[Mattias Gustavsson]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, this is my first post :-) I'm working on a 2d top-down turn based rpg-ish game. I'm using Poser (excellent app!) to make most of the art for it (as I'm really just a programmer :-) ) and I've just finished piecing together the two main characters of the game, and thought I'd post here to get some comments (good or bad) :D



/Mattias
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www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog
www.rivtind.com - My Fantasy world and isometric RPG engine
www.pixieuniversity.com - Software 2D Game Engine

[Nodtveidt]

They look pretty interesting. What version of Poser are you using? Looks like at least 5.
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If you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices. The scary part is that if you play it forwards it installs Windows. - wallace

[cowgod]

They look really great. If an artist sent me art like that for a game, I'd be blown away.

Of course, the game art I need is usually so small they can't get that kind of detail anyways.

[Terry]

They look really good! You say this is for a top down 2D game?

The only thing that sticks out for me is the woman's clothing. You're lucky Tenshi doesn't hang around here anymore; you'd have quite a flameware on your hands :D To summarise that theoretical thread: why does the guy get a full chainmail shirt while the girl has half of it torn off?
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[Mattias Gustavsson]

Thanks, guys :-)

Yeah, I'm using Poser 6, which have quite a nice renderer (was it in 5 as well? maybe).

I can't take much credit for them though, I've basically just pieced them together out of pre-built components :-)

Terry, yeah, you have a point :-) I do like the assymetrical texture for the girls chainmail, but I have been thinking I should give her a shirt or something worn underneath... Maybe I will, maybe I won't 8)

It's acually quite annoying at times, how much of the fantasy style poser content is so intent on showing skin :-)
_________________
www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog
www.rivtind.com - My Fantasy world and isometric RPG engine
www.pixieuniversity.com - Software 2D Game Engine

[Verious]

They look great, but I'm not sure the woman needs the eye patch, it makes her look a bit like a pirate... unless of course the eye patch is part of the story and relevant to the character's background.

[cowgod]

I think the eye patch is kind of cool. Little details like that make the character seem like a real person.

[RampantCoyote]

I'm pro eye patch, too.

On the flip side... I've seen WAY too many Poser models used in games these days, I'm afraid. So I just look at them and can't help but think "Poser." But that's because I'm all jaded and stuff. I'm not really a representative of your target market.

But if these guys are just supposed to be static, 2D images, maybe you could have an artist touch them up or something later? Some kind of post-processing stuff to help give them a bit more life? Yeah, you can tell I'm not an artist, can't you?
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Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

[BadMrBox]

Thinking about it? Doesn't the male's arms look a bit unnatural? The biceps? I dunno, I'm no expert on chainmail :).
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[Mattias Gustavsson]

I like the eyepatch, she looks too nice without it :-) The eyepatch stays :-)

I know what you mean about lots of games using Poser, I've been thinking the same thing. But it's a very time-efficient way of making art for my games, while still getting a good result.

And I'm kind of intent on making everything myself for my games, don't want to share decisions with anyone :D But to be honest, the games I'm making now is a bit experimental, with a key focus on procedural content generation, so makes it more difficult to work with an artist, as I'd have to ask him to redo stuff a lot, whenever my ideas change, and few artists tend to like that... :D
_________________
www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog
www.rivtind.com - My Fantasy world and isometric RPG engine
www.pixieuniversity.com - Software 2D Game Engine

[Hajo]

Poser seems to be a great tool. I see poser models in many places nowadays and all look good to me. If I only could spare the money ... there once has been a free and legal download of an older Poser version apparently, but I missed that :/

[Mattias Gustavsson]

It's not a secret, it's more that I don't have much defined yet :D I don't mind at all talking about it and sharing ideas.

I'm thinking a staged process for me, with the level of "procedurality" increasing with each game. In this first one, the levels and room layouts will be the only procedurally generated things, in the next one I will kick it up a notch by having procedurally generated missions and some of the art being generated (by having a built-in software renderer so I can generate some art on the fly, tweaking parameters as needed). The next one probably won't be a fantasy style game though.
_________________
www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog
www.rivtind.com - My Fantasy world and isometric RPG engine
www.pixieuniversity.com - Software 2D Game Engine

[Hajo]

I see :)

Having been experimenting with several types of procedurally generated environments like forests, caverns some sorts of building, I can tell it's not easy but has it's merits.

The closer you get to "constructed" things like buildings, the bigger will be the problems of procedural generation, though. At some point you'll be facing the task of writing a program that does the work of an architect, and if such existed already, most architects had lost their jobs now ;)

Not saying it's impossible, just saying it works better for the environments that include less brainwork, like forests and caves, also ruins.

Good luck with your project :) I'm myself currently trying to make a very simple dungeon crawl myself, with randomized dungeons and very simple graphics.

[Mattias Gustavsson]

[Verious]

In my opinion, the Diablo series of games were very successful at procedurally generating content, which greatly enhanced replay. I have a link somewhere to a great article on procedurally generating dungeons, I'll see if I can locate it (I don't recall which computer I bookmarked the site from).