nesdev.org

Thanks for all the suggestions...

This was just a simple demo I threw together quickly last night (4 hours seems quick to me), not the final product.

I was kind of going for this (Sephiroth in Flames)...
https://youtu.be/sVXuq8HKGJA
Super over-dramatic, yet very pixelated... because it's NES...

I guess I'll go back to the drawing board, and try again.

I will probably literally wait till the last minute to remake the title screen (after level 4 and 5 are done). To be honest, I don't have much experience doing animation.

I think I'm going to have to start actually using a mapper other than NROM for future development.

I wouldn't want to see you scratch it. I like the direction. It's good for a start.

very pixelated... because it's NES...

NES isn't THAT pixelated though. After I thought about it, I like the Ninja being pixelated, because it makes me think that he actually looks like that. I don't see why the fire would be pixelated though when the backgrounds in the game aren't.

Also a thought, what if you flickered the palette on the Ninja so that it looked like he was illuminated by fire?

First of all, let me congratulate you dougeff for your projects, they were quite fun; i just downloaded both compilations from the first page and managed to go through them before i saw you updated your ninja project few post ago:



i also dig up your draw and paint program and did some render of my current youtube avatar, well... part of it; it did not fit the screen lol

green vil


blue vil


red vil


dark vil


no, not a nes's link clone; not at all lmao; this tool is nice to fast swapping clothes tho lol amazing job you have done so far! i am really wishing to play your Vigilante Ninja project's last version = 3

dougeff wrote:To be honest, I don't have much experience doing animation.

I agree with Darryl's assessments of the title screen. I've animated a lot of flame effects for Pyronaut. I suggest watching slow-motion vids on Youtube of fires similar to what you want. Also, here's a quality animation cycle to reference as well.

M_Tee wrote:I agree with Darryl's assessments of the title screen. I've animated a lot of flame effects for Pyronaut. I suggest watching slow-motion vids on Youtube of fires similar to what you want.

Or just convert those slow-motion videos directly to NES graphics. Animating an entire screen worth of fire sounds very hard.

pubby wrote:Animating an entire screen worth of fire sounds very hard.

I'd imagine it a lot like the first level in Turtles II. There'd be a lot of repetition in the bulk of the fire but it would still look good for NES. If I was going to spend a lot of time on just one part, it would be the top edge.

If the game was changed to a different mapper, CHR bankswap would be a very easy way to animate this which would also fix the flickering issue.

Looking like an NES game rather than Atari would be my main focus. Beyond that is extra.

I need some critical advice, about the level 4 graphics...not sure if this is looking good enough.

Also, apparently someone else is going to write me a unique song for each level. I was talking to a guy on RHDN about writing songs for me a few days ago, and apparently he's already written 2 songs. I haven't heard them yet, but if they are any good, I might be using them and switching music engines to famitracker/famitone2.

Hmm... I'd say for defining the shape of the cylinder of the tree, not bad. And I could see this as an NES tree. It makes me think of Wood Man, minus the mechanical tree aspect. Or maybe Kirby-esque.

There are some weird things about the scene as a whole I'd change though. The short stubby branches without leaves, for one. It makes me think of a cactus, Cactrot/Cactaur/Sabotender, or a Haniwa.

Also, the tree trunks in the background being green doesn't work for me. I see that it makes a clear distinction between background and foreground, but maybe dark trees could do this too.

I'd definitely want to add some leaves but I imagine you're already planning that.

The stone is flat compared to the trees, which are rounded. Your lighting direction, as indicated by the trees, is from front-left. Tree bark is textured, so the jagged patterns work fine there. In contrast, the stone may read better with solid shapes instead of a jagged texture.

It is also confusing as to which surfaces can be walked on. Obviously the branches, ala Bionic Commando (arcade), but what about the stone? It's placement and treatment make it unclear as to whether it's a platform or simply decoration.

Perhaps if there weren't a (bump-up) tangent between the stone and the trees behind it. (You also have two more of these at the edge of your tree branches. This is something you may want to keep in mind when designing levels.)

I would suggest working on your BG graphics all throughout so that walkable surfaces are treated clearly differently than background decoration. Perhaps surfaces could have highlights? Perhaps no black outlines in the BG? There are multiple ways to approach it.

Actually, I did a quick paintover to illustrate these. I did a few main things:
* Clear lighting and shadow source on the stone, also shown on moss. Also rounded the bottom edge.
* Increased the highlight of all walkable surfaces.
* Removed design tangents (where edges coincidentally lined up) while still adhering to the tile grid.
* Added small stones in the BG, so that the stone didn't stand out as much.
* Added an extra level of depth to the grass, and a furthest level of forest in silhouette to remove the harsh horizon line.
* Added an extra level of depth for trees (black with the faintest highlight)
* Quickly tried to sketch out some grass highlights that showed the same light source as the trees. Also added some darker grass to help the transition further back.
* Darkened the pit, with a bit of a grassy transition on its top edge.

Oh, and I thought that by using the branch tiles for stray logs, it will help visually connect the extreme foreground (grassy walking plane) and the next level of depth back (stone, walkable trees).

Also, forgot to mention that I quite like the background as it reminds me of Legend of Kage.

Thanks for all the great tips guys.

cactus...leaves

I definitely want branches you can walk on, which means aligning at least the top to a grid, but I'm not sure how I can make leaves blend with blocks of other palettes. The only shared color is black, but big black joining edges will look weird.

The game I was looking at to plan this was Dizzy, and Legend of Kage.

I really like the small rocks, and logs on the ground.

Also, The large rocks are platforms, so I nees to make sure they don't look like BG. They need to pop out.

I'm thinking about using the brown tree palette for the floor. I tried it quickly, and it looked weird, but if I replaced the grass with a dirt path, it might work. (Grass above and below).

Maybe I should make green the shared color, instead of black.

And maybe I wouldn't have 'tangents' at the rock/tree area if I had roots sticking out at the bottom.

Those trees are awfully close together and they look like telephone poles because they don't have many limbs or mass. Adding leaves and background foliage would help.

Those hue shifts help a lot. I didn't even touch the palette with my paintover.

Foliage is a big improvement too (although he definitely wouldn't want background foliage to overlap midground trees,but I assume that's not intended.)

As for the ground plane, I'm a big fan of showing a cross section. I think Adventure Island does this. Top layer is grass, then soil below it. Can even show a buried bone or something every now and again for interest.

Here's what I ended up with. I know pubby's looks better, but my game's graphic system has a limitation of 64 unique metatiles per level, and I'm stretching this level to the maximum.

Oops, I forgot to put some medium sized trees in this picture, but they will exist in the game.

Looks better. I wish you didn't have to have square foliage though.

dougeff wrote:...my game's graphic system has a limitation of 64 unique metatiles per level, and I'm stretching this level to the maximum.

Why is this limit in place? Is the benefit significant?