[darkages]

I'm looking for a bit of help and I hope this is the right place to get it. If not, I apologize in advance.

For those who have been following my work, DA2 still has some major holes in it that I cannot fill myself. Co-programmers, pixel artists, and musicians have come and gone several times in its development, much to my frustration (since they agree to do something and rarely do it). I'm not complaining -- I can't afford to pay anyone for help, so there's no obligation, but it prevents me from moving along in development at a normal pace.

Well, beyond all belief, the game is in beta after 4 years. However, anyone who plays will note a few things. First, several of the graphics are repeated improperly or are just blank boxes. I'm referring to the battle engine. The monsters are mostly blank boxes, but thankfully Miguel, the artist, has lived up to his promise and still sends me graphics even if they are two months apart. Unfortunately, the battle backgrounds by a different artist will never arrive. Miguel might do them for me, but he has been loyal and helpful already, and he is still swamped with the monster requests and I cannot in good conscience ask him to do more.

This is where I ask for some help from the general public here in this forum. I lack any artistic skill and my game lacks an adequate plethora of battle scenes. Yet, there are many talented people through this website who love to develop indie games. I am hoping to find someone willing to create those missing scenes.

There are some limitations.

First, is the layout, which can be seen in the two battle scenes currently packaged with the game (bg1.bmp and bg2.bmp).

Second, there is a 256 color palette limitation. The palette can also be found by just looking at the palette of the aforementioned files. I know in the windows/directX port, 256 color restriction is not necessary, but the scenes will also be used in the QB version, which cannot exceed 256 colors.

Third, 32 of the colors are spread across 4 rotating color sets and therefore cannot be used unless properly incorporated into the scenery, which reduces the palette even more. By rendering something in 3D program, or even using some good photoshop techniques, the chance of dithering down a hi-color image to less than 256 colors of a fixed palette are not good. You'll probably have to work from 256 colors with the DA2 palette.

Fourth, they have to somewhat fit the artistic level of the game. This is probably harder than the palette problem, since every artist has their own style. It doesn't have to be exact - the game already has obvious differences in the art provided by Gavan, Miguel, and myself (where possible). The bottom line, however, is this: quality works well with quality, even if the styles are slightly different. If you can produce good stuff, it will probably still fit well in the game. But, wherever possible, learn from the techniques already in the game. The other alternative would be to completely re-do the two backgrounds in your own style and then create more and that would eliminate the style problem altogether. However, this creates more work and with how much that is a factor, the less work I request, the more likely it gets done...

So if anyone out there can help me, please let me know so we can talk a bit more about what I need done.

Thanks!
-DA
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- DA