3D or "Hand drawn"

mano · Thu 10/06/2004 21:31:30

Hey...

Im just about to wrap up the pre-production of a little game im doing, but im having some second thoughts... about the graphics...

Im doing a remake of Shadowgate (I know its been done but i just love the game so NOTHING can stop me now

) . During the past week I have used some 3D-images made in about 2 min each as backgrounds just to have a clue where to put the scripts and so on, but as i said, second thoughts... The thing is as much as I love Shadowgate i love the animations style of MI3 and Sam & Max and so on.

What do you guys think? Should I do it in 3D or draw the whole thing?

To me, 3Ds got a small head start due to the fact that im a little better on 3D-animation than drawing, and if i use 3D I could make some cool cut scence

So... Once again... What do u think?

Privateer Puddin' · Thu 10/06/2004 21:34:13

Whatever is easier for you and makes the most pleasing results i guess

Perhaps you have an example?

mano · Thu 10/06/2004 21:46:26

Examples it is... thats kind of the reason to why i asked u guys i the first place, since i havnt begun with any of the graphics... BUT, I guess i could post some 3D-stuff, maby later to day or tomorrow.

And as you said, the whay with the most pleasing result is the one to choose... Well, if the 3D stuff turns out good, i guess ill do the whole thing in three-deee...

shbaz · Fri 11/06/2004 00:34:43

If you're better with 3d already, with practice you'll probably never be better in 2d than 3d. Unless you use all procedurals though, you'd better be at least a little good at 2d for UV maps.

I'd offer assistance because I like doing 3d stuff too, but I'm in over my head already.

mano · Sat 12/06/2004 01:13:35

ok, i said i would post some 3d-stuff and here it is.

The first one is a pre-titlescreen-movie. First of all, its to fast at the moment, the final one will be about 3-4 seconds longer, besides that its retty much done accept for the textures. I want it to look more like glas and with lots more reflection and so on... and more high-res of course...

Movie: http://www.mattiasnorell.com/dev/shadowgate/fire_intro.mpg

When it comes to the picture its just "one of those shitty testpictures". Im using these as a sort of storyboard insted of drawing the whole thing, it makes the process of testing different textures n colors a lot easier so pleas ignore that it looks a bit Quake 1. (althou we still love it... kinda...).

And isnt the dummy scary?

DragonRose · Sat 12/06/2004 02:09:54

I quite like the 3D look you're using. My only thoughts are that ballustrade (oooo... big word) is a little too square, and that the ceiling doesn't quite seem to be attatched to the walls. But as you said, it's a test picture.

Go for it!

shbaz · Sat 12/06/2004 02:10:28

If that's the best character you can do you might want to work on those skills in particular, but otherwise it looks like you're plenty good at 3d and you should go for it.

A simpler route that will still carry the style of 2d would be using cell-shading (toon shading) to render your stuff. You wouldn't get the ultra-dramatic scene you have above, but you can achieve some great looking cartoonish renders. It's hard for me to tell they aren't 2d.

mano · Sat 12/06/2004 02:51:06

Quote from: shbazjinkens on Sat 12/06/2004 02:10:28
If that's the best character you can do you might want to work on those skills in particular, but otherwise it looks like you're plenty good at 3d and you should go for it.

As i said before.... these pictures are my storyboard and in the final picture the real "enemy" will replace the dummy. Im just using it since its a default-object in my 3D-app. But i must admit, im a little short on ideas about there aperance... On one hand i want to keep the original look but on the other its cool to make my own... well... thats not an issue at the moment...

But besides that... You think its a good or really bad idea to keep the original interface from Shadowgate???
Im still working on the GUI so i can post it after the weekend and hopefully the first 2 or 3 rooms as well.

Ive included an image of the old and the new interface... For those of u who dont remember what it did look like

You think I should keep the inventorylist as it was or do it as the in Monkey Island where the inventory items go on the right side of the commandbuttons??? or maby a "popup-window"

And for those of you who never played Shadowgate... the inventorylist is the one that with "SAKER" written on top of it... Whats the mumbo-jumbo language you might ask... well, it's swedish... now you know

Quote from: shbazjinkens on Sat 12/06/2004 02:10:28
But otherwise it looks like you're plenty good at 3d and you should go for it.

Thanks

shbaz · Sat 12/06/2004 03:25:26

I wondered if the character might be a part of the test.. still, you're gonna have to pop out some nice models to keep up with that kind of quality of environment. How experienced are you with organic models? I may be able to help you out with that if you need it, there is a free poser-like plugin for Blender that can be used fairly easily. It's possible that I could find a script to transport the models to you if you don't want to bother with learning the app. Clothes would still need to be modelled, as it creates nudies only.

mano · Sat 12/06/2004 11:50:19

I dont think the characters will be much of a problem since they wont be animated... well, some of the cutscence will be but hey, gotta be some kind of challange

Im thinking about using the face below for the "hero", but as always, I'm not sure.

Quotefree poser-like plugin for Blender that can be used fairly easily. It's possible that I could find a script to transport the models to you if you don't want to bother with learning the app. Clothes would still need to be modelled, as it creates nudies only

That would be great! I'll take a look at Poser over the weekend to see if i like it or not, but i've heard so much about it so i guess it's gotta be great. The clothing part ain't a problem, i think... as long as there is no wind or movement involved that is...

shbaz · Sat 12/06/2004 16:11:48

Quote from: mano on Sat 12/06/2004 11:50:19
Quotefree poser-like plugin for Blender that can be used fairly easily. It's possible that I could find a script to transport the models to you if you don't want to bother with learning the app. Clothes would still need to be modelled, as it creates nudies only

That would be great! I'll take a look at Poser over the weekend to see if i like it or not, but i've heard so much about it so i guess it's gotta be great. The clothing part ain't a problem, i think... as long as there is no wind or movement involved that is...

Poser does create clothes, MakeHuman (Blender plugin) does not.

Your modelling program may have cloth dynamics built in, which would make clothing a lot simpler.

Interesting model, btw.

Simonsez128 · Wed 26/01/2005 13:14:29

Just one question: Why don't you use 3D-Background-Graphics and hand-drawn characters? If they are done fairly well they will certainly fit in. Just a thought

veryweirdguy · Wed 26/01/2005 20:57:23

Heh, just a thought here Mr Simonsez (if that IS your real name) but when you reply to a topic it might be useful to check the date of a post first.....this hadn't been posted in (prior to your posting) since June last year, and the guy who created the topic has been MIA since August. Just a word to the wise...

Simonsez128 · Wed 26/01/2005 21:30:50

Gee, I'm really sorry that I am not aware that the person who started this thread is now MIA. I should know, I usually always get an updated list of all MIAs and KIAs every day....

And since when does an old thread mean it has been abandoned? I came across it looking for information - maybe someone else, will, too.

Bombadil · Thu 27/01/2005 18:44:00

Another cool game gone to... nothing.

Well, you can see that an old thread is abandoned when the guy that asked for help hasn't said nothing for 6 months...