Minotauro V.1,6 Download

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Manveru89
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Minotauro V.1,6 Download

Post by Manveru89 »

:P Hello guys! :) wish things are doing well for you guys.

Since this is my first message and in this forum seems there is no section where to present myself (at least I did not found it) I will start with a short presentation.
I am a Wesnoth player since 1.2.4 (yep) and I loved this game since the first moment I discovered it. A couple of years ago I also learnt WML :D because I wanted to create my own scenario and stuff. I do not play this much but love the game and enjoy to create scenario.

I am not an expert pixel artist, I am really a beginner, I have read a few tutorial about how to make sprites and often observe other pixel art to figure out how the heck they are made. Source of lights and shadows are tough, but it seems I am getting slightly better on that.

I always wished to see a cool minotaur in Wesnoth, and for that reason I have started to make my own from scratch.
At moment is still not a pure pixel-art but I hope I will manage to make it 100% pixel art. May be that, if it is not impossible for me, I will try to make an animation for at least the attack, I already have made a sample of which I am not satisfied at all because a vertical swing seems not the best choice, instead I suppose an horizontal from right (of the unit) to left. Here are the work I have done so far, two days working on this... I know I am slow, I told you I am not an artist, I wish I could draw pixel art like Sleepwalker, Zerovirus and all the other amazing artists of which I cannot remember all the names, sorry.
Sample of the first two days work. I wish to make two different minotaurs, one more cave like and the other with some armours (see the pauldron for example) and a stronger (different) axe (just like happens for the same unit but with different levels, respectively Lv.4 and Lv.5). Again, this is a very early work in progress, I know my taste and what I wish to achieve but I am not sure of my actual skills, but yesterday I would have never told that I could have made this.<br />Note: the dwarf and the cavalryman are mainline units I used to compare the size. I recall they are made by Sleepwalker (love his pixel style)
Sample of the first two days work. I wish to make two different minotaurs, one more cave like and the other with some armours (see the pauldron for example) and a stronger (different) axe (just like happens for the same unit but with different levels, respectively Lv.4 and Lv.5). Again, this is a very early work in progress, I know my taste and what I wish to achieve but I am not sure of my actual skills, but yesterday I would have never told that I could have made this.
Note: the dwarf and the cavalryman are mainline units I used to compare the size. I recall they are made by Sleepwalker (love his pixel style)
minotauro_wip-manveru.png (30.89 KiB) Viewed 8247 times
A first scrap of the attack animation. I am not convinced of a vertical attack for this unit, I guess I will opt for a semi-horizontal attack that covers sw, s, se.
A first scrap of the attack animation. I am not convinced of a vertical attack for this unit, I guess I will opt for a semi-horizontal attack that covers sw, s, se.
minotauro-anim-test.gif (10.42 KiB) Viewed 8247 times
Ps: sorry if my english is not correct.
pps: I anyone is interested and wish to leave a critique or a suggestion to improve this unit, well I opened this topic for that reason :)
Last edited by Manveru89 on March 8th, 2014, 6:46 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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dipseydoodle
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by dipseydoodle »

Very awesome. It's extremely good in my opinion, with some minor shading. just as a heads up I thought I tell you before the mods have to but, Avatars are not allowed to be animated, thought your is way cool.

As far as critique: the hump on the head seems a little confusing, is that the neck?

-dipsey.
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Turuk
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Turuk »

dipseydoodle wrote:just as a heads up I thought I tell you before the mods have to but, Avatars are not allowed to be animated, thought your is way cool.
As dipseydoole noted, please be aware of Posting Guideline #1e.
Manveru89 wrote:Since this is my first message and in this forum seems there is no section where to present myself (at least I did not found it) I will start with a short presentation.
The User's Forum has a thread for just that purpose. :P
Manveru89 wrote:I always wished to see a cool minotaur in Wesnoth, and for that reason I have started to make my own from scratch.
It looks very good, and I'm looking forward to seeing it animated; if your test animation is any guide, it should turn out very well. I do like the top down attack, it seems more fitting for a minotaur.
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Eagle_11
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Eagle_11 »

Imho it should have 2 attack anims:
one where it lowers itself slightly, charging forward towards the enemy using head. (for impact dmg)
and the other where it cleaves with the axe, swinging the axe wide holding with both hands in a charged horizontal sweep, slashing through the opponent. (default attack.

The 'civilized' one could use some more bitz(preferrably spiky) on one or both of the legs and kneecaps, and an non-fully enclosed savage looking skullcap at head.
I think you have to work on the axe a bit, maybe detail where shaft connects with the sharp part a bit, maybe add a counterweight at pole-end and the metal texture on it needs more shading, it looks like one flat part atm.
Try differentiating the uncivilized one further via removing the gauntlets too and giving him a more crude weapon in hand, a giant club maybe.
Nice unit btw.
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Dixie
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Dixie »

Very awesome work, good job!
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alluton
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by alluton »

Unit itself looks really good. I do also believe top-down attack fits for minotaur. Tough it could also have some sort of piercing attack, sorta like spearman.
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Crow_T
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Crow_T »

The horns looked like they were protruding properly in the sketches but not so much in the final, where they seem offset. Other than that totally bada$$.
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Manveru89
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Manveru89 »

Ok guys I have read all of your comments.
I found interesting the suggestion of the charge attack. I am aware about the issues of the horns, that is because I changed the direction of the head when making the details on the face, of course I will fix that. Oh and the differentiation between the wild and the "civilized" (I would say tamed) is one of my priority.
Here is an update, first I need to complete the basic sprite and then I can start make animation which is something I never done before and I hope I will manage to achieve a decent animation.
I have remade the fur on the hump (Which is not a neck but a hump on the back of the upper body) and improved the body lights and shadows. Still have not touched the head, the axe and the shape of the horns is still about the same for the moment.
I have remade the fur on the hump (Which is not a neck but a hump on the back of the upper body) and improved the body lights and shadows. Still have not touched the head, the axe and the shape of the horns is still about the same for the moment.
minotaur-wip_3day.png (9.92 KiB) Viewed 8130 times
"My body will not be a tomb for other creatures" ~ Leonardo Da Vinci

“Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
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pauxlo
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by pauxlo »

Is that a level-5 (or more) monster? If not, you might want to think about shrinking it down a bit.
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Chief_Chasso
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Chief_Chasso »

Hi Manveru89, really cool Minotaur sprite you have here.
pauxlo wrote:Is that a level-5 (or more) monster? If not, you might want to think about shrinking it down a bit.
I don't understand this. I'm just curious, why is it automatically assumed that the bigger the unit sprite is, the higher the unit level should be? I would think that the unit level should be based on how difficult that particular unit is to kill and/or how much damage it can inflict. Or in other words, how much HP it has and how much damage it's attack(s) incur, etc. For example- compare the Ancient Lich and the Skeletal Dragon sprites (both are level 4).

Can't it be that this Minotaur is simply a giant beast, but not necessarily having level 5 uber-power.
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SFault
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by SFault »

Chief_Chasso wrote:I'm just curious, why is it automatically assumed that the bigger the unit sprite is, the higher the unit level should be?
Generally the size and color is used to differentiate the higher level units of the same unit line, thus bigger size is usually bigger level. There are some units that are big but on small level (drakes for example), but this unit looks very strong on top of the size.
segmentation fault
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HaChol
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by HaChol »

Is'nt the minotauro a bit hulky/huge/massive, I mean, it seems to be bigger than a horse monted with a lancer ...
And it's axe is as big as small cow ...
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Eagle_11
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Eagle_11 »

Because in classic fantasy minotaurs are portrayed as monsters rather than just another humanoid race. Iirc the usual imagination was that strongest Minotaur Kings are tall as a small mountain, of insane strength wielding gigantic weapons, with regular ones growing up to atleast a tower long. Assuming artist's view was similar, in accordance with that, this one here would be a 'calf'.
Oh and they like to omnomnom sheeps and cows, preferably whole and rawly.
Anyways i have to agree with the size issue, there is no way this could be used lesser than level 4 in mainline Wesnoth, but then its always nice to have an alternative to the copy-pasta everywhere damn Yeti.
(and i could incorporate it for Barbarians faction in my mod instead tc-less Yeti, ofcourse gladly)
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Dixie
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Dixie »

Looking back on the sprite, it occured to me I really dislike the axe. The armbands are nice, shiny and all, but the axe lacks highlights, looks dull and flat. I'm not really a pro at this, especially not weapons, and I gather you wanted it to look darker, maybe dirty, crude, I dunno. But maybe some more highlights? Anyone who could provide better solutions catch my drift?
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Zerovirus
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Re: Minotauro (WIP)

Post by Zerovirus »

http://hivemind.in/pj/specs/index.php?u ... p?id=64212

That is a lot of colors. A color-reduction pass on this image might be worth your while!

Other notes:

Consider doing some texture work on the TC'd shoulder armor and on the horns. Right now they're both a bit plastic-looking and completely flat; you could fit in some neat stuff with celtic runes on the shoulder if you tried, I'm thinking. The horns DEFINITELY need texture; consider using goat horns as references?

Overall, I'm pretty darn impressed with your first foray into the Wesnoth art forums. I'd love to see this fully finished and used in some future UMCs.
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