General Project Thread & Feedback

lol, that's been a dream of mine too actually Vincent.

Also, there's Taxman's level development kit to consider (he's been working on that a hella long time).

 

I'm pretty sure Taxman wasn't so muh aiming for accuracy as he was flexibility. Regardless, it counts as "close enough" for most purposes, and should be easily customizable anyway.

 

Retro-sonic is good enough that it feels like an emulated game. Are you trying to closely mimic the software design from the disassembles, or do you write a completely new implementation then refine it till it feels right?

 

Hmmm I think that looks great, but I'm not as nit picky as some of the others =P Good job

And the thing about the engine...
Well you haven't seen Rob's yet, that's why you can't judge

 

Wasn't his engine supposed to be for the Genesis? This project most likely won't be going on the Genesis, via emulator or otherwise.

 

He had another one in progress before he switched to the genesis. I'm not sure how far he got with it because it's been a while but I remember it being pretty awesome.

 

Can you keep the sprites Retro style (Or just give the option?)

I'm sorry for this being off topic (By the way the HD art is looking great. I'd like to see an animation of Sonic running though), but I have never personally liked XG's sprites.

 

here's a thought... if Sonic HD was a port not emulated the special stage could be actual 3D instead of blocky pseudo too

 

I'd propose the enhanced emulator route (Aren't there some people - two, I think - here on SR coding their own emulators? They should look into this x4 tiles functionality...), because when this is done; imagine the possibilities. I, for one, would love to work on upscaled versions of Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Strider, Alien Soldier... and number of platformers, actually.

Who wants to see Ristar HD? ^^

All the same, getting this done is priority. Incidentally, could I politely ask anybody doing EHZ tiles to hold off for about a week? I'm mocking up an entire screen, so I can see the tiles in context (And for comparison's sakes), and it is already looking very faithful with the bits I've done already (BG clouds and orange blocks).

I'm working at x8 so I can half the size for a reasonable-looking x4.

If people still want to work on Emerald Hill tiles, it's fine. I just sort of want to get mine done. I should have a screen done roughly for Monday (About 12:00 GMT).

 

I've seen this topic before, but never got time to read through all of it until today, as I was really bored for a while. =P However, great work guys. I might have a go at doing some vector Chemical Plant tiles tonight or tomorrow.

 

If you do Hayate, don't forget to use the HD concept of the Death Egg as a reference, because the architecture is similar in some places (the yellow and black floor in particular)
http://alchemistdefined.wiredotaku.com/ima...HD-BBs-wall.jpg

 

Alright. About the EHZ grass.



There is in my opinion simply nothing that can be done to prevent it looking ugly if we're sticking so close to the original source. What I've ended up with look like the original filtered attempts, and aside from the photograph of some grass (Which I took myself), it's all done by hand with a tablet.

Should I have a go at properly "re-interpreting" this? Meaning, there's a large chance it will divide people as to whether it looks 'better' or not.

 

Does anyone else not like this whole texturized backgrounds, though the blocks are nicly textured, I don't think it will all blend together with the sprites.

 

The textured backgrounds are really silly...

I think we should try and recreate them in vector form, rather than upscaling and then using raster modifications.

Don't shout at me for reposting a somewhat controversial picture, but I think we should try and get the "grass blades sticking out the ground" effect that is seen in



without the crappy textures underneath it.

 

This is interesting!

The shadow that the grass is casting is very well done - nice job.

Now I know some may disagree, but I would be interested to see a grass texture, similar to what Hitaxas did earlier, embedded into the grass you have produced there. Just to see what it would look like.

Thank you for your efforts LSH. I would be interested to see a further interpretation that you have in mind, please don't worry about whether others disagree, all possibilities should be considered for the health of the project.

EDIT: Hayate, I didn't see your post in time, but I'm glad you agree.

 

Uhm... As far as I can see, I'm not in agreement with your post...

The point I was trying to make is that I think it would be good to see grass blades sticking out the ground, rather than a big block of green with a crappy texture on it.

 

<!--quoteo(post=189203:date=Apr 19 2008, 03:54 PM:name=Hayate)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hayate @ Apr 19 2008, 03:54 PM)

without the crappy textures underneath it.[/quote]

The grass, I think shouldn't be textured. However, I don't actually modify the graphics; I redraw them. Although this is basically tracing, one gets to see and understand the form of the original graphic a lot better.

For example, this grass. The original is actually badly done, in my opinion; the top of the grass is an altogether rougher texture than the bottom, there is a huge amount of detail-less space between the top and the bottom, and it lacks contrast and definition.

I added the grass texture because of this lack of definition, and yet the overall shape doesn't agree with the idea of 'grass'. I have an idea of how to tackle this, but it will look sort of 'mossy'.

I would, however, like some feedback on my orange blocks. They're as good a remake as I can do without simply upscaling and smoothing the originals, but I also want to enhance the original artwork.

 

Oh I see what you mean now, apologies.

 

When it comes to the blocks, I think they should stay completely without texture. After all, if you look at the sprites of Sonic and Robotnik made so far, they're shaded without textures, and a Tetris block is just about as detailless as you can get, whether or not you're in HD.

 

Indeed, but are we or are we not also trying to make the WiredOtaku mockup a reality of sorts? This means textures, and not flat vector art!

There is another reason I textured the blocks. I would suggest that the Emerald Hill blocks be textured with a sort of natural, soft texture (I photographed a wooden panel in the doorway of my student village block) and the Hill Top blocks have a harsher texture, to fit in with the fact that there's lava and earthquakes, and I have photographs of stone and brick textures I would use for these.

Also, the chequered 'rods' that are seen at the sides of platforms?



I saw this at the side of a nearby path and thought 'this is perfect'.