Update: Sickhead TGB Tile Pack
by Russell Fincher · 06/20/2006 (7:12 pm) · 42 comments
Update... Sickhead Games' Torque Game Builder Tile Pack #1
The content pack and the video...
Work on our first content pack for Torque Game Builder has run a little longer than intended (though I'm glad to say we've got a lot going on around here these days), but we've got enough built to share what we've been up to. Obviously this is looking more like a full-on top-down starter kit than just a tile pack, since the code will be included to get this stuff working right outta the box. (box not included)
So this release will not only have the tiles and sprites listed in my previous plan, but also include all the sorting and 3D code that Tom's been working on, as well as a few royalty-free sounds.
Check out the video below for a run-through of a little demonstration map. Sorry for the poor quality. There's a reason we're not called Sickhead Video Encoding Company.
Sorting
We've enabled a sorting system that governs which sprites are in front, as well as a 3d-ish collision volume tweak that gives them depth. Direct any technical comments here to Tom, since I don't get the technical stuff. Good thing thing for me he's made adding the sorting information for the sprites dead simple. I'm also glad to say we'll be including a lot of animated vegetation, just subtle stuff like the trees and the elephant ear plant seen in the video. A small breeze goes a long way towards livening things up.
Finishing up
As far as the art goes, we're still pretty much on track for the content listed before. We mostly wanted to show off the current state of the "gameplay". We'll wrapping this stuff up in the next couple of weeks and it should hopefully be available soon after that. Take care, gang...
Russell Fincher
Lead Artist | Co-owner
Sickhead Games
The content pack and the video...
Work on our first content pack for Torque Game Builder has run a little longer than intended (though I'm glad to say we've got a lot going on around here these days), but we've got enough built to share what we've been up to. Obviously this is looking more like a full-on top-down starter kit than just a tile pack, since the code will be included to get this stuff working right outta the box. (box not included)
So this release will not only have the tiles and sprites listed in my previous plan, but also include all the sorting and 3D code that Tom's been working on, as well as a few royalty-free sounds.
Check out the video below for a run-through of a little demonstration map. Sorry for the poor quality. There's a reason we're not called Sickhead Video Encoding Company.
Sorting We've enabled a sorting system that governs which sprites are in front, as well as a 3d-ish collision volume tweak that gives them depth. Direct any technical comments here to Tom, since I don't get the technical stuff. Good thing thing for me he's made adding the sorting information for the sprites dead simple. I'm also glad to say we'll be including a lot of animated vegetation, just subtle stuff like the trees and the elephant ear plant seen in the video. A small breeze goes a long way towards livening things up.
Finishing up
As far as the art goes, we're still pretty much on track for the content listed before. We mostly wanted to show off the current state of the "gameplay". We'll wrapping this stuff up in the next couple of weeks and it should hopefully be available soon after that. Take care, gang...
Lead Artist | Co-owner
Sickhead Games
About the author
Art Lead at Sickhead Games, focused on dev tools and prototyping, instructor/advisor at several Dallas colleges and universities, Associate Developer with GarageGames, champion of avant-garde game art at uncommonassembly.com.
#23
I guess since I can't rely on the end user to have his system calibrated, or have a graphics engine with the ability to correct the gamma for Macs, the only thing I can do is create art that will looks as good as possible in both gamma situations, without either really seeing exactly what I want them to see. Right?
06/21/2006 (12:37 pm)
@ Dennis: Thanks alot. Yeah, I've been calibarating my monitors for years, a good habit left over from my previous life in commercial photography. I've got the old Spyder calibrators. But being able to create a Windows profile for your Mac still won't help those end users on Macs that don't have this option. I see you're a web developer, so I'm very interested in your opinion on this. I've forgotten so much since doing any pre-press. Really there are so few options for a color management pipeline in game development that, besides calibrating my monitors, I do little else these days.I guess since I can't rely on the end user to have his system calibrated, or have a graphics engine with the ability to correct the gamma for Macs, the only thing I can do is create art that will looks as good as possible in both gamma situations, without either really seeing exactly what I want them to see. Right?
#24
Short of creating two different versions, I think your solution of hitting the middle ground is probably the best compromise since, as I'm sure you know, colors just look too different between the platforms.
06/21/2006 (8:06 pm)
@Russell: That's true, if you create a Windows profile then Mac users will have a less than optimal experience. For my company (a major fashion retailer) we made the decision that we were going to color correct all images to look their best on Windows machines. Of course, it's an easier decision for us to make since we have less than 5% Mac users.Short of creating two different versions, I think your solution of hitting the middle ground is probably the best compromise since, as I'm sure you know, colors just look too different between the platforms.
#26
- Matt VG
06/26/2006 (7:26 pm)
Very spiffy. My only comment is that most of the sprites are all pretty much the same value so everything looks a bit flat and grey, but that could be left up to the developer I suppose.- Matt VG
#27
06/27/2006 (11:27 am)
@ Fafnir: I've been looking at these images in different browsers and platforms, and I think what you're seeing may be due to jpeg exporting quirks. But I'll keep the contrast issue in mind when finalizing these. 
#29
07/11/2006 (9:55 am)
Looks impressive.... Any word on release timeframe / cost? 
#30
07/17/2006 (5:29 pm)
@Adam - We're almost there and then we'll just be waiting on the TGB point release. I cannot comment on price as it's not decided, but it will be very reasonable.
#31
Randy
07/18/2006 (2:19 pm)
@Tom - Do you need the point release for proper function of your pack?Randy
#32
07/18/2006 (3:07 pm)
@jydog - Well the art itself doesn't require it, but the sort point stuff i put together is a code change and the TGB team has added it for the upcoming point release. 
#33
Hall Of Worlds - For Gamers
EdM|GPGT
07/21/2006 (3:42 pm)
Very cool. This is shaping up to be an impressive kit. I'm in that can't wait category. Of course, we will have to wait... I just hope we won't have too wait long.EdM|GPGT
#35
08/05/2006 (6:01 pm)
You'll be able to buy it here at GarageGames very very soon.
#36
08/08/2006 (6:59 am)
Awesome looking work. I think I'll learn more from using this pack than the TGB tutorials. :) Please make others. Thanks! 
#37
08/09/2006 (7:46 pm)
Man I can't wait to see this thing done, you guys are doing hands down some of the coolest stuff i've seen with TGB to date when it comes to adventure games. Hurry up and get it into my grubby little hands! :) 
#39
Well, these trees, they remind me of a game I saw in my imagination once, one I always wanted to make..... hmmmm :)
08/12/2006 (11:13 pm)
Wow, do you guys ever have .. uh... game visions? You know when you visualize / imagine a sequence, a few seconds out of a game and you think to yourself "now that's a cool game, I would play that!" and then you put it on your stack of ideas for "games that I should make in my life". I figure in this audience there has to be a few people who relate to this experience. ;)Well, these trees, they remind me of a game I saw in my imagination once, one I always wanted to make..... hmmmm :)
#40
08/14/2006 (6:13 am)
I hope it is out this week. I see the updates for it at TDN and I'm eager to be an owner so that I can read them. :) Awesome work! 
Torque Owner Dennis Harrington
@Russell: Regarding the color difference between Macs and PCs, maybe you've already tried this but what we do at my company is use a hardware/software color calibration tool. It creates a "Windows" color profile for your Mac. This allows our designers to see how all of the colors are going to look on PCs throughout the entire design process.