Messages

Well, I downloaded the "stuff" and took the freedom to convert the bmps to gif files and uploaded them for you like Erwin suggested. Hope you don't mind. I also made an animated gif of the different walking frames. Hope you don't mind that as well. Here they are:

100% 500%
100% 500%
100% 500%

Now to my constructive comments:

- they are really small. If you hadn't mentioned he had breasts I wouldn't have wondered at all, because I just couldn't see them untill I zoomed in. I don't know, but as Simon seems to have a rather deep background story being a pre-transitioned female-to-male transsexual, I think a bigger and more detailed sprite would fit a character like this one much better. Anyway, how big do you want your backgrounds to be? Simon is only 13*31 so even a 100*50 bg would look incredibly big. If you really want to make a proper game and tell his story, then I'd strongly recommend to use bigger graphics.

- the walking animation looks a bit odd. The arms seem to move faster than the legs, the top of his feet seem to disappear (caused by the small size and therefore the lack of detail) and his body is completely stiff. Only his legs and arms are moving. In case you've already checked some tutorials, you might have noticed that the body moves a little up and down while walking. Even though your character is very small, it would be doable to add a little jump to it.

- the position of the feet in the back view looks wrong. They shouldn't point upwards.

That's it basically. Hope it helps! 

I think the car still looks too flat to fit the background properly. You just added two tires and changed the roof a little bit. But like you said the front looks really thin and in my opinion far too thin.
I tried to give your car some perspective and came up with this very basic sketch of how it could look:



This was a very quick one and I know that it's not quite correct, but I guess you'll get the idea. You should see a bit of the car's front. Therefore I turned it a little.
Like Darth said, it is going to be a lot of work to make it fit your perspective properly...

Hope it helps and good luck!

EDIT: Got rid of some mistakes 

This is just great!!!
I'm not bothered by the tears at all, but by the fact that his legs kind of look like they were chopped off underneath his knees.
Other than that, I simply love it 

mornin

Hi,

I found this very nice curtain on google:
http://www.theaterfreunde.com/assets/images/Vorhang.jpg

It has the right size and looks quite good.

Hope it helps...
mornin

I like your concept art. They could make cool sprites. I also had a look at the sprite you've tried to make. It looks ok, but is really really small. Why are you making such big sketches for your characters when your sprites are just 16*24?!? I'd suggest to make them bigger with more of the details you have in your concept. When I make sprites (I use Photoshop), I open my sketch and resize it till it has the right width and height for the actual sprite. Then I simply create another layer and start re-drawing the lines of my sketch. Once I have this, I delete the layer with the concept and start working on colouring the other one.
I had a go at the Invincible. Don't expect too much. It's very quick and the shading is rubbish. Just to give you some ideas:

Hi,

first of all, welcome!

Now to your picture:


As this is for your first game, I guess that it is one of your first graphics as well. So for a first attempt it's not bad, but there are some things wrong with it:

- Take a look at his arms. They seem to come directly out of the front of his chest. Try to make the lines longer, so that they look more like they are on the side of his body as I think they are supposed to look like.
- His stomach looks kind of weird. It looks like there is something under his shirt trying to get free. I think you wanted to make him look a little chubby. I'd suggest to do something about it.
- The hat looks quite square. Try to round the edges a little.
- The hair has a strange way of growing. Take a look at your own hair (or if you don't have any at the hair of someone else around you ). Usually it is also growing on the side of the head.
- The ear looks a bit too big for the head. I'd also change the form of it.
- Then he doesn't seem to have any neck. I'd suggest to give him at least a little.
- Take a look at his boots. It looks like he has both feet in just one shoe.
- The legs are too short and bend at a rather strange point. Try to change that.

To show you what I mean, I made a very quick new version with all the things I would change in it. As it is quick it is not finished and still needs a lot of work, but I don't have more time. Just to give you some ideas:


I lowered one of his arms as I thought it would look better if he was just holding the bottle with just one hand and I gave him something to sit on as he seemed to float in mid air. Other than that, I tried to stick to your original. Hope that helps.

mornin

First, thanks to all of you for your comments and crit.

Crit wise, i think you should add a bit more detail to the Wishes Corp background, I'm sure it'll have a nice load of characters there once its done, but it could do with some more office like objects. Try a computer on the desk, water cooler in the corner or a extra desk with a coffee machine or somthing.

I'll definetely do so and give the room a little more detail. It was originally planned to be just a room in the intro and as it was a MAGS game, I didn't have enough time to spend a lot of time on it, but now that I have the time, I'll put some more objects suitable for an office in.

i find something wrong with the shading on 3 wishes corporation
fix also the shading in the barts home house

I have just started to make bgs and did the shading just like it looked right to me. I don't really know what I could change about it. Maybe you can explain a little more detailed what exactly looks wrong...

The leg movement on the walking animation is great!  But the body movement forward is a little ... off?  And up and down movement would be IMO better suited.

You should also add some arm sway (unless that's a specific character trait that he doesn't move his arms while walking) and maybe even some belly jiggle.  As that's a rather large gut!

Thanks, I'll work on that. Now that I see your up and down movement I have to agree that my forward one looks definetely off. I'll also add some arm movements and the belly jiggle.

Mornin: The walk cycle that you have done looks odd. This is because his right foot slides across the ground when he brings it foward.

Your're right. I'll change the right foot movement to something similar to his left foot.

Chicken, I think your 'dude' is actually a 'dudette'!

Yep, that's right!  :

I think it might be amusing if his wings flutter a little while he walks. Just so they don't look like they're just stuck on?

I'll think about it. I'm planning to give him the possibility to really fly in the game. I also thought about giving him a "uniform" for his job. Something like a pink shirt and skirt as all the other fairies that work for the company are female, so they don't have any clothing for male fairies...

I am currently working on a game called "Wishful Thinking". I originally designed the story to fit this month's guidelines for MAGS, but during the working progress the story became more and more complicated. So I decided to forget about MAGS, but make a nice medium or full length game out of it instead.

The game tells the story of Burt, a fat and lazy fairy who still lives with his mother even though he is nearly 30. One day his mother decides that it is time for Burt to look after himself. She throws him out of their house until he has found himself a proper job. With no other choice than obeying, Burt starts working for a company called "3 Wishes Corporation".  He is sent to all kinds of customers who are all unhappy in some way and has to grant them three wishes. Of course he doesn't like this job at all as he is the absolute opposite of the common fairy godmother we all know from so many fairy-tales.  But he has no other choice.
One day, as he is sent to a former prince who was banned by his father, he breaks his wand on the trip. Unable to use any magic to fulfil his customer's three wishes, namely to be king with a crown, a palace and a bride of his own, Burt has to find other ways to make these wishes come true...

I have already made several backgrounds:


This is where Burt lives with his mother.


This is at "3 Wishes Corporation".


This is the hill where Burt meets the prince.

And this is Burt:


And this is Burt walking:


So what do you think about it? Anything I can improve about the story or the graphics? Suggestions, ideas, critic, comments, paint-overs - everything is more than welcome. I've been working on this stuff for so long now that I'm beginning to lose my judgement on it completely.

Thanks in advance
mornin  :

I don't get it either. A hint would be really nice...

Original idea.

You probably have taken more insight into a domestic turkey mind, bút... someone teases you and you organize troops to take revenge? Isn't that a bit overreacting? Besides I don't really like the thought of animals getting assigned such human ways of sorting things out among themselves.

Why not make the turkey break free and organize birds in L.A. to protes against animal slavery. Like gang up in hunderds and drop all their $§!= on the mayor or something...

Or at least think of a real cause to declare a war on the seagulls (I can't think of one right now)

Exactly what I wanted to write, but I was too slow  . Besides, if were a turkey and were set free I wouldn't waste my time in freedom to take revenge on some stupid seagulls. I could just walk away.
I really like Albert's idea to make the birds protest against animal slavery.

btw. isn't it a bit paradox that your profile says you're 13 and you are planning to design a game "rated 15"?

Yeah, are you going to close your eyes anytime you make a scene that is not rated for you age?!? 

I did already try and make a test game. Still didn't work properly on my computer. My registry was full of rubbish and all kinds of programs were crashing or had nasty bugs. I reinstalled everything and it works now. I have absolutely no idea what could have caused the problem. I already wondered why it was so hard to make someone walk on AGS. Now I see that it isn't  , at least not with "normal" computers.
Anyway, it works perfectly now. No need to script anything anymore. Thanks again to everyone who tried to help me. Without you I wouldn't have recognized that the problem was my comp and not AGS. 

cu
mornin

EDIT: Oh and I wouldn't have recognized the blinking belly button either 

When you say "it still looks crap," do you mean in-game, while it's running and you're playing it? Or do you mean when you preview the animation? I'm not sure about the animation, but as long as the first frame is the standing frame and the rest are the walking frames, it should look just like your second (good) animation.

I meant it still looks crap in-game while I'm playing it. I don't know what's wrong with my computer, but I tried to make it on a friend's computer and there it worked. I'm really a bit puzzled now  .
Anyway, I think it's just a problem that I have on my computer, so, I'll just use this wonderful comand format C and reinstall everything. Hopefully it works then...

Thanks to everybody for helping me.
mornin

I did use the standing view as the first frame in AGS, but it still looks crap. That's why I tried to script the whole thing. I don't know why, but it doesn't work for me. I'll re-install the programm again. Maybe it works then...

But thanks anyway. I'll work on the belly-button

Hi,

this may sound very stupid  , but I've already tried everything and just can't get it work properly:

I've made a walk-cycle for the main character of my new project and to make it look fluently I had to delete two frames, namely the normal standing frame and the one that follows. Maybe some visual elements help to show what I mean. This is the complete animation with the standing frame:

It looks crap because the standing frame doesn't fit in. So I removed it and got this:


This one looks far better, but now the standing frame is missing and he seems to stand on one leg as soon as he stops walking. I don't want to redo all the frames to get an animation where the standing view fits into, because this one was really a lot of work. So I thought that there might be a way to script it. I read a tutorial about how to make idle animations by slypher and tried to use this script for my problem. It worked partly, because the character stands properly, but I can't get the walking animation working again if he starts walking. I'm new to AGS and therefore I don't know much about scripting, but anyway, here is what I did:

function repeatedly_execute() {

if((character[EGO].walking==0)&&(character[EGO].animating==0)){
     if(character[EGO].loop==1){ //Left
         SetCharacterView(EGO, 4);
         AnimateCharacter(EGO, 1, 0, 0);
}

else if(character[EGO].loop==2){ //Right
     SetCharacterView(EGO, 5);
     AnimateCharacter(EGO, 2, 0, 0);
}
}

if((character[EGO].walking==1)){
     if(character[EGO].loop==1){
         SetCharacterView(EGO, 2);
         AnimateCharacter(EGO, 1, 1, 1);
}

else if(character[EGO].loop==2){
     SetCharacterView(EGO, 2);
     AnimateCharacter(EGO, 2, 1, 1);
}
}
}

Well, I don't know what's wrong with it.  First I set the character view to the standing frame when the character is not walking. This worked. Then I tried to set the view back to the animation view, but this didn't work...

My question now is: Is this possible like this and I just messed up some details or is this the completlely wrong way? If it is the wrong way, is there anything else I could do to script this? 

Thanks in advance
mornin

Wow, I didn't think you were that bad at AGS... wow.

Very...uh...nice and sensitive way of criticizing someone...
Anyway, I'm new to AGS as well, so I know how hard it is to get started and learn all the things you need to make a good game. If there is anything I can do for you, just pm me. I'd love to help you as well.

I think the futuristic way would be better as well. Sounds much more fun, especially when the new outfit embarrasing or slightly out of place or something. Could be kind of a nice running gag...

Thanks to all of you for all the c&c and thanks to ProgZmax for the criticism of the criticism. I didn't feel offended or hurt or anything by the statements though, but I guess some people could have. I'm a n00b, so I'm always happy to hear what you people think of what I do, so that I can improve it. This was my first char ever, so I didn't expect it to be perfect or anywhere near perfect. That's why I came here, to improve my work.  So please feel free to tell me what you really think. I think it's no help, if you tell me everything is good and wonderful just to be nice. That's no criticism anymore. I'd rather have some harsh but honest than some polite but false comments.
By the way, what do you think about the backgrounds? No-one said a thing about them. Are they so good?!? I don't think so  ... So, feel free to tear them apart  .

Oh, and by the way, I'm female 

My new term starts on 6th of September   :'(.
In Germany kids start with the age from 5-7. First they go to elementary which has 4 grades. Then you can decide how you wish to continue. We have four different types of high school, each with a different stage of difficulty and a different qualifications. The hardest is the Gymnasium. You'll have to do another 9 years there and if you pass the final exams you'll get Abitur which is the best qualification you can get. You need this to go to university later. Then we the Realschule. This is easier than Gymnasium and you only have to do another 6 years. After that you gain the qualification of Fachoberschulreife. You can then start working or change to a Gymnasium to do another 3 years of school to get Abitur as well. Then we have the Hauptschule which is the easiest. It's almost impossible to get a proper job with that qualification. After 6 years you get Hauptschulabschluss. You can try to go change to a Gymnasium and do another three years, but that's almost impossible because the gap between the two school is so big. Then we have the Gesamtschule. There you can get all three qualifications, depending on your marks. You can leave school after 10th grade with Realschulabschluss or Hauptschulabschluss or if your marks are good enough, you can go on for another three years and get Abitur. I'm going to a Gesamtschule and starting my last year this autumn 

I just played your little demo. I didn't really know what to do, so I just walked around.
There are some things I noticed:
In the first room, the color of the floor is a very very bright red. It wasn't really good on the eyes. Try to use a little, well, smoother color. I also noticed that the two black lines, that I think are supposed to be dividing the floor from the wall, just end in the middle of nowhere and then start again somewhere else. Maybe you could make them continuous. There were no side walls and no ceiling in this room as well.
In the second room, the maze room I think, the character started on the wall. I had to walk down towards the floor. That was a bit weird. The room was also very, very big. I don't mind scrolling rooms, but this was really big and compared to Roger everything was enormously huge. Your characters will have to be very tall.
In room 3, the first things I noticed were the eyes in that doorway. They looked promising, but to my great disappointment I couldn't even look at them. Then the ramp is very precipitous. By the way, the whole architecture of the house seems to be quite weird. I've never seen so many ramps in a house or rooms with such a high ceiling like the maze room.
In the 4th room, where that other Roger guy stood, I wondered why he was there. Ok, he told me he was a warden or something, but why exactly was he there? I couldn't find any reason for him to be there. I'd also suggest that you either use quotations for everything that is spoken or just leave them completely. Now, you sometimes used them, sometimes not. The doors were quite irritating as well. This little message "you cant open me" every time I moved the cursor over the door really freaked me out. Was this door talking to me? If not, how did my character know, that he can't open it? He didn't even try. The same with the other door. When I used the hand on that one, the message "this door is locked" popped up immediately, but Roger didn't even touch it, so how did he know it was locked?!?

Apart from that, all rooms were really empty. I couldn't do anything. This blue cup in the first room and the key in the second weren't working. I guess I was supposed to be able to pick them up or something. I couldn't look at anything, I couldn't use anything. The only thing that was possible was walking around, walking to the next room and talking to that other Roger. There should definitely be some more interaction in it. I'd also suggest to post your bgs in the critics lounge to get some feedback on them.

I don't know, if this demo was supposed to be some part of the real game or just some random rooms, but I couldn't really see the story from your first thread in this demo. I didn't see an alien, nor a kitchen with green slime nor anything else you mentioned  . Why don't you post this demo in the critics lounge as well? I'm sure you'll get some help on how to improve it.

So, hope that helped. Keep working on it. I'm looking forward to play your first finished game. By the way, I'd love to test The Items Collector before you'll finally release it.
Good luck! 

Sorry to be the first one to brake the news. But I kinda think it looks like a condom, more than a ghost that is...

Damn, it'd love to see your ghost condoms. Must be scary to have a condom with head, arms and  face... 
Well, I don't think it looks like a condom at all (probably it's just me or the condoms we have in Germany  )  Actually I'm quite happy with the overall look of my sprite, but I'll work on the hands and on the floating animation. I might insert some more frames to the flapping. But I'll leave HIS head as it is.
Any c&c on the backgrounds?!?