Требуется помощь художников! Опции

[Orzie]

Команда The Succession Wars Mod приглашает поучаствовать в разработке всех заинтересованных лиц.

Для того, чтобы ускорить процесс, нам требуется помощь (в любом объёме) по определённым направлениям разработки.
Даже один новый деф-файл много нам даст и приблизит к дате следующего релиза.

Важно:

Палитра

Поскольку H3SW - это в первую очередь графическая конверсия, нам требуется большая помощь в пиксель-арте.
Для того, чтобы предотвратить лишнюю работу, мы создали мини-руководства по некоторым направлениям работы, которые более точно поясняют, что нам требуется.
Преимущественно требования обусловлены технической составляющей игры.

Самый сложный и актуальный аспект разработки в графическом плане - это анимация существ в бою. В теме гайдлайнов мы постарались привести наиболее ценную информацию по требованиям проекта. Даже несколько дополнительных кадров ходьбы или ранения сэкономят нам много времени в будущей работе над существами.

Переделан список требуемых анимаций. Теперь будет вестись внятный лог с доступными на данный момент анимашками, синхронизируемый с специальной технической темой анимации существ на Forums of Enroth.
Анимации существ Дервиша в данный момент не включены по причине активной доработки статических концептов. Вскоре должны появиться и они.

Для следующего релиза мода анимация ДВИЖЕНИЯ, АТАКИ ВПЕРЁД и СМЕРТИ требуется для следующих существ:

Creature animations in H2 style is a rather sophisticated task. Due to some requirements and limitations (palette, simplicity of elements, etc.) an artist has often to 'solve a puzzle' - figure out the optimal configuration and movement pattern for each limb, to ensure that each frame looks more or less acceptable. Long and narrow elements like swords and spears sometimes are a real pain.

The Ranger.  She’s the upgrade for the Archer.  All this stuff is hand-drawn, frame by frame.  Talk about pixel-pushing!
The Mummy. I had a fun time giving him a death where his bandages un-wrap (very quickly)!
The Vampire.  I think he turned into a bat to move.  That made animating him easier!!!
The Pikeman (Upgrade).  He gets a feather in his cap and a blue surcoat instead of red.  It was a pain keeping his pike looking straight and not jaggy.
The OrcChief.  A bit too piggy-looking to be at all threatening.  And a bit slow, even for a range-fighter…  You can see all the bitty pixels in his chain-mail.  Yikes.  I was very happy to leave this serious pixel-pushing behind.

These difficulties often cause many strange, bizarre and funny decisions in animation, especially for the movement. What should be noted, it is not common for H2 animation schemes to repeat each other - all creatures are animated in their own unique way.
April Lee animated only 10 (only 10!) creatures for Heroes 2. This leaves us a clue how hard was this task back in the time when people had only Deluxe Paint and Animator Pro.



Another important point is the animation types. In Heroes 3 there are 16 possible types:

- Moving
- Standing - an arbitrary standing animation not implemented in H3 fully (but the DEF files contain all the necessary frames). Restored in Heroes 3 HotA, and was present in H2 for Ghosts, Genies and Zombies/Zombie Mutants.
- Mouse Over - a periodical animation for an active creature in battle, ready to take an action.
- Defend - absent in H2, but will be required for us later, when we will have time. (presumably v1.0)
- Getting Hit
- Attack Up
- Attack Straight
- Attack Down
- Shoot Up
- Shoot Straight
- Shoot Down
- Death - it is important that the corpse doesn't go beyond the borders of 1 or 2 hexes 'native' for the creature.
- Turn Right - not required for H2.
- Turn Left - same.
- Start Moving - see below
- End Moving - see below

The last two animations, if I recall correctly, are also not present in Heroes 2. They have a special function - to provide a smooth transition between the moving and standing forms of the creature for any hex of the battlefield. The only exception of that rule is the Toad (Frog) which possesses a peculiar movement scheme utilizing these Start Moving and End Moving animations (the video is old, and please note that the flying speed is adjustable). It is possible that the technical problems with the animation of the frog were the reason why it wasn't included in Heroes 2 as a 2nd level Wizard creature (see H2 Museum).

Finally, linear size of creatures must also be kept in mind, especially during the Attack animation. A visible interference of the attacker and defender must be present. The shooting animation, however, is more likely to be compact.

ANIMATION LIST
Prioritized animations (necessary for v0.8 beta release): Moving, Attack (or Shoot) Straight, Death.
Please note that some of the animations (like the current Satyr) are drafts and can be improved.
A few static concepts (like the un-upgraded Crossbowman) may also be improved for a little bit in future (presumably, the torso).

Crossbowman
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Upg. Crossbowman
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Satyr - COMPLETE FOR v0.8!
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Gnome
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Movement - teleportation in a light flash, which means that it has only Start Moving and End Moving; attack like King's Bounty Gnome

Beholder - COMPLETE FOR v0.8!
Edit: 04.I.2017 by Ragoon

Death Knight
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Harpy
Edit: 01.I.2017 by Orzie

Acolyte - COMPLETE FOR v0.8!
Edit: 15.I.2017 by Ragoon

Manticore - COMPLETE FOR v0.8!
Edit: 13.I.2017 by Ragoon

Tribal - COMPLETE FOR v0.8!
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Wasp - COMPLETE FOR v0.8!
 Edit: 13.I.2017 by Ragoon

Lizardman
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Toad (STATIC FORM UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Mantis
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

Treant (STATIC FORM UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Wyvern
Edit: 30.XII.2016 by Orzie

В дополнение к большой разработке по портретам героев, представленной в Теме по созданию и обсуждению портретов, имеется и дополнительная задача - конвертация портретов PoL, имеющих, очевидно, другой стиль, в более "масляный" и мультяшный стиль SW.



Персонажи PoL:



Пример конвертации от Доцента:
->

Задавайте любые вопросы по теме, которые считаете нужными, и мы постараемся на них ответить.
Данный пост будет обновляться.

[Hobbit]

Any suggestions?

If you want, Orzie, I can send you no-jpg version.

[Orzie]

Any suggestions?
If you want, Orzie, I can send you no-jpg version.

You made my night today.

Everything looks maximum promising, and the castle structure now looks perfect too i suppose. The towers are finally looking fine from this angle! I also love the blue glow you implemented in the main tower, it reminds of something magical. And the torches. Heck, everything. The castle now looks as if NWC would make it. If there was an MMORPG with such castles, I would live in it (at least, for several hours every day). I normally hate MMOs, just to mention.

We've got some suggestions though, I have been consulting with the team all this time. (and yes, I'd like to have the png just in case)




As for the necessary stuff:

- You replicated the night atmosphere nicely, but the fog now is barely seeable through. Perhaps the fog can be made not so thick, and not necessarily green (I'd vote for two colors if it's easy to make, because unfortunately I don't know if the white fog would fit). So, the main thing: reducing the thickness of the fog. Green color still can do I think.

- It's obviously the evening-night time on the picture, so no sun is supposed to be. So that the glares on the tower heads and stones should be removed. The stones draw too much attention because of them - perhaps, making them look a bit similar to the castle stone material would fit. Or just removing the glares can help.

- Like Agar said, the grass is too alien to this land. I would suggest removing it, the screenshot does already have much details and the main thing here is the castle anyways, with the Dragon Tower as the additional cool stuff. People will reload game to see more details on this artwork, that's for sure. On NWC screenshot there are only the trees, and yours are just fine I guess. There is no need to find a replacement for the grass I suppose also.

- The closest stone is slightly eye catching too much, distracting us from the castle. Perhaps, downsizing it can help? Or just the glare removal can, I think. Depends on what time it takes for you to render stuff, we wouldn't want to waste your time with tons of re-makes.

- Oh, and I suggest removal of the stone number 2 on this picture. It's looking unnatural there, as we think.

As for the likely stuff:

- What do you think about moving the Dragon Tower to that far small island? It provides a nice elevation, and with such a far location there will be no need/ability to discern much details. And the tower can be made considerably bigger in that case, to look mighty and noble. Currently it looks a bit flat, but I guess if you will be able to move it to that island and turn its facade to the face of the camera, there will be much less problems with detailing and volume (it won't be needed much because there will be just the silhouette).






As for the unnecessary stuff:

I would perhaps only change the angle of view a bit, moving a bit left to become able to see the castle's right side more. Not so harsh perspective like in NWC screenshot, but something in this direction, just for a bit.