Is this a good PQ4 style?

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Mon 18/05/2009 11:11:36

I think the Val Kilmer similarity lends some needed realism to the character that drawing him from scratch wouldn't give, so as far as that goes I think it's great. The problem I see with it is that you've brought the hairline down too far when pasting the hair on. The hairline for the position his face is in should start considerably higher than you have it now (probably 2x higher) which will reveal more of his forehead and make him look less like a hippy and more like an officer.

I've made an edit to show what I mean.

Here I've brought up the hair and hairline to a more reasonable level. His hair looks thinner and less mop-like.

The hairline of the original and my edit seem strange on the right side of his head (and it doesn't match the original portrait) so I tried flipping it around and I found it looked much more natural and pleasing to the eye.

Hopefully this helps, and I look forward to seeing more of the project!

Andail · Mon 18/05/2009 11:47:55

Quote
It always struck me as odd that Sonny started out with black hair, then bleached it for his undercover work at the end of PQ1 and never returned to his original hair color. I don't remember any of his colleagues ever mentioning it in the later games, though I couldn't imagine something as metrosexual as bleaching your hair passing without remark in a macho cop environment.

That's a hilarious observation, GarageGothic.

Babar · Mon 18/05/2009 12:00:36

Almost all adventure game characters went blonde at one point. Not that I know why.

Knox · Mon 18/05/2009 15:42:00

ProgZmax: Wow, so much better! You are right, I thought he looked a little too "hippy" aswell...I will take your image and get that fixed! Thanks, very helpful!

Hey Xenogia : I can show you some tips if you'd like...once I finally get a hang of AGS, my goal is to help out the community with what I know!

Knox · Wed 20/05/2009 17:41:44

I was thinking of this as Sonny's off-duty pic...some stubble and leather jacket...think he looks too bad-ass? I think its just right, in my opinion. Also, I updated Sonny's hair according to ProgZmax's suggestion. I desaturated the eyes a teeny bit aswell.

MoodyBlues · Wed 20/05/2009 18:27:52

I think he looks good - not too bad-ass at all. Now, if he was wearing big black sunglasses and was smoking a cigarette, then THAT would be too bad-ass.

I think his overall look in both pictures fits his character well. He seems compassionate, but he's no softy.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Thu 21/05/2009 07:53:32

His hair and hairline still come down really low on his face. The only thing it looks like you adapted from my advice was placing the part on the opposite side of his head?

Knox · Tue 26/05/2009 00:47:35

Heres one last pic Im showing before a very good while:

This is how I would have imagined Marie in a more "pure and innoncent" state (before she fell into prostitution, of course)...the 8 is just a marker to help me know its the 8th frame of speech animation, ignore that...

Knox · Tue 26/05/2009 00:50:06

Oh sorry ProgZ...I flipped it over, but I didnt want to raise it too much, I found he looks too much like a dork like that (heh). But its still a WIP so I hope you didnt feel like I disregarded your pointers...Im still trying some things out.

Thanks for your critiques.

xenogia · Tue 26/05/2009 01:26:38

Amazing, I wish I knew how you did it. A tutorial would be great

EDIT: What games company do you work for General_Knox?

Ryan Timothy B · Wed 27/05/2009 01:12:43

Is that not Amy Adams from the movie Catch Me if You Can? Just curious.
Anyway I really like what you've done so far, even though they are copy and pasted Frankensteins. lol

Knox · Wed 27/05/2009 02:30:30

Yeah they are photo mash-ups with overpaint in photoshop...I used mainly val kilmer + matt damon for Sonny and Amy Adams's head and Connelly's nose (repainted) for marie...BUT...I might have to modify them even more if they are too recognizable...dont want to get sued or anything.

Knox · Thu 28/05/2009 21:55:07

Ive been working on a 3d model of Sonny, this is what I got so far. I was thinking of doing the characters in 3d and render their animations this way...and make sprites with them afterwards while repainting over it frame by frame (so it doesnt look 3d).

I havent done the textures yet though, but the modeling is almost finished!

MoodyBlues · Thu 28/05/2009 22:04:52

I salute you, General. Your artwork is wonderful!

Jakerpot · Fri 29/05/2009 18:07:22

Quote from: MoodyBlues on Thu 28/05/2009 22:04:52
I salute you, General. Your artwork is wonderful!

totally agreed

I want a tutorial too!

Dualnames · Sat 30/05/2009 23:34:32

Quote from: general_knox on Tue 26/05/2009 00:47:35
Im in the process of trying to get into contact with Activision + Jim Walls to see exactly what I can and cannot do...so I have to temporarily put this on hold for now...however, worst comes to worse, Ill just do what Walls did with Blue Force and make my own series...all original characters and locations.

Heres one last pic Im showing before a very good while (until I get more info on all the legal issues):

This is how I would have imagined Marie in a more "pure and innoncent" state (before she fell into prostitution, of course)...the 8 is just a marker to help me know its the 8th frame of speech animation, ignore that!

That's really awesome. I'm begging on a tutorial PLEASE!!!

Knox · Wed 03/06/2009 22:07:21

Sure, Ill take some time soon and get you guys a tutorial!

In the meantime, I was in need of some critique on a font for dialog options...which one, in your opinion, is better/more readable...

Its supposed to be a cop's handwritting...do you think its "copish", or too "girly, etc...

Ive got these 2 to compare:

Font A Font B

GarageGothic · Wed 03/06/2009 22:49:55

I think neither are very readable, so I would advise you to keep looking. But I do prefer the righthand one - partly because of readability, but it also look less like something from a high school girl's diary than the left one (the lowercase 'd' seems a bit weird though, but maybe it's just AGS' rendering of it).

Dualnames · Thu 04/06/2009 11:57:39

Those are rendered by the engine? In case they are I'd say left definitely. in case they're not, mind you that fonts might appear slightly different in-game.

Knox · Thu 04/06/2009 14:52:59

They are screenshots from the engine (printscreen)...

Ok, Ill take your advice and keep searching! I feared they looked maybe too girlish (from a journal)...

Ill post some other handwritting options later today, if I have time to do some that is.

I guess even better is to convert my own handwritting into a font...or get an actual cop's writting anf covert that...heh!

Oh, and one more thing (editing my post, not double-posting

Ive read many places that 800 x 600 resolution is way more than enough for most games...however, Ive done some tests and my menu's seems just better in 1024. Ive read also that people say 1024 res, it slows down the game considerably...is this really "true", as in...most people have good machines today, so is it really "that much" more slow to run a game in 1024?

Im not a tech guy so perhaps Im sounding dumb, I just wanted to know around what % cost on performance a 1024 x 768 game vs a 640 x 480 would be?

(Im aware that it would increase the size in memory of sprites, etc...Im just talking about performance running it!)

I'll continue my search though, on this!