Skeptical_troll's abominations

[skeptical_troll]

Ok, I think I agree that the swinging movement to (our) left is the problem. I wanted to cheat a bit to make a wide arc, but that's definitely not realistic and a great waste of energy a sensible warrior would certainly like to avoid. I'll let the axe crush down as it should.

Shading, gem, cloak and polishing will be last thing I'll do after I'm sure of the movement.

Thanks!

[ForestDragon]

i agree, the attack should either be entirely vertical, or entirely horizontal
keep up

[skeptical_troll]

I found the time to re-sketch the axe attack of the dwarf, which looks more reasonable although I'm not 100% happy with the cloak's movement. Shading to be fixed, of course.

I also quickly made another unit, a dwarvish 'torch bearer' , a lvl 1 with a specific tactical function (you may guess which one). He's clearly the dwarvish fighter's cousin: I took that sprite, removed shield and axe, gave him a toarch, a safety helmet, a brand new leather jacket and restyled his beard. I guess this is what people call a 'frankenstein sprite'?. Happy to hear comments, his helmet looks a bit too simple to me

[beetlenaut]

Yeah, that's a lot better than before.

[ForestDragon]

i like your torch bearer, to be honest, it doesn't seem too clear that it's a franken at a first glance (and that's a really good thing), maybe you should give him an attack anim and a standing anim (like most torch wielders in Archaic era, aka flame moving (maybe look at their flame for reference or just plain frankenstein it)) dwarf guardian's anim looks better indeed, and if you want fancy cloak movement, just reuse the cloak movement from you magic placeholder

[DeCoolest_Cat]

It looks great, but the fire brings it down (for me anyways). With only 2 colors, it looks very flat. It would looks much better with a standing animation, but it's not necessary.

[ForestDragon]

exactly what i was saying

[skeptical_troll]

It looks great, but the fire brings it down (for me anyways). With only 2 colors, it looks very flat. It would looks much better with a standing animation, but it's not necessary.

Yeah, I copied the torch as it is in the goblin pillager, but I agree it could use more details, a standing animation and possibly some transparency? It shouldn't be hard to do. I wonder if it is possible to add sound to standing anims, I could put the same as the campfire.

[ForestDragon]

yep. it is possible, but i think you shouldn't do it because if there are more that one of these guys, then it would be REALLY,REALLY annoying, and will block the music

[skeptical_troll]

My first ever attempt on story art. Show no mercy! A very generic underground passage with runic directions. I'm reasonably satisfied for a first go, but the cave beyond the bridge doesn't look great, and the light of the torches may seem a bit too yellow?

[doofus-01]

Well, I'm just an amateur too, but here's my take:
1. Maybe you should put some sort of border or detail on the edge of the path so it doesn't look like some sort of odd snow-drift.
2. A ledge on the right side of the cave lip, where the path doesn't quite line up, would also help. The "not lining up" is a fine detail, it just needs more work.
3. Lastly, I think the cave should be darker and less detailed, it has sharper detail than almost anything else, which is odd since it is farthest away.

[skeptical_troll]

Hi Doofus, thanks for your comments! I worked a bit more on it trying to follow your suggestions plus other tweaks. What maybe wasn't clear is that the path is not the floor of a cave but a bridge on the void till the gate to access the next cave. With the new modifications it should be clear now.

[doofus-01]

That looks much better. The ground could use more noise or texture, maybe you just haven't gotten to that yet. The stones & cracks lining the pool in the foreground would look better with higher contrast, unless there is supposed to be mist coming off the water. If there is supposed to be mist, you might want to exaggerate it more to make it obvious.

For story art, remember that there are going to be words getting in the way at the bottom, and I think it matters a lot on the resolution how much they will cover, so don't put anything too important near the lower foreground.

[SFault]

From the first small image I thought there was a cloaked figure standing on a cliff. Maybe you should put more texture on the lit cave walls to avoid this. Also it seems the walls make the light disappear very quickly. You could try to have same lighting range on the floor also.

[skeptical_troll]

Ok, I tried to increase the contrast of stones and adding a shade gradient to the floor, I think it looks better now. I added some texture/features as well, but probably still insufficient. Drawing cobbles could be a lot of work, I was hoping to pretend that it's just really dusty and smooth

I also added few features to the entrance, not sure if the 'cloaked figure' effect is gone. It will probably depend how big the figure will appear in the story screen.