[WIP] Some Monster Proposals

[fraeuleinwunder]

Hello, I'm new and I'd like to help making some graphics.
I have used my day off to create some monsters (and my avatar ):

Here an idea for a dragonfly. I imagine it as sparkling a bit, just in this metallic way real dragonflies do, glittering a bit. I thought something like that could make a nice addition to the forest environment (while drawing I thought about the uses, it's wings could be an ingredient for some sort of magical armor, or at least a magical looking armor or a potion, perhaps even one that could make you transparent (like the wings) and thus harder to hit..):

drfly.png (1.42 KiB) Viewed 4959 times

Then two ideas for the desert surrounding:

A rough crocodile:

kroko.png (1.02 KiB) Viewed 4959 times

And a relatively large desert cat, that could be used as a rare enemy, dropping perhaps some claws,that could be powdered to make an ingedient.. or simply a HUGE steak.

wildcat.png (64.38 KiB) Viewed 4985 times

All creatures are drawn in the standing position (edit: except fot the cat which is in a ducked/waiting position, that should replace the standing position, I thought it should be this rather than standing and I would make the animation in a manner that fits that in /edit).

Please let me know what you think about them, could they be used, is there no need, did I do it all wrong, etc.

[Goku]

Wow those look good. Nice job on them.

The dragonfly one looks a little too nice to me. Just by the bright colors.

[Seradest]

Very good

In the wiki you can see what a monster must have for a animation.
http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/ ... evelopment


aaaaand artwork for monsters that needet here a examlple:
http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/ ... al#Wormoid

[fraeuleinwunder]

Thank you! I appreciate your opinions.

Yes, the color scheme of the fly might be a bit soft, but hey, it can glitter you to death.
Depending on where it could be needed, I could also adjust the colors to something dark (I red about a graveyard that is planned (?), so perhaps a doom fly with battered wings..) or make it in grayscale to allow coloring, but I'm not sure how to properly do this.

Btw, if anyone knows: I always read that 32.bit colors are necessary, where can I adjust this? I'm working with gimp and did not find an option for this.

Thank you for the links, I already red this pages before and hope I could match the lines.

[Seradest]

Thank you! I appreciate your opinions.

Yes, the color scheme of the fly might be a bit soft, but hey, it can glitter you to death.
Depending on where it could be needed, I could also adjust the colors to something dark (I red about a graveyard that is planned (?), so perhaps a doom fly with battered wings..) or make it in grayscale to allow coloring, but I'm not sure how to properly do this.

Btw, if anyone knows: I always read that 32.bit colors are necessary, where can I adjust this? I'm working with gimp and did not find an option for this.

Thank you for the links, I already red this pages before and hope I could match the lines.

Make your own palette with 256 colors
and dont use neon colors.

for questions of lightning,shadows and stuff see in the wiki.

[Len]

Thank you! I appreciate your opinions.

Yes, the color scheme of the fly might be a bit soft, but hey, it can glitter you to death.
Depending on where it could be needed, I could also adjust the colors to something dark (I red about a graveyard that is planned (?), so perhaps a doom fly with battered wings..) or make it in grayscale to allow coloring, but I'm not sure how to properly do this.

Btw, if anyone knows: I always read that 32.bit colors are necessary, where can I adjust this? I'm working with gimp and did not find an option for this.

Thank you for the links, I already red this pages before and hope I could match the lines.

http://forum4.aimoo.com/WhispersofAvalo ... -4656.html

[fraeuleinwunder]

Make your own palette with 256 colors

Ok, that's what I wanted to know, thx. So it would basically be sufficient to limit myself to a selection of colors, I'm doing this anyway, so no problem.

[EJlol]

It's not required to limit yourself to a certain amount of colours. Though to get the right feeling for sprites we recommend not use more than 3~5 colours for a shade. The game support 32bit graphics.

On the wiki there is a lot of information to be found. These are the (unfinished) graphic guidelines:
http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/ ... Guidelines

[Rotonen]

Welcome aboard.

Also a really nice reaction from our community for once: you said just about everything important before I could even read the post.

To get the good old pixel art feel into your art, it is really useful to limit your palette. In the modern day the end result can be nicer due to a higher selection of colors being available for the palette. What we have in-game right now is quite random about this. Everything of course is always open for retouching if you ever feel you can improve something or even an entire tileset.

And as said, planning out the animation beforehand really pays off.

If you want a challenging animation task: do our playerset. It's missing stuff and what we have now is also somewhat against our guidelines (perspective for example). As I've stated already elsewhere: the first suitable playerset to be presented to me will gain my full support even if it means discarding/redoing our current equipment work. It's a major pixel art development block for us and has been so for quite some time.

Hope you enjoy your stay.

[fraeuleinwunder]

Thank you, that was really helpful!

I'm currently working on the fly to try out animating this (always just drew fpf animations in flash before). I also reconsidered the potential use of the cat and had an idea for a quest that I'll post soon in the appropriate forum.

Concerning the limitations of colors: You emphasize this a lot and I'm not sure if it that is aimed to my proposals or just a general hint. I limited the colors of the graphics while I drew them; the cat's fur has 4 shades, the body of the fly too. Is that too much?

[EJlol]

It was just a general hint, afaik there are not really (good) guidelines about that (yet?). So just do whatever you feel is right.

[Armadeus]

Nice job! that should be added into the game, lol.

[Len]

Nice job! that should be added into the game, lol.

Needs a full sprite sheet first

[Armadeus]

Lol yeah, unless it's going to be a statue...

[Alxe]

Lol yeah, unless it's going to be a statue...

What about it being an statue until you get to it's range of vision or get hit, and goes after you? That would be cool for a piramid-thingy.