Adventure Game Studio

As some of you already know, I have been working on the sequel JP & Cosmo.Ã,  I haven't announced it in the GiP yet, because I don't feel I'm far enough along.

I am, however, at the point where I want to start getting some feedback on the art work.

Here are some of the characters you'll meet in the game:

(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/jp2/somecharacters.gif)

From left to right they are: JP, Cosmo McGillicuddy, Endipity, Admiral Hoenes, Lt. Oscar, and a soldier.

I'm pretty pleased with them, but the CL has always been a great help to me and if I can improve on these I'd really like to!

The only thing I won't change is their slightly over-sized heads.Ã,  I like the style and want to stick with it.Ã,  It's kind of my thing ;)

Any feedback is appreciated!

They're absoloutley perfect in every way. Don't listen to anyone's feedback! They will only destroy them!!!!

Quote from: SURGEThey're absoloutley perfect in every way. Don't listen to anyone's feedback! They will only destroy them!!!!

Hmmm.....

I concur!

I might be your style, but the characters all have this suprised look on their faces. You could give them different facial expressions that fit with the character.
Cosmo is familier in space, so he should look a bit bored.

Man, you're a genius!

Wow, those are really awesome.  I wouldn't change them either.

Like most of your stuff Darth, they look great. Theres really no advice to give.....

/me hopes to get another secret pm with more cool stuff from Darth....

Some quick modifications to the main char:

x4 zoom
(http://marcus.krupa.se/AGS/jc2.gif)

While I like the style of all of them,  the lack of depth bothered me, so I added some lighting.

I also did some alterations in his face which unfortunately made him look younger, and I wasn t able to correct this without altering his facial features too much.

Solid style, looking forward to the game.

loominous - excellent, thanks!Ã,  While I am not going to use that many colors you've shown me what I was having trouble achieving!Ã,  I originally had more high light colors, but just couldn't make it look right.

Squinky - keep an eye on your PM's ;)

Thanks to the rest for the positive feedback!Ã,  It keeps me inspired!

Here is an updated JP character:
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/jp2/character_jp_new.gif)
I basically did what loom did, only I did it with less colors.Ã, 

I love this Critics Lounge.Ã,  I was pretty happy with the characters as they were, but now, when comparing the new JP to the old ... It's night and day!Ã,  Thanks loominous!

As I update the other characters I'll post them as well!

Why I am staring at a sprite, finding nothing bad, and then comes Loominous and nails a knife into my little heart of my critic spirit in a two frames gif?

Fuck you!

;)

Argh ... it was supposed to match the background color ... oh well.

I have applied hi-lighting to each of the characters now.Ã,  And there's a new character being shown.Ã,  He is the antagonist of the story ... the military leader of the 'bad guys' who is planning to over throw his government and wage war against the Alliance of Galactic Societies.

Great sprites! But the guns really get to me. They're perfectly horizontal in both pictures, make them tilted a bit and add a little more shading on the grey area.

Looking forward to JP!

Great stuff!
It may be my monitor or the light background in these forums, but I can hardly make out Admiral Hoenes' facial features. I would make his skin a tad bit lighter.

Very niceÃ,  ;D

Just for an a idea, like what chicky had said, it would be nice if the end of the gun was tucked under the soldier's arm a bit instead of it resting on the front of his arms

btw your refelctions look great

I like the character designs, but as loominous stated earlier, they look kind of flat. Also, a few of the characters have very poor contrast. For instance, the character on the far right's skin and cloak have nearly the same color saturation. From a distance, he looks a bit muddled.

As for your shading, the value changes between each shade is very gradual. This is generally ok for backgrounds, but you want your sprites to stand out, not blend in.

As a third crit, their stances are very symmetrical, in fact, some of them almost look like the left and right side are mirror images. When people stand naturally, the lines of their hips and shoulders will never be parallel. One shoulder will dip slightly, and the hipÃ,  on the same side will be higher than the other one. If this isn't clear, you can look up the term contrapposto for further reference.
It would be great if you could draw your characters in more dynamic poses so they won't look like stiff tin soldiers.

I'm not trying to be overly harsh, I only want to help you improve.

strazer - it looks the same on my monitor ... but in-game it appears much lighter for some reason.Ã,  I'm not sure why this is happening and I've had to make it dark here so it'll show up like I want it in-game.Ã,  Wierd ...

chicky, potter, & big brother - these poses will never be in the game.Ã,  The characters do look like this but I use these poses more as 'models' for the characters.Ã,  But in game they're almost always in motion and animated.Ã,  So guns, shoulders, hips, etc won't be this 'posed'.

big brother - be as harsh as you want!Ã,  I'm used to critism and it makes me work harder!Ã,  It's exactly the reason I posted in here!Ã,  I'll get to playing with the contrast and color values to make the characters 'pop'!Ã,  Thanks for the tip!Ã,  Do you feel that my edits still look too flat?Ã, 

Here are two backgrounds (still in progress) from the game to give you a little taste of the graphical style:

(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/jp2/background1.png)
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/jp2/background2.png)

These look great Darth!  I'm trying to think of some C&C besides praise, but I can't think of anything!  Keep it up, please.

You've saved the fishes!!! Yay!!!

Brilliant darth, are you going to use the same wall collapse when you enter for the bgs?

Quote from: LostTraveler on Thu 16/12/2004 21:24:26Brilliant darth, are you going to use the same wall collapse when you enter for the bgs?

Yes indeed!Ã,  The technique is coded differently, but it looks the same.Ã,  Just a little more efficient.

Farlander - Yes, those are the same fish from the first game!

Anarcho - thanks!Ã,  It's always nice to hear!

Nice work Darth, I'm glad to see you're using 'planometric' perspective again.

Just one suggestion: skew shrink the floor texture more in the 2nd pic, where Cosmo and Admiral Hoenes are standing.

I'm looking forward to the game.

Very nice! (is there a echo here?)
I really like the planet earth and the rivets but the octogon on the doors look a bit funny at the right side

Excellent as always. Don't let adding highlights kill your style. They look fine either way.

It's the penguin!!!

Good to see you post again and thanks for the kind words.

PS
I'll be posting more soon ...

Mandarb,

Ã,  Your sprites suck.Ã,  Your game sucks.Ã,  I'm not looking forward to this at all.Ã,  In fact, when it comes out, I'm going to burn it to a CD just so I can flush it down a toilet.Ã,  I'm going to print out screenshots just so I can burn them.Ã,  It's all so horrible..........ah....... the horror!Ã,  AH.Ã,  The horror.

Bt

PS - I'm completely kidding around here.Ã,  Top Notch work, as always, and I can't wait for the finished product.Ã,  You're just so damn talented!!Ã,  You should make a game and sell it, because people should give you money for what you do.Ã,  Okay.Ã,  Now maybe I'm overly kissing ass.Ã,  This is a post of extremes, eh?Ã,  Nice job.Ã,  NOW, I'm interested to see what your 'secret' project is.... heh heh heh!

This is getting better and better. Characters look fab on those backgrounds! Loominous's suggestion for higlights really nailed it too, so no critics from me. Keep it up.

Dark.
It's all soo-oo darth dark.

Yes, pretty.
Yes, attractive.
Yes, near-perfect.

But too dark.

I can't help but Hear the MGS music in my head watching those

Hey Darth, that's excellent character art, as usual.

I loved the Adventures of JP and Cosmo and I'm looking forward to another game of yours.

I have one small comment to make, it's with regard to the last guy on the right (the bossy-looking blue one in green): To me, his body looks a tiny bit "square". I would take the centre part of his waist down, and push the sides of his body a little bit in (or out). His facial expression is also a bit... sad?

It looks great anyway. Just a thought.Ã,  Ã, 

Cool backgrounds! Couldnt find much to coment on. Just one thing I want to be a pain in the arse about. The bed looks a bit too square, it might be the style but I had a shot making it les 'boxed'.

I just adjusted a few pixels here and there...

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/bed.png)

Cant wait for the game!

I'm glad to see a more natural skin colour this time. The characters from your first game were good, but it looked they were all very ill due to their yellow-ish faces  ;)

--Erwin

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Thu 16/12/2004 06:56:56The only thing I won't change is their slightly over-sized heads.Ã,  I like the style and want to stick with it.Ã,  It's kind of my thing ;)

Does that mean that the ginormous eyebrows (which is the thing I always assumed was "your thing") are negotiable?

Wow, I just had a look at these, professional quality!
I can see much work and thought has gone into them, and I can't wait to see them in the full game!

No Crit… just paying homage.  ;D

-George

Wow - tons of replies!Ã,  Thanks for all the kind words!

InCreator - this was something I was definately worried about.Ã,  The over-all darkness of the images.Ã,  I will be correcting this.

Aussie - thanks for the tip.Ã,  That guy is the newest and least refined of the characters so I'm sure he'll be altered before making his appearance 'in-game'.

Gamma - It's funny you should mention that because I felt the same way and went in and made them less square.Ã,  They were even worse before!Ã,  I kind of want to give the impression that this is a very sterile and clean environment.Ã,  So I don't know if I'll change it more ... but thanks for the advice!

Erwin_Br - you can thank Mr. Farlander for the more natural skin tone.Ã,  He finally showed me the error of my skin color ways!Ã,  But you're definately right ... side by side with my old characters these definitely look better.

Snarky - Interesting ... I'll play around with shrinking the eye-brows a bit!

Mr. Farlander just pointed that the LucasArts palletes for the skins are more pink. The credit for the improving is for Mr. Mandarb.  ;)

Lookin' good, Darth.  I like the new sprites, especially.

Darth, why are you doing this? WHY ARE YOU DRAWING BETTER SPRITES THAN ME!!? I HATE YOU!!!

Nah... not really. I like these! Keep it up!Ã,  ;D