Hat or no Hat

[Haggis]

My first post in the lounge area, and it's not a major question... I read the rules and considered this one long and hard - 'Consider if you actually need criticism'... but for peace of mind...

I'm just looking for the general consensus on whether my evil-Zorro-esque villain looks better with or without the hat. I'm beginning to think the hat just adds too much to the character, distracts from his devious expression...



and yes, the cloak cape looks pretty pants.

Having had a look around here at other stuff people are doing, like coooool flash animation i was wondering if there is easy to use freeware stuff out there that i could get stuck into. At the moment i use Inkscape for all my characters, and create a standard 6/8 image sprite sheet, manually crafting each frame. It would be great to try and use flash to bring these guys to life!

That is all.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Zorro-esque

In what historical period and in what location does the game take place? It could help to decide (I mean, it's not only about what looks the coolest, but also about what fits the best in the game's background)

[Knox]

I think you got this character nailed right-on, and I love the color scheme!

Is there a possibility of having both the hat on and off? Like perhaps the character can take it off sometimes?

If not, well if I had to choose only one, I personally would prefer him without the hat, looks less like a Zorro/Musketeer wannabe and more like a villain.

[Haggis]

Well... the game's loosely inspired by spaghetti western films... i would have suggested searching the Forum for 'The Man with No Name' GIP thread, but the search tools probably still broken. But like all good adventure games it doesn't necessarily walk the 'authentic period' line as rigidly as it would if the game was a serious historic portrayal. I thought a good western type villain might be a swashbuckling evil-zorro type.

The hat for me also seems to make him look too militant, like a civil war type officer. The head mask by itself reeks of villain. That's the way i see it at present.

Knox - you've nailed it! Musketeer, THAT'S what he looks like with the hat! It has to go... although i feel a little sorry for it... i'll find another character for it.

[Anian]

You kind of didn't ask, but you might turn the colors a few notches brighter (even the black for the mask), on some parts it's hard to tell where the outline is.

Also if he works at night then no hat is necessary, but it might be good to try a few different hat styles before you discard the idea.

And if you're still searching for vector animation software, give this a try SYNFIG http://www.synfig.org/cms/ it's basically the animation and drawing part of Flash, should be pretty good

[Sam.]

Hat.

[Eggie]

Hat.

[Icey]

hat

[Haggis]

Thanks people, just as i was convinced the hat had to go it's been thrown back into the ring by your relentless support! I shall have to reconsider.

Anian - some good points, I inadvertently tried a Fez by removing the brim of the hat, which looked good... Synfig Studio is actually the only one i've tried but I found it pretty complicated going and decided that it would take the same amount of time figuring out how to use it as it would to do all the frames manually. Maybe once i've finished this game i'll give it another go.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Well... the game's loosely inspired by spaghetti western films...

The reason why I asked is because zorro is clearly rooted in a historical period that I would believe being anterior to Spaghetti Western. Let's say... Early 19th century for Zorro and later 19th century for Eastwood-like cowboys.

To me, the anachronism would feel weird, it would be like seeing D'Artagnan pop up in Gone With the Wind (to a lesser extend, though). But maybe I'm the only one.

Having said that, both character designs look great, which make it difficult to choose.

EDIT: Oh wait, I got it : I think it's actually the sword that makes it feel anachronic to me.
Compare all the models below. In a Spaghetti western, I'd expect the guy to use a saber-like sword rather than a thin, "spiky" blade like this.

[Eggie]

I think the juxtaposition sounds pretty cool myself.

[Haggis]

Monsieur! I do believe you would be right regarding the sword (in all honesty the sword tip was a bit of an afterthought i bunged in just before i posted the original images) - of course... it may not actually be a sword... I have yet to fully decide what it might be when the cape comes back!

Ironically - despite my earlier statement about not worrying about being periodically correct i can reveal that the game is set in 1885 for specific reasons! So Eastwood territory. But i thought they was something appealing about having an evil zorro, possibly camping it up. Otherwise most of the characters would look fairly similar... although actually having said that, all the ones ive done are very different from one another.

Also - i tested giving the headmask a lighter shade of black as suggested. Makes a big difference in terms of seeing the details that are on there such as the eyebrows (dont ask how his eyebrows appear to be visible through the headmask.. i just can't answer this). Also looks better with the hat on like this which will please the above hat fans.

[Ghost]

May I add that I really like the look of the man- it makes a strong, clear outline and has just the right amount of "evil", still with some flair... I can see that working well.

(dont ask how his eyebrows appear to be visible through the headmask.. i just can't answer this).

Campy Batman had eybrows PAINTED on his mask. And he was awesome and a large ham and had anti-shark-pills in his toolbelt, so may I suggest that
a) you replace the sword with a periodically correct shark named Eastwood. Double win here- your villain can lounge around and stroke the shark, and
b) the hero could at one point be forced to JUMP THE EASTWOOD.

[Monsieur OUXX]

(dont ask how his eyebrows appear to be visible through the headmask.. i just can't answer this).

It's an artistic choice and I think it's a neat idea.