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Thanks for your help Ashen, everything is up and running now. Here's the finished code snippet including the lines I posted before. Again, I'm sorry my limited internet access posed a communication difficulty.

Code: ags

ViewFrame *initial_frame = Game.GetViewFrame(particles[n].view, particles[n].loop, 0); //get the first frame in the specified loop
int frame_spread = (Game.GetFrameCountForLoop(particles[n].view, particles[n].loop) ); // get the frame count in the loop
float timer_percent = (1.0 - (particles[n].timer / particles[n].lifespan)); // get a fraction for particle animation
int current_frame = (initial_frame.Graphic + FloatToInt(timer_percent * IntToFloat(frame_spread)));
RawDrawImage(FloatToInt(particles[n].x), FloatToInt(testy_bits[n].y), current_frame);

And here are a couple of screenshots of how the system works... the test particles are ugly as sin (just scaling, jagged edged blobs of pure color). The finished game intends to be more polished.


The user creates new objects and sets the appropriate icon...


When the game runs, the script creates appropriate emitters at the object locations.

There's no object level scripting involved. The goal is to make it easy to create and modify scenes with multiple emitters. Thanks again, Ashen!

[are]

However, I'm not sure what you're doing with (the ViewFrame declaration)  - you need to specify a View and Loop to get the count for, and even then it'll only return an int value, not a Frame. What are you trying to do?

My apologies for the communication error, I don't have the script on hand at this computer and I'm reconstructing it as best I can. The line in question should read

Code: ags

Game.GetFrameCountForLoop(myview, myloop);

where myview and myloop are previously set values.

As for functionality, this is part of a particle system. The system automatically sets up emitters based on room objects. Different emitters use different animated particle sprites. Let's say one uses view 33, loop 3 and another uses view 34, loop 1. This portion of the script draws a single particle using the correct loop and frame. I hope that's enough information to clarify.

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll tinker with the script some more and post a response once I've made more progress or found a solution.

Thanks for answering my previous question so quickly. This one is probably just a syntax error as well:

Code: ags

// ints n, x, and y are set above;
ViewFrame *current_frame = Game.GetFrameCountForLoop;
current_frame = (current_frame + n); // error points here
RawDrawImage(x, y, current_frame);

The compiler says "Cannot convert *ViewFrame to int." I was hoping there was something like "FloatToInt" that I could use here, but I'm at a loss, and a forum search for ViewFrame didn't yield any relevant results.

I would just use Object.Animate, but this is for a RawDrawImage call.

For reference this script snippet was working before the addition of Game.GetFrameCountForLoop. It looked like this:

Code: ags

//ints n, x, and y are set above
int current_frame = 234;
current_frame = (current_frame + n);
RawDrawImage(x, y, current_frame);

Great, that's exactly what I was hoping was possible. Thanks a lot.

Hello all. There's a room script that creates several arrays of the same size.

Code: ags

int array_1[1000];
int array_2[1000];
int array_3[1000];

Is there a way to define the array size only once? The compiler doesn't seem to like the following

Code: ags

int limit = 1000;
int array_1[limit];
int array_2[limit];
int array_3[limit];

The error given is "Array size must be constant value.".

A agree, that looks nice. I like the slightly sketchy shading style! The framing and foreground objects are effective too.

If the rounded corners at the top left and right are an arch that's part of the room (and not just an imaginary border) it would add some depth to shade the inside of the arch. I'd use a very dark color, almost black but visible enough to give the arch dimension.

I would highly recommend to all interested in game development:
Another World
Ikaruga
Monkey Island 2
Pikmin
Paper Mario
Animal Forest
Puzzle Bobble (the first one for the Neo Geo)

Also, in a more mainstream vein: Quake, Quake III, Doom III.

I tend to like titles that have a few possible interpretations or encourage speculation. Like "The Thirteen Clocks", "The Midwich Cuckoos", or "Freefall". And though I think pretentious titles should generally be avoided, they can be a good fit for a serious fantasy or science fiction work. Some examples of this are "That Hideous Strength", 'The Iron Giant" or "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Off of the 'multiple endings' subject, I'd really like to see more games that simply do their own thing without worrying about pleasing anyone. In commercial game development I can see why people feel they have to use tried and true formulas. But if an amateur developer isn't going to make any money anyway, they have all kinds of freedom. I love games that pick a goal, even if only three people in the world are going to like the end product, and then earnestly try to reach it.

I think your general workflow seems good. I second Medical Waste's suggestion to keep everything in layers (that is, if you aren't already doing that...). If you are using a program that allows it, I'd suggest making a plain colored layer for each object then painting the object silhouette in a layer mask. That way when you are doing detail work later on. you can paint color and lighting in the layer itself withouth worrying about messing up outlines.

Regarding antialiasing or not, I'd recommend antialiasing from the start. I had the same question myself a while ago. I found it takes much longer to add antialiasing to a drawing at the end than it does to simply draw it with an antialiased brush. You can work pretty rough, it's easy to go back and refine edges later.

Neat background, I'm sure this will look great when finished.

Is it because he's incomplete that parts of him are lit, while other parts like the shirt have two color levels and only the slightest hint of lighting?

Regarding his proportions, I think he could stand to be a little chunkier.

Edit
I took updownleftright's suggestion and made him lean forward slightly.


First attempt at lip-sync
The palette is off in that .gif for some reason, but you can still tell what's going on.
I've never done this before, so I don't really know what I'm doing. I think the biggest thing missing right now is a head motion, but I'm not sure which letters to attach it to. Also some of the mouth shapes are duplicates, and some don't look quite right. Any suggestions would be welcome, I'm shooting in the dark here.

edit 4/8:
Thanks again to all who repied with feedback earlier. I'm not surprised there were no responses to that last update- I've heard lip-sync is a pretty uncommonly used feature. Anyway, if anyone has practical advice (especially how to incorporate head movement) I'd very much appreciate it. Cheers!

I feel complex shading isn't good or bad- it's a matter of the style of the game. Regarding the hair in the shaded edit, it might look more natural if the highlights were smaller and sharper.

I like his style! Lots of character, good execution. The hair and eyebrows are much improved. His white vacant stare is very expressive, actually. It would be fun in a cartoony way if you treated the glasses rims like a pair of giant eyes, and made them frown, squint, etc. The lines and colors are very soft and pleasing, except perhaps the pure black on the shoes. His left shoelace also looks a little awkward in comparison to the rest of the drawing, which is very fluid and natural. He still has a bit of a center of gravity issue- it sort of looks like he's leaning backward against a wall or something. I like how far back he is leaning, but I'd recommend compensating by sticking his head and / or hips forward past his feet.

Here's a semi-final version.

Great edit Sparky, i always think it's cool to see what little changes can do to a sprite...
I like the new shoes better, the pointy bit was nice, but the rest of the character wasn't very angular, so they didn't match perfectly (if that makes sense!).
I must be honest, I can't really see the change to the torso, sorry! The more I look at it though the less it bothers me, it kind of fits the pose.
One quick note on the animation, although I know it's very early, I think he should bend his body ever so slightly as he tilts his head down. I'd just move the hips one pixel left and the shoulders one pixel right, it would help the motion look more natural.

Shoes- yeah, he's sort of chunky and rounded. I think these shoes do fit better. Change to torso- one pixel was shaved off the right side, and the shoulder was shifted left- it's pretty hard to see unless you zoom way in. Leaning forward- in this edit he doesn't lean forward. I think that's a good suggestion, though! I'll likely alter the last few frames and post another edit.

mmmm I love men in uniform , very nice sprite, too bad it's not in color.

Is your game going to be in grayscale?

This is for a little adventure in grayscale. The goal is a look somewhat like charcoal or graphite drawings.

edit:
The rough talking animation is in progress, it should be posted soon. He's looking down while talking (like the last frame of this sequence). This is the first talk animation in the project. How might one approach this? Mustache wiggle, a little bit of mouth showing once in a while? Maybe small head movements? Also, what are some thoughts for/against lip synching?

Orator:
Understood! I do like details, but sometimes I think it's best to combine teeny elements (like calendar cells) into a larger mass and draw that instead. Anyway that's where I'm coming from.

I love it! I literally gasped in surprise when I saw that last edit. That crack on the left wall is lovely. This is going into a finished game, right? If you make a game with this and everything else is as good as this art, people will line up for miles to play it.

The one thing I don't like is the pattern shading on the telephone and calendar. Dithering is nice sometimes, but I feel that in this case it makes the objects feel flat. Some shaped shading, even just two colors, would work better in my opinion. But... you're right, it's time to move on. Again, really nice work.

Left: original, right: edit

Maybe extend the feet down a little (make them bigger).

I tried that in this edit, thanks for the useful feedback. The original goal was for the shoes to be sort of stylized, like elephant feet with a little pointy toe in front. Does the sharp 45-degree toe line in the original bother anyone else? I'd be curious to hear this, because I currently plan to use similar feet on all the human characters.

I like it, but he does remind me a little of Adolf Hitler I keep expecting one of his hands to shoot up in a Nazi salute!

But seriously, the only thing i'd change is the left hand side of his chest is bulgin out a little too much, which makes it look like his torso is twisted slightly. Other than that it's great!

The resemblance to Hitler, though uncanny, is entirely accidental. Or subconscious. He also reminds me of Mario, now that you mention it. All he needs is some overalls. Oh, and thank you for the advice about the twist in the torso. I really didn't notice that, and I've tried to fix it in this edit. Does it still look twisted?

The one thing I have a problem with---the one thing--is his mustache is straight, but his head is at an angle.

That was bugging me too! He kept looking sort of like he was smirking, and I wasn't sure exactly why or what to do about it. I've tilted his mustache back to match the angle of the head, I hope that works now. It had the effect of making him look less happy and more bored, which is also good.


sketch for animation
This sketch was unfortunately made before making all the recommended changes, but rest assured the final shaded version will incorporate them. The main character is a child, so I'm making the guard look down when he begins a conversation. Here's a rough version of the sequence. In this 1-bit sketch it looks like he's putting his right hand right through his back- shading should make it clear that he's putting his hands behind him, not scratching his gall bladder.

I'm not sure about the two point perspective thing, maybe I should give it a go and see first, but i've been trying to base this background off reference pieces from old Lucasarts games, and most of them seem to be in 1 point perspective, so I went with that.

Mildly off topic, yet hopefully relevant: Just yesterday I was sitting down and playing Monkey Island 2. I noticed just what you pointed out; I was surprised to see so many rooms with "one point" layouts. I think that's largely true of most older adventure games. I totally respect the direction you took. It's obvious you made a conscious decision to use that perspective, and you've got good reasons for it. I can't wait to see the next edit, with foreground objects...

I think part of my problem with this piece is that I have no design brief, I kind of just waded in and started painting without any planning (as usual with me!). I really should sit down and get a design document done for the game i'm planning, but i'm enjoying the pixel pushing so much the the moment I can't bear to not be in front of photoshop!

Yeah, I love the execution end of business too! I love getting my hands dirty, but I don't have a tendency to plan very well. I recently started making myself do rough sketches before starting a background, and it's helped me a lot. It only takes a few minutes.

I like the reworked outline of the big muscle men. The forearms are very nice. It might actually be more in keeping with your other sprites to reduce the amount of detail.

If you want to keep detail in the stomach area, you might want to try hinting at muscles instead of explicitly outlining all of them. A couple small lines along the sides of the abs (lower down where they have more definition) and a couple of dots or horizontal lines where the creases are bigger should be enough.
Please forgive the lack of a paintover, I'm on a friend's computer and don't have an art program handy.

Ok, and quick add... I do appreciate the paintovers, but I won't use them as is, I want to do this on my own steam as it were, so while Ben your redo was great, I personally don't have that kind of skill presently, so I'm working with what I have on my own. I take ideas from them, and do those ideas the best I can, with what I currently have.

I totally agree with your ethics. I think most people here support you in this.
Anyway, great style and nice work! I love that old man. He looks all innocent and lost...