The Mana World Forums

"A living stone mask that seems a bit Too attached to your face..."

The title is not set in stone, I suck at naming things.
This is a mask that I drew a few years ago, inspired initially by the face of Vivi from FF9. I've had to recover data from a broken laptop, and currently have no way to test that the spritesheet and xml correctly match up - but they were bundled together, and when I had access to my own testing environment everything worked nicely.

I used a front-facing frame from the spritesheet as an icon while testing, but it would be no problem to draw a separate icon.

I do realize that the spritesheet is kind of .. weirdly organized. Be careful modifying it without checking the xml first though - It included a slightly complicated blinking animation, because otherwise multiple characters wearing it got stuck in the same blinking patterns. The death animation is similar, but is only meant to show the life fading from the mask's eyes when the player dies.

The eyes are intended to be either dye-able or available in a few colors (because if you think mine would be any color but pink you must be crazy).

I am willing to hear any critiques you have, and can work on anything that could use improvement. My only limitation is that I probably won't be running my own testing server again before next week, so directly testing could be difficult.

*EDIT: So this is pretty much the final draft for the xml - apparently some wiggle for masks is normal anyway. As far as I can tell this should work fine to test or use otherwise. Opinions always appreciated, critical or otherwise *

This looks like something that would fit nicely with the steampunk themed content. There are plans for a steampunk-themed release. It might not happen for a while, but having items in advance is always good. We would use the old Thermin art as well.


Now, this is just a suggestion, but I can't help but think it might need something more, like tubes or a plague doctor beak. That would make the side views look really cool. Here's some ideas of what I mean:

I reworked it a bit, several years ago, here you go.

WildX: I can kinda see what you mean about it fitting a steampunk theme, though only the eyes fit that in my opinion. It would need straps in back or something similar for a plague mask or gas mask. I drew this mask as being made of stone with a rough finish... the backstory was that a witch animated it, similar to how Soul Menhirs are made. The story isn't necessary of course, but that's why the mask has a stone-like texture, which I'm not sure is compatible with steampunk content as most of that is made with other materials (leather, metals, etc). At worst, it could easily be used as a base for steampunk stuff though; the eyes could look decent as some form of infrared goggles with a few changes, something like that.

Alige: I don't know if you tested your version of the xml after sending it to me back then... but when I tried it, the mask floated above my head during some animations, and the blinking timing was broken. I know it makes a messy xml, but the animation was made that annoying way because of the timing, so that you don't have a whole town of players blinking in the same loop. My comment applies only to the files you sent me back then though, if you've changed it since then.

I've made this little concept after some discussion with WildX and MrGris, to go back on the original FF IX style with a hat and a shadow behind it.
It's meant to have animated eyes as well. (it's just a concept)

mistergrey wrote:I drew this mask as being made of stone with a rough finish... the backstory was that a witch animated it, similar to how Soul Menhirs are made.

That also works very well. I'm gonna introduce a storyline to explain Soul Menhirs and there will be other items related to them. We could fit the mask into that storyline quite nicely. In that case, I suggest blue eyes as the default, and dyable options for customisation. This also works with Reid's hat paired with the mask.
Either way, keep up the good work!

mistergrey wrote:Alige: I don't know if you tested your version of the xml after sending it to me back then... but when I tried it, the mask floated above my head during some animations, and the blinking timing was broken. I know it makes a messy xml, but the animation was made that annoying way because of the timing, so that you don't have a whole town of players blinking in the same loop. My comment applies only to the files you sent me back then though, if you've changed it since then.

Alige wrote:I reworked it a bit, several years ago, here you go.

Makes sense it doesn't fit the current player spritesheet now...

Makes sense it doesn't fit the current player spritesheet now...

I had tested that at the time you gave it to me years ago, not recently. I don't think the player spritesheet changed between when you sent it to me and I tested it .

Just gonna do this in a new post to avoid confusion. So here I'm adding my latest versions of the mask files.

I've made the spritesheet's eyes entirely green, with no red or blue color values.
I've added fixes to the animation xml to correct the mask placement.
EDIT: I figured it out.

Hello Grey Gentleman, thief of time,

i wish me pink eyes for the mask... or let make eyes dyeable.
red = 2 rubies
dark blue = 2 sapphire
light blue = 2 yeti tears
yellow = 2 topaz
purple = 2 amethysts and 2 dark crystals and 2 plums
green = 2 emerald
silver = 2 pearls
diamond = 2 diamonds
pink = 2 pink antennas
orange = 2 oranges

Okay, so this post will contain All of the completed files needed to fix my mask's animations and to add up to 4 new eye colors for it.

The image files: The XML files:
The include file: As far as I know I haven't missed anything needed to put these in game - please let me know if I'm wrong.

EDIT: I have added a blinking animation while standing, and tested it.
EDIT 2: It turns out I made a really simple mistake, that would have made the icon for every color of mask the same. I've corrected this, so now the icon's eyes will dye to the correct color.

mistergrey wrote:Okay, so this post will contain All of the completed files needed to fix my mask's animations and to add up to 4 new eye colors for it.

The image files:

blinkingevil.png

blinkingevil.png

The XML files:

blinkingevil.xml

item2270_BlinkingEvil-green.xml

item2271_BlinkingEvil-red.xml

item2272_BlinkingEvil-blue.xml

item2273_BlinkingEvil-pink.xml

item2274_BlinkingEvil-yellow.xml

The include file:

_include.xml

As far as I know I haven't missed anything needed to put these in game - please let me know if I'm wrong.

EDIT: I have added a blinking animation while standing, and tested it. I will replace the xml file with the updated one right now, and then I am finished with this mask.

Nice work again congrats
You should add purple color

Awesome Mr. Grey! I will be hunting for this one in time. I like the hat/mask combo too, but I'd love to see them separate equipable items. Sounds like a lot of work though... so many combinations of things to fix if it were to happen... but maybe hat covering mask is all that is needed for most. I know that would change stats too, but game can always compensate for those things too with new mobs, etc.

Thanks, Ledmitz - I'd love separate hats/masks myself, but yeah it would come with a lot of complications lol.

I'd like to request that these files be added soon, as my mask still has graphic errors when used with any 2-handed weapon. I can't do this myself as I currently have no internet access at home, and even if I could it would require someone with access to add it anyway. The files include a fixed sprite XML file to correct graphic errors and add a new tested animation, as well as item XML files for new colored eyes on the mask.