Edit: Alright. I changed the colour of his vest-type thing. He's supposed to be wearing a futuristic business suit of some kind. I don't know if that comes across.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/lancecarville2.gif)
Lance Carville. I've never done much sprite work before. It's bloody time-consuming, I had no idea... Any advice, comments, constructive criticisms, hey, great. Also here's a bit of a script, to give you an idea what I'm all about. Yessir. Tell me if you like it. Or tell me why you don't.
****
(Fade in. Lance's ship drifting through space. It's full of stars. A mail-bag floats by.)
DEEP SPACE
(pause)
(opening narration)
3098 AD
Tuesday
Meet Oliver Macabee Carville -- Lance, as he might be known to his family and friends, if he had either. History, which is to say, what is left of it, remembers him as The Man Who Sold the World.
One thousand years after the fact, Lance Carville is starting to realize he may have made a gross miscalculation.
(On the bridge)
LANCE:
(holds a frayed postcard in his hand, showing the Earth in full bloom.)
Well... shit, I didn't know the place was going to appreciate.
(Computer lights blink. Monitor a picture of a blackened planet with explosions lighting the surface. The destroyed world has the caption Earth 2100.)
GOG:
Of course. You thought you had gotten the better end of the deal.
LANCE:
Well, yeah. We thought we'd used everything up on earth.
I mean, the generation before us, we got their leftovers.
Big blacked-out wasteland, glass towers that killed us when we tried to live in them, airships we didn't have the fuel or tickets to ride...
...just a few dried-up hunks of barely arable land and the technology to blow ourselves up a hundred times over.
I thought it would all be downhill after that. It was a, whaddyacallit...
...buyer's market.
GOG:
I suppose that is one possible extrapolation, from the known variables.
LANCE:
Survival of the fittest. I got out while the getting was good.
It wasn't exactly my choice.
They weren't going to take no for an answer, and there was no reason for me to go down with the ship, so to speak.
Any man in my position would have done the same.
...right?
(pause)
GOG:
Would you like me to provide you with a straight answer?â€
LANCE: (dialogue options)
1.Ã, Ã, Ã, Sure.
2.Ã, Ã, Ã, No, I'd like you to make me feel better about selling out everyone and everything I ever knew to an alien entity I still know absolutely nothing about.
3.Ã, Ã, Ã, No, I'd like you to lie and make me feel better about being swindled on the deal, like I was.
4.Ã, Ã, Ã, No, I'd like you to dodge the answer by conveniently changing the subject.
(1)
GOG: Well, there was that time you sold your whole species into slavery and abandoned the world that spawned you for money.
LANCE: I mean apart from that.
(2)
GOG:
It seems likely that the human race was probably doomed to kill each other off anyway. You simply sealed their fate, hurried them on their way to oblivion.
It probably didn't make much of a difference in the greater scheme of things.
And from the looks of that postcard, the universe is better off without them.
LANCE:
Place looks like a golf course. You can't tell me that's natural.
(3)
GOG: I am not programmed to lie, Lance. You got taken.
LANCE: Gee, thanks. Not programmed for tact, either, are we?
GOG: Negative. You also sold out all of humanity in the process.
LANCE: You're not helping me feel better.
GOG: I'm not trying.
(4)
(next)
GOG: *bleep*
Oh, look at this. My sensors indicate an anomalous mass off the port bow, Lance.
About the sprite:
It's very nice! I like the hands and poses.
Like you say, it's a bit dark. I'd keep the gloves and boots totally black and add some more grey details to the body.
It might be better to make his eyes, mouth and head outline less black too.
About the script:
Looks very interesting!
Doesn't tell me anything about the game but it does tell me the game is going to be funny.
The dialog confused me a bit - I didn't see how (1) followed on from the conversation. It seemed to be the same incident described as if it was a different incident.
Also, unless you're planning on using a tiny font, those dialog options aren't going to fit on a line. You might want to shorten the choices and then "speak" the long versions.
It's early, but I'm looking forward to this!
*Agrees with Steve*
(1) doesn't fully lead on from the conversation... GOG is meant to confirm whether or not any other man WOULD have done as Lance did, but then proceeds to explain how lance somehow 'sold out' his race. While this is undeniably funny, the connection isn't there. (Maybe there IS a connection, but the reader/player isn't aware of it yet. In this case, something needs to be done so the player isn't going "wtf?")
And, sadly, I have to agree about the length of the speak-options. I understand that most of the humour comes from the laughably long sentences, but unless you want the dialog options thingy to take up half the screen (or use ultra-small fonts that are rendered un-readable) you need to cut them down a bit.
An example (obviously these are just off the top of my head - so I'm not going for quality. Just quantity):
1. I....guess so...
2. Could you justify selling off the entire human race instead?
3. Maybe, but could you affirm that I wasn't swindled first?
4. No. Say something totally irrrelevant to throw me off.
Hmm... might that game title have something to do with Nirvana?
The sprites could use some lightening up (as you pointed out),. Yeah... listen to Steve and Peter's critiques. Other than that, everything is fine.
Quote from: Dart on Thu 15/04/2004 12:04:48
Hmm... might that game title have something to do with Nirvana?
that'll be David Bowie..
anywayz, i really like the sprite and the script does seem interesting.. could do with some more background information on the game or something though..
good work.
Alrighty, I altered the pic. His vest was originally dark gray, but you couldn't tell what with the originally palette I was using. It's blue for now. I'll repair the dialogue. I think I deleted something I shouldn't have, in retrospect. And thanks for telling me about the length of my options. I was...unaware. :) Peter, I like your suggestions.
Glad I've got all your attention, at least.
The story is in its early planning stages. This being my first game, I'm going to try and keep it fairly simple.
Without giving too much away, the story is about Lance, the last living human being in the universe. As far as he knows, at least. Technically. He has his business partner in cryo-lock. That was his deal with Them: Lance got a ship and the supercomputer GOG, his ticket off a dying Earth. All he had to do was sign over all of humanity in the process.
He didn't think to wonder why They needed permission to invade Earth. Not until after the fact, at least.
At any rate, this first game will simply follow Lance as he stumbles upon an alien machine that allows him to create life. Provided he can find enough organic material to recombine inside the device. And provided he can puzzle out how to work the damn thing.
I don't... just get the feeling from that guy... He doesn't seem bad (evil) enough to me. Maybe if his chin was pointier. He looks like bouncer or that guy who spins the roulette thingy in a casino at the moment... or sloppily dressed... I don't know. But you shouldn't really listen to me since I'm probably the only one bothered by it.
This sounds really interesting ...
I agree with Haddas that the guy doesn't look able to do something so evil ... and while that might be what you're going for, I did this paintover:
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/ironpirate_help01.gif)(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/ironpirate_help01.gif)
I thinned his eyes (and spaced them out a little more) and changed his eyebrows. I also added some lines to his forehead. As well as added some shading to the whole face.
I wanted to give the look that he's not an evil person necessarily, but perhaps a character of 'less then average' moral quality.
I didn't touch the body area 'cause I think it looks great. I even like the lack of detail to the legs/boots.
I got the impression he's a Red Dwarf type character. Not evil, or corrupt, just a bit thick and careless.
This whole thing is very Red Dwarf. ;D
As near as Lance could tell, the contract he signed was just a formality. They, whoever They were, were going to take Earth one way or another. Someone was going to make out on the deal Lance took, and it might as well have been him.
The fact that he asks GOG to rationalize his guilt away says something, I think.
Thanks, Mandarb. That might be a little more 'Harvey Keitel' than I really wanted to go, though. The wrinkles make him look a lot older (and wiser), and eternal youth was also part of the deal (and eternal cluelessness is just part of who he is). I want him to look attractive but sleazy, well-dressed but only because someone else picked out his clothes. What Haddas said about him looking like a bouncer or croupier actually makes me pretty happy. Kind of a schmuck, kind of a jerk, kind of a sap. Like the rest of us. ;)
I might do some more shading. I might not. I want to keep the colour scheme here very simple and low-key, like good old Monkey Island.
lol i like the look of this one, just hope the story can be interesting to back up what you've shown so far. Keep it up mate.
I liked the paintover because the original kinda looks like one of the Wiggles.
I quite like the look and feel of this. Anything inspired by Red Dwarf has GOT to be good.
Ok, I'm not sure if I need to adjust my video card's settings or what, but I cannot see any detail of this guy's clothes until I boost the brightness WAY up. I'm talking blinded by the white glow of the screen bright. Seriously, can anyone else see the detail of the clothes?
nope, for me it's just a head with only black beneath it! So I don't know what to think of it, because It's really only BLACK! ::)
I see it
Well I managed to make my screen bright enough to see it without making the whites and everything else blindingly bright. Took tons of graphic setting tweaking though...ugh, and I'm still not satisfied with it. However, I'm not sure if this is what I should be seeing or what, that's a bummer. I have an older monitor, not LCD or anything, maybe that's why.
But ya know, I really like the way you did his clothes, and I do get the feeling it's a futuristic type of clothing. As for business suit? Nah I get more of startrek-ish feeling from it. Maybe that's what you mean by business? He looks as though he could be an officer.
Moresco: My monitor is a few years old, not LCD or anything. If your brightness/contrast settings are okay for other pictures, I'm not quite sure what to tell you.
There was an older version of the picture that actually was pretty well black (I used dark gray instead of blue for his vest-type thing) but I changed that and uploaded a new version.
Anyway, his suit is meant to be just sort of an average three-piece suit in the 2Xth Century, of the basic kind any businessman from Wall Street to door-to-door on Maplebrook Lane might wear... Lance is in the league of small-time entrepreneur/con-man, so his is somewhere between the two, but it's still supposed to be a pretty snazzy, understatedly flashy look. I think it's some kind of mass-produced designer suit, and I tried to show that with the two-tones, the red cravat/turtleneck(?), and pinstripe armbands.
And I've also got another considered intro. I may work out some combination of this next part and the above script. Nothing's set in stone. Enjoy:
****
(Fade in. A cityscape, crumbling and smoldering.)
EARTH
2098
(Scene: An office. Not very new. Old fashioned. Lance sits behind a desk. Two vaguely humanoid figures sit opposite, obscured in darkness. A man in a suit stands by the window, looking out.)
SHADOW:
...That's our final offer.
LANCE:
That's a laugh.
Insulting, is what it is.
SHADOW:
It's our final offer.
LANCE:
This is a rare gem! You *are* getting a whole planet, here.
ATMAN:
(standing by the window) Plus the people living on it. All [number not set] of them.
SHADOW:
I do not know why you think that makes the price go UP.
LANCE:
(to Atman) Let me handle this, okay, buddy?
SHADOW:
I mean, it's not as if they've all been domesticated yet.
LANCE:
I can assure you, humanity has been housebroken for several millennia now--
ATMAN:
I think that's overstating it.
LANCE:
--The question is, can I send you home today happy with your purchase, of this, a beautiful, fully life-giving planet?
You've got your own atmosphere, gently used, prime location, out of the way but not a huge commute if you want to get to Galactic Central...
ATMAN:
(continues looking out the window) And a great view.
LANCE:
Right, right. So, what do you say...?
(Fade to black. Cue titles.)
Damn, that's good too!
Deliciously absurd. Yes, deliciously.
I'm diggin' this ...
Keep it up!
The character's face has a really unique style to it. The plot sounds interesting. Overall, I'd be happy to play as that character in a game with a similar plot to the one you're developing. Cool beans.
Penguin, man: To me he looks kind of like Quentin Tarantino. But I didn't think of that until afterwards.
Anyway, thanks everypeople. Hopefully I don't disappoint. :D
Now, for my next trick... A walk cycle from another game I'm working on. You'll never guess what it's about.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/milowalkcycle.gif)
The fershlugginer .gif animator I'm using puts the text on top until you register. Personally I'd rather not pay thirty bucks for something I probably could've gotten for free a few years ago. Can anybody help with this?
Well, I use easy Gif animator and It works great it only $9.50 to register and even with the evaluation version you can save with no ads or anything saved with the gif. check below,
http://www.blumentals.net/egifan/
I think thats the right link.... Oh and if you don't wanna register it, just wait till your eval. is up then uninstall and do a search in your registry for any file that has to do with Easy GIF animator and delete them this way you can reinstall and start your eval over again!! :) Not that I'd ever do that...
Oh and no c&c from me except...... Hey you can't see thats guys head its cuttoff??? Do you plan on keeping like that lol j/k
Keep up the good work! 8)
for the program you're using now why not just add 25 pixels to the top of each animation, the blank space will be filled with the banner and the animation will show through
I use the old Microsoft GIF Animator (http://msdl.microsoft.com/msdownload/gifanimator/gifsetup.exe). Simple, but works.
Edit: Updated link