Runesmith line plus other stuff

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Sleepwalker
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Runesmith line plus other stuff

Post by Sleepwalker »

As advised I decided to update the old rune smith line from Scepter of Fire. So here's the first unit, guess what -the Runesmith.

What I was thinking here is that the markings on his shoulder armor and hammer would light up and glow during animation. Hammer for attacks and shoulders in defense, to go with the enhancing magic runes theme.

One thing that might be a little off here is that his head might look a little bigger than on the other dwarfs. I'll let you decide, posted some random dwarf sprites for comparison.

I won't continue to work on this for awhile, am busy with other stuff atm. :)
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Runesmith.png
Runesmith.png (11.77 KiB) Viewed 6222 times
Last edited by Sleepwalker on September 26th, 2010, 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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thespaceinvader
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Re: Runesmith

Post by thespaceinvader »

Shoulders are looking perhaps a little wide, otherwise, good. I'd maybe be inclined to slip his body horizontally, leaving the head where it is, too, in order that the facing matches. Referring to the portrait might also be an idea in general too, particularly for future levels =)

The head looks wicked. I'm almost inclined to wonder about replacing the Dwarf Fighter's head with something like that cos I've always felt like the fighter head's shading is kinda weird - you have to look really closely to figure out the eyes.
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Monroid
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Monroid »

Maybe it could be the runemaster, but even so, he should carry a book or a rune with inscriptions

It is REALLY better than the current one, great job! :D

Oh, and that lighter spot on the knee doesn't look too much like a light shine or a knee-cap, maybe more contrast on the board of it could make a knee-cap if that's the case, if not, the contrast to make the shine is just to... contrasting?
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Jetrel
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Jetrel »

When this is polished, I'd like to mainline that L2, L3 combination, rather than keeping it as a campaign-specific unit. Remove a bit of redundancy, there.
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Sleepwalker
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Sleepwalker »

Ooh I didn't think about that. Thought you had only done mainline dwarfs. Yeah I will make higher levels more similar.

OK Monroid I'll see if I'll do something about that when i get around to it.
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Sangel »

Just to clarify: Moving from left to right, the second sprite is your proposed L2 Runesmith?

If so, perhaps the L2 should have no shoulderpads (like in the portrait) or smaller shoulderpads. Leaving aside the question of perspective, I think the current size and style are very impressive/imposing, and perhaps better suited to a L3 unit.
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A-Red
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Re: Runesmith

Post by A-Red »

On the other hand, it's comparable in size to the L1 guardsman standing next to it. I think it makes sense to see where the L3 goes before deciding whether the L2 is too imposing. If you were going to size it down though, the shoulders would definitely be the place to do it. Losing any of the rest of that detail would be a shame.

Another thought: the best unit to compare it to visually is probably the steelclad, its alternate advancement path, compared to which it should be slightly less physically powerful.
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Sleepwalker
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Sleepwalker »

OK taking some suggestions and critique (including my own) to account I've redone the Runesmith for overall improvement I think. New sprites to the left. It looks a little more like an actual smith now, following TSI's portrait a bit. As an experiment I increased the brightness and contrast on the bottom one. It makes it more readable I think, but maybe makes it a little too conflicting with the established dwarfs?
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Runesmith2.png
Runesmith2.png (30.14 KiB) Viewed 5417 times
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Skizzaltix »

Great work! Very nice to see you still around since I was last here, Sleepwalker.
I would be inclined towards the one on the bottom, but maybe with the head from one of the less bright ones (or something in between)? It could just be me, but I sort of feel like he's standing in a light beam or something.
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Re: Runesmith

Post by thespaceinvader »

Third one looks best to me, I think.
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Jetrel »

thespaceinvader wrote:Third one looks best to me, I think.
Ditto.
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Reepurr »

I say the third one looks best too...

Tritto?
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Sleepwalker
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Re: Runesmith

Post by Sleepwalker »

Thanks :) It's been awhile, but not with being idle.

All Runesmith line baseframes done, or at least very close to done. Also a first melee animation. Inspiration is drawn from the previous unit sprites as well as TSI's Runemaster portrait and kitty's portrait of Althurin in IftU.

Seeing the hammer markings lightning up is harder than i thought. I was thinking of maybe adding some halo effect but for now I animated it with the usual motion blur...


Then here's something completely different; I've also begun blocking out a more interesting death animation for the saurian skirmisher... It's with a motherload of frames though at 21 as opposed to the other ones with just 4. Maybe I could cut some out to make it easier to detail later but hell it looks nice like this. Maybe this one could be used if the killing blow deals 15+ damage or more maybe as it's a much more forceful death than a simple flopping down on the ground.
Attachments
DwarfFighterLine.png
DwarfFighterLine.png (16.13 KiB) Viewed 4430 times
runesmith-se-attack.gif
runesmith-se-attack.gif (7.34 KiB) Viewed 4430 times
skirmisher-se-faceplant2.gif
skirmisher-se-faceplant2.gif (4.98 KiB) Viewed 4430 times
skirmisher-se-faceplant1.gif
skirmisher-se-faceplant1.gif (4.98 KiB) Viewed 4430 times
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Re: Runesmith line plus other stuff

Post by thespaceinvader »

Oh, that's just NICE. The anim will have to be slightly different for the higher levels to account for the book, but I love that. Great stuff. Defence is necessary, I don't know if we also need a magic animation. They have ranged magic in core, but only melee in SoF.

The difficulty that i see with the saurian death is that it would fit only with a powerful uppercutting attack animation, and we don't have any of those to the best of my recollection. Otherwise he's getting hit and jumping up in the air to die... If he rolled sideways rather than backwards it would work better.
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Re: Runesmith line plus other stuff

Post by Darker_Dreams »

Realistic kinematics say that it's going to be a powerful uppercut- but cartoon kinematics say any sufficiently large force that doesn't explicitly push down... lance attacks and fireballs (possibly other magic) and a number of side-sweeps seem like places that would fit.
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