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Time Elements: Character Preview 2
🕑 Added 2021-01-26 15:59:00 +0000 UTCHello! This is gonna be a big post-- thanks for waiting. :3
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First up: regarding last week's remaster exploration:
It seems like the comments are mostly in agreement that this is something that I can put to the side for now. Sounds good to me-- one less project to juggle for the moment.
We'll revisit the subject of potential remasters in the future.
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So this is the second big progress preview thread for the Time Elements character style.
Previous progress threads:
(btw: how's that name-- "Time Elements"...? It's not necessarily final -- but I think it could work.)
The previous character progress thread was mostly about the development of the new sprite style. I feel comfortable with it, and the next phase is to move into the animations.
Today I'm going to share with you the initial animations, my proposed layering setup, and the first set of sheets that you can download.
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Layered Pieces
A big feature of the new Elements character style is the modular layered pieces. This is something that everyone seems to want. It allows for a lot of extra customization: or things like character generators, character creation, or potential visual equipment.
Of course, this makes for a lot of complexity and up-front planning. In the long term, this will pay off big time. But now, it's not easy to decide how best to arrange these. As I got into working with these, it's become more complicated than you might imagine.
Right now, I'm working with this structure (layer order top to bottom):
- Extras
- Face
- Head (Hair/hat)
- Top (Torso)
- Bottom (Legs and feet)
- Shadow (Single image- optional)
The "extras" layer would be an additional top layer for accessories: sunglasses, beards, whatever. I could also imagine another unique layer for the "back"-- for capes, wings, backpacks, etc. This layer would be unique because its order would change depending on which direction the sprite is facing.
It looks something like this:
The only part that's weird is the head/face. This is a bit unique and I want to explain my reasoning, and maybe you can point out if I'm overlooking something.
Naturally, the first approach would be to have a separate layer for hair that goes over different heads/faces. But...
I tried it out, and simply put: I don't like it. The biggest reason for this is that you can't realistically have good-looking shadows underneath the hair, which is vital for distinctive and appealing sprite faces. This has been a criticism I've had in the past for modular or generator sprites.
After that, I considered simply having the entire head as a layer, but I still wanted to have a little more flexibility for making unique characters.
So my solution looks like this:
The entire head is a single layer object, and this allows far more detail in the hair and even potential unique face shapes.
The face itself would be an additional layer on top of that.
Of course, this isn't flawless either. It's easy to imagine some face designs that might cover up some of that precious hair-shadow. Still-- I think that the positioning shown in this preview image looks good, and will cover the vast majority of any faces we come up with.
As a result of this approach to the head+face layers, the characters will be able to have a higher quality and level of detail. The goal is to be able to make generator characters that don't look like generator characters-- if that makes sense!
Let me know what you think.
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Animations
Ever since the very first mention of a new character style, I've promised that it will be compatible with full four-direction action combat. I know it's something that a lot of people are looking forward to.
The goal is versatility. If possible, I want this animation to work for attacking as well as for tools or other objects. It would depend on the overlaid weapon or tool.
This is what the general "attack/use" animation looks like:
Pictures overlay tools: pickaxe, sword, spear. All use the same character animation, but hopefully look unique because of the movement of the weapon/tool. This animation could also be used for throwing things.
A note on the animation itself: the first frame is the full extension; the rest are follow-through and a return to the idle pose. There is no wind-up frame. This is an intentional decision and it's an animation trick used specifically for game design: immediate action from the player is for controls that feel instantly responsive.
That said-- I can another animation would work specifically as a wind-up: a separate animation with the arms overhead, that could be used alongside this animation. I can imagine it for things like casting a fishing pole, swinging a massive hammer, or even a special charged powerful attack for weapons. Hmmm...
There are a lot of animations that I could make-- and there's a problem with being too ambitious with the animations. Each additional animation extends the work exponentially-- because every piece would need to work with every animation.
For this reason, I want to keep the animations to an absolute minimum and design each one to be as versatile as possible.
So right now-- I have the 4dir walking animation and the 4dir attacking animation. I also have a single frame of the character lying on the ground.
The current sheet looks like this (3-frames walking, 4-frames attack, single-frame downed):
I believe that these are the minimum animations that I'd need to release to be satisfied with the sprites for release. BUT I also know that there could be a lot more animations....
So the question is: which animations are the most important? Which are the most versatile?
Some animations that I've thought about:
- Running - is a separate running animation necessary? Maybe not... some games simply speed up the walk animation.
- Jumping - I've released a 4dir jumping base for Time Fantasy. This animation would be similar. Worth noting that it's not particularly versatile: a jump is a jump, and not much else. Not many RPG-style games include jumping either, so idk if it would be really useful to most users.
- Simple Crouch - One frame. Useful for cutscenes, for picking up items, maybe interacting with various objects. I think this one has a lot of utility for relatively little work, since it could be done as a single frame (well... 4 frames, because of the directions, but not animated).
- Overhead windup (mentioned above) - On its own, this might seem weird, but the more I think about it, the more I can imagine a ton of versatile uses for it. Bonus: I think this one could work with only two frames.
- Ranged Attack: Bow - The 4dir range attack base for Time Fantasy is very janky. This is because I tried to make it work with regular bows as well as crossbows or guns. Really it doesn't work that way. A regular bow would likely need its own unique animation, and I'm not so sure if its worth it... ?
- Ranged Attack: Crossbow/Long Gun - Would be a separate animation vs the regular bow-- probably an easier one to make, too. But maybe not worth it? Might be too specific... tbh I'm leaning towards dropping any unique ranged attack animations.
- Hands Up - This would be a simple variation of the regular walking animation but with the arms up above the head. Mostly used to show the character holding an item or something. Potentially could be made to work as a spellcasting thing too (the TF SV-battlers have their arms up for channeling magic...) Hard to say for sure, would need to experiment with it. Is it even worth it, or maybe this is too specific?
- More Downed Poses - Since these are a single frame, I could potentially have a few different poses. Face-down, on the side, maybe one useful for sleeping, etc.
I will NOT be making all of these animations: that would just take an unreasonable amount of time (remember, each animation needs to work with every character piece!). Please help me decide which are the most important, which could be scrapped-- or if you have any other ideas or suggestions.
This is something that I'd like your input on. Please share your thoughts.
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If you're interested, right now the aseprite file is organized like this:
(I have a lot more designed pieces in a master graphicsgale file, but they aren't animated yet, which I'll be doing on the layers in aseprite.)
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I was gonna write a little bit more but it just started to thunderstorm and now I'm scared that the power will go out and I will lose this entire huge post... LOL... so... that's it! (ง •̀_•́)ง
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Downloads
Note: These aren't final. The sprite sheet layout is likely to change before any final release, so please don't program a huge game engine designed to work with these specific sheets 😐.
- Elements Preview Sheet - Face (Eyes1)
- Elements Preview Sheet - Head (Hair1)
- Elements Preview Sheet - Top (Shirt1)
- Elements Preview Sheet - Bottom (Pants1)
- Elements Preview Character - Base Sheet
- Shadow Image
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I'm looking forward to reading your feedback.
I'll be back later this week with something new-- probably from the request thread. See you then.
Thanks!
Comments
Wuncemoor
Could you make the shadow that the hair casts on the face be part of the same layer as the hair itself, but have the shadow just be alpha that darkens the layers behind it?
Omnistorm
I LOVE the way this is turning out. I can't wait. This makes me want to stop all progress on my game and just wait for you... In my opinion, the most necessary frames are those most likely to be common to all RPGs. In my mind, they are: hands-up, kneeling, and death --- see top right sprites here for reference: https://ladygeekgirl.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/lockesprites.png these can be combined with your emoticons in clever ways I think like showing someone with hands up and frustration will look like they are reaching for something or with fear will look scared or surprised, etc. also, adding a one eye closed module and both closed for the face would be helpful for many combinations with the emoticons
