the legs should extern further.
- Can you give the legs more volume ? Rounded, not flat ?

Offline Larwick

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #157 on: January 13, 2010, 01:23:50 pm
Hey Howard, i was really happy when i found out your protagonist was a robo gorilla! With big, clunky sound effects this could be really effective. I think i had the same physical issues with one of my characters once, in that they were very big and clunky - but i think you may have solved it with the massive gun :P

The pink ears don't really sit right with me either, it just seems odd and hard to understand - i don't think that if i saw this without any clues i would be able to guess they were cat ears. It almost looks like a big cartoon wound.

Would the shoulders look better with some kind of highlight patch on the top? The upper arms look a bit monotonous at the moment with the hair texture imo. I keep thinking maybe i prefer the dark hair but i'm still unsure.

I've been lurking on this thread since the start, your work is really great, i appreciate you sharing it with us.

Offline Howard Day

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #158 on: January 13, 2010, 11:46:20 pm
Slight update. Dunno if I've made it worse. Something on the rear legs is looking worse. Got rid of the ears.

Offline CaKsTeR

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Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

Reply #159 on: January 13, 2010, 11:57:49 pm
His hind legs are hesitating before they actually make contact with the ground. That's probably a major contribution to what's making this run odd.  :)