Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

[Sapient]

Unfortunately, in the long run this is likely to become a problem should I fail at sticking to our canon style. I enjoy immensely what I'm doing here, but I'm not sure how this portrait would fit in-game next to, say, my loyalist peasant. I'd be interested in hearing players' view on this, actually.

I think ideally all the portraits should be in the same style, but maybe that's not a realistic expectation. Definitely, all the core portraits should be in the same style. Likewise, portraits within the same campaign should be in the same style. I personally would not mind if a campaign has a style that differs from the core style, in fact it might interest me more in that way.

[thespaceinvader]

On that note... I'm happy with some variance, myself. I'd prefer to see things match a higher standard than a lower one, however, so if you were willing to revise some older work to match the gorgeousness you're putting out here, I'd be thoroughly delighted.

[boru]

Unfortunately, in the long run this is likely to become a problem should I fail at sticking to our canon style. I enjoy immensely what I'm doing here, but I'm not sure how this portrait would fit in-game next to, say, my loyalist peasant. I'd be interested in hearing players' view on this, actually.

Okay.

As a player I don't expect every bit of art to knock my eyes out with its awesomosity. The peasant is fine for a peasant, but naturally I'd expect the king to be of higher quality. Generally, the major heroes and villains ought to look as good as possible, and if the spearman's shading is a little less detailed, that's okay. Consistency is a tricky kind of a goal, since it often leads to mediocrity, and I'd hate to see Wesnoth ever come to that. Some level of consistency is vital, of course, but in my opinion quality rules.

Maybe your recent painting of Alanin would fit as a campaign screen image.

[johndh]

It might be interesting to see Alanin's equipment become more worn as time goes by, eventually with large parts of it replaced by dwarven craft. Maybe that's part of what advanced Wesnoth's armor styles -- bringing back some dwarven plate.

[melinath]

The peasant is fine for a peasant, but naturally I'd expect the king to be of higher quality. Generally, the major heroes and villains ought to look as good as possible, and if the spearman's shading is a little less detailed, that's okay. Consistency is a tricky kind of a goal, since it often leads to mediocrity, and I'd hate to see Wesnoth ever come to that. Some level of consistency is vital, of course, but in my opinion quality rules.

Just to have an opposing opinion stated, as a player, I would like to see just as much quality in a spearman or peasant as in a villain or hero. I think that, nowadays, the quality of the pictures is high enough that we don't have to worry about mediocrity, and that having more than one style would actually detract from the overall quality of the project.

Lord Bob's new pictures are incredible. They're extremely realistic - almost photographic. But the images that we already have are also incredible. They're just in a different style, and intentionally so.

[LordBob]

Facial study for Alanin in his younger days (Edit: updated with aging steps). I'm trying to portray him as not very much of a warrior, since it seems to me that he spends half the campaign hiding or running away while his fellow dwarves get cut to pieces. I believe he even declares in the first scenario that he doesn't like fighting very much (which might be unexpected, coming from the king's finest )

Also, thanks to all who took some time to post their opinion and appreciation. So I guess I'll be continuing with this new, improved style
Anyway, do keep posting if you have your say on portrait style, your taking insterest is appreciated

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the fact that Krawg appears in the epilogue while Alanin and Haldric talk might be rather incompatible with the idea of them talking inside (as opposed to outside in the courtyard).

Drat. This makes the lighting on Haldric's portrait fundamentally wrong at best A shame, but I'll appreciate if we can live with it. It's a good thing I didn't go trigger-happy on the saturated candle light...

[homunculus]

Great!
We will be having
1) A royal elite cavalry that is not much of a fighter.
2) A king that is fiddling with the edge of his cloak like a little girl nervously reciting a poem.
I like the controversial characters, but I might be weird.

The increased beard on Alanin is a nice touch, he has been living among the dwarfs after all.
But strictly keeping his beard shorter than the dwarfs might indicate Alanin's competence in diplomacy.

[Velensk]

I think you're the only kind of person who could look at those and get anything controversial about them.

[woodmouse]

Epicness... It's like, your stuff is now like photos, but have that something that makes it clear they're not. Not sure what that something is, but whatever it is, it's awesome. Wesnoth's art standards keep getting rised up all the time, soon there's like no way any new people can get anything into mainline.

[Blarumyrran]

Would anyone really mind if the talking griffin was made incapable of the player's language, and the end would be rerouted accordingly? The talking griffin was annoying for me, and I remember even Turin (the original author of the campaign) stating he grew to dislike the talking griffin. And it would fix this problem as well.

[johndh]

Would anyone really mind if the talking griffin was made incapable of the player's language, and the end would be rerouted accordingly? The talking griffin was annoying for me, and I remember even Turin (the original author of the campaign) stating he grew to dislike the talking griffin. And it would fix this problem as well.

I would like to echo this sentiment.

[LordBob]

I have to admit, I'd even go as far as removing entirely the griffin from the epilogue. If anything, he could be Alanin's silent mount on his return home : that'd be proof that he spent some time with dwarves. But it does sound cheap that the king takes the word of some sentient bird that just happened to fly by if he doubts even his captain's words. Hell, for all Haldric knows, Alanin might as well have spent fifteen years living off of the realm's gold in some remote brothel. The fact that the king doesn't simply have his head removed for returning empty-handed implies he has a huge amount of trust in the guy and will likely believe anything he's told, griffin or not.

Actually, the more I think of it, the more it seems to me that some manner of punishment or disgrace would be in order, instead of a well-earned retirement. The gold is spent, the ruby of fire lost and the sceptre, if it ever existed, has passed into orc hands. What kind of success is that in the king's eyes ?

Alternately, we could add an easter egg sign in the very first map that says "campaign shortcut : drop the ruby into this moutain stream". If the player does, he immediately jumps to an alternate epilogue which explains how that [censored] Alanin lived a decadent fifteen years before returning to wesnoth, where he would be showered with undue honours

[Pewskeepski]

I have to admit, I'd even go as far as removing entirely the griffin from the epilogue. If anything, he could be Alanin's silent mount on his return home : that'd be proof that he spent some time with dwarves. But it does sound cheap that the king takes the word of some sentient bird that just happened to fly by if he doubts even his captain's words. Hell, for all Haldric knows, Alanin might as well have spent fifteen years living off of the realm's gold in some remote brothel. The fact that the king doesn't simply have his head removed for returning empty-handed implies he has a huge amount of trust in the guy and will likely believe anything he's told, griffin or not.

I always thought the talking gryphon was just plain childish. He's in the campaign so there's proof that the scepter was lost, but I personally think I'd be much better if there was some other way they get this information... actually, who says they need to know the scepter was lost? Why can't Alanin just tell the king where the dwarves are, and then the king sends some soldiers to retrieve the scepter (or maybe even goes himself) and then the player would be told that they never found it.

[homunculus]

[...] He's in the campaign so there's proof that the scepter was lost [...]

The gryphon is in the campaign so that there is proof that the scepter was made.
Alanin left before the dwarfs found the suitable forge.

However, it feels like the gryphon might have carried the scepter out of the volcano.

[Mountain_King]

Alternately, we could add an easter egg sign in the very first map that says "campaign shortcut : drop the ruby into this moutain stream". If the player does, he immediately jumps to an alternate epilogue which explains how that [censored] Alanin lived a decadent fifteen years before returning to wesnoth, where he would be showered with undue honours

Yes. Just yes.