I mostly don't use retro or pixel art style in my graphics. I perfer to use more realistic look(pixel and retro actually fits better on some type of games). How do you think it'll fit to a ww2 tactical top-down shooter. I've have been inspired (in graphics area) by micro-soft Close Combat series, Mark Pay's older games, and iFighter 1/2 just to mention few.
Beginning of a forest fire.
A little compound where 20 marines were ambushed by 30 nazis. (the little counter on the top right is total number of objects) (the 2 first red and blue indicates npc enemy/ npc friend total awareness+shooting ratio so far) (the lower 2 amount of npc's left) Too much added backdrops? Was the limit ~6000.. and what happens after that?
Surprise invasion. I wasnt alive anymore.
Driving over nazis with stolen Kubelwagen while my npc teammate slaughters them with a tommygun. (The vehicle engine is actually very complicated)
Give me feedback especially from the graphics.
edit1:I wouldn't suggest to check my projects page about this.. it's very old data, and about 300% of code, gfx, and sfx has been added.
edit2on't focus on the total actives counter at the top right. The map is very large and has a lot of unused actives in it. The game still runs perfectly on my old computer.
Some styles of art lend themselves to certain types of products more than others, but I still think you can make most styles fit to anything if you try hard enough. I think the style you're using fits a war game really well. The visuals remind me of really old, yet detailed PC games. Good job
Good work, I find it somewhat resembling to Commandos.
But that could just be the millitary setting, a setting you pull of rather well, I might add.
At first glance the things that feels out of place might be the guns. I guess you can pick those up, but think you overdid the white borders there. Without the borders on the guns I'm sure one can make the assumption to pick them up anyway.
The second thing would probably be the explosions that looks way too "pixly" compared to the landscape and characters.
Originally Posted by Deaval Good work, I find it somewhat resembling to Commandos.
But that could just be the millitary setting, a setting you pull of rather well, I might add.
At first glance the things that feels out of place might be the guns. I guess you can pick those up, but think you overdid the white borders there. Without the borders on the guns I'm sure one can make the assumption to pick them up anyway.
The second thing would probably be the explosions that looks way too "pixly" compared to the landscape and characters.
Other than that, good work.
Thanks, and thanks for bringing up Commandos. I'll war.. i mean buy the series. Ah the memories.
I'm adding something: the trees are not cool. I decided to re-make them more realistic mid-European leaf trees. I also made spruce/fir -trees.
But to the comment.
Guns: Normally there are not that many guns on the playground since you have to pick them up. The gun spree you see there is from a bot fight. And bots don't pick up items. Also if there is a knife on a pavement, you can't see it without the outlines.
Explosions: Those arent explosions, they are stable fires. One of the games main setting is that everything, i mean everything can be both set in to fire, and break down(if possible. i.e. rocks don't burn). There is not one backdrop (even added) that is obstacle.
Here is a picture of fragment explosion. It has been tiny amount of time from the start of explosion in the red square. The big picture is after(from mr. obvious).
tip to fellow klikkers:if your game have to have a lots of different looking explosions create explosion makers that are invisible and have values that change size, fragments, and particle types.
Here is some random sprites from the game. Opinions?
The war machinery is accurately created from plans and images and are real ww2 stuff. I like realism.
(the houses have roofs and rafters that go invisible when looked in, if buttresses or walls fall, they will of course fall down)
I like the graphics. It looks like hand drawn realism, or somewhere between cartoon and reality. My only criticism is how some of the graphics integrate with the background. For example, there's a round brick pattern that repeats. I'm not clear on what that is. There are other patterns that do the same thing. They look stuck on. It looks like they were pasted in game?
Send me feedback on my latest game, It Never Ends.
The red brick in the second and third pictures. They look a little too round, and flat, I think. It almost looks like a strange floor pattern. It's supposed to be rubble from the wall? I get it. The round shape is too uniform for rubble. It works for explosions, but not rubble. Other than that, I have nothing else to say about the graphics. It looks good.
Send me feedback on my latest game, It Never Ends.
It's really good. Definitely pixel art but much more girrty than what you would expect to see from most Japanese console games at least.
The only criticism I could possibly make would be that the colours might be a little dark? If you look at games like Battlefield 3 you can see war games can still be really colourful.
There is more contrast in these new trees i'm making. But comparing these images, you made a good point. Although a little darkness adds a certain feeling. Or was it saturation..
Yes, contrast may be an issue, but the low contrast somehow fits the mood. It comes down to taste, I guess. See how many people want higher contrast, or like it as it is. I'm happy with how it looks now, but my taste may not reflect the norm.
When I was testing my last game, I had a tough time getting opinions from people. I even made a poll using google documents so that they could answer questions anonymously. You could try doing the same thing with friends and family if they're afraid to give you an honest opinion.
Send me feedback on my latest game, It Never Ends.
One suggestion regarding the guns, explosives, and other items that the player can pick up...Why not leave off the white outlines? When the player approaches, then highlight the guns with a transparent, lighter shade of gray.
I suggest this to add to the realism, simulating that the areas and corpses must be searched before their contents can be found.
Just a thought. I'm typically not a fan of wargames, but the game honestly looks stunning, hapsi.
The weapon idea sounds good. In some fps games, the item starts to shine when you're near it. Does mmf2 have a shader or effect that could do that? I don't want to create it to all the items with an animation.
No the speed isn't going to be an issue. I'll figure something out. Just pointing out that you shouldn't see weapons and items from too far, is something i didn't think of. Thanks
Anyhow.. I am going to release the sandbox beta as soon as i find the bug that just came up. The bug shuts the application. Also i have some ideas to polish the sandbox beta a little, and i can not have those ball looking trees in the published sb.
But, here is a railway oil carriages that i just made function today:
Heavily guarded beach house behind those oil carriages..
Decided to blast the obstacle away..
Got some damage on me too ..
..and here is the aftermath. Some Dumb ass with a machine gun doesn't seem to give a fuck(top left)(NPC's only take their weapons in hand when seen threat).
edit1: there seems to bee a tile displacement in the roof too.
[Sandbox beta news]
If someone wants to actually play the sandbox beta, give me something it should include. Right now it includes Creating 4 different team mates as many as you (or your (if slow) computer) wishes. And gives all the weapons in the start. There is different types of enemies, enemy Tiger 1 tank, and Kubelwagen to drive (car physics with collisions suck, otherwise they are fine). I left out Flak cannon (usable by enemies and pl), and npc enemy attack plane.
Any info about the sandbox or the graphics is appreciated.
[sorry of my english and complexity, im very tired --> sleep]
No. But in my visions there is a mission where you have to sabotage the enemy fuel line [Blast the oil carriages from hide when they are moving] if you want an advantage in certain mission. I've planned that missions don't go like 1. 2. 3... but more like go where you want/need/ or have to go. It's all in my head still. Nothing's been decided.
Yeah, the flame looks really pro. Did you use 3 different layers of actives with transparency? That would take me days to make, and I'm not sure if I could make it that good. I'd like to see it animated.
Send me feedback on my latest game, It Never Ends.
Originally Posted by Chris Donovan Yeah, the flame looks really pro. Did you use 3 different layers of actives with transparency? That would take me days to make, and I'm not sure if I could make it that good. I'd like to see it animated.
I currently only have one layer in use. The flamer effect is done with this kind of active object that scales larger, rotates in cw or ccw, creates smoke, and has "add" effect.
Here is version with the light effect:
edit: Ah fuck.. don't mind the lightness change in the ground in between player prone and the flames. The lighter ground there is a backdrop and a test area for the trees you see there.
The player in prone is semitransparent since have not been seen.
Originally Posted by Pan-tosser Your graphics style is indeed different and cool. Have you ever thought about writing an article explaining your methods and thought process.
The look is vary pulled together and professional looking. I would defently read the article if you wrote one.
It would certainly be nice to write an article. I wish i didn't have to feed my family and use my time in work but i keep that in mind. Some of my methods you might find very weird and interesting. I.E. I can't actually draw very well(= i suck at drawing), but i think i can judge well.
Originally Posted by Chris Donovan The red brick in the second and third pictures. They look a little too round, and flat, I think. It almost looks like a strange floor pattern. It's supposed to be rubble from the wall? I get it. The round shape is too uniform for rubble. It works for explosions, but not rubble. Other than that, I have nothing else to say about the graphics. It looks good.
I think with your idea it does look better. Thanks.
..and maybe do the same to the fallen metallic roof.
I can definitely see the "Close Combat" influence there. The style is very similar - the scale is just a little smaller (more zoomed-in).
From a gameplay point of view, I'd be worried that the level of micro-management required is far too great, considering the number of units under the player's control.
For example, I see that there are weapons which can be picked up - but noone is going to want to micro-manage the equipment of each of twenty soldiers (the small boost in firepower wouldn't be worth the immense tedium).
If the player only had a handful of units (like in "Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines"), then fine - it would be good to be able to switch weapons etc. But when they have a lot of units under their control, and there isn't sophisticated AI and pathfinding (so you can't trust your units to act intelligently without your direct supervision), that pretty much negates the possibility of any real strategy, and you're likely to end up with something more along the lines of "Cannon Fodder".
I can easily imagine a scenario where you have one guy with a flamethrower, and a bunch of others with rifles. You either spend all you time dealing with just the rifles or just the flamethrower, and ignoring the other(s) - or you try and use both together, and your flamethrower ends up torching all his buddies.
Originally Posted by Sketchy I can definitely see the "Close Combat" influence there. The style is very similar - the scale is just a little smaller (more zoomed-in).
From a gameplay point of view, I'd be worried that the level of micro-management required is far too great, considering the number of units under the player's control.
For example, I see that there are weapons which can be picked up - but noone is going to want to micro-manage the equipment of each of twenty soldiers (the small boost in firepower wouldn't be worth the immense tedium).
If the player only had a handful of units (like in "Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines"), then fine - it would be good to be able to switch weapons etc. But when they have a lot of units under their control, and there isn't sophisticated AI and pathfinding (so you can't trust your units to act intelligently without your direct supervision), that pretty much negates the possibility of any real strategy, and you're likely to end up with something more along the lines of "Cannon Fodder".
I can easily imagine a scenario where you have one guy with a flamethrower, and a bunch of others with rifles. You either spend all you time dealing with just the rifles or just the flamethrower, and ignoring the other(s) - or you try and use both together, and your flamethrower ends up torching all his buddies.
You have misunderstood the gameplay here (maybe it's my fault cause in screenshots there are like a platoon of npc's.. just testing the limits ). The only thing an npc friendly (if set to obey you), can do is either follow the player, or move to a direction you are holding with your mouse right(they have a waypoint system but that's not the point). If in follow status, they will prone and run if you do.
In final game i have planned that there is a little special unit, a few guys thrown in the middle of enemy territory. In sandbox beta you can create as many friendly units as mmf2 allows.
In result player is the key here. Friendly npc's might do a devastating damage (as will the enemy), but the player settles the ensemble. I.e. Send your friends to the enemy before yourself.
..and i'll have to add that the gameplay in final game will be pretty free: Choose to sneak around and knife everyone or take MG42, grenades and start blasting. All the mayhem you see in the screenshots isn't necessary.
Edit2: Updated the pictures. Flames are different, react to wind direction and speed, and fire spreads.
Now that i have had some free time, i made the flamethrower and the ability to burn everything that can be burnt done. Some bug fixes and adjustments since it seems that a flamethrower when i made it as realistic i could, seem too overwhelming.
Killed a squad of enemies. They start running around randomly when "in fire" -ratio is high enough. The flamer uses 32 directions only but it doesn't matter since the flame itself is pretty large. All bullet shooting guns use 360° with weapon related accuracy though.
I made burning wood made buildings down possible. Great for smoking enemies out of buildings.
After fire:
The flamer is Flammenwerfer 41, a real german weapon of ww2 produced at 1941.
Any feedback from graphical, and any other aspect of the game.
Btw.. i need a royalty free screaming sound for enemies that run in pain when in in fire. Any sources?
I have this flat green golf field terrain. Any advice how to get it little(just a little) mountanious like in Total Annihilation's 2d maps:
I had the same idea.. the idea crushed down when the stupid fucking program didn't use the light map i made(height map it accepted). Also the program should have a "look at a direct top down view from every pixel" -option.
Maybe there is a way in photoshop to twist the texture. I mean more advanced than scale/rotate/etc.
Do you really need to deform the texture? If you have a lightmap already, can't you just give that a soft light shader effect (either in MMF2 or Photoshop)?
I was thinking about adding something in the project.
What would you think if in some point of the game you'd find a secret nazi superweapon/vehicle? The technology for them would have came from a crashed ufo, or from a nazi time machine. And i have planned a mission where you are in the middle of a nazi biology studying center (human studies) and all the sudden the dead "customers" would wake up as zombies or hostile mutants.. the virus that made it happen came from the crashed ufo/from the future. A little like in Far Cry 1 or Crysis(first normal ww2-wargame, then scifi-ww2-wargame).
Is that something you wouldn't want to see in a war game?
Originally Posted by Chris Donovan It's hard to believe, but the flames look even better. As far as royalty free screams go, by a good mic, and drop a weight on your foot!
Advertisement
Post Reply
on't focus on the total actives counter at the top right. The map is very large and has a lot of unused actives in it. The game still runs perfectly on my old computer.
Edited by hapsi
..
jenswa.neocities.org
but i keep that in mind. Some of my methods you might find very weird and interesting. I.E. I can't actually draw very well(= i suck at drawing), but i think i can judge well.
