Picaroon - The Lost Years - Part 1: Mysteries of the deep

[Daniel Thomas]

We're not using that guybrush, our will be cooler ;P

[Dan_N]

How much cooler?

Will you like give a big bushy beard, make him bigger, give him a pirate hat?

Frankly, MI2 Guybrush is the coolest Guybrush I've seen so far...

We can only hope then. And wait. Yeah, lots o' waitin'.

[ildu]

Just a word of warning, when you're designing the new Guybrush sprite:

In CMI, the scaling of Guybrush was handled in a good way. When Guybrush was in the main walking areas of any background, he didn't scale at all and was basically kept the same size so that the pixelation wouldn't look crappy. Scaling would only occur where it was really obvious, most of time time when Guybrush was either entering or exiting the main walk area (or background). This is one reason why most of the backgrounds in CMI are portrayed from relatively the same high camera position.

I'm saying this because you've apparently used heavy scaling in the two screenshots you have in this thread. And, although the camera positions are perhaps a little lower than in CMI, you probably don't even need scaling in them. It's another issue entirely when the distance between the room and the camera differ, because then you have to automatically have a scaled sprite in one of them. If you'll notice, CMI very rarely had varying camera-target distances, and it was a smart directional move from them, since it added consistency and polish to the game.

So, here's some suggestions regarding pre-production:

Bgs (hope it's not too late ):

- Try to keep the distance between the camera and the target consistent. Study the CMI bgs and imitate what they've done.
- Study CMI bgs to measure perspectives and vanishing points and see how they relate to your bgs.
- Try to keep the walking areas relatively the same throughout production.
- Play with the sharpening tools to see how the sharpness of the linework affects the visual quality. If you look at CMI, they used penciled and scanned outlines, which were sharpened and contrast-leveled. And if you study it a little, the linework and paintwork have a nice equilibrium going on. You can't really say that either is any more important than the other.

Sprite:

- Determine the common size of the sprite. See what the relation of the common Guybrush sprite in CMI is to the bgs. And if there are clear differences in the camera-target distance between bgs, create another common size for those rooms.
- Try and keep the Guybrush sprite as simple as possible. Don't have too much specific detail, like you have now. It'll make it easier to distinguish the char from the bg, easier to animate, and it'll scale a lot better.
- Your outlines looks pretty good, but I'd advise that you don't use solid black pixelled outlines. The best way would probably be drawing the outlines on a tablet with a black hard brush with size and slight transparency pressure variation. After that, you could play with the sharpening tools and finally cut the AA from outside the char with the lasso.
- Don't use any shading, unless it's really needed, and even then only use cel-shading. The CMI Guybrush is not shadowed, and it worked perfectly well with him. It'll help distinguish chars from the bgs, it'll help with scaling and again it'll be easier to animate.
- Instead of shadowing, distribute the effort into choosing the right colors. Color combination can be a very difficult thing (although some may think not), and when you get it absolutely right, the result is priceless.
- Use the engine's atmospheric lighting on the sprite (it looks like you've already implemented this).

Reference images:




I look forward to seeing the new bgs and the sprite in action . Great looking game.

[Krazy]

I understand what you're saying there, it did look a bit poo whenever Guybrush was scaled down in COMI since the outlines would break up and such, but with AGS anti-aliasing system this old adventure game problem is more or less fully resolved so I see no reason not to try all sorts of crazy camera angles .

[Dan_N]

Why are these people arguing about graphics?

Sure, a new Guybrush would be cooler, but hey, NEW MONKEY ISLAND GAME (:o) and IT'S FREE !!!

I would like to wish you guys working on Lost Years another warm good luck! So, good luck! 

[Electroshokker]

Well, time for an update:

- in the background area we're doing well, things are moving forward slow but steadily (good backgrounds take time)

- in the animation area we're still starved for a good animator. (both character animations as regular ones)

- in the story/script area we're ok, but the script/dialog still need that little extra (ok, in some areas a lot extra) MI humor. While both Trovatore as well as Strange Visitor eagerly joined us for a brief moment, they unfortunately soon realised they didn't have the time needed to spend on this project. So we need fresh blood. Who's up to the challenge?

All in all, not much progress, mostly due to only a handful of people working on this game. Once we've got ourselves a complete team, though, things should really kick into overdrive... (So let's hope a few good people feel the monkeys calling out to them... and join us in our quest)

I would like to wish you guys working on Lost Years another warm good luck! So, good luck! 

Thanks!

[Da_Elf]

i know exactly how you feel on all those points keep it up i cant wait to see it when its done. what kinda of animation are you looking for other than the character animation?

[Cyrus]

Wow! :o It is excellent and looks very much like CMI, one of my favourite games in adventure genre.

[Dualnames]

Well, time for an update:

- in the background area we're doing well, things are moving forward slow but steadily (good backgrounds take time)

- in the animation area we're still starved for a good animator. (both character animations as regular ones)

- in the story/script area we're ok, but the script/dialog still need that little extra (ok, in some areas a lot extra) MI humor. While both Trovatore as well as Strange Visitor eagerly joined us for a brief moment, they unfortunately soon realised they didn't have the time needed to spend on this project. So we need fresh blood. Who's up to the challenge?

All in all, not much progress, mostly due to only a handful of people working on this game. Once we've got ourselves a complete team, though, things should really kick into overdrive... (So let's hope a few good people feel the monkeys calling out to them... and join us in our quest)

I would like to wish you guys working on Lost Years another warm good luck! So, good luck!Ã, 

Thanks!

I  again offer my services in dialogs/in-game messages/story-plot section of this game.
Pm me or send me a mail at JustLedZep@mail.gr.
i hope I get the job

[Cyrus]

Well, where can I get the demoversion?

[Da_Elf]

i can only offer services for voice acting if you want someone with a caribbean accent

[Electroshokker]

I  again offer my services in dialogs/in-game messages/story-plot section of this game.
Pm me or send me a mail at JustLedZep@mail.gr.
i hope I get the job

I send you a PM.

Well, where can I get the demoversion?

There isn't any atm. Once (a looong time ago), I made a demo (when the game was still called the revival of mi project, with different story) to attract other developers. It wasn't much to look at (frankly, qua graphics it was an embarassment compared to current backgrounds)

Currently, we're not thinking about demos. We're thinking of getting the first part done alltogether and releasing it. (and depending on the critics we'll decide if we want to make parts 2 upto 7)

i can only offer services for voice acting if you want someone with a caribbean accent

Unfortunately, we're not looking for voice actors at this time. If part 1 is well received, and as a result we've made all the other parts, THEN and only then will we be looking for voice actors, to make a "deluxe" edition with full voice-overs and tons of extra little goodies. (so people who played the individual parts/sets would want to play it all over again)

But thanks for offering, I'll be sure to remember that offer if and when the time comes...

[Cyrus]

Well, when is it going to be released? In the first or in the second half of the year 2007?

[Electroshokker]

An update:

Well, things are looking good. The team's almost complete, just 1 person short: the animator.

The story's ready, the part 1 script is almost complete (only thing still being discussed are the dialogs), the background lineart/coloring is coming along nicely, character concepts are looking good, ... 

It seems like *gasp* there's a chance we'll actually might finish making this game someday!

Well, when is it going to be released? In the first or in the second half of the year 2007?

When it's done.  (depending on how fast we find an animator, as that's the only field that's been lagging waaaay behind)

[Bai Karl]

VERY NICE!!!!!

[Da_Elf]

come on animators, give them a hand. i want to play this game

[Electroshokker]

*bump*

new screenshot. see first post of this thread.

the character in it is not 100% finished, though. gives you a little peak at what we're doing, though.

[Dan_N]

That's great, you gave him his MI2 look! \o/

[Cyrus]

It will be just great if you can combine MI2 style and MI3 graphics! We're waiting!

[Electroshokker]

Here's another sneak peak at what we're doing...
(warning - work in progress)

(work by our character concept artist, Fawfulhasfury)

note: you don't have to point out the flaws, we know and we're fixing them.