The Mana World Forums

Hello,

I'd like to have a wolf-like monster for the Barbarian/Thermin area.
Since it is a snow-area it should be white, but making it redyable via xml would make it possible to reuse the monster sprite in several areas.

hello Jenalya

first off all i say yes! we need a predator ingame
on second hand re reeding your post 2 reflexions immediately come to my mind

1. Wolf in snow region-areas are not obligatory whites but more like huskies white and black

2. Nature changes human and animal sizes, shapes, colors regarding the environment in which they are evolving, so imho having them "only" dyable would not be a so good idea.

http://club.doctissimo.fr/undeadcomedy/ ... 514073-jpg

hope it helps

Sincerly

When thinking of a pure-white wolf... 'Okami' comes to mind, but for shading some gray/dark can help to get a furry texture.
The reference looks like a wolf-dog, I don't know if having animals that exist in real life is good for a fantasy game,
but I think we can develop an original concept joining some pieces.

Trying to draw something different here's my version:


After searching on forums I found that Fother J and skipy have mentioned to be developing a wolf.
but any concept has been shared/finished to see their progress. (¡Please do it!, so we can know if work on your concepts or draw a new one).

oups, edited ^^'

pateame wrote: The reference looks like a wolf-dog, I don't know if having animals that exist in real life is good for a fantasy game, but I think we can develop an original concept joining some pieces.
Trying to draw something different here's my version:

What you drew is pretty close to what I have in mind.
I agree that it could have some fantasy elements to be different from real life animals - I thought about maybe more than one tail or something. But to make that clear, I'd like it to look like a wolf (not a werewolf or such). It's intended to be an animal living in the wilderness between Nivalis and Thermin.

pateame, your wolf looks rather nice, but having the right feet farther forward than the left feet makes it seem as though it is turned slightly south (the diagonal line across its face contributes somewhat as well).

Even if the object is pure white, you will of course need to use greys for texture and shading.

Fother's concept is just showing up as a question mark, but as to Skipy's, mangamaniac's and meway's... only Skipy's is possibly of a high enough quality to be used, and meway's is most certainly not.

This concept seems more complicated to develop than I expected. My first try with walk/run sideview:

If it spent 6 frames just to walk, I would not imagine how many frames were needed to complete a full spritesheet.
I'm still busy with modanung's monsters, but I hope some volunteer wants to develop it. (¡Help!)

It looks great! (Though I'm not a pixel artist and can't tell about its quality from that point of view )
I'd be really happy if you (and/or someone who wants to help) would continue on this.

pateame,

i agree with everyone, it looks great, and i got some ideas (you can ignore them):

• add some shadows on the legs, as ground doesn't give a light
• maybe make delay between frames a bit smaller

just some points from my mind.

cheers, dark

Dark_Mag wrote:add some shadows on the legs, as ground doesn't give a light

The lightsource is in the South-West, so the legs would be lit somewhat. Snow is very reflective, too.

The belly and the background legs should be dark.
The back and the foreground legs should be light (left side brighter than right side).

pateame wrote:If it spent 6 frames just to walk, I would not imagine how many frames were needed to complete a full spritesheet.
I'm still busy with modanung's monsters, but I hope some volunteer wants to develop it. (¡Help!)

The side walk animation (which turned out really great, by the way) was by far the hardest (ok, the side attack animation _could_ be just as hard or even harder, depending on how much effort you put into it). The front and back walk and attack animation will be a lot easier.

Regarding finding a volunteer to finish it: I've been on this project for years, and you can trust me when I say that when you start something you either finish it yourself or it will never get finished.

It costs nothing to dream , but since I started this I will try to develop it as far as possible.
Even though I'm not a pixel artist, the only way I see to improve my skills is with practice.
- A sketch with front walk and a simple side attack:

Attack still looks too simple with just 3 frames (Is barking or bitting?).
I was thinking on something different like an "ice breath" to get a fantasy look, just imagining...

pateame wrote:but since I started this I will try to develop it as far as possible.

pateame wrote: Attack still looks too simple with just 3 frames (Is barking or bitting?).
I was thinking on something different like an "ice breath" to get a fantasy look, just imagining...

For the attack: I think it looks a bit odd that only two legs are visible - while attacking it's necessary to have a good/secure stand, so it would make sense that the legs are shifted. So e.g. the right front leg more ahead than the left one. (I hope I can make clear what I mean, it's hard in English.)
When Skipy and I talked about the wolf monster the first time, we wondered if it'd be possible to have a kind of jumping attack?

I was trying to skip background legs and shading details on last sketch just to don't get confused.
Thanks for your observations, I understand your english very well (if not, googletranslator can help me)
- Here's a simple sketch with jumping/landing in the same spot, now using 5 frames:

much better pateame, keep on..

I would suggest just to lenghten the upper canines as teeth looks too similar each other.
And it would also add a monster touch to the creature.