Entering Fenix and Marshall Mary Jane
by Oliver Rendelmann - DerR · 12/04/2006 (6:31 pm) · 5 comments
Here are some screenshots, a WIP animation and some sketches of my current projects. I'm short on time so I will just post the images along with some short comments. :)
My old project which I will finish first. It's still far from there though. I need a few more maps, a little more AI for new actors and packaging/polish to make it look and feel complete. Graphics are all done, I did them from day to day in the breaks between studying.
On screenshot 1 you see the cute white fella doing nothing. Screenshot 2 shows him approaching some bunny rabbit in his burrow that's taking care of his bonzai. On screenshot 3 you see Fenix having shot a frost bolt which is exploding.
This is a sketch of some characters that will take part in my upcoming game Marshall Mary Jane, a platformer. The wolf lady is a space sheriff and her mission is to catch those nasty looking Brogg creatures that escaped from a prison planet. The thing is, you don't go out killing them but you have to shrink them with your gun. Once they are small they are harmless but fast and little and trying to escape so you better run after. To help you with that you can set up different kinds of traps. Kind of like the traps you know from Lemmings, just way less dangerous. ;) I won't say much more to the other characters now.
This is just a WIP run animation of Mary Jane.
And now to some tech stuff, finally. ;) When I started working on the prototype to this game I realized that it's hard to have stuff in the background that always follows the camera. using ugly hacks I had it almost working but there were still some glitches here and there. After some time I came up with the idea to simply use a second scene window and a second scene graph. The system for parallax scrolling backgrounds I came up with works like a charm and is pretty flexible:
As you can see, I made a small level consisting of a static background image, two scrollers and a little space ship following a path as well as some clouds. The scrollers are of the class "ParallaxBackground". Those objects are handled by my parallax background manager. Upon onUpdateScene I set their scrolling position relative to the camera of sceneWindow2D.
Then, in my actual level I have a dummy object of class "Background". Using that you can associate a certain background to a level.
For this to work you need a new scene window laying beneath the scene window in which all the action will take place.
I'm pretty happy with the results and I can design backgrounds independant of my levels. Using the same Idea I will implement the GUI to this game aswell.
Well, that's it for now. I hope you don't mind my dry writing style.. my english is somewhat rusty. :)
Oh yeah.. anybody remember that game?
Cool Coyote in Fire and Ice
Where are those days..!? :)
Adioz!
My old project which I will finish first. It's still far from there though. I need a few more maps, a little more AI for new actors and packaging/polish to make it look and feel complete. Graphics are all done, I did them from day to day in the breaks between studying.
On screenshot 1 you see the cute white fella doing nothing. Screenshot 2 shows him approaching some bunny rabbit in his burrow that's taking care of his bonzai. On screenshot 3 you see Fenix having shot a frost bolt which is exploding.
This is a sketch of some characters that will take part in my upcoming game Marshall Mary Jane, a platformer. The wolf lady is a space sheriff and her mission is to catch those nasty looking Brogg creatures that escaped from a prison planet. The thing is, you don't go out killing them but you have to shrink them with your gun. Once they are small they are harmless but fast and little and trying to escape so you better run after. To help you with that you can set up different kinds of traps. Kind of like the traps you know from Lemmings, just way less dangerous. ;) I won't say much more to the other characters now.
This is just a WIP run animation of Mary Jane.
And now to some tech stuff, finally. ;) When I started working on the prototype to this game I realized that it's hard to have stuff in the background that always follows the camera. using ugly hacks I had it almost working but there were still some glitches here and there. After some time I came up with the idea to simply use a second scene window and a second scene graph. The system for parallax scrolling backgrounds I came up with works like a charm and is pretty flexible:
As you can see, I made a small level consisting of a static background image, two scrollers and a little space ship following a path as well as some clouds. The scrollers are of the class "ParallaxBackground". Those objects are handled by my parallax background manager. Upon onUpdateScene I set their scrolling position relative to the camera of sceneWindow2D.
Then, in my actual level I have a dummy object of class "Background". Using that you can associate a certain background to a level.
For this to work you need a new scene window laying beneath the scene window in which all the action will take place.
I'm pretty happy with the results and I can design backgrounds independant of my levels. Using the same Idea I will implement the GUI to this game aswell.
Well, that's it for now. I hope you don't mind my dry writing style.. my english is somewhat rusty. :)
Oh yeah.. anybody remember that game?
Cool Coyote in Fire and Ice
Where are those days..!? :)
Adioz!
#2
Good Luck
12/04/2006 (7:27 pm)
The run looks a little stiff, like you just rotated arms instead on drawing each frame. Think about the mass of the body and bring the animation to life with subtle secondary movements like bobbing of the breast, also the head and pelvis don't seem to go up/down at all durring the cycle. If this is your first attempt at 2d animation I'd encorage getting "The ANIMATORS SURVIAL KIT" by Richard Williams, he was the lead animator in "Who framed roger Rabbit" and fills that book with all the goody tips he learned apprenticing under Disney's various Original Animators. It is an AWESOME BOOK!!!Good Luck
#3
12/04/2006 (9:46 pm)
Very cool! I love your concepts, each character has personality. Can't wait to see the finished product!
#4
12/05/2006 (7:12 am)
Heya, keen looking progress. Neat background solution and nicely presented. :)
#5
@Anthony: Thank you. :) I will forward this to the artist. He said he has the running animation complete now, I will get to see it on the week end. I would also like it to look more cute like on the sketches.
@Bhrarathae: I didn't draw them but I will forward it to my friend. :)
@Glen C: Was done using SnagIt.. cool little tool.
12/05/2006 (8:39 am)
@Justin: Thanks. :) And thank you and co for the great tool.@Anthony: Thank you. :) I will forward this to the artist. He said he has the running animation complete now, I will get to see it on the week end. I would also like it to look more cute like on the sketches.
@Bhrarathae: I didn't draw them but I will forward it to my friend. :)
@Glen C: Was done using SnagIt.. cool little tool.
Torque Owner Justin DuJardin
Man this is cool looking, can't wait until you get it up on GGE so I can play it!
Keep up the great work, you rock!
-Justin