Badniks & Bosses Art

I think you have nailed it. It's absolutely perfect in my opinion, good work! I know people want the original shape but... I just don't think it will look any good. The shape in the original is horid.

EDIT: Quoted wrong post oops.

 

In the other games, these sorts of badnicks have four circular weapon things, so it only makes sense for us to use circular fire balls.

 

So we have one already nicely animated version made with some program that allows to modify the colors and other parameters until it looks less realistic and matches the original a little better.

And we have a 1-frame raster version that's been edited from a Super Mario fireball, which once approved after some more manual editing, will have to be redone in vector graphics, have a decent animation figured out for it, and then have each of its frames made individually, having to modify each of them whenever the fireball design needs to be tweaked.



So perhaps we should just be a little realistic here... It's not just a matter of "hey, its looking a little better in that mockup!".

 

It's yellow. It's supposed to be red. Change colours, make it smaller and we got ourselves a place-holder ready for a demo.
The mock-up looks way better though.

 

It shouldn't be too hard for him to change those... If he's still around.

 

The most recent image looks as though it's been replaced with another since I last checked. I'm impressed with how the fireballs look now. Nice work to whoever created the image (I forget your name, so I do apologise). I look forward to seeing it animated.

 

Seriously, guys, shouldn't you focus on something more important?
The last flames are great enough. You can't take so much time on every little detail of the game. At this rate, the game will be out in 2030... I don't want this project to be like Project Sonic Retro and be abandonned because of too much complaining for every little aspect.

 

S2HD won't be abandoned. Even if it's just the staff members grinding away at it, there will be finished, polished end result. Stick around, tomorrow is going to be an interesting day for S2HD

 

I'm holding you to that statement, man. Not that you have anything to worry about, I'm sure whatever you're going to show us is awesome.

 

You know, the previous flames have been animated already, and might be complete after a few tweaks.

On the other hand, the last flames would take a while since they aren't even vectorized. They're a heavily edited pic of a Super Mario fireball.

 

But look at how much better Mario's ball looks! Now if the other fireballs had that color composition, they'd be just as perfect. but they look like yellow circles at the moment..

Tips for making the current fireball look better:

Give it the deep red outer layer of the marioball—that's how it is in the original sprite
Pay heed to the larger contrast in the nucleus—again, its more faithful
Make it more spherical.--animation ease(see below)
modify the flare-ups at the top to be shorter, and spread them out along the majority of the top of the ball, a la the Mario one.--animation and faithfulness.

Plus, if you think about it, the tear-drop shape of the current one will necessitate the top of the fireball to bend with the wind as it is launched. The purely spherical shape of the Mario one would not.
And the Mario one? IT ACTUALLY MATCHES SPORA'S (or whatever its name is—correct me if I am wrong) COLOR SCHEME!! doh...

But move on to something more important for now, like CPZ or ARZ, zones that become before this in the game. Or not, it doesn't really matter what order the game is made in, actually.

 

Right now what I am looking at first and foremost in these fireballs is the color, which is why I agree that the Mario fireball works very well. Again, we are not just figuring out the looks of Ghora's fireball here, but the look of ALL of the fire in the game. When I see those pre-rendered fireballs, they just don't blend well with the rest of the game to me. I still don't think we've found the perfect style, but those Mario ones definitely bring us a little closer. Keep the suggestions coming guys!

 

We should consider changing the art for the seesaw badnik as well. There's no indication that it can't be broken open when you first encounter it; at least, I remember feeling deceived by it the first time I tried to jump on it.

Maybe set it on fire or something?

 

And once he changes the colors and a few things, we will have not only one mockup frame to start working from, but we'll have the whole animation already.

See the difference?

 

Yes, I see the difference, but read the rest of what I said. There will be some major issues with the shape, and as others have said, it doesn't match the current art scheme as well as the mario one. That's why I was suggesting various ways to merge the two. I mean it shouldn't be that hard, should it?

 

For my break from Cucky, I shall be drawing Nebula! This is what I have so far for the bottom part.

 

Looks like a good start. Can't say much about it until I see where you go with it, but I would smooth out the color steps so it looks like a perfectly smooth body and then refine the rim highlights so they're a perfect shape instead of kinda jaggy, if that makes sense. Oh, and don't be afraid to take ideas from the concept art if you deem it useful or interesting in some way.

 

Okay, got done with the rest of the body. I will add the propeller blades later.

 

The machine itself is good, but the Nebula residing in it isn't. The angle couldn't be more awkward.

 

Changed the angle a little, changed the background color to see better, changed Nebula colors to fit the official art better, and added some shading.