Re: [Adonthell-artwork] Experimental cellar graphics...

[Kai Sterker]

On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 12:33 AM, James Nash <address@hidden> wrote:

> Ok, I've been getting back into making map graphics over the weekend. Here's 
> a fake screenshot of them (ignore the red bit in the top left - that's just 
> where I hadn't put proper gfx yet):

Wow, that looks great! Nevertheless, there's stuff to consider. See below:


> For the grandfather clock I have made 12 versions of the clock face, so with 
> a bit of scripting it can display the game time (well, the hour anyway - I 
> didn't bother with a minute hand because it would have gotten too small). I 
> also have 5 frames for the pendulum, so that can be animated too.

You're reading my mind, it seems :-). I am not quite sure how well
this plays out, but the way its implemented now, the timing of delay
between animation frames is tied to the in-game clock. So by setting
the delay appropriately, the clock should tick correctly. We may
however need something that syncs it initially, so we may need the
script anyway. I'll have to see how we can manage that, as normally an
action script I could assign to the clock is only triggered by a
player action from the outside.


> The wall looks very plain right now because I was just focusing on getting 
> the main parts (horizontal and vertical bits + all 4 inner and outer 
> corners). However, in the source graphics I have each brick as an individual 
> layer so I can easily make alternative parts (with different coloured, 
> inset/outset, cracked etc. bricks) to create some more variation.
>
> It's a similar deal with the floor - I can easily make alternative tiles to 
> drop in randomly and break up the monotony.

Yes, more variation (especially for the wall) is certainly needed.
There's also a bit of a change in the map design to consider. With
v0.4, everything will be on the same map, so no more separate maps per
room. (We'll have to see how this plays out in terms of seeing behind
walls and into closed rooms. May need some "fog of war" type thing for
that. Don't think it's a big issue for the WE remake, at least.)
Anyway, with anything on the same map, that adds to the number of
corner tiles required, as you need T-intersections and a 4 way
intersection too. And all those need to be spaced to fit together
afterwards. See here:

  http://adonthell.berlios.de/doc/index.php/Graphics:Models#Walls

Not sure if you followed that guideline already or have devised your
own working dimensions. Either will be fine.

That change in map design also affects the transparent front walls. I
don't think we can use those any more, which may come with its own set
of issues. Again, we might be able to do something about this in the
future. For WE it shouldn't be an issue.


> Let me know what you think!

Again, it's amazing! The clock is just great, as are the barrels and
even the floor in all it's monotony is not bad at all! Even the walls
make a great template to turn into something that matches the quality
of the rest.

So yes please, continue along that route and create more objects! But
also take the time and run a few objects through modeller and try
placing them in mapedit to get a feel for the new engine :-).

Kai

P.S.: And come by IRC when you have time at night and have a chat with
arikel. The two of you seem to have the same vision as far as the
graphical style is concerned, so that might really be good news for
progress in that area.