next »

[Paul Jeffries]

While I really love the graphical style, for me the humans' eyes are too far apart.  I didn't really notice it until I looked at the last screenshot though - with the human and the alien standing next to each other I realised that the alien actually looks a bit more 'human' than the human does...

[happymonster]

Yes you are right - I was always a bit hesitant to move the eyes closer together as it would introduce some blurring around the vertical edges of the eyes at some scale factors. However, I've tried it and even at low scale factors it looks pretty good. So I've changed the eyes for the Heros in the front and dead sprites and it looks better.

I'm also experimenting with adding some subtle shading to some of the gfx, I'll need to expand the engine a bit, but should work well.

[TurboLento]

My computer technology system stopped warning me about updates to this thread since February (probably due to an abrupt levels variation in the photonics quantizer), so I'm catching up and posting to signal my continued interest in this battle simulator.

Looking pretty nominal, carry on.

edit: thought about a few ways to show dead soldiers, that's (almost too) simple and (subjectively) effective. Here's a grid of colored points to show what I mean:



1: just rotate 90 degrees clockwise. Bam, dead.
2: when one dies, one tends to derp a bit
3: derping and glazed over eyes
4: same as 3 but also showing a (hopefully family-friendly, non-gory) shot wound to the chest (it's supposed to be a bit glowy around the edges, because the alien weapons fire energy blasts that make glowy holes into things)

[happymonster]

Hey, thanks for those! Actually I had already thought of doing something similar when I was struggling to get a good dead hero sprite. But then with the help of the great people here we came up with the poses with their faces still visible which I really like.

I appreciate you taking the time to do that edit though. 

[Miguelito]

pic

This looks like a very awkward Teetotaler alien attending a human frat party.

[happymonster]

Ok, expanded the engine to allow for shading - and I've added subtle shading effects to the sprites and terrain where I felt it would help. I really like the look now, which doesn't look quite so flat as the original sprites I did (without the shading on them), but looks smoother than before.

This image is a little bigger than normal, just to show the difference. You'll also see the eyes in the Hero and Robot are closer together.

[Paul Jeffries]

The eyes look much better now!

However, personally I think I preferred the old, flatter shading, at least on the humans.  The detail on their uniform is now blurred out, making them look a bit blander and less well defined.  Plus in general I think the sharper highlights matched better with the stylised forms you're using and gave a much stronger aesthetic.  I know, I know, I'm never happy...

[SolarLune]

I agree with Paul J. I think that the shading on the humans particularly looks kind of blurry - I liked the angles and shapes that you had before. Also, I liked the eyes further apart. :I

[Franklins Ghost]

Yeah I think i preferred the humans with the eyes more apart also  But maybe that's just from being so used to seeing them that way.


Also agree with people comments about the shader. Liked the flat colours and simple style of the game.

Game is coming along really nicely though.

[happymonster]

As always, thanks for the feedback!

In the cold light of day I see I might have gone a bit overboard on the shading on the Hero's clothes - I can re-add more shapes there. Other areas of the graphics I still prefer the shading on, but maybe some tiles need to be a bit sharper and less shaded.

As for the eyes.. I like the old ones, but also not sure if that's just because I've got used to them as well. I'll have to think about it and see how everything develops.

I need to get back to the game programming side of things soon, but this has been a useful exercise to work on the graphics some more.

[Sleepy]

Personally I prefer the cleaner non-gradient version, the genious of the graphics is the simplicity/style and the great palette in my opinion.

[happymonster]

Ok, I've gone and toned back a lot of the shading - adding in a lot of the old shapes to the uniforms again. I've kept shading in a few places on the sprites and tiles, but hopefully a lot subtler.

Any better?

[happymonster]

Started to work on weapon code a bit more. Now your ammo will count down every time you fire and you can't fire if you have no ammo left.

Weapon accuracy is taken into account - 0% accuracy will mean you can fire anywhere in your 45 degree range of view, while 100% means you fire on the correct angle to the target every time. Of course, no weapon will ever be at either of these extremes and will be modified by unit stats like weapon accuracy.

Also started to add weapon fire cost and incorporated this into the highlighting of squares, so some weapons will be able to be fired more than others in one turn.

[Dugan]

yes shading looks better in the sharper version I reckon - looking good!

[happymonster]

Well.. 5% accuracy is pretty crap - I just managed to kill my own human team mate who was no-where near where I wanted to aim at.. 

[SolarLune]

Well.. 5% accuracy is pretty crap - I just managed to kill my own human team mate who was no-where near where I wanted to aim at..  

EDIT: I think it'd be cool if the enemy AI wasn't crack shots (like some games). I think that there should be some poor marksmen on both teams.

[peous]

shading looks better now ! about the eyes,maybe the aliens could have eyes more spaced, after all, to differentiate them from humans (and to swap the 2 eyes configurations : )

[Franklins Ghost]

Shading is looking nicer 

[eigenbom]

Looking darn pretty dude

[Miguelito]

Eyes apart was a ton better.

I suggest eyes apart as basic human anatomy, eyes close as basic alien - it's what you had initially, and simple distinctions like these will go a long way in establishing visual consistency.

It also makes the humans look more derpy and the aliens actually smarter and more pensive, which adds some delicious depth to the whole bog-standard humans-vs.-aliens thing. The aliens currently look a lot smarter and nicer, and I wouldn't have it any other way.