The Shining Source

Now the project's up and running again it's time to make some decisions, and one of those decisions is about the battle graphics. Originally we wanted to go for large side-on animated sprites for each character, but we've realised that's just not a viable option for all the characters in the game, especially considering the quality of the sprites we came out with.

So we're considering two approaches at the moment, and both of them should cut our workload right down, yet still hopefully feel Shining and look nice. So here are the three options:

The first option is of my devising. Essentially, when you select a target the screen would darken and a comics-style frame would appear in the centre of the screen, showing the two fighters. There'd be an impact/magic effect, then the frame would disappear and it'd be back to fighting. No scaling of sprites, so they'd just be the sprites we're currently using. That's this one:



The second and third ideas are both Ty's, and are quite similar. This next one follows a similar structure to the one above, but instead the sprites are doubled in size and placed against a battle background, like the ones you've seen before. It's basically the same as before, only with smaller sprites. Easy, and looks nice.



The third one is very similar to the above, except the sprites are scaled instead of being merely doubled in size, which results in a smoother appearance, particularly in colour and definition. That's this one:



Okay, they're the three options. We like the look of them all, so we'd really like your impressions on them so we know which to go for. Obviously it means we can adapt our existing map sprites, thus cutting out on a massive (and I mean massive) amount of work, increasing the quality and all that good stuff.

So... post!

first vote!!

I voted 3 mate, only because the whole 'backround battle sequence' idea really sticks with the Shining Ideal.
Although im certain the comic-frame-one-on-one style system would produce solid results..it just seems like something is missing to me mate

the decision between 2 and 3 came about for those graphic intensive nut-jobs that would complain to no end since they've never seen a pixelated sprite before..and would be tempted to scream to their mum

love the shots cant wait!! *excited*

DOUBLE POST!!

ohh i need to get a life...

I was curious where i'd submit interesting concept ideas..if you guys were willing to take them.

Shining Online Ideas.



Looking forward to seeing what you can come up with mate =)

Both 2 and 3 look great to me, but I guess option 3 gives a more professional impression.

Your first approach was one that was used in the classical Hunter's Field battle engine. I didn't like it very much, because it made the attack scenes much less spectacular.

So 3 would be my choice, as long as you make sure the sprites are indeed armed .

Dev - we're working on that at the moment

At the moment the weapon sprites are probably going to be separate, so we can add them onto the sprites as they attack, cutting down the artistic workload again. Phil's got a very nice mock-up running which looks pretty cool, with impact effects and stuff. It's very nice.

I think we'll probably be going with number three, then Number one wouldn't be too dramatic, it would just involve drawing the outline onscreen, as the characters would be in the middle already.

Hopefully we'll get some newer shots/animations coming up to give you an impression of how it'll look

Option 3!

Seems most shining-esque to me, therefore pwnz!

3.  I love this idea.  It's a nice change and yet the feel is still there.

Here's a mock-up of how it should look.



Obviously the full version will be smoother and faster, that's just a brief preview

Looking good to me, but it might not be a bad idea to black out the background map during this scene. That shouldn't be very hard to accomplish .

I plan to try several different things, either blurring the background or fading it to black and white. Not sure about completely blacking out, but I'll give it a go to see which looks most interesting.

I think that looks awesome.
Grayscaling the battlemap or something to give the fight window more attention would definitely be cool.

*bump* i loved these mates an awesome glympse of what SO can manifest into