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Thanks for the suggestions.  I went and got Game Maker and also hooked up with a pretty experienced GM user; surprisingly we ended up putting together a basic, overhead view, turn based demo in less than a day.  Now we're starting on a isometric version.

Besides characters, it'd also allow you to do some neat visuals.  For instance, grass or leaves in the foreground, partially obscuring your vision.  Glass effects.  Overall I think it could be neat.  Sure it could slow things down if overused and abused, but you guys will use it correctly.  ;]

I agree, sharp probably wasn't the best choice of words.  I should have just said something like "impressive visuals".  :]

Great lines!  I like the colors too.  

Neat room!  Although I don't care for the shading in the stair well leading up.

Here's a room I'm working on.  It's not finished, I definitely need to work on and anchor those trees to the left.  I'm also going to be filling in some naked areas with more plant life.

I'm definitely open to suggestions.  This screen is basically a generic filler inbetween the regular woodlands and the elves' forest fortress.

I'm wondering if you're planning on adding higher than 1 bit alpha support in the future.  You've already started to add higher screen resolutions, I think the next step could be soft alphas.  It'd open up quite a few possibilities to making really sharp visuals.
Just curious.

The tile based terrain and movement could prove difficult with trying to use AGS, as CJ pointed out.
I also checked out Game Maker (if that's the one advertised on http://t3dgm.darkbasic.com) but it seems very crude.  Perhaps it'd be an ideal base for building upon, but I'd be incapable of making the necessary alterations myself.

Would anyone be interested in getting involved with a project of this type? (I also have a unique platformer concept)  I have art covered (I'm a professional game artist) but I have no ability on the code side.  If you're experienced and would like to discuss the concepts, let me know.  
madfx@hotmail.com

On a side note, I'd like to congratulate CJ on making AGS as beginner friendly as it is.  In comparison to the other freeware game engines, it's light years ahead in it's straight forward interface.  And that's great!

Really cool stuff!

A comment on the animation though, I think some movement in the heel would help sell the toe tapping.  Right now it looks exaggerated and detached from the heel.  Otherwise it's excellent.

And that head model is very nice.  I would suggest a slight edit to the cheek area.  I see you're going for a stylized hard cheek, but it's distracting from an otherwise awesome model.  I'd make it a bit more subtle; by bringing out the jawline, and adding a bit more flesh to those cheeks.  (I build characters in Max all day at work, so I'm picky)  ;]

Yeah, I was wondering if it'd be possible in AGS.  I'm sure it is, but it would require some heavy modification.  That's why I was wondering if someone had already went about creating a user friendly engine/editor for that genre of game.  It would surely benefit me, as I'm an artist by trade; code makes my head spin.
Thanks.

Thanks.  I used Photoshop to create the background and my sprites.

I was wondering if there's any engine available (free or commercial) for creating turn based strategy games.  Examples being Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Hoshigami, etc.  
It'd especially be great if it were as easy to work with as Chris has made AGS.  ;]

Any help would be appreciated.

Good stuff!

I hope you don't mind me doing a quick edit to your sprites, but I didn't know how to explain it clearly without an example.  I think you could help these characters make a stronger impact by using one color shading.  Like on the gray suits, using a darker shade of gray to draw in some hints of shadow and form/contours.

I'm also looking forward to seeing what style of backgrounds you're going to be using.

Xadhoom: I'm guessing you're right, animating a cycle for such a pixel heavy character would probably take a great deal of time.  I think I might give it a try though, just to see how much longer it takes.


I do have another question though.  Is there a way to play a small animation cycle BEFORE snapping into the looping walk cycle?  For instance, say this sprite character below stands in place as shown.  Say I wanted his walk cycle to have him carrying the axe in one hand resting over his shoulder.  You would get a nasty pop from holding the axe in both hands at a stand still, to holding the axe over his shoulder with one hand during the walk animation.  
Any ideas?

Thanks guys.

Taryuu: You're right, using exaggerated proportions would definitely help in the case of smaller sized sprites.  And while I could do something like that (my hi-res art is actually heavily influenced by anime) for this type of game I'd like to go with a realistic look.
And I must admit to not playing the early FF's.  Infact, I only played 7 and 8; 8 being my favorite.  I couldn't stand the art direction in 9, and 10 had too much FMV and I didn't like that they had the main character talking.  I do like the sprites from the earlier games that I've seen on the net.

Looking much better now.  I'd agree that the table could use some futuristicizing.
Perhaps an oval shaped mini bar type table?

And one more, you guessed it, test.
I upped the sprite size to 40x80.  This would definitely work, atleast in allowing more detail to the characters.  Would this size be too large on a 320x240 background?  I could always scale them down a bit, either ingame, or attempt to author them at 30x60.



BTW, thanks for the nice upload spot, Neole.

Thanks Xadhoom.  The other night I dug through the older pages here and saw your sprites, they're awesome.  It's a letdown you've dropped that fantasy based project, I was digging the style.
Infact, I should harass you to team up on an all original fantasy project.  ;]

Excellent car designs.
And better yet, excellent car designs which illustrate a flexible workflow.

Neole: I doubt you'd have much trouble applying your talent to a couple hundred pixels.  ;]  
Thanks.

Just a quick note, that anti aliasing of sprites works wonders!