DMAshura Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 Greetings again everyone. Just thought I'd update everybody on where we are with Sonic Gemini. Since finding reliable spriters has been an almost impossible task, we decided to go in a new direction. This picture is a mock screenshot, but using actual sprites we're using ingame, with the exception of the background and some of the HUD. Enjoy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron C-T Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 I don't see why you wouldn't use the background, as it looks fine. I like the feel of it a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMAshura Posted December 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 I don't see why you wouldn't use the background, as it looks fine. I like the feel of it a lot. It's just that we may need to make a few tweaks to it is all. The feel is definitely what we were going for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XeroNazoBlaze Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 Wow, looks great!. Reminds me a lot of . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Emerald Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 Sonic Gemini: the Sonic 2 HD of fangames. Anyway, I do like this new art style. Can't wait to see what this looks like in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 So is any of this animated? I imagine a style like this would be pretty tricky to animate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Emerald Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 I know Sonic Warrior TJ has Sonic's spindash already animated, along with an entire sprite sheet for Sonic (Looks nice, by the way). Also, I don't think this style should be too tricky to animate. After all, sprites and their frames most often begin as drawings before being "digitized." So, it's almost like skipping a step in spriting, and just painting the drawing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serephim Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 So is any of this animated? I imagine a style like this would be pretty tricky to animate. Not so much. Imperfections give you alot of leeway when animating things. Alot of animations actually come off easier. Unless your talking about the resolution, in which case yeah it can be a problem. But if they managed to draw them all beforehand then it should be far easier. Only issue comes if you manage to get too far before you realize something is off...which sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMAshura Posted December 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 Only issue comes if you manage to get too far before you realize something is off...which sucks. Actually that's the beauty of doing it this way. If something is off, long as you keep the original Photoshop file, you can tweak the layers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felik Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 Wow! That looks awsome! I'm looking forward to play this. But don't forget that superb engine and programming make game perfect in the first place. Graphics are very important but they are secondary. To be honest engine that I saw in previous demo was awful. I really hope that things have changed since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The ParadoxX Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 I'm loving it. It would be nice to see some animated stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMAshura Posted December 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 To be honest engine that I saw in previous demo was awful. I really hope that things have changed since then. We're finally moving away from Game Maker, actually. It's too bloated. The new engine that we're working on should be much smoother and faster. It would be nice to see some animated stuff... Would this satisfy you? Just to prove we've got real sprites and not just one really pretty picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death_Daniel Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 For the art style i think it may need to be a bit smoother. However it is really nice. I wish I could draw like that : o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMAshura Posted December 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 For the art style i think it may need to be a bit smoother. However it is really nice. I wish I could draw like that : o Do you mean smoother in terms of animation? We already have more frames than any of the Genesis games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z3d Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 2 words. Love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonic Warrior TJ Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 At original size, the character sprites are taller than my screen. Those in the mock-up are probably around 10% of their original size. Thanks for all the positive feedback! Blue Emerald's right, I do have most of Sonic's poses already animated, save for some of the less important ones (wall push, skid/u-turn, transform, etc; most of which have key frames already inked), and I'm off to a good start with Metal Sonic. On top of that, I've made illustrations for each of our Zones, several of the bosses, and between myself and folks like Ekoi and Adamis we've got some good Badnik designs in the works. At this point, all I really need is bunches of time, and for Matwek to keep on trucking with Zone maps. I'm going to talk to DM Ashura and see if I can't show you all anything else, but in the meantime, enjoy the mock-up I guess. EDIT: And the .gif too, I totally didn't notice we were on page 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron C-T Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 We're finally moving away from Game Maker, actually. It's too bloated. The new engine that we're working on should be much smoother and faster. What are you using instead? And the sprite looks fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMAshura Posted December 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 What are you using instead? And the sprite looks fantastic. I'm currently awaiting the first iteration of our engine in Blitz3D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serephim Posted December 28, 2009 Report Share Posted December 28, 2009 Perfect. Looks like you guys used the original advance sprites as an almost 1:1 reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death_Daniel Posted December 29, 2009 Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 I like the pose and style you put together. Forget what I said about smoothness. If it needs smoothing out obviously you can sort it but it isn't important at all. I love the animation and I can't wait to see more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rael0505 Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 I dig the standing/idle animation! Only thing I could suggest fixing is the back foot - as it goes back, the heel should kick up a little bit as he goes on his toes. The rest of it is superbly done... the way the ears/spines wave back and forth, especially the fists turning. And that background is beautiful as well! I have to say I miss the sprite style shown in the SAGE demo though, I thought it was even more gorgeous. What brought about the style change? Do you find it easier to work with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death_Daniel Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 It looks easier in some aspects of in other words the editing and detail. Like sprites, it has to be precise and have small space to work with but also as mensioned it's bigger, better and editable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMAshura Posted December 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 The sand tiles you see were kind of preliminary anyway, so they're getting redone with a bit more depth and variation. As for why we switched to the new style ... the idea was suggested by SonicWarriorTJ for him to hand-draw it all because (1) it would be easier to produce and edit than pixel art and (2) because we could *NOT* find enough reliable pixel artists. A number of people said they would help us and then either bailed or ended up doing nothing. For instance the guy who created the background for Memento Temple Zone flat out told us that was ALL he wanted to do for us. So we went in the direction that would not only give us creative uniqueness but also make sure our game gets DONE. I appreciate all the feedback though ... it will very much be taken into account. Just because it's hand drawn doesn't mean it's going to just look like a Flash game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aikocho Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 The sand tiles you see were kind of preliminary anyway, so they're getting redone with a bit more depth and variation.As for why we switched to the new style ... the idea was suggested by SonicWarriorTJ for him to hand-draw it all because (1) it would be easier to produce and edit than pixel art and (2) because we could *NOT* find enough reliable pixel artists. A number of people said they would help us and then either bailed or ended up doing nothing. For instance the guy who created the background for Memento Temple Zone flat out told us that was ALL he wanted to do for us. So we went in the direction that would not only give us creative uniqueness but also make sure our game gets DONE. I appreciate all the feedback though ... it will very much be taken into account. Just because it's hand drawn doesn't mean it's going to just look like a Flash game. In other words, Sonic's take on Wario Land: Shake it. I HAVE to say, that I wanted to attempt something like that once. I can draw, very well mind you, but on a digital plain.... Nooooo. I doubt I'll even learn to animate because of all the digital painting and such going about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOB_ROX Posted December 31, 2009 Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 I can draw like that, and that animation is pretty amazing, See id be able to draw my own sprites for my game, Just, Idk how to animate or anything like that which sucks, Anyhow. Nice job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts