[FlackoWeasel]

Hello. I apologise if I have written into a wrong forum.

I am trying to work on my own videogame, which I have had ideas for ages and now I felt like getting my arse together and actually do something! I mostly am doing some graphics so I have something to start off from. That's why I came here to ask some questions, because You people have worked on games too or Roms and have experience with it.

Here are some WIP and few finished work I worked so far, so You get ideas what character it is. I hope MarkeyJester doesnt kill me when I have antennas... I did not know anything about MJ character when I created my chara in 2007....


click


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click

But I have got few questions what worrie me a bit, maybe people around here can help or give tips.

I mostly want to make my game 2D, similar to Rayman Origins/Castle Crashers/Alien Hominid etc.

Here are some questions what bug me:

Question 1:

How are the animations done, so they "link'' with eachother smoothly? Do I have to make like millions of sprites so the animations go together fluidly or I should not worrie about it too much?


For example, I have that running Zputnik who shoots and then goes back to running so I could make the run smooth, but shooting always starts at this part:



but when I shoot at another pose, such as



then the running fucks up, cause there will be a ''hiccup'' between the running animation...

2nd question:

What are some good pages to get ideas making backgrounds for games? I'm so shit at thinking of BGs and I never have any ideas what to fill it. I have nice ideas in my brain, but when I start drawing, I do not get any ideas.

Question 3:

Do I get into trouble when I use similar ideas from other games or I should not worrie about it? This is my biggest fear of making game... like maybe I get sued if I used similar idea in my game.... (For example, in mitsume gatooru, there is a place where you shoot at nothing and there appears a chicken, who throws you coins, which is a cool secret. I would like to use similar idea but with different ideas, like wheel of fortune and some other things)

That is it so far, If I get more questions then I ask here.

[Sonica]

First I'd like to say this is awesome.

Secondly, perhaps you could add an entrance animation to your attack animation something like jerking back a bit, then moving forward quickly into the animation, maybe then the jump will add to the effect that it looks like you were trying to achieve. If you want, I could make an example. Though, thinking about it, this'd work better if the attack was done standing, like the character is walking then stamps down to attack, but it is possible it can work walking, just try different things.

Or, you could do the head separately. But this might not turn out as good with the style you have there (that I love).

So really, there are lots of ways you could cheat and be sneaky here, if there are no easy solutions available.

This post has been edited by Sonica: 13 January 2012 - 04:20 PM

[FlackoWeasel]

I have tried head seperate,but the body part and head had holes in, so that didnt work.... I want that my chara is ableto shoot while walking too, otherwise you have to keep stopping every second to shoot something...

But I try that jerking offmove and see how it turns out.

[Ritz]

I wouldn't abandon the idea of using separate objects, it's really the simplest solution. Think you could post an example of that failed attempt? The hard part should be aligning the sprites in-game, not drawing them to be seamless to begin with. His head overlapping his back arm is going to make the process a lot more complicated, though!

I love that shooting animation, by the by.

[FlackoWeasel]

When I use same amount of sprites for running,then it will be ok, but when my character needs to shoot faster than running,then it fucks up... That's why I was wondering, is it possible to fix this with programming like there wont be hiccups with the body and head?

[media]http://flacko.mikk36.eu/peakatki.swf[/media]
the not broken one. Ignore the arm, it's possible to me to just put it on newlayer and its top again


[media]http://flacko.mikk36.eu/peakatki2.swf[/media]

broken one....whenever it uses faster shooting motion when A+A+A+A is pressed, then this happends...

I also did this mock up yterday. I think I found a solutionwhen making backgrounds. I just create the items what are needed for the background as much as possible,and then later just copypaste them on




I have to warn that I like very bizarre designs like those trees are. I always loved interesting designs in every games.

This post has been edited by FlackoWeasel: 14 January 2012 - 03:13 AM

[Sonica]

I'm not quite sure what you mean now to be honest. Maybe you need to make the shoot animation last an entire walk cycle, bu I'm not certain.

Also, I'd like to say that this whole style is really inspiring and amazing. I hope this sees through to the end!

This post has been edited by Sonica: 14 January 2012 - 07:17 AM

[FlackoWeasel]

Thanks. I try my best to make this game unique with interesting worlds and design. I always loved how worlds did not look like normal worlds like our world is, but more like fantasy with unseen things. Such as Sonic Green Hill and Ristar levels.


Sonica, but how are then faster shootings done,? Like I have to make faster shooting same long as walking is, but repeats as long as walking frames (12 frames I have for walking)

I did more mock ups. I still suck at backgrounds :/. I kept looking how Sonic and Ristar ones are but It still seems weird or stuff. I know the foreground has to be as long as possible nut I have no fucking Idea what to add there...I know I added sand and later I do some lands but it looks weird like it does not fit when I add green there. Maybe I overreact.... I ususally wan't to make things as beautiful as possible and show that my work is done with lov and care, not shittily.

I also try to include over 100 trees so it doesnt look all around copy paste and around 50 plants and shit. In caves I wanna make mushrooms glow, cause I love irisdescents and glowings.






http://spriters-reso...cth3/sheet/9936

When I look here, I understand very well how it's done but when I try to add ground behind there, it looks poop.

[Sonica]

I know you are against it, and I would be too, but I think the separate head solution is the only way for that.

Unless.... it is eventually programmed so that the fast shooting animation (which is just the walk animation with the shooting head) starts on the current walking animation frame, then only the head will 'jump'. Possibly to remedy that, you could add an overlay of motion blur on top for the first couple of frames of the shooting, but I'm not sure if that'd fit in with your animation style.

Um, I cannot explain things very well, sorry.

As for your backgrounds they get progressively better there to me, because imo that sand is a bit too plain compared to everything else, and I'm not sure what you could add to that besides tufts of grass. But the last one is great, it's busy and has the feeling you are near the beach at the same time.

This post has been edited by Sonica: 14 January 2012 - 11:38 AM

[Mr. Mash]

Oh this is great. The backgrounds are good, but I can't tell where the character is supposed to be coming from or going to, you should find a way to separate the paths that the game is played on, from the rest of the scene.

Here you can see Rayman's path is brighter, more defined and saturated than the rest of the scene. This also helps create an illusion of depth in a 2D scene.

This post has been edited by Mr. Mash: 14 January 2012 - 12:13 PM

[FlackoWeasel]

Yeah I try to make this too in my game. I also look Rayman Origins screens to get idea what to add etc.


Something like this?



E: I also think the sand is shit and ruins the jungle feeling. I like this one much better with the water only.

This post has been edited by FlackoWeasel: 14 January 2012 - 12:54 PM