New Graphics Samples

[Scythifuge]

Here is just a few samples of stuff that I've been working on. They should be considered alpha versions, and none of this is for the S.E.T.C. which I have a bunch of assets for, yet do not want to show yet. I'm redrawing some of that stuff, and still doing research after a hiatus.

These items are for other projects/mods that I am working on to improve my drawing abilities.

[TdI]

Wow, that stuff's pretty good. Looks like right out of an official game using the U7 engine.
Everything looks great, but the unsheathed green sword looks unfinished, since everything else is bordered by black pixels.

So who's the gestapo guy?

[Scythifuge]

Thank you for the compliment and feedback, TdI!

I have different versions of the ninja-to, and I haven't settled on one yet, which is why the unsheathed blade isn't outlined. I have black outlined and color-cycled versions, as it is going to be a "magical" sword. It is really just a high-tech sword that will be the center of a quest in the cyberpunk game (if it ever gets made!).

The swords, axes, and hammers across the top are both for an Ultima VII weapon mod and a new game to work on down the road (which is what The Mjolnir Hammer is for). The shotgun has a different colored version for the S.E.T.C. I'm thinking that it should behave similar to the triple-crossbow.

The "gestapo" dude is a W.I.P. character for the codename "Ultima 81" cyberpunk game (working on characters is slow though, due to all of the frames and proper shading). I have a bunch of assets for that project, from an animated computer screen to guitars to pop/food machines.

Mostly this thread is to show people that I am actively working on stuff, even though I don't show it very often (I'm very picky and redraw stuff a lot!). I have many ideas that hopefully will become realized while E.S. is improved, and if I ever form a team.

[TdI]

A cyberpunk game running on the Exult engine, that would be awesome. The whole map could be one big city bordered by walls or fences... unfortunately I think it will be difficuilt (impossible?) having big scyscrapers, due to the limited height. Maybe there is some way to create only an illusion thereof using cleverly designed roof tiles.

That reminds me... I really should watch Bladerunner one of these days...

[whatever]

See snes version of shadowrun.

[Scythifuge]

Quote:

"The whole map could be one big city bordered by walls or fences... unfortunately I think it will be difficuilt (impossible?) having big scyscrapers, due to the limited height. Maybe there is some way to create only an illusion thereof using cleverly designed roof tiles."


The plan, if I ever get to the map-building stage, is to have a main city, with areas outside for missions. The limited height is a major concern for the tall buildings. While I'm tinkering with some illusions (like I am for the mountains in the S.E.T.C.), I'm hoping a solution will become available to stack things higher. A sky scraper would need only outside walls to be stacked high, as I would use the multi-map feature for the inner floors, to be accessed through teleporters on steps and elevators.



Quote:

"See snes version of shadowrun."

One of my favorite RPGs outside of Ultima, and a major inspiration for the project! It was easier for them to design large buildings due to the game's map structure.

[mjohnston]

those are very nice looking. I've been playing around with some custom shapes but nothing more complicated than changing the colors of an existing shape, but that gives me a slight idea of how hard it is to make completely new shapes

[Colourless]

There is no particular reason why exult can't be modified to handle 'lift' values higher than 16. That is just a limitation imposed by the fileformats, many of which we have already worked around.

[Scythifuge]

Quote:
"those are very nice looking. I've been playing around with some custom shapes but nothing more complicated than changing the colors of an existing shape, but that gives me a slight idea of how hard it is to make completely new shapes"

Thank you!

I too, started out by changing some colors or a few pixels here and there, with barely any pixel art experience. The more I practice, the better my outcomes are. I believe it was Marzo who recommended that I look for pixel art tutorials, which help a great deal. I've been playing a lot of old games to study graphics, especially any game utilizing the axiometric angle used by Ultima VI-VIIpt2. While these samples (except for the NPC and a color patter or two) are from scratch, I'll sometimes take a picture and switch it to the U7 palette, shrink the image down as close as I need the final one to be, and edit it from there.


Quote:
"There is no particular reason why exult can't be modified to handle 'lift' values higher than 16. That is just a limitation imposed by the fileformats, many of which we have already worked around."

Oh man that would be great! I'm glad that this subject is brought up every once in a while. The mountain tiles that I'm experimenting with for the S.E.T.C. look like they are stacked, but they take up more map space being that they are tiles rather than "walls", and don't work the way I would like on the top and left sides. I would be happy and willing to experiment with a version of Exult with a higher lift feature.

[drcode]

Colourless is correct, and I was playing around with this over the weekend. We will need to change the file formats again to accomodate higher z-coords.

One question: Would 255 be a reasonable limit?

[marzo]

Would 255 be a reasonable limit?

I think so -- in 'standard' U7 buildings, you have a new floor every 6 increments in lift, so that a limit of 255 would mean 43 floors, with 3 levels remaining for "decoration". A 1-chunk tower 255 tiles high would stretch diagonally across 128 tiles to the top-left direction -- the "shadow" of said tower's back walls would completely cover 15(!) chunks(!!) and partially (50%) covering another 30 chunks!

[edit]Another fringe benefit would be making the carpet go up higher in a mod, thus allowing it to go over buildings it cannot yet. Although this would make it harder to find a landing spot...

[TdI]

How would Exult handle such really big buildings with say 10 floors, each floor being fully furnished and decorated? Is there some kind of optimization coded in so that tiles and objects hidden below other objects are discarded in the rendering process?
If not I guess tall buildings like that would be really hard on performance.

[Scythifuge]

This is exciting! The possibilities... This could be very beneficial for many mods, and especially the carpet as Marzo mentioned (or planes, helicopters, BALLOONS, or other assorted vehicles that could be created for mods). It would also make it easier to finish up some frustrating things, like the bridge I have for the S.E.T.C., and animated waterfalls could be made like walls and stacked.

Quote:
"A 1-chunk tower 255 tiles high would stretch diagonally across 128 tiles to the top-left direction -- the "shadow" of said tower's back walls would completely cover 15(!) chunks(!!) and partially (50%) covering another 30 chunks!"

Wow! Would a tower that tall "wrap around" if it was in the uppermost left corner?

Not that it would matter much, but would it be possible to have exult only draw so many tiles when the player walks along the east and north edges of tiles that are stacked beyond a certain point, similar to how the roof tiles are "removed" when buildings are entered? I'm just curious, since I lack understanding of how Exult works/can work!

[drcode]

I played around just a little, raising a tree up to around lift 32 or so, and it looked okay. But I imagine there will be a fair amount of work in the renderer. For one thing, we probably don't even look at chunks beyond a certain distance from the bottom and right of the screen, but now we'll have to, since they could contain tall buildings. And as Scythifuge pointed out, we'll probably want to skip objects that are high above the player so he won't be obscured when walking down a street with skyscrapers.