Ye Olde Blah

Hey guys,

Well, the title says it all really. As I started making the first maps I'm reaching the point where I'm going to need a very large number of game sprites. Any type will do really.

So... how does one get an insane number of game sprites? Any ideas what it would require in terms of effort/rewards? ;)

I've got a bunch of old item sprites (about 100 weapons) if you want them, and probably a dozen or so enemy and character sprites from the old Shining Online demos.

Ah, those would help already. I've got the sprites from the Lycadell campaign, but any additional ones would be quite useful. :)

Do you know if they're already in a proper image format (which is the same as with BABS 2.5, gif/png with two frames per facing and a 1 pixel border)

They're not in BABS format, but I can probably whip up a converter over the weekend :)

Awesome! Thanks a lot for all the help there! :D

I'm mainly focusing on programming the engine, and make the tiles, maps + dialogues, so having these sprites will help me a lot already ;).

Nevertheless, I might still write out a spritemaking contest too. Perhaps it could be a nice promotional thing for the Shining Source if I attach a prize to it as well and all?

On it.

Nice! :D

Meanwhile I finished the new SMEE tile editor for people who are truly lazy. No longer do we need to draw lines, draw bricks, do dithering or add noise ourselves. SMEE now has handy dandy buttons for this.

Now I should still add a color picker though, otherwise people will be stuck with the tiny palette forever and ever ;). However, before I add that I think I'll have a go at the interactive text event stuff :).

I need something where I can see the 48x48 sprites walk around, just to make sure they don't look ridiculous when animated.
usually I use the game itself, but my version doesn't support? :P

Hey Elv,

in development, untested, undocumented, but here goes:
http://www.notaboutme.nl/files/BABS3.rar

Btw. that first sprite already looks quite good and usable :). Even 2-frame sprites are useful to some extent, as I can include them in the walkabout map :).

I am currently rather in need of a few rat sprites and animations, for the first battle. Would anybody be willing to make those at some point?

http://www.shiningsource.net/shining-aid/graphics/enemy-sprites/shining-force-2/

There's some rats there that could be a decent base to work from.

Ah, I might be able to make something of that myself. I'll give it a try later today :).

Thanks! :D

Hey Elv, any luck with the sprites sofar?

I managed to get a rat and a few ooze sprites done, as well as a combat animation for the ooze. However, I can desperately use any additional non-ripped sprites.

yeah sorry went off task a bit.  here's what I have so far.

Oh, that looks really good already! Much better than what I have been able to produce sofar ;).

Thanks a lot for these already :D.

Meanwhile I've revised the scripting engine, so that you can put in Java events in entity responses :).

Another starter tonight.

Ah, thanks :D.

Meanwhile I figured out that regular java scripting is clutchy, so instead I'm now extending the scripting language in BABS 2.5 ;).
Also, I'm adding a personality system :).

You mean like how you used to back in SS days?
eg: you are evil, good or somewhere in between and so people respond to you differently?

Something along those lines, but a lot more advanced.

As the played makes choices in the game, his personality changes. And as his personality changes, not only will the dialogue options change, but also the way they are presented to the player. A polite-playing player will get increasingly polite dialogue lines and options, while an aggressive player will get increasingly aggressive options.

In addition, certain personality traits can also trigger 'unique' NPC responses, start quests that were otherwise kept fully hidden, cause battles that would otherwise not happen and gain rewards that were otherwise not given.

The personality scores will be kept hidden from the player, though there are some ways to manipulate them in a slight extent, such as going on a crusade, getting drunk in a bar or visiting the in-game shrink :P.

Btw. elv, if you prefer SMEE also supports png sprites with alpha channels. In case you want to make translucent crap :P.

I'm trying to stick to a few rules which make the tiles a bit more shining-esque, however I might give it a go.

Here's seolean again, he's hair heavy this time though, definitely needs a trim.

oh and edit to remind myself to swap his sideways legs around.

Looks much better than the old one :). I'm not sure if the new main hero will be Seolean or somebody else, but I can definitely stick to that sprite :).

Btw. would you mind if I recolor some of the sprites here and there, so that I can reuse them in different places? :)

they're open source sprites :D

you can do whatever you want with them.

Ah, that's really great! :D

I will need loads and loads of graphics eventually, but this is helping me a lot already. I have enough stuff for a demo already, but I'm not sure why to release one already.

After all, it's still a small game, and progress goes quite rapidly these days. If you like though, I could release it to the TSS diehards like you guys though? ;)

well I have here a new style, more of a shining style face.

I realised I'm not doing the "bobbing" of shining characters either.
is that an important part?

axe man the greatest hero of them all

yeah I'll do some complete ones soon.  Just trying to decide on some stuff.

These sprites kick ass Elv. Might have to start supporting this resolution :)

thanks, I don't think a lot of them, but I'm glad I can contribute something.

here's a complete one I whipped up.
I am not telling you what race it was supposed to be, so whatever popular opinion guesses it is, that's what it is.

Well, regarding bobbing heads and other sylistic esthetical aspects, I am fully okay with anything remotely consistent.

Whether you want to stick close or not close to the Shining Style is yours to decide, I'm quite happy with the sprites either way :).

Hopefully, after BABS is out 48x48 will be the new 24x24 ;).

Yeah ok.

Well I just got a 3d laptop so I spent the week playing around with that.

Now I can work on drawing 48x48 at 120hz!

A 3D laptop? I didn't even know those existed ;). Can you make 48x48x48 sprites with that? :P

(not that the engine supports it, but still: the thought is interesting ;).)

ok ok I spent all weekend playing dracula origin in 3d.
I feel violated.

I spent a lot of time on the game actually, and already have a version with 3 different battles and 3 party members :).

If you'd like to check it out, feel free to download it here:
http://ccs.chem.ucl.ac.uk/~derek/BABS%203.rar

and play it ;)
If you do play it, feel free to let me know what you think of it too :P.

nice! :)

freeze on attacking green ooze though (no command prompt info on the crash)

Ah yes, that was because of me pointing to .gif files in the monsterfile that did no exist.
If you change the battle frame files of the green ooze from .gif to .png then the problem can be resolved without any code change ;).

In the coming month I might not make as much effort on this as the past month, but personally I think I got a long way already and I do intend to keep this project running for the long term.