Style Guide

All development of pixel art, maps and other graphics.


User avatar
krismichael
Novice
Novice
Posts: 79
Joined: 29 Jul 2004, 11:17
Location: California (USA) + Tokyo (Japan)
Contact:

Style Guide

Post by krismichael »

Style Guides are a great way to keep the graphic elements (tiles, sprites, characters, objects, etc) consistant. It also makes adding new graphics elements into the project easier for new designers/illustrators coming on board.

Since we are way off from having style guides for everything, we could at least start but bundling up ALL graphic elements being used so far into a single package (ZIP, TAR, RAR, etc) for all the designers to look at and get an idea of what has been done so far and what might need to be worked on.

Also this would provide designers with a template to work off of when creating new objects instead of guessing what the specifications are for this game.

Let me know if you guys have any thoughts on this.
It's not my fault I'm new here! :)
User avatar
ElvenProgrammer
Founder
Founder
Posts: 2526
Joined: 13 Apr 2004, 19:11
Location: Italy
Contact:

Post by ElvenProgrammer »

It's good to have here someone with experience! I want to help you as much as I can, that's why I'm creating a package with all the graphic used until now and a readme with some specifications. I really don't know what you mean with style guides (also if I can guess it) and never written one before, but with your help we can work something out...

Just a warning: the graphic used until now is the original graphic from Secret of Mana, that's why we need artists to make our own one with the same style. And at the moment all the graphic it's doubled in size by the SuperEagle engine which sometimes does some weird things, that's why my idea was tomanually double the graphic and fix the details. Don't know how to explain better in english but if you have questions feel free to post.
User avatar
ElvenProgrammer
Founder
Founder
Posts: 2526
Joined: 13 Apr 2004, 19:11
Location: Italy
Contact:

Post by ElvenProgrammer »

Nevilytis
Peon
Peon
Posts: 45
Joined: 06 Jul 2004, 17:53
Location: Bahamas

Post by Nevilytis »

Well, new stuff like this slows my work down since am the leading artist here (maybe the only). I really wanna get all the art stuff out the way like clothing, characters, weapons, etc. So if this is really important to both of you then make the restrictions and give them to me.

>.>
<.<

Also, some lesser artist would be helpful, so I can be LordNev, leader of the artists :twisted:, then i get to kill artists they disobey my mighty pencil :evil: , but i need to get a better understand of what you guys are talking about.

--------------
Hail LordNev, lead artist :twisted:
Guest

Post by Guest »

Thanks for the package.

Just think of a style guide like a Template for all the art/design parts to the game.

Tiles for example. Each time is the same size right? So the style guide for Tiles would have an example of a tile and information about the COLOR, SIZE, FILE TYPE, etc. All of that would be put into a single file for people to download.

Anybody who wants to make a Tile for the game (Grass, Tree, etc.) could download the Tile style guide so they don't have to post tons of questions asking other designers, "what size should a tile be", "what colors can I use", "is it 8, 16, or 32 bit", etc.

Now that we have a package of all the art we can start thinking about what we still need. Then LordNev can spend time doing the really cool big art while the other designers spend time on the little details.
User avatar
krismichael
Novice
Novice
Posts: 79
Joined: 29 Jul 2004, 11:17
Location: California (USA) + Tokyo (Japan)
Contact:

Post by krismichael »

Oops forgot to login. :shock:
It's not my fault I'm new here! :)
User avatar
Shura
Novice
Novice
Posts: 96
Joined: 15 Jun 2004, 01:36

Post by Shura »

sounds like a good idea! maybe not just the standard needs to be defined but rather a proper tutorial written which explains exactly how to make a map and everything on it plus sprites and stuff. also a couple of dos and don't would be nice as well, heh.

i would like to have this for the src as well ^^
Don't argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
User avatar
Genis
Novice
Novice
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Apr 2004, 19:43
Contact:

Post by Genis »

yea, sounds like a great idea. I think over the next few days ill try to start some discussions on graphic sizes etc in irc and then Ill post some type of guide here.
Sorry...I only speak English
User avatar
krismichael
Novice
Novice
Posts: 79
Joined: 29 Jul 2004, 11:17
Location: California (USA) + Tokyo (Japan)
Contact:

Post by krismichael »

Right now the game has "borrowed graphics" from other games (correct me if I'm wrong) and those graphics seem to be working out okay in terms of size, colors, and other specs right?

Unless of corse people want to bump up the size a bit or whatnot.

The only thing that seems to be unknown or at least seems to be a conversation around here is what file formats to use and whether or not graphics should be uncompressed or packaged into a single data file.

Personally I don't care what format we use as long as it works for the developers.

As for data files, I think we should package all graphics into a single data file. Graphics don't have to be included in every update for the development. People could download the graphics data file as a separate download for now. That might solve the CVS download size discussion I've been hearing about around here as well.

So if we agree to package all graphics into a single data file then we only need to make a new one when we have major revisions or updates to the graphics package.

What do you guys think?
It's not my fault I'm new here! :)
User avatar
Genis
Novice
Novice
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Apr 2004, 19:43
Contact:

Post by Genis »

yea, as of right now we using a datafile with bmp's inside of it. And it seems to work well
Sorry...I only speak English
User avatar
krismichael
Novice
Novice
Posts: 79
Joined: 29 Jul 2004, 11:17
Location: California (USA) + Tokyo (Japan)
Contact:

Post by krismichael »

Great.

I got a zip file containing all the graphics currently being used, and with that information I'm sure I could put together a simple (yet useful) little package for all the designers to work from.

It will be a good start and an easy way for us to track what still needs to be created.

I do have a few questions for you about the graphics data file.

I was thinking it would be easier for us to update if we could use a save and replace method for graphic updates instead of adding more and more files when we make changes.

I would suggest for example something like this:

Say we have 2 male characters and 2 female characters;

char_male_01.bmp
char_male_02.bmp
char_female_01.bmp
char_female_02.bmp

If we change the animation/look for one character then we simply replace that file and remake the Graphics.dat file.

If we want to create a new male character then we would add char_male_03.bmp and remake the Graphics.dat file.

Based on how you guys are doing it, is something like this easy for you guys or does it cause more work for you?

What do you think?
It's not my fault I'm new here! :)
User avatar
Genis
Novice
Novice
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Apr 2004, 19:43
Contact:

Post by Genis »

really you can do whatever you want is my understanding. As of right now each different charset is for a different job in the game. (A ragnarok type setup. differe sprite for each job. However I believe we decided to go no different sprites per job, but clothes. So basically you can create the files however you want. And well just make it work. So if you can think of a good way of organizing thatd be sweet
Sorry...I only speak English
User avatar
krismichael
Novice
Novice
Posts: 79
Joined: 29 Jul 2004, 11:17
Location: California (USA) + Tokyo (Japan)
Contact:

Post by krismichael »

That's good to hear. I'll give the organization some thought.

By the way It's kind of quiet around here since a few people are on vacation I guess.

Do you know how many programmers are active on this project?
It's not my fault I'm new here! :)
User avatar
Genis
Novice
Novice
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Apr 2004, 19:43
Contact:

Post by Genis »

Me, Elven, and Sull (I know I havent been to actve lately, been a tad busy, but im back now)
And Elvens gone, and then Sull, I think hes working on something I dont know exactly
Sorry...I only speak English
User avatar
Genis
Novice
Novice
Posts: 82
Joined: 29 Apr 2004, 19:43
Contact:

Post by Genis »

Me, Elven, and Sull (I know I havent been to actve this past week, been a tad busy, but im back now)
And Elvens gone, and then Sull, I think hes working on something I dont know exactly
Sorry...I only speak English
Post Reply