Character concepts (and some more things)

Started by Blondbraid, Wed 15/07/2015 19:49:02

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CatPunter

Not sure I like the Nightwitch. I have a huge love for ww1 and ww2 history stuff and the Nightwitches were mostly really pretty young women. They actually became social outcasts when they returned home from the war because they were unmarried women and considered sexually promiscuous and terrible women for it. I think making her a fat nurse without making her a Nightwitch would work better, or to just put her in one of the flightsuits and put her on a crew proper.

In general, if you push the shapes more of the characters you can differentiate them without having to use a lot of detail. Her face shape and body type is a little too similar to the spotter for my tastes.
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Blondbraid

I'm working on drawing a captain or similar officer who will send the sniper and spotter out on their mission.
I made this sketch to use as a reference when drawing the sprites:
(This isn't an actual character, I just drew this as a reference for which colors to use and to get the basic shapes of their uniforms right.)
I've tried searching for pictures, but most of the photos are in black and white and few of them tell the rank and occupation of the persons depicted.
Does this look historically accurate? If any history buff notices that the colors are wrong, please let me know.


Grok


You have a lot of different Red Army WW2 uniforms on the page linked below. All in color.
I can't tell how accurate it is. I think some of the text explaining who would wear a certain uniform might be placed beside the wrong picture.
It should at least be good for some inspiration. :)
link


Blondbraid

QuoteIt should at least be good for some inspiration.
Thanks a great deal for this link, it has been a very good source of inspiration.
QuoteI think making her a fat nurse without making her a Nightwitch would work better, or to just put her in one of the flightsuits and put her on a crew proper.
I have thought about this and I agree that she probably has the wrong build for a pilot, and I guess making her a mechanic would work just as fine plot-wise. Instead I got a new idea for a different night witch.
The sniper and spotter sees her plane shot down, and decides to rush to her rescue only to find out that she's already killed a german, taken his gun and mowed down several enemy soldiers.
And this is supposed to be the captain who gives the sniper and spotter their mission. He does not have a large role in the story but I hope he will prove to be an interesting character. (He is in charge of a bunch of underequipped, underfed and underpaid redshirts and very aware of that fact. That doesn't mean that he that he actually cares for them though.)

I have also begun working on the background art for my game, but I have not yet decided on the exact color-scale.

I'm torn between either slightly dourer, but more balanced colors  like in the first image, or brighter colors reminiscent of old low-budget cartoons from the soviet states, like the second image. What do you think looks best?


Babar

With your characters, I'd say the 2nd.
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Cassiebsg

I agree with Babar, even though the second kinda hurts my eyes... 8-)
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Lasca

I like the first one best. Feels more Russian, more historical and also more attractive.
Btw I really love this concept and really like your art. this has the potential of a great game!

Chicky

Cool style Blondbraid, it reminds of Valient Hearts. Maybe this screenie will help you with colours in those backgrounds. I really like the rough lines in your characters, would fit nicely into simplistic flat coloured BG's.


Blondbraid

#28
QuoteCool style Blondbraid, it reminds of Valient Hearts. Maybe this screenie will help you with colours in those backgrounds. I really like the rough lines in your characters, would fit nicely into simplistic flat coloured BG's.
Why thank you very much, Chicky! ;-D I have actually played Valiant hearts, and it has been a source of inspiration, among other things. I loved that game and it's art-style, but I also liked that it showed a different perspective on war, and told a story that had more in common with a book or play on the subject than the blockbuster action-movies that seems to be the foremost source of inspiration for most games about war.
My game will be more focused on dialogues and characters though, and the environment. One of my favorite aspects of adventure games is when you get to hear the characters thoughts and observations on various things in their surroundings.

I have finally made enough to post on the ags in production forum!
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52586.0
Would still like to keep this thread going to hear more opinions on the art though.:)


Blondbraid

Here is an animation of the sniper being shot in the head, should the player make the wrong decision.
Too cartoonish or not cartoonish enough?


Grok

Quote from: Blondbraid on Sun 23/08/2015 23:41:45
---
Too cartoonish or not cartoonish enough?
---

I'd say that the effect is quite brutal, in a non cartoony way. But I would think that that is correct for the subject of this game. Does depend a bit on how you are doing the rest of the game.

Blondbraid

Now this may be a weird thing to ask, but I sincerely wish to avoid any "moon logic puzzles" http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoonLogicPuzzle
(I must admit I have googled for Walkthroughs far to often in far too many adventure games myself, I'm kind of bad with puzzles :-[ )
so I hope to hear some opinions on weather this seems like a logical chain of events (by adventure game standards at least):
The protagonist is in an area where the only way forward is blocked by rubble. When the lokk around they find some big oil drums, an empty Jerry-can and a few matches. Also there are some posters on the wall, which is nice.
the protagonist proceeds to:
1.
Spoiler
Fill the jerry-can with oil from the oil drums.
[close]
2.
Spoiler
Tear some paper from the poster and place in the opening of the can.
[close]
3.
Spoiler
Place the can in the rubble and light the paper on fire.
[close]
4.
Spoiler
Run for their life as the can and rubble explodes.
[close]
Does this sound as a fun puzzle, a violation of physics nearing Michael Bay levels, or both?


Grok

I would use that as a puzzle even though it wouldn't really work in real life.
Spoiler
You could possibly get an explosion, but it wouldn't clear a path through the rubble.
The explosive part is not the fuel in its liquid form. It is the fumes in a mixture with air. Oil can have very different properties concerning fumes and might not be all that explosive, as far as I understand. Petrol might be a better choice. Still wouldn't clear the path, but would be more likely to go bang with the right fumes/air mixture. Might still be more difficult than one might expect.
Another way to get the explosion could be to shoot through the can. The can should not be full. You would need a lot of space for fumes.
[close]


The jerrycan is a WW2 word. That was what the Americans called the fuel container the Germans used (jerry=german). It was technically a much better construction than what the Americans and British used at that time. Maybe there is something in that, that you could use in the story.

Eggie

I love these guys a loooot! I'm really happy you're going with that chunky outline look for the ingame sprites, it's what I like!

I think you can definitely push that death animation! The leg going down after everything else is good, you could take that idea further, create a really strong pose for the moment of impact(maybe bend her backwards, outstretch her arms) and then just have her flop down. If you were going really cartoony and physics-defying with it maybe have her head lead the whole movement; her head hits the ground first, then her torso, then her limbs and they kind of bounce as they hit the ground.

Blondbraid

QuoteI love these guys a loooot! I'm really happy you're going with that chunky outline look for the ingame sprites, it's what I like!
Great to hear that you like them, Eggie!
QuoteThe jerrycan is a WW2 word. That was what the Americans called the fuel container the Germans used (jerry=german). It was technically a much better construction than what the Americans and British used at that time. Maybe there is something in that, that you could use in the story.
I figured that since the game takes place in a town occupied by German forces it probably wouldn't be too strange if they left some equipment behind as well. And according to Wikipedia the soviets copied the design and and jerry-cans are apparently common in Russia to this very day. No idea what they are called in Russian though, so it's probably a good thing that everyone in the game speaks English for the convenience of the audience. And the convenience of me. Mostly the convenience of me. ;)

Also, I like your suggestion for the puzzle, it seems more straightforward.


Grok

Quote from: Blondbraid on Sun 20/09/2015 11:29:29

I figured that since the game takes place in a town occupied by German forces it probably wouldn't be too strange if they left some equipment behind as well. And according to Wikipedia the soviets copied the design and and jerry-cans are apparently common in Russia to this very day.

On the western front the allies captured jerry-cans to use instead of the cans they where issued with, since the jerry-cans where so much better. I'm sure the same thing happened on the eastern front. On the western front the Germans sometimes booby-trapped jerry-cans (knowing that it was a desired item that would get picked up) and left them behind for the other side to find and get killed by the explosion. They might well have used similar tactics on the Russian border.

Blondbraid

I have made a new animation, though this time I used a slightly different approach compared to the sniper's death animation.

With the sniper I rotated different parts of the image in gimp, while here I did a new image from scratch for each frame of the animation,
just like the hand-drawn Disney classics, apart from the fact that this was made by an amateur with Photoshop and a non-existent budget. (The scale, quality and subject matter might differ too.)
Which method looks best?


Cassiebsg

I'm all for the hand drawn one!
The other pixelates in the rotated frames, they do give a different style of "cartoonist" effect though. As in "stiff vs. smooth"... However players might look at it as in "lazy vs. hard work" style animation.
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Grok

Quote from: Blondbraid on Sun 04/10/2015 00:26:46
I have made a new animation, though this time I used a slightly different approach compared to the sniper's death animation.
---
Which method looks best?

The spotter-animation is smother but I think the snipers animation tells the story better, which I think is the more important thing.

In both animations the character falls like a tree, while in reality they would fall more like a puppet that has its strings cut.
Something more like this;



(GIMP with a combination of copy-paste-rotate and redrawing)

By putting longer show time on the the first and last frames of the animation you get a better feeling for how this type of animation will look in action.

Blondbraid

QuoteThe spotter-animation is smother but I think the snipers animation tells the story better, which I think is the more important thing.

In both animations the character falls like a tree, while in reality they would fall more like a puppet that has its strings cut.
Something more like this;
(GIMP with a combination of copy-paste-rotate and redrawing)
By putting longer show time on the the first and last frames of the animation you get a better feeling for how this type of animation will look in action.
QuoteI'm all for the hand drawn one!
The other pixelates in the rotated frames, they do give a different style of "cartoonist" effect though. As in "stiff vs. smooth"... However players might look at it as in "lazy vs. hard work" style animation.
I am very grateful for your input! I am thinking of a somewhat stylized approach but not without some sense of reality. Great gif by the way!
I also didn't think of combining copy-pasting and redrawing, I will try to experiment. (I have also begun experimenting with Spriter, but it will probably take a while before I learn to use that properly.)
Perhaps I will even add a few more death animations for variety!


The spotter doesn't seem equally excited about this prospect though. ;)


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