An Idea For a Space Quest Game

[tr9000]

I hope this is the right place to post:-\. I'm not the best game maker ever, When I'm tired with one project I start a new one, I've created a standard sprite sheet for myself to help me create this game. It will take place between 5 and 6 and will be called (Not so originally) Space Quest 5.5, a title hasn't been decided. This game will have alternate dimensions, a garbage stow and an eggbeater!
Here is a picture of Roger please give me feed back:

[Ubel]

Not bad, not bad! Really nice animation! I like the style! Being such a great fan of Space Quest, I'll be looking forward to your fan game!

[Krysis]

He looks a little too tall. Maybe you should shorten the legs a little. The face and hair need more contrast - its colours are too bright. Other than that... I like it.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Krysis is right, his proportions and especially contrast need some work.  I did an edit of the standing frame to give you some ideas.

1.  Edited the image using this image as a reference: http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/images/galleries/80/80_1_medium.jpg

2.  Reduced the head, torso, and leg lengths.  This character is huge, and that is definitely something you should consider for all of the animations and characters in your game.  I also gave the face more contrast to bring out his features.



I did not focus much on the lower body, this edit is just to give you some ideas on how to bring out colors and reduce the size of your sprites to save time and effort on animation.  Nice work!

[MrColossal]

I like him tall but I first have to ask, what were you going for? Are you going for a realistically proportioned character or a more stylized one?

if tall is what you want:

I'd recommend doing a VERY quick background and one other different body type standing character to see if it's actually the style you want and can keep it up through another character.

[tr9000]

It's a flaw I have, when I draw a person I make them look unusually tall. I've edited the picture, made the legs shorter, and now the arms look long to me, although I check the proportions and they are realistic (enough) proportions. The head is big, but that is the way I draw, So I won't bother editing it because I personally like it. In every Space Quest game there are differences, uniforms change the way the character looks change, in space quest 6 the way Roger's hair is parted changes (and he looks very old). So my roger looks a bit younger. Roger still needs work though, I forgot eyebrows, the dark lines you see is just a highlight of where the brows should be. I hope my version of the uniform looks ok It's based on the 5th game's version. I think the only real problem is how i shaded him, his legs look far too muscular while his chest looks thin.
Changes: I made the legs shorter, I made the hair darker, and the contrast of the skin better. It still may need work.

[OverWind]

I think it looks nice, but the problem with making the game in the SQ universe is that it has to look like Roger, right now it doesn't look like Roger, but more like a teenage version of Roger or something.

[GarageGothic]

This is the cutest Roger ever, like 'Saint-Exupéry's Space Quest' or something. Someone should really do a game with adventure game characters as kids, so you'd have L'il Larry and L'il Graham and... Ahem, well back to the sprite, the only problem I see - if this is indeed the style you want - is that the eyes seem rather square.

[tr9000]

Personally I can't think of many of the real Space Quest games in which Roger looks the same. The only one I can think of is Space Quest 4 and 5 but Roger's hair parts different in 5 than all the other Space Quest games, and he looks more heroic. In Space Quest 3 Roger doesn't look the same as in space quest 1 and 2, In 6 Roger's style has completely changed into a cartoon rather than the realistic actor traced sprites in 4 and 5. I think my version of Roger is ok, But I will have to make him look more like Roger in any close up views. but if you can notice Roger doesn't look the same in any close up view in all the games. The major difference would be between 4 and 5 where Roger's chin is more square in 5. It's sorta like they hire a new "actor" for every Space Quest game after 2. But anyway. I'm hoping the version of Roger I made is good enough that people wouldn't start saying "That looks wrong." The only real problem now is drawing Bea so she looks like Bea, in 4 and 5 Bea looks the same (just different hair styles). Although, I will admit my drawing style is different so I hope people will give me slack.

[Darth Mandarb]

I don't have a problem with a slight "re-imagining" of Roger.  I would have known who it was even if the title of the thread didn't mention Space Quest.

Over-all he looks pretty good to me.  As ProgZ suggested the contrast needs some work.  I'd also suggest moving the arms away from the body a bit.  He looks a little like the sleeves are attached to the body of the shirt

[tr9000]

A few more questions then I think I can go on with the game alone. Since Roger is the most important character in the game I don't want to ruin him. When Roger isn't walking he will go into a pose (a short animation) where he makes a heroic pose, with his arms at his hips. He has his chest expanded to look more muscular. I've put a picture to compare roger's normal physique and roger standing in his pose. He will also be in this hero pose while talking.



My question is, is this going to far, or not far enough, should Roger be more full out while walking or would it be more like Roger to expand his chest to look more heroic? Also lately I've found a way to rip out sprites from my Space Quest games, Would people prefer my style or do you want the original sq5 style?

~Modified Post~
Right now... I'm begining to dislike this Roger, I may have to recreate from scratch. This is ok for a different game, but the more I look at it the less Space Questy it is.

[tr9000]

I've reworked on Roger and made him look much nicer. I started over on scratched and sketched him on paper first.
I've also finished one background for my game, it's the Bridge for the Goliath, I've used a screenshot within the game to create this. I've made some small mistakes when I made it, I've ended up drawing the picture smaller than 640x400 so i had to stretch it out when I limited the colors. I hope it still looks nice. Tell me what you think or if I should work more on the pictures. Background has 50 colors in it, I could reduce it if need be.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I like where you are going with this new version, it retains much more of the established Roger Wilco personality.  The only thing I would suggest is shaving that extra line beneath the eye to make the eyes fit his face better.  The background looks very nice.  Keep going!

[Ubel]

I LOVE the background!

But I think Roger still looks too young, compared to what he looks like in SQ5. Also I'd say he's a bit more skinny than that, but otherwise the new sprite looks way better than the old one! Good job with that!

[Snarky]

You absolutely neeed to use a higher contrast color for the details and outline of his face and hair. The rest of his body is fine, it's just the head where you can't see anything other than his eyes unless you look closely.

[Darth Mandarb]

I like the background too ... lacks detail perhaps, but looks good none-the-less! 

I think the new Roger is vastly improved!  There are still some issues, but it's a great improvement!

I did a paint-over to demonstrate some points:


- added some more shading (also used less colors for the shading)
- skinnied the arms up
- raised the head
- strengthened the jaw-line
- upped the contrast on the face/hair
- altered the eyes

[sergiocornaga]

Well, personally, I love the first one much more than any that have been added since. It had so much more style...

Just my opinion.