The Mana World Forums

Maester Pixel wrote:Hmm. Since know one has brought this up before I thought I should; Rotonen or Elven, whoever is in charge of that department, should create/apply "deadlines" to the current active spriters, yes I'm sure everyone has heard of the term before, so everyone should be aware of the meaning.

Never saw Toy Story 2?

The Dolldocter wrote:Don't rush art!

Anyway, it's not the problem that I'm not motivated enough to do some work, I just don't have enough time. I'd love to do something, I just can't atm.
Besides it's very hard to know how long a art assignment will take before you start it, there are always some small things I'd like to improve before seeing it as finished. And to be honest TMW isn't first priority in my life, I don't want to be expected to work all night to finish something before the deadline when I've got more important things to do.

Although i am not an artist myself... I would propose all artists meet and discuss how to create a SoM oriented tiles/items and so on.

The item set we have right now... they are very good.... but.. if your going to try to even come close to SoM, Might as well try harder.

Like i said before, i myself am not an artist, so i cant realy enforce this... but it would be something to consider.

Im sure that many people joined the project for (Secret Of Mana Online) *duh*

But also alot of the people are dissapointed on how things turned out.

Before i criticize too much -_- ill end the post

In lieu of actual deadlines, it would probably be a good thing for, after each release, all the active artists put together a list of their own goals for the next release. Official deadlines and art don't mix well, but having some sort of self-motivating system would be a good thing.

Bear wrote:Although i am not an artist myself... I would propose all artists meet and discuss how to create a SoM oriented tiles/items and so on.

The item set we have right now... they are very good.... but.. if your going to try to even come close to SoM, Might as well try harder.

Like i said before, i myself am not an artist, so i cant realy enforce this... but it would be something to consider.

Im sure that many people joined the project for (Secret Of Mana Online) *duh*

I'm actually in the other camp on this one...although I'm all for working with SoM as a base inspiration, I think that just making "SoM Online" would be pretty boring, not to mention ignoring all the technological advancements that have been made since then that can be used to fantastic effect (the easiest eample being alpha layer antialiasing).
(that and, I'll admit, I'm selfish: I don't want to start over on my playerset, and we really do need items, tiles, players, monsters, and so forth to all adhere to one basic style)

Rotonen: My sister is very busy. She works and works and works and works... She is drawing the whole day - but not for tmw...
I will say her. you are searching for new Gnuklia art, ok?

Elven: I dont't know, whats going on her, but I think I have to stalk the process . But before I'm leaving the "post a reply" page I asking ou: What about the music in tmw? I remember there whas a little and mysterious guitar sample on the wiki... Could you update my ears ? It's very interesting for a little musician to hear music from other musicians ...

Just wait one more day and you'll hear some new music in tmw

You know... my slow processor
I looked at the current wiki... I downloaded "Darkness Overture". Anyway, my sound card makes some weird BRRRZZZRRZRZ sounds, but no music . HM. Ok, I listened to it. Manaworld is going to be radio soundish in my ears ^^ .

Sorry to hijack your post, but i feel it's necessary, important, and it's just for one quick post while all the graphics artists have to look at it.
Disclaimer: If your feelings can get hurt easily, it may be best not to continue on with these pointers. i am being overly-critical (though i hope not brutal) for the artists who want to get better at what they do.

Four Humble Points for the Tile Artists:
-Reflections make the game look cheesey and half-hearted. If you're going to do a reflection anyway (for example, to make it easier to make the right side of your mountain after you've made the left side, you copy, paste, reflect), at least add many differences so if you're not paying attention to it (because with all luck the normal player won't be) you won't notice it. And if you're an overachiever... (tile) artists find it really gratifying when they see a game with tiles that they can't tell the artists built off of a reflection to begin with (in all areas of your art think "structured randomness"!). It's food for thought.
-Pixel Errors have error in the name and therefore have no place in your habits. For a random example, go the the mountain set and look at the ground tile (eighth tile from the left, fourth tile down). The whole top of the outline is discolored. Keeping pixel errors to zero is having pride in your work.
-This one word is perhaps the greatest lesson a tile artist can learn: Tilability. All your given art classes will teach you everything about form, shape, contour, and those are all well and good but in games they all yield to tilability. i have heard it referred to as "eliminating the grid"; call it whatever you like, but when you put a 3x3 of your tile together, there shouldn't be any loose, jagged ends. A good, tilable tile is efficient so you don't have to work as hard or make so many tiles and it is also much more appealing to the player. The tile with the pixel error (8,4) is about the anti-paragon for tilability. See how when it is placed by itself at all nothing lines up? i don't criticize the artist of this tile, but the tile is a very good visual tool for the things i'm talking about.
-Shading works wonders. Shading is often the quick, easy (and fun!) difference between beginners and intermediates. Throw some higher luminescened tiles on there and some lower ones. Show contrast. In a free work system like this, shading can be difficult until a shading system can be worked out. A reference point of light needs to be indicated so everyone can follow suit. Otherwise it will appear as though light is coming from all angles and will reduce the whole effect you were going for.
Play around with pixelling and increase your skills! Besides some of those key fundamentals, you guys are really making some commendable stuff!

P.S.- Bear said something about emulating Secret of Mana graphics. You do not want to attempt to follow the legacy they left. Those graphics show complete mastery of so many topics that many artists don't even know about. In such a loosely structured work system, each player needs to do what he or she is best at in the style he or she is comfortable with. Create your own legacy, TMW

Ultim, some nice insights on pixel art. I'm a total beginner with pixel things and I'm trying to concentrate on the conceptual stuff right now. So basically I'm able to say whether I like a tileset or not. (Or do I feel that something's not right with it.)

Keksi, I just happen to like your sister's art on a personal level..

Ehehe, gnulia.deviantart.com , hehe

You must already be an artist in some other medium... you already use the method of visualizing and then drawing. But hey where can a man drop off his tiles in this joint? It'd be easier if that darn sourceforge collection of the tilesets was updatable.

What's wrong with posting on imageshack and us downloading them from there to the cvs version and eventually into a release? And the artists do have galleries too where they can upload stuff (although the details about that are offtopic in this thread).