Messages

That's roflicious!

Ooo, I have a cardboard box of Fate somewhere- with the original disks even (though those are well past their shelf date). Will go and dig it out the weekend!

Damn I like that mug. Print that on an AGS blue mug and I'd be handing you money.

I can send over the template file (a simple png) and you can have it printed yourself. Blue on blue may look a bit arkward, though.

This is my MUG!

And yes, I just created a side view, and then broke the picture into segments/objects I could rotate/move.

Many people do that; so nothing wrong with it- there's even an AGS Walkcycle Generator that works on the very idea and it's pretty good. Just remember to cover up gaps and you should be fine.
My own approach is different though (and more work-intense)- I use a body without arms and legs, shift it around, and draw the limbs frame-by-frame. It's clearly more work, even in low-res sprites, but the result's pretty pleasing and well worth the effort.

What I forgot to mention above, you're using bounce/recoil to good effect. Just so you know, you did something many people forget and it didn't go unnoticed!

Not too bad. Frames 3-6 create an arkward jerking motion for head and torso; movement in that region is usually smoother since the spine takes most of the recoil. It also looks as if you've using body sements- there are visible gaps and "joints" that could be smoothened. But basically a nice start.

The workflow you describe sounds terrible though. I'm no fan of Corel so I am clearly biased, but since you're creating a low-res, non-AA sprite anyway, I'd suggest you take a look at GraphixGale. It's easy to use, free, and you can do everything in ONE workspace.

[Understanding Comics]

That depends a bit on what you want to learn? Just some basic perspective? Anatomy? Cartoon style? I have a great deal of bookmarks that I'll happily share, just give me a short heads-up on what you're looking for

Two books that I can recommend without fail:
Understanding Comics and Making Comics, both by Scott McCloud. The first is about sequential art in general and the tools employed to create a story out of images, the second is a more hands-on approach on image composition, story flow, characterization et al. They are very good- and they are essays written as comics, so you get a lot out of them too

Ghost, I had no idea! I take the blame. What can I do to apologize?
Believe me, I was trying to be nice.

And I do not doubt that. Personally, I tend to read the friendler interpretation anyways and this IS the internet, after all.  I just wanted to point out how it CAN be read- that's why I added your threads being both challenging (in that they offer a controversical view) and entertaining (in that you see them through and have the words to do that).

I'm hearing those marching guys that guard the Wicked Witch's castle, but maybe that's just me.

I thought the same, but the message is clearly OREO. So I just had a cookie.

Happy birthday, Grim!

Bang.

I thought a limping fish would be more like "slupp-slubb"

I had no idea this subject could be so insulting to some people.

To pick up on that, it's not just your audience (I think ThreeOhFour is already spot on there) but the tone. You have knowledge, that much is clear, but you yourself seem to take cover behind the big names. To quote yourself from the other thread:

Well, if what theorists say doesn't matter... I'm sorry. I thought it was relevant.

See, they are theorists. Phrasing aside ("If you think what [intelligent people ]say doesn't matter" can be read as extremely arrogant, really) they form theories. You are here at a hobbyist game-making forum. Not a professional one, and not everyone here is a studied man. But we make games and we play games. We're living the theory without knowing about it, you could say.

Basically, what you did is entering a hall full of greasy mechanics who tinker on this heap of scrap metal and told them they should rather go and read the fine works of X. Or learn reading in the first place.

I used to think that if I could just find out what kind of ink and brush and paper Jeff Smith used I could draw stuff just like his very, very great BONE comic series. Silly, or course; tools don't make the art.
Then I thought no, I should just check out what he studied and used as reference material, because then I would understand the rules of how he made his stuff and could just be as great. Not quite as silly but stil futile.
Then I started to draw really, really many many pages full of stuff, and realised what powered ME, and got to grips with my creative sources. That made me*.

It's nice having theories to fall back on. Some are universal and some change so quickly that you can drink a healthy coffee in the morning and read how a morning coffee kills you in the evening. You need to do something with those cool theories. If only prove them wrong. And it's possible to power a fun game purely on tropes and fun without ever knowing about the finer points of human recreation. Games can be wine and caviar and exclusive candlelight. But they can also be egg and a fried slice.

And I'll leave it at that. But both all your threads have been interesting and challenging, so well played.

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Not "made me anything". It just made me.

Got your point. And also a link. It's a serious one.
It's the Galaxy Song.

However, if all your work is applied at the "simple" task of survival, then you have no time to develop, grown, enrich, etc. You'd be stuck in a stagnant civilization.

I'd say that if I have to worry about survival only, I'd pour whatever time I have into improving my chances. We did come up with some clever things* over the past and many were born out of a) the need to get better at surviving and b) lucky chance. So at least for a while, a survivor's culture would be in dire need of NOT being stagnant.

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Domestic animals, irrigation, metalworks, THE AQUEDUCT...

In my view, we have too much entertainment.

Yes okay, but WHAT makes you think that? The sentence implies you see a detrimental effect there. Which one?

But if you say it's not enough until people stop buying, then, what can I say?

I'l lfind out. What makes you so defensive and yet unwilling to drop the subjec? There are four pages of good valid PoVs here, enough to sway a lesser man or at least to admit that the discussion won't reach a conclusion. Yet that quote sounds like another clearing of the throat before the next thing is bad and horrible

About jobs, I was oversimplifying, but what I meant was: why more jobs in game industry if we already have too much games?

Ohwait. Here the storyteller in my disagrees. Where does it say we have too many games? I would say games are one of the few products that can be created in (theoretically) infinite number. This applies to most "entertainment media", people will always consume the next movie even if it's "just about the guy getting the girl". People will always buy the next Match-3 even though they already have Bejeweled.
Too many games, really? I don't see that.

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Edit: And I DID start working on a game too!

Played a lot of games, though.

And made games. That means like most of us, you're giving the third-greatest-gift*!
I'll be over in my attic making a game now

Handsome Jack: "I have a battleship! Full of BOMBS!"
Roland: "We have a Siren."

(Psi-augmented women starts to yell): Weeeee--ohhhhh-meeeeee-ohhhhh-wheeeeeeee-oooooo...

Sometimes I think in comics...

Phrrrblblblbl!

Thanks Tamara- and sorry for the slow updates; I'm having some timing issues here so progress did slow down a bit.
To make up for it, check out the final Meet The Cast entries in the original post.

Will pick up speed again soon