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At 4/27/08 01:05 PM, thedo12 wrote: wow , you draw weird O_o

i understand what your saying about the advantage of the pencil tool over the brush tool, however i think the brush tool just looks a hell of a lot better to me.

and about lag i mean, dan uses the brush tool and his games dont lag......

but seriously how long did it take you to do each individual frame?

Valid point. Dan uses the brush, but his games don't lag. But, if you look closely, Dan's visual style is simple. So it lends well to Flash development. However, check out Paladin the game and you'll notice some definite shortfalls to using the paintbrush. The game is huge (filesize-wise), and it gets bogged down when more than three characters are on screen while the background is scrolling or zooming.

As far as how long it takes to draw each frame, the first frame takes the longest. That can be anywhere from half an hour to 45 minutes. But after that, all body parts are in separate groups and making minor tweaks for easing or forward kinematics is quite simple. I usually use assets from a previous frame and build off of, so it isn't a complete redraw on each frame. I'd say around 10 minutes each after the first. Toward the end I refine the process and it gets very fast.

Valid point. Dan uses the brush, but his games don't lag. But, if you look closely, Dan's visual style is simple. So it lends well to Flash development. However, check out Paladin the game and you'll notice some definite shortfalls to using the paintbrush. The game is huge (filesize-wise), and it gets bogged down when more than three characters are on screen while the background is scrolling or zooming.

As far as how long it takes to draw each frame, the first frame takes the longest. That can be anywhere from half an hour to 45 minutes. But after that, all body parts are in separate groups and making minor tweaks for easing or forward kinematics is quite simple. I usually use assets from a previous frame and build off of, so it isn't a complete redraw on each frame. I'd say around 10 minutes each after the first. Toward the end I refine the process and it gets very fast.

45 minutes + 10 times 7 (im assuming 8 frames for your run cycle)

not bad about 2 hours

with the paladin game i never noticed the lag but then again my computer is preety good, but another reason could be is the semi- 3d terrian that the game has it moves as your character does.....
(look at the beginning and the wall you walk through)

but yeah, i just like the look of the brush tool so much more then the pencil tool, your right it is a trade off but to me its worth it.

with the paladin game i never noticed the lag but then again my computer is preety good, but another reason could be is the semi- 3d terrian that the game has it moves as your character does.....
(look at the beginning and the wall you walk through)

LOL! I know what you mean. It plays great on my new machine, too. But try playing it on an average machine and you'll definitely see it start to bottleneck. Almost to a fault. The first time I played Paladin it was on a slower machine (only about 3 years old) and the gameplay really suffered.

LOL! I know what you mean. It plays great on my new machine, too. But try playing it on an average machine and you'll definitely see it start to bottleneck. Almost to a fault. The first time I played Paladin it was on a slower machine (only about 3 years old) and the gameplay really suffered.

the gameplay is kinda bad in the first place, no offence to jazza or anything but the underlying engine was just slow and boring.

if they spent more time on the underlying engine instead of trying to make the game the most epic thing ever then the game would have been alot more fun.

but i guess thats why they make it so you can choose the quality, i mean looking at games like newgrounds rumble and the red baron, thoose games both have large file sizes and take up atlot of resources but there still extremly popular.

Hey everyone!

The hero's ability to fully interact with his environment is complete! He can run around, climb ladders, jump from platform to platform, etc. Head over to the blog and try it out for yourself!

I just finished the 5-hit attack combo for the main character. Let me know what you think!

Next up, the spell casting animations!

very fluid fast movement on those attacks, looking nice. Though, if you really want my opinion, I think it's lacking some epicness, if you're going to use that all over the game. I don't mean big fancy attacks, just something like a blue-fire-y kind of effect to the attack to look more amazing, and not just hack-hack-kick-staf-staff...more like psh-psh-poom-boom-bam ! --- if you know what I'm sayin' (I don't blame you if you don't, I'm a little sleepy and I'm not even sure what I'm saying, or writting, it probably doesn't make much sense).

though if you won't be using the meelee attacks at all in the game and it'll be most of it magic attacks, I guess it's ok, nothing too impressive.

Looks pretty damn sweet, but I would think about adding a transition from walking to climbing a ladder. It seems kind of jerky now.
But then again I'm just being nit-picky. Awesome engine.

Looks great, keep it up!

Good stuff. I love how solid your art feels...like it has weight and substance. Good work!

At 5/27/08 10:45 AM, BoMToons wrote: Good stuff. I love how solid your art feels...like it has weight and substance. Good work!

Thanks, dude. :-)

At 5/27/08 02:08 AM, Nuggs wrote: Looks pretty damn sweet, but I would think about adding a transition from walking to climbing a ladder. It seems kind of jerky now.
But then again I'm just being nit-picky. Awesome engine.

Good call. I plan on doing a transition for both pulling yourself up off a ladder at the top and kneeling down when you start the climb. Technically the same animation, only one of them uses it in reverse. ;-) I noticed a bit of a jerk in the screen when you start climbing, but that's because the camera follows your body as it snaps to the middle of the ladder. Not much else I can do about that. Maybe I could have the camera ease into the object it follows as opposed to snapping to it.

At 5/27/08 01:04 AM, WillAlvein wrote: very fluid fast movement on those attacks, looking nice. Though, if you really want my opinion, I think it's lacking some epicness, if you're going to use that all over the game. I don't mean big fancy attacks, just something like a blue-fire-y kind of effect to the attack to look more amazing, and not just hack-hack-kick-staf-staff...

Good ideas all around. Perhaps I'll incorporate some particle effects if the main character is 100% on mana?

:-)

I just finished the 5-hit attack combo for the main character. Let me know what you think!

Very fluid motion, it loops perfectly (even though it probably won't need to in the actual game), um no improvements needed in my opinion.

Next up, the spell casting animations!

Ooh that looks interesting! I'll be sure to give you some criticism on that, I love special effects !

I've posted some rough draft images of the first three levels of MageQuest. There's still a fourth level to figure out, but I explain my reasons as to why I'm holding off on it.

Feel free to give me any feedback you like. If you think you might have an amazing level design idea, let me know. It might make it in there.

:-)

I thought you all might like to see a sneak peak of the level artwork I'm churning out this week. Let me know what you think!

I just posted the artwork for level 1 and level 2.

Let me know what you think!

:-D

Let me know what you think!

Amazing! The details in the second level's architecture are incredible. I am really looking forward to this.

Level 3 artwork is up on the blog. Check it out and let me know what you think!

:-)

Level 3 artwork is up on the blog. Check it out and let me know what you think!

As always, they are great. You practically nailed the lava too.

Thanks, man. :-)

How many levels are there?

There will be a final fourth left after the magma spire. It's still in development, but should hopefully be ready by the end of the week. :-)

Hey guys,

I just completed a draft of the artwork for the level 2 boss, the Ice Widow. Still working on the coloring. Let me know what you think.

:-)

I just completed a draft of the artwork for the level 2 boss, the Ice Widow. Still working on the coloring. Let me know what you think.

I don't see how thats a draft, but that is one scary looking spider. I love the designs on her body and the colors suit it well too.

I just completed a draft of the level 1 boss's artwork. Let me know what you think.

:-)

I just completed a draft of the level 1 boss's artwork. Let me know what you think.

I like it, it suits the level well. It kind of looks like a really beefed up Dr. Doom : D

Check out the blog, I just updated it with draft artwork of the level 3 boss.

Let me know what you think!

I just updated the blog with draft artwork of the level 1 boss. There's still some work to do. I could use your help in deciding something.

Let me know what you think!

I just updated the bog with the fleshed out vector artwork of the Fire Drake, level 3's final boss. Let me know what you think!

:-)