Mainline campaign sprites and animations needed

[zookeeper]

Hope I'm not too late

No, it's fine. I'll put those in before the tagging.

[Vyncyn]

How si this for the human commander in UTBS?

[zookeeper]

Looks pretty good to me.

However, you don't need to replicate every feature of the original sprite. The role of this guy is basically something of a mix between Lieutenant and Ranger and he gets paired with rather usual loyalist units, so he doesn't really need to be quite that rangerish. He could for example just as well have a Javelineer/Sergeant-style helmet instead of a hood, and a bit more armour, and there's no particular significance to the colouring of the cape and shirt either.

So, I'm just saying that if you do prefer to simply redraw the sprite at higher quality then that's of course fine, but there's no need to specifically limit yourself to that.

[Lord-Knightmare]

@Vyncyn: The human commander looks nice enough. Maybe alter his appearance to resemble the Chaos faction units more? (Since someone told me that UTBS was being redone with the Chaos Empire as the main enemy instead of the Loyalists)

[zookeeper]

Maybe alter his appearance to resemble the Chaos faction units more? (Since someone told me that UTBS was being redone with the Chaos Empire as the main enemy instead of the Loyalists)

Well, it's not being redone. I wouldn't mind taking it somewhat in that direction, but that's different from switching them to the Chaos units verbatim.

[Vyncyn]

So yes or no to a chaotic faction design?

Here is a draft with more armor, which would put him more in the chaos faction. I could also make a loyalist version if wanted.

human-commander.png (1.67 KiB) Viewed 3383 times

[Lord-Knightmare]

Well, it's not being redone.

Shame. Quenoth vs Chaos was something I always wanted to play...

Here is a draft with more armor, which would put him more in the chaos faction. I could also make a loyalist version if wanted.

The armoured version looks more than good enough for mainline but that's just my opinion on the matter. The silver-white palette is not really necessary.

[Eagle_11]

How si this for the human commander in UTBS?

This should work for it.
They are an small group of desperate humans trying to survive in a hostile world, not necessarily affiliated with any sinister faction.
Chaotic faction design one can incorporate into a Dark Legion/Chaos Empire as dark ranger after enhancing his face a little bit. (i would be adding moustache, beard and perhaps even a facial scar)

[Vyncyn]

Hmm, I thought the main flaw with this unit was the size of the old sprite, but it seems there are arguments for different designs. So what version should I work on?

1. The timeline of wesnoth says "the great nations were destroyed", so maybe a more neutral or outlawish design would fit him best. Like the first draft I made, but maybe with added breastplate if he should be more armored.

2. A lot of (UMC) campaigns use the chaos faction for humans after the fall. Also Durstrag (the commander) speaks of the "Dark Lady". Therefore the 2nd, more chaotic, design would make sense too.

3. Since he recruits loyalist units it might look best if he had a similar design aswell. Maybe something like this:

human-commander-loyalist.png (1.71 KiB) Viewed 3273 times

[zookeeper]

A loyalist-looking one will work just fine, since the other units are loyalists too. But, as said, a slightly more chaos'y appearance wouldn't hurt considering how they are "Dark Lady" worshippers.

Maybe he could just have dark-coloured armour like the HI line (see attachment)? That will work with the current loyalists while keeping him a bit distinct.

P.S. In fact, it would be neat if all the loyalist units could be ~RC()'d into having a modified armour colour. I don't know if the light blue armour palette is consistent enough across all units for that to work, but if it is then we should definitely do that. I could try and check whether that'd be possible, although I fear that while the palettes might be consistent across base frames, it probably isn't the case for all animation frames. Might take a day or two before I get enough clarity on that.

[Lord-Knightmare]

P.S. In fact, it would be neat if all the loyalist units could be ~RC()'d into having a modified armour colour. I don't know if the light blue armour palette is consistent enough across all units for that to work, but if it is then we should definitely do that. I could try and check whether that'd be possible, although I fear that while the palettes might be consistent across base frames, it probably isn't the case for all animation frames. Might take a day or two before I get enough clarity on that.

I like the HI-palette on the Human Commander and it kinda works...but his free hand could use a bot more...shading?
Why not ~RC(loyalist-palette>black)? Like what they did for the Dark Adept-linefor that unfinished campaign "Resurrection of Wesnoth"?
If someone gives me the palette codes, I can check on it. Got a day off tomorrow from university (public holiday).

[Celtic_Minstrel]

I could try and check whether that'd be possible, although I fear that while the palettes might be consistent across base frames, it probably isn't the case for all animation frames. Might take a day or two before I get enough clarity on that.

There should definitely be a nice convenient tool where you input an IPF and it displays the resulting image for you...

[Ravana]

There should definitely be a nice convenient tool where you input an IPF and it displays the resulting image for you...

Dugi made Image loading tester for that.

[The_Gnat]

@vyncyn - personally I like the hooded commander best but the dark armour looks great also! Much an improvement!

[zookeeper]

P.S. In fact, it would be neat if all the loyalist units could be ~RC()'d into having a modified armour colour. I don't know if the light blue armour palette is consistent enough across all units for that to work, but if it is then we should definitely do that. I could try and check whether that'd be possible, although I fear that while the palettes might be consistent across base frames, it probably isn't the case for all animation frames. Might take a day or two before I get enough clarity on that.

Well, I did some checking and the exact colours of the armour definitely aren't consistent across different units. I took 8 units and even among those, there was about 40 different colours used for the armour and weapons (so yes, the swords and spearheads would be shifted too... but that probably wouldn't be terrible). I only checked base frames, so it's entirely possible that there's more variation among animation frames meaning that compiling the palette could be a lot of work... unless someone can come up with an automated solution of some kind.

...but I think Celtic_Minstrel's new-but-yet-undocumented ~CHAN() IPF might be able to do what is needed, but I'm not sure and I'll have to play with it a bit more.