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Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 5:59 am
by tepples
rainwarrior wrote:I noticed that Thwaite does not seem to cycle the sensitivity settings like the wiki suggests to do?
You mean the suggestion in this edit from 2014? I finished Thwaite in 2011, before I noticed that part in any documentation. Though Fullsnes suggests that the mouse might start with the acceleration parameters unspecified, my own mouse appears to boot up functional in slow mode.

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:04 am
by KHAN Games
Paul from INL is sending me a SNES mouse with a NES adapter, so I will be looking to implement mouse support, yes.

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:08 am
by Sik
Huh, the Subor mouse does acceleration based exclusively on the new mickeys, without taking into account any previous motion. How well does that work in practice?

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:36 am
by darryl.revok
M_Tee wrote:Anyway, here's the next screen with a scooter-in-parts on the side of the road:
Image
Okay, first off your graphics look stellar. Some of the best I've seen around.

The bike though, does not look right to me. If I look at it closely for a while, I can kind of see that it's a bike. However, at first glance, it doesn't look like a bike, even if I go back to it and look at it now.

Honestly, when I look at the bike, the first thing that comes to mind is NES tile glitching. Every time I look at the bike, it looks like random mismatched tiles. Does anyone else see this? I don't feel that it holds up to the rest of the art which is wonderful.

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:50 pm
by FrankenGraphics
I got the same idea about the bike. Needed some time figuring it out, which might not be a desireable effect. I get the feeling it looks a bit disjointed? I know it is supposed to be in parts, but still. The wheel feels kind of abstract compared to the overall style. The helmet may help to confuse as it is right now too even if i like the model, but i'm not sure.

Other than that, i like the clear, sharp and bold style of it a lot! Very distinct, and nice. It is also kind of the opposite to what i am comfortable doing. :roll:

Very neat detail with the printshop sign being visible from around the corner so the player can orient her/himself without effort :idea: Great stuff!

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:48 pm
by tokumaru
I have the same opinion about the bike, it looks kinda like a glitch. Another thing that bothers me a bit is the extremely busy sidewalk pattern, which clashes with the character's feet. It would probably look much better if it was made of bigger tiles (i.e. less detail) and didn't have all those white highlights (more inconspicuous).

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:53 pm
by Drew Sebastino
If the shoes were outlined, they'd look better, although I'm not sure how possible that is given how small they are.

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:58 pm
by M_Tee
Thanks, all. I'm glad to be showing some of this work now. It's been in progress for about a year.
tokumaru wrote:I have the same opinion about the bike, it looks kinda like a glitch. Another thing that bothers me a bit is the extremely busy sidewalk pattern, which clashes with the character's feet. It would probably look much better if it was made of bigger tiles (i.e. less detail) and didn't have all those white highlights (more inconspicuous).
Yeah, I had versions with and without the highlighting on the sidewalk. Once I test it on real hardware on my CRT, I'll make the final call on it, but I do agree that its busy.

As for the bike, it's disjointed and is something I struggled with for quite a bit. Moreover, it's likely to be cropped even more by overscan on a CRT, which isn't going to help it. But luckily, when you hover your cursor over it, the text box up top tells what it is. :) Kidding aside, there's an animation for the player lifting that tire and putting it back on which will make it pretty clear, along with putting the front cover back on and wearing that helmet.

Here's a shot of it once put together against another background screen:
Image

And here's the next screen, the inside of the print shop.
Image

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 4:15 am
by FrankenGraphics
Incidentally, i happened to refresh my browser on your site just as you've posted the indoors scene. Again, i really like how it shows where to go to go back. And the box tape is really clever, i think.

I'm assuming the cursor changes when it hovers over something interactable? Or is there another form of highlighting?

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2016 9:54 pm
by M_Tee
The cursor by default is a pointing finger and changes for two reasons: the first is when it hovers over an exit, at which time it changes to one of four exit arrows depending on direction. The other is when the player selects an item to use from the inventory, the cursor is replaced with that item's icon. Otherwise, the player recieves a text display identifying something that can be interacted with or observed when hovering over it. Note in the video how the text displays "coin" when the cursor passes over the coin. Upon clicking, the player either takes, uses, or makes a further observation of the object in question.

And yeah, the box tape's definitely there to try to hide attribute borders since the pale blue is the shared color between the two palettes. :)

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 9:02 am
by M_Tee
Image

This is the last screen shown in the video. It's a push-rod vending game, a typical variation of a crane game. Knew I was working with the right programmer when the script given to me said "retrieves chips from vending machine" to which I reply, "Can we do a version of this game from my neighborhood? This is how I think it could be done." and he's all, "totally."

Also, for a separate project, it was time for me to tackle the slime/goo/goop trope of an enemy:

Image

The hop would be used for movement, so it wouldn't look so stiff.

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 2:49 am
by na_th_an
Looks really great (both things). I like your choice of palettes very much.

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 5:55 am
by M_Tee
Thanks. Color theory has long been a passion of mine, but there are only so many choices on the NES. So, for someone to specifically compliment my color choices is reassuring. :)

I try to take inspiration in what others are doing as well. For example, Alp has some of the absolute best backround palettes I've seen people use on the NES, and the work ptoing has been posting here lately has been fantastic. In terms of animation, nicolas betoux (who recently joined morphcat games) is probably doing the best work for the NES at the moment (I can't wait to see footage of the 4-player game they recently premiered). In fact, his goo's splash effect is what made me want to include something similar in mine.

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 4:55 am
by na_th_an
Chosing the best colours in the NES is always the most difficult part of creating graphics. Going the easy route often produces rather monochromatic stuff. The lack of (real) dark tones is also a problem. I'm always strugling to get the right choice in my own work. Your graphics look pretty well balanced in regards of shadows and highlights, plus they look colourful. That's why I think your palette choices are excellent!

Re: M-Tee's Graphics Projects (Isolation Spoilers)

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 12:59 am
by M_Tee
Actually, my main issue with NES palettes is the remarkably high level of saturation most emulator palettes have. I used to worry about designing for compatability with as many palettes as possible. Now I just use NEStopia's for all of my screenshots. Its darks are darker than I think they should be, but its colors are generally more reasonably saturated. Other than that, I check when I can on my AV famicom on an NTSC CRT, where the saturation is far more subtle.

Anyway, here's another screen. There's one in between, but I think we're gonna wait a while to reveal it.

Image

Edit: Permanent Link updated for old version of image.