After the infamous game "Lucy Lavender" I am proud to announce my second game "Fan Club" (dadadadaaaa):
Aldo Akel got it all: All her CDs, all her photo books, all her posters and even her official t-shirt. Now he came to the big city for the very first time with just one thing on his mind: Meeting his idol, the famous singer Brittany Fears. The local Brittany Fears Fan Club has a party and one of the guests will have a chance to win a cruise together with Brittany. Of course Aldo wants to be the one. But his problems start already at the entrance. It's not easy to get a membership card of this exquisite club...
In this game I try to do what I have learnt from my mistakes I did in my first game. All backgrounds are drawn by myself. Since I am not a great artist the backgrounds are rather simple, but still I am proud they are my own work this time. I might do some improvements still in case I understand how to work with gradients... ;)
There will not be any mean pixel hunting anymore. I use poser for the characters. Due to the fact that the game will be in 320-240 revolution and a special use of lights in poser, I hope they will not look too "poserish" for the player.
I will refrain from using the standard Sierra gui.
My progress: The story and the puzzles are finished 100%. I might add some more in case my friends who will beta-test it for me later tell me the game is too short overall. Same thing for the backgrounds: For the story so far all backgrounds are drawn, only in case people suggest to make the game longer I would draw some more. The main characters walking and talking cycles are ready too. I want to create some more animations for him which will be used for special situation Aldo encounters within the game. The other characters are sort of scetched, but not animated yet. I will start working hardly on Fan Club again after I finished my exams in the middle of february. I will release a German and an English version, this time I will have a native English speaker check the spelling and grammar though.
(http://www.pbase.com/image/25717354.jpg)
****Edit 08 FEB*****
Although we should not talk too much about it at that point, I am still experimenting with the gradients...
(http://www.pbase.com/image/25848186.jpg)
******EDIT March 13******
(http://www.pbase.com/image/26872914.jpg)
New walkg-cycle without "falling asleep head banging" and quicker movement.
(http://www.pbase.com/image/26872910.jpg)
More leading and supporting characters
******EDIT March 16******
Two screenies, a new one and an improved one of the version before... I think I am going to stay with this style...
(http://www.pbase.com/image/26971958.jpg)
(http://www.pbase.com/image/26971950.jpg)
I hope you like that so far and will be playing Fan Club this spring (or summer...lol).
will it be a short/middle game?
if you have some troubles about gradients, why don't you use shadows/darker colors in order to create "volume" and to avoid "big black lines"?
The lighting really does disguise the poser look - nice job.
But, he's still got the poser grey pallor. More light, I think!
I think it will fit in the medium length section.
Someone was nice to tell me more about gradients. I am still experimenting for good looks, but there is hope now. Check he updated image :)
I will also try to make the character lose that parlor. If I don't find a better way I think I will just draw him an outline in paint. I am not a great artist, but I wan to do as good as I can.
yes, the last picture is better but gradients are evil: size of the files, need to runs under 32-bit mode (or look spooky sometimes)
However, you can also have goods results :P
The main point is to use gradients wisely: it reflects the localisation of the light (this is the problem of thelast picture).
Moreover, you can also use radial gradients (check 5 days for a stranger).
Maybe, the "critic lounge" forum is a better place to show yourbackground and have some good advices, nope?
Study Study Study Study ;)
don't waste too much time for the backgrounds: in my point of view, plot and characters are the most important things in the game.
Anyways, I will play your game as soon it is realised.
Good luck! 8)
NO NO NO NO NO!!!! Those gradients look asscrap!!!!
Do it by hand or not at all!!!
The original looks better.
If you have photoshop, you should experiment with the darken and lighten layers. And make sure your shadows and highlights are accuratly done to the light-source of the room.
I am sure I find a way so everyone can be happy about the graphcs :P
But hey, don't you like all the other stuff I wrote? Sniff
Hey! Don't be sad: I think that the game sounds good.
I just hope that there won't be the classic full-of-usefull-stuff garbage.
I'm just curious about the soundtrack ::)
Quote from: nope! on Tue 03/02/2004 22:17:45
yes, the last picture is better but gradients are evil: size of the files, need to runs under 32-bit mode
I won't mind. My game uses gradients at 32-bit mode too.
ARG! Why stay focused on those damn' gradients (good or not)?
Totoro, can you show the walking cycles of the character? Will you costumize the sierra gui?
Updated main post :)
the animation is not creepy! The character looks a little bit nonchalant (and banging his head like this, he looks like a AC/DC fan).
I found what puzzled me with your backgrounds: you used colorfull backgrounds and objects whith big black edges while the character looks "smooth".
However, I really think that graphics get better and better :)
BUMP BUMP BUMP
Added some character pictures in post no.1 :)
I like the character art, though remember that if you want the walking to be that smooth, be sure to speed it up. Nobody likes to watch the main character lazily 'saunter' over to a location. That's just boring. :)
Keep up the good work!
Thank you :) Don't worry, the movement will be quicker in the game, I just found the animated gif procession extremely annoying and I just wanted to show that I can animate a walk cycle with the tools I am using... I also don't think I will go with this extremely had banging.
That walkcycle looks like the guy is falling asleep for a second every time there, but otherwise good stuff!
Walkcycle replaced and some new characters added :)
the new walkcycle looks like its missing a frame, it kinda jerks at one point.
-OSC
Added two screenshots to the main post
What software are you using for your Bgs (and chars)?
Quote
(http://www.pbase.com/image/25717354.jpg)
Totoro, do you have her number, please?
^-^
The backgrounds are basically drawn in paint, then I use a strange mixture of paint shop pro and photo shop elements (because I cannot handle any of those two 100%) creating gradiants using lucasfilm-adventure graphics pallettes and some tweaking by hand, which looks better than just using thos "asscrap" gradients which come with paint shop pro.
For the characters I am using, as mentionied before, Poser. I just love the programme too much, not especially for character making,but for doing all kinds of things, I have been addcited to it for two years now. But I don't want the characters to have that evil poser-look, so I am dealing with lighting in poser and postwork in paint shop pro. I am also looking aroud the net to find appropiate characters and costumes for my actors...
Mmmh maybe I should say I drew them all by hand, but someone would realise anyway :P
Mods, her number is 555-.... I was told in American movies or tv shows all telephone numbers start with 555 because there are no 555 numbers in America, so I am sure you can get Brittany's number by trying some 555 combinations ;)