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Competitions & Activities / Re: Fortnightly Writing Competition - Subject: Afterlife! (1/21 - 2/04) OPEN!
« on: 22 Jan 2011, 07:32 »
Definitely entering. Great theme, by the way.
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Competitions & Activities / Re: Fortnightly Writing Competition - Subject: Superheroes! ***WE HAVE A WINNER***
« on: 20 Jan 2011, 19:46 »
Congrats, everyone!
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Competitions & Activities / Re: Fortnightly Writing Competition - Subject: Superheroes! ***VOTING***
« on: 18 Jan 2011, 12:39 »
Question: do we have more than one vote? Because I'm wondering how we're going to figure out who's in 2nd/3rd place.
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Competitions & Activities / Re: Fortnightly Writing Competition - Subject: Superheroes! ***VOTING***
« on: 17 Jan 2011, 15:08 »
+1 kconan
I loved the humour in it.
I loved the humour in it.
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Competitions & Activities / Re: Hourgame- Choose you own #2- ends on 15th of Jan
« on: 17 Jan 2011, 13:26 »
I'm sorry, tzachs, but schoolwork got to me so I'm out of the race 
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AGS Games in Production / Re: Bizarre Earthquake
« on: 11 Jan 2011, 19:12 »as i said before , this is awesome you know , i'm looking forward to play it , and julia's model , but one of my friends told me that the one of the foot of Julia is bigger than the other a bit
That's just an 'optical illusion'. Sort of. It looks that way because of the angle the image was taken at.
I know I'm not Proximity, but I have some experience in 3D modelling so I'll explain why one foot can't be bigger than the other:
When working with 'symmetric' 3D models, concept artists often only flesh out one half of the character. This image is imported as a texture on a plane inside the modelling software (3DS Max or Maya or whatever) and a 3D model is created in relation to it. Once you're done fleshing out that half of the character, you mirror it and snap the vertices together in order to get a whole model.
So, as you see, the feet must be identical, unless the concept art demands asymmetry (in which case the guy modelling the character could just go in and do 'the thing' that needs to be done).
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General Discussion / Re: "The Eye of the Beholder", my new art rock album
« on: 11 Jan 2011, 19:02 »
I'm a sucker for good music, so I'll check it out 
Also, I'm a sucker for self-releasing musicians, so if you're any good - you'll gain a fan.
Also, I'm a sucker for self-releasing musicians, so if you're any good - you'll gain a fan.
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Critics' Lounge / Re: Website Critiques Please
« on: 10 Jan 2011, 21:40 »
On my end here, in Chrome, the text on the "Notes from the Farm Shop" bit isn't aligned with the lines on the notepad background. You should look into that.
Also, the images in the blog portion of the Farm Shop bit would look better if they weren't aligned to the left (by default) and if they had some sort of border. You have all these borders around the site so the images look kind of awkward without them. Experiment with the colours (a simple grey should work) and line thickness.
The "Concept Cafe" portion looks great, as well as the "Caravan Park" and the "Lodges".
Overall, I really like the design. It's simple and it's sharp. Great job!
Also, the images in the blog portion of the Farm Shop bit would look better if they weren't aligned to the left (by default) and if they had some sort of border. You have all these borders around the site so the images look kind of awkward without them. Experiment with the colours (a simple grey should work) and line thickness.
The "Concept Cafe" portion looks great, as well as the "Caravan Park" and the "Lodges".
Overall, I really like the design. It's simple and it's sharp. Great job!
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Competitions & Activities / Re: Fortnightly Writing Competition - Subject: Superheroes! (Jan 2 - Jan 16)
« on: 09 Jan 2011, 17:30 »
"With the snap of my fingers, I could set the whole neighbourhood ablaze. My clenched fist could put out even the most towering inferno. And what do I choose to do?
I choose to hunt.
You see, my father... I never met him. His brother -- my uncle -- used to tell me these stories, these magnificent stories, about my father's shows and the people he worked with. He was a great storyteller, my uncle... I guess people would usually just stop at the "your father was a magician" bit and leave it to a child's imagination, but he, he HAD the imagination of a child AND a way of expressing it. Imagine a cross between Hemingway and Dr Seuss and you wouldn't stray too far from him. You do know of Hemingway and Seuss, right?
...
In any case, yes, my father was a magician. The type that never revealed the secret behind a trick -- not that there are a lot of magicians that do. Even if he wanted to explain, say, how he made sparks appear just by rubbing his fingers together, I don't think he could. I don't think he knew what was wrong with him but, like me, I'm sure he wanted to find out.
Now, I'm not as good of a storyteller my uncle was, but I'm more than capable of giving you the gist of it.
My father met this man, a certain Charlie Pritchard, while he was on the road. Pritchard was your average model citizen, the kind you'd expect to see in one of those early 20th century 'American dream' infomercials. Suit, tie, slick haircut, leather shoes... Basically, the whole package. My uncle described Pritchard as a good man, and even though by now I know that he's far from any idea or interpretation of the word, I'm willing to admit that the Pritchard my father met really was a good man. Perhaps something clicked in him along the way that turned him into what he is today, but back then he saved my father's life... only to take it from him several years later.
Charlie Pritchard worked for his father's newspaper, the dreadful Weekly Herald, and was gunning for an executive position there but, as it turns out, Pritchard's relationship with his old man was far from idyllic. Somehow his father needed to be won over, or even, as some would put it, 'taken out of the picture', in order for Charlie to get his hands on the elder Pritchard's media empire. I don't know how exactly my father got involved in all of this nor do I know what his role in the whole Pritchard case was, but by now you already know that Charlie Pritchard took over the Weekly Herald after his father's... untimely demise. At least that's the official statement.
To cut the long story short, my father was pulled out of the gutter by Charlie Pritchard and rewarded for his 'service'. If it wasn't for Pritchard's generosity, I wouldn't be here. He paid for my education, my clothes, the food that was on our family's dinner table every night. I'm grateful for that, I really am, but I do not forgive lightly. Not after what he did to my father, the man who entrusted him with his life.
Pritchard turned over a new leaf once he sat down behind that big old desk at the Weekly Herald. He feared my father had noticed his increasing involvement in all kinds of shady business deals, and to tell you the truth, he feared for a good reason. My father did know. My father knew Pritchard's empire well. But instead of 'taking action' against the man, he chose to forget. I don't blame him, Pritchard was the man who saved his family from poverty, but he was naive to think Pritchard wouldn't look into tying up all the loose ends. Pritchard felt he had to secure his position, and he needed to do it fast.
So what that bastard did was break down the door to our house in the middle of the night, pull him out of his bed in front of his wife and child, beat the living daylights out of him and have him arrested, all bruised and battered.
The accusations were bogus. Everyone who knew my father also knew that he wasn't a criminal. Charlie Pritchard faked some money transfers and set him up as the 'criminal mastermind' behind the companies fradulent activities - namely those 'shady business deals'. This made him the embodiment of justice in the eyes of the people who read the Weekly Herald, which by now meant that the whole state licked his boots like a loyal mutt. Pritchard cut off the donations to my family, which caused us to briefly end up on the street.
My mother was a housewife. She couldn't carry the burdain of keeping the family afloat, so she... she committed suicide.
My uncle found me on the street not soon after her death. He was looking for us after we ended up homeless. Unfortunately, he didn't get here in time to save my mother too.
You might be wondering how I found out about all of this. It's actually pretty easy once you've got a way in. Pritchard was a fool not to keep tabs on me, a simple change of identity made me practically undetectable to him and his goons. Once I got into the Weekly Herald it became only a matter of time before I let out all of the forgotten skeletons from Pritchard's closet."
He takes in a deep breath before he collects himself, clears his throat and continues...
"That's the kind of man you worked for. That's the kind of man you were hired to protect.
I know you had nothing to do with this, I know you never did nothing to me, my father or my family, but you were in the way. All of you were in the way. This could have ended differently if people weren't such docile sheep."
Ashby puts down the charred skull of what was, only moments ago, a security guard at the Pritchard estate. He sifts through the dirt and ash with a curious index finger and picks out a relatively unharmed tooth, cleaning the dust off of it before placing it gently in his messenger bag.
"I'm sorry."
The crackling fire that's slowly enveloping the cold courtyard breathes life into the bleak scorched surroundings. A warm gust of wind coincided with Ashby's slow rise over mounds and mounds of human remains. The stench of sulphur doesn't even bother him anymore. It has become negligible.
Ashby pulls the hood of his coat over his eyes and begins walking over to Pritchard's home. The lights in the house go out.
The shotguns are ready, guns and rifles too. As Ashby directs his glare at Pritchard's bedroom window, all of the candles in the house begin burning with a blinding intensity.
"The hunt will soon be over."
EDIT:
Added a missing italic tag
I choose to hunt.
You see, my father... I never met him. His brother -- my uncle -- used to tell me these stories, these magnificent stories, about my father's shows and the people he worked with. He was a great storyteller, my uncle... I guess people would usually just stop at the "your father was a magician" bit and leave it to a child's imagination, but he, he HAD the imagination of a child AND a way of expressing it. Imagine a cross between Hemingway and Dr Seuss and you wouldn't stray too far from him. You do know of Hemingway and Seuss, right?
...
In any case, yes, my father was a magician. The type that never revealed the secret behind a trick -- not that there are a lot of magicians that do. Even if he wanted to explain, say, how he made sparks appear just by rubbing his fingers together, I don't think he could. I don't think he knew what was wrong with him but, like me, I'm sure he wanted to find out.
Now, I'm not as good of a storyteller my uncle was, but I'm more than capable of giving you the gist of it.
My father met this man, a certain Charlie Pritchard, while he was on the road. Pritchard was your average model citizen, the kind you'd expect to see in one of those early 20th century 'American dream' infomercials. Suit, tie, slick haircut, leather shoes... Basically, the whole package. My uncle described Pritchard as a good man, and even though by now I know that he's far from any idea or interpretation of the word, I'm willing to admit that the Pritchard my father met really was a good man. Perhaps something clicked in him along the way that turned him into what he is today, but back then he saved my father's life... only to take it from him several years later.
Charlie Pritchard worked for his father's newspaper, the dreadful Weekly Herald, and was gunning for an executive position there but, as it turns out, Pritchard's relationship with his old man was far from idyllic. Somehow his father needed to be won over, or even, as some would put it, 'taken out of the picture', in order for Charlie to get his hands on the elder Pritchard's media empire. I don't know how exactly my father got involved in all of this nor do I know what his role in the whole Pritchard case was, but by now you already know that Charlie Pritchard took over the Weekly Herald after his father's... untimely demise. At least that's the official statement.
To cut the long story short, my father was pulled out of the gutter by Charlie Pritchard and rewarded for his 'service'. If it wasn't for Pritchard's generosity, I wouldn't be here. He paid for my education, my clothes, the food that was on our family's dinner table every night. I'm grateful for that, I really am, but I do not forgive lightly. Not after what he did to my father, the man who entrusted him with his life.
Pritchard turned over a new leaf once he sat down behind that big old desk at the Weekly Herald. He feared my father had noticed his increasing involvement in all kinds of shady business deals, and to tell you the truth, he feared for a good reason. My father did know. My father knew Pritchard's empire well. But instead of 'taking action' against the man, he chose to forget. I don't blame him, Pritchard was the man who saved his family from poverty, but he was naive to think Pritchard wouldn't look into tying up all the loose ends. Pritchard felt he had to secure his position, and he needed to do it fast.
So what that bastard did was break down the door to our house in the middle of the night, pull him out of his bed in front of his wife and child, beat the living daylights out of him and have him arrested, all bruised and battered.
The accusations were bogus. Everyone who knew my father also knew that he wasn't a criminal. Charlie Pritchard faked some money transfers and set him up as the 'criminal mastermind' behind the companies fradulent activities - namely those 'shady business deals'. This made him the embodiment of justice in the eyes of the people who read the Weekly Herald, which by now meant that the whole state licked his boots like a loyal mutt. Pritchard cut off the donations to my family, which caused us to briefly end up on the street.
My mother was a housewife. She couldn't carry the burdain of keeping the family afloat, so she... she committed suicide.
My uncle found me on the street not soon after her death. He was looking for us after we ended up homeless. Unfortunately, he didn't get here in time to save my mother too.
You might be wondering how I found out about all of this. It's actually pretty easy once you've got a way in. Pritchard was a fool not to keep tabs on me, a simple change of identity made me practically undetectable to him and his goons. Once I got into the Weekly Herald it became only a matter of time before I let out all of the forgotten skeletons from Pritchard's closet."
He takes in a deep breath before he collects himself, clears his throat and continues...
"That's the kind of man you worked for. That's the kind of man you were hired to protect.
I know you had nothing to do with this, I know you never did nothing to me, my father or my family, but you were in the way. All of you were in the way. This could have ended differently if people weren't such docile sheep."
Ashby puts down the charred skull of what was, only moments ago, a security guard at the Pritchard estate. He sifts through the dirt and ash with a curious index finger and picks out a relatively unharmed tooth, cleaning the dust off of it before placing it gently in his messenger bag.
"I'm sorry."
The crackling fire that's slowly enveloping the cold courtyard breathes life into the bleak scorched surroundings. A warm gust of wind coincided with Ashby's slow rise over mounds and mounds of human remains. The stench of sulphur doesn't even bother him anymore. It has become negligible.
Ashby pulls the hood of his coat over his eyes and begins walking over to Pritchard's home. The lights in the house go out.
The shotguns are ready, guns and rifles too. As Ashby directs his glare at Pritchard's bedroom window, all of the candles in the house begin burning with a blinding intensity.
"The hunt will soon be over."
EDIT:
Added a missing italic tag
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Critics' Lounge / Re: I need participants to play a preliminary prototype for Project: 'Entrapment'
« on: 09 Jan 2011, 13:22 »
There you go.
Hope I helped.
Hope I helped.
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Critics' Lounge / Re: Can you share a top tip about making Rooms..
« on: 09 Jan 2011, 11:55 »example 1 above: Perhaps have the building sandwiched between other buildings to create a bigger scene?
Exactly. You have to work on your composition. Just slapping an image of a house on a blank canvas won't do the trick.
Here you need to find your horizon and build the street around a one-point perspective. Place the building in the middle and draw the other buildings in relation to it and the vanishing point. Don't be afraid to make it an obvious centre-piece, it's a court building so it needs to have a style that 'sticks out' from the rest.
Alternatively, you can opt for a park or something similar instead of another couple of buildings. Anything that would get rid of the canvas background.
Room layouts: can of course be quite complex and time consuming.. Is a simple Room with less, but more important factors, better?
It depends on the composition, really. Where you place your objects, your hotspots, your characters, your walkable areas ... all of that has to be taken into account when laying out a room. I believe we all do it subconsciously, based on our experience, so that's not a problem as long as you remember to "murder your darlings" - get rid of the best bits if they 'don't fit in'.
Tinker around, put your room ideas on paper and see what works for you and what doesn't.
I am looking at Prospectives and have learnt a lot.
These links should help you out:
http://kingfishers.ednet.ns.ca/art/grade10/drawing/perspective1.html
http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/
http://www.ider.herts.ac.uk/school/courseware/graphics/3d_graphics.html
** Clipart Objects: Yes or No?
Clipart objects in games are a no for me because they make them look like a rushed job. There's no consistency in style or resolution, so it looks pretty bad.
Then again, if it's a part of the art style, then go for it.
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AGS Games in Production / Re: Wretcher - (Update: 08/01/2011)
« on: 09 Jan 2011, 08:14 »
Brilliant tech demo, absolutely brilliant.
I love the film grain effect, as well as the rain and thunder ambience. I can't wait till you release this! Great job!
I love the film grain effect, as well as the rain and thunder ambience. I can't wait till you release this! Great job!
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Critics' Lounge / Re: Can you share a top tip about making Rooms..
« on: 08 Jan 2011, 15:26 »
Yeah, if you had an example, it would be easier to point out any mistakes you're making and offer helpful hints and tips.
I guess the first thing you should do when drawing a room is decide on the perspective. After that, set up your vanishing point(s), find your horizon and start shaping the room by drawing lines from the vanishing point(s).
As Chicky said, Google SketchUp is a good way to figure out how to draw a room. It's a good substitute for the pen-and-paper variant.
I guess the first thing you should do when drawing a room is decide on the perspective. After that, set up your vanishing point(s), find your horizon and start shaping the room by drawing lines from the vanishing point(s).
As Chicky said, Google SketchUp is a good way to figure out how to draw a room. It's a good substitute for the pen-and-paper variant.
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Competitions & Activities / Re: Hourgame- Choose you own #2- ends on 15th of Jan
« on: 08 Jan 2011, 09:33 »
Well, I tried to get a game done in an hour, but I just couldn't make it.
May I submit it anyway even if it wasn't done in under an hour? At least so you'd be able play it
May I submit it anyway even if it wasn't done in under an hour? At least so you'd be able play it
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Competitions & Activities / Re: Tune contest: 7th Jan - 17th Jan - Disco music!
« on: 08 Jan 2011, 08:14 »What the hell's happening in Finland?
Croatia can't escape WMG's and Sony Music Entertainment's wrath either. I'll try and come up with an entry.
P.S.
I prefer "September"
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Competitions & Activities / Re: MAGS January: "Death" (OPEN)
« on: 07 Jan 2011, 08:34 »
Just letting you know that I'm working on something, though I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it. But yeah, it's there.
I have a title, a character, a story, a GUI... I still need to refine the storyline a bit and draw all of the other characters, then come up with a room or two.
EDIT:
Sorry guys, maybe next time. Too busy with school!
I have a title, a character, a story, a GUI... I still need to refine the storyline a bit and draw all of the other characters, then come up with a room or two.
EDIT:
Sorry guys, maybe next time. Too busy with school!
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AGS Games in Production / Re: Wretcher - (Update: 09/12/2010)
« on: 06 Jan 2011, 07:53 »
This looks astonishing! I'm really looking forward to this game
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Beginners' Technical Questions / Re: Changing normal view animation frame for character during dialogue (SOLVED)
« on: 04 Jan 2011, 20:13 »
Makes sense, Khris. Didn't think of that... Thanks for the tip!
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General Discussion / Re: Looking for a Sound FX.
« on: 04 Jan 2011, 07:21 »
Alternatively, search SoundDogs for an appropriate sound effect. You don't have to buy it, as that's only for sound effects of a higher bitrate.
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Beginners' Technical Questions / Re: animated standing pose question
« on: 03 Jan 2011, 21:40 »
Thanks a lot Khris! I was monitoring this topic for a helpful reply