Wesnoth Fauna

Contribute art for mainline Wesnoth.

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doofus-01
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Wesnoth Fauna

Post by doofus-01 »

EDIT 2022-05-22: Reopening, this is now valid for BfW 1.17/1.18

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EDIT 2021-05-15: Closing this because time is up. More would have been nice, but reality is what it is.

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EDIT 2020-09-13: I'm limiting the scope of this to the following list. More can be added later, but this is my push for now.
  • - Crocodile (calling it Swamp Lizard for now) - mostly animated
  • - Bear (calling it Cave Bear for now) - mostly animated
  • - Falcon - partially animated
  • - Glyptodon (calling it Icemonax for now) - minimally animated
  • - Stoat - only base sprite for now
  • - Fire Ant - only base sprite for now
  • - (Possible, TBD) the centipedes
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One of the things on the roadmap for 1.16 is to add more animals to the world of Wesnoth for world building and general use assets for UMC. Fauna are suited to a particular environment, so it makes sense to me to categorize them that way, although some can be in multiple environments. There are some existing animals that have an ambiguous status, like the falcon or bat that were/are part of an established MP faction. Below is my attempt at organizing existing assets, with an eye toward inserting some new assets or at least completing semi-existing assets. Existing, established assets are not included in the image below, but a few minimally established existing units are. The rest are new units, some more imaginative than others. EDIT2: Removing image, it was not intended for sprite critique, but it's hard to avoid it becoming that. It was also outdated.

EDIT: That image isn't necessarily up to date, the PR for this here: https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/pull/5039

This is a draft, if anyone has a suggestion (animal unit or environment), I'm open to looking into it. Keeping in mind that each unit needs a basic set of animations (two-frame defense, at least a few frames attack) and a unique portrait, I don't think we should spend time and resources on multiple levels, maybe two for some.
(N) - New
(E) - Existing
(T) - Tentative (may get dropped)

EDIT-2020-08-22: Updated the lists with my current thinking, getting close to a finalizing so I can actually work on this in a focused way. Whether some elementals should be included is still an open question, maybe best left to round two.
Water
seaserpent (E)
tentacle (E)
waterserpent (E)
cuttlefish (E)
crocodile (N) - reason is that it could be reasonable for any wet terrain, including swamp, and it's not ridiculous on land.
demo only, not necessarily final versions
demo only, not necessarily final versions
Screenshot_20200823_water.png (104.32 KiB) Viewed 45888 times
Green Outdoors
wolves (E)
rat (E)
tusker (N - from 2009 contribution by thespaceinvader) - probably will remove the middle unit
gryphon (E)
falcon? (E-sort of)
(rabbit and deer aren't bad ideas, but I'll leave them for another round, if no one else gets to them first)
demo only, not necessarily final versions
demo only, not necessarily final versions
Screenshot_20200823_greatoutdoors.png (79.98 KiB) Viewed 45884 times
Cave
spider (E)
ant (E-UtBS)
fireghost? (E)
bear (N) - A melee bruiser, like a lesser Yeti, alternative to the spiders when a tough enemy is needed.
scorpion (E)
bats (E)
centipedes (N, T) - I'd feel better about including it if the creators gave their blessings, even if it might not be strictly necessary.
demo only, not necessarily final versions
demo only, not necessarily final versions
Screenshot_20200823_cave.png (80.24 KiB) Viewed 45884 times
Desert
mudcrawler? (E)
scorpion-variant (E)
wyvern? (E) This should probably go to dragons revision
ant-variant (N) - fire ant - maybe has a "soldier ant" level up.
jinn? (E-sort of) - need to figure out what is going on with elementals
demo only, not necessarily final versions
demo only, not necessarily final versions
Screenshot_20200823_desert.png (86.97 KiB) Viewed 45884 times
Ice
yeti (E)
stoat (N) - weak, evasive, skirmisher
glyptodon-thing (N) - with an icy shell
(wolves and bear aren't out of place here)
demo only, not necessarily final versions
demo only, not necessarily final versions
Screenshot_20200822_north.png (77.17 KiB) Viewed 45898 times
Last edited by doofus-01 on May 16th, 2022, 1:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Kwandulin
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by Kwandulin »

Neoricesisgood made some amazing (dungeon) monsters some time ago. I`ve added them to the heroes package in 1.15. Although they don`t have animations, they have strike gfx.

neorice
Satyr
Bat pack
Watcher
Cave Worms
Mouse pack
Gnomeling
Minotaur
Scarab Beetle
Undying
Cave Dryalid

blaru
Imp

zero
Great Seawyrm

other
Magical Scimitar
Wisp
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by Lord-Knightmare »

I had these in WoL for quite some time now but I think that they can be added to the Wesnoth beastiary/monster unit-list.
Young Gryphon (a level 1 unit that advances to the Gryphon)
Wyrm (level 5, kind of like an ice dragon?)
Ice Ghost (maybe an opposite to the Fire Guardian?)
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doofus-01
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by doofus-01 »

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll declare humanoids out of the scope of this, as they would require more lore, we can revisit a couple of them if there is enough interest. The Wyrm (ice dragon) is also a nice idea, but also best as another project, one that involves fixing the current firedragon.

The watcher reminded me that there is an eyestalk in The South Guard, maybe we should move that to core, not sure. The worms are also a good idea, there could be a couple variations and the portraits wouldn't be that taxing.
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MoonyDragon
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by MoonyDragon »

In my campaign, I used the fully animated and portrait-complete centipedes (1 2 3) made by Wayirr & Saurrian.
Perhaps they could be included too.
doofus-01 wrote: August 16th, 2020, 12:49 pm The watcher reminded me that there is an eyestalk in The South Guard, maybe we should move that to core, not sure.
Somebody made an eyestalk line (1 2 3) complete with teamcolors. They fit better into mainline than the unit from TSG, imo.
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doofus-01
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by doofus-01 »

MoonyDragon wrote: August 16th, 2020, 1:27 pm n my campaign, I used the fully animated and portrait-complete centipedes (1 2 3) made by Wayirr & Saurrian.
Perhaps they could be included too.
Looks promising, I've sent Wayirr a PM about it (couldn't find a username Saurrian). Thanks.
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WhiteWolf
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by WhiteWolf »

I really like these additions. A few more suggestions that come to mind:

Chicken
Pig
I do believe these two are originally from Flight to Freedom, but I'd have to check, I could be wrong.

Deer
Stag, I can't find the original anymore, it was posted here on the forums years ago I think.
Little rabbit, same here, I don't know where is the original. It also has 4 color variations.

Animals Age animals
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Edwylm
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by Edwylm »

few suggestions

Crocodile swamp/water
Ram mountain/snow
Seals ice/water
Crabs sand/water

Salamander like thing from jetrel
salamaderthing.png
salamaderthing.png (2.37 KiB) Viewed 46408 times
Possibly something for lava

Shessinsaans forgot which era they are in.
shessinsaan.png
shessinsaan.png (9.86 KiB) Viewed 46408 times
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doofus-01
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by doofus-01 »

WhiteWolf wrote: August 16th, 2020, 4:29 pm A few more suggestions that come to mind:
Something like a pig would make sense, could go with the peasants. A deer (or elk or moose) would also be good for a lot of scenarios.
I think that chicken sprite is the old cockatrice.

Speaking of flightless birds, would something like a moa or ostrich go well with the chocobones, or is it better to just leave it as extinct? :hmm:
Edwylm wrote: August 16th, 2020, 8:38 pm Possibly something for lava
Yeah, that is probably another environment that needs to be considered.
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GunChleoc
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by GunChleoc »

We have some deer in Widelands - maybe the se frames could be used as a base for new sprite art https://github.com/widelands/widelands/ ... d/critters

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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by LordBob »

Lots of promising additions ; should we plan portraits for them ? (Many will be easier to do than humanoids, so it's not as much work as it may seem).

On sprites themselves, there are a few that could be reworked into something more pleasing before integration :
- Stoat (snow surricate-like creature ?) is not stellar
- Digger is difficult to read ; round smooth plastic-like shapes, not sure where arms and legs attach... A couple anatomy sketches would help define it better.
- Salamander is a bit dark, not sure how well it will read against a lava background ? (or any background that has light colors)

The Wyrm and Great Seawyrm are awesome sprites, would be great to use them. (Maybe they can be included in a future dragon-revamp mini-project ?)
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Edwylm
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by Edwylm »

The salamander would need to be edited to make its colors be better against the background. example if its too dark.
salamaderthing.png
salamaderthing.png (2.43 KiB) Viewed 46207 times
(its a bit too bright now in this sprite along with it should look more lavaish if it lives in lava.)
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by Elvish_Hunter »

Kwandulin wrote: August 16th, 2020, 8:20 am neorice
...
Cave Worms
If we want to add worms to core, I think that a better alternative are the giant worms made by battlestar. You can find them here: https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.ph ... 06#p517406.
Warning: only the base frames are available.
Lord-Knightmare wrote: August 16th, 2020, 9:20 am I had these in WoL for quite some time now but I think that they can be added to the Wesnoth beastiary/monster unit-list.
Young Gryphon (a level 1 unit that advances to the Gryphon)
It was me who made their sprites back then (with lots of recoloring and downscaling), so... Thanks :)
doofus-01 wrote: August 16th, 2020, 2:51 am fireghost? (E)
Some time ago, I had the idea of moving all the Elementals to core, given that a lot of add-ons use them and the sprites are always the same. Can I go ahead and prepare a pull request that imports them from Era of Myths (which I remember is the first era where they appeared eons ago)?
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by Lord-Knightmare »

It was me who made their sprites back then (with lots of recoloring and downscaling), so... Thanks
Yeah, you're listed in the credits.txt file :lol:
Some time ago, I had the idea of moving all the Elementals to core, given that a lot of add-ons use them and the sprites are always the same. Can I go ahead and prepare a pull request that imports them from Era of Myths (which I remember is the first era where they appeared eons ago)?
Moving the elementals to Core sounds like a fantastic idea. I think they are the most utilized faction, appearing in over 20 campaigns and add-ons. The Dragon Trilogy (ASoF, WotJ, AotDS), Era of Chaos, Era of Myths, Count Kromire, TLB, AEE, HOI1, WOL, and AE to mention a few. :D
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Pilauli
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Re: Wesnoth Fauna

Post by Pilauli »

WhiteWolf wrote: August 16th, 2020, 4:29 pm Stag, I can't find the original anymore, it was posted here on the forums years ago I think.
Little rabbit, same here, I don't know where is the original. It also has 4 color variations.
I recognize that rabbit! It's in the thread Shield's Art, in the Art Workshop.

It looks like the other color variations are simple palette-swaps, so the rabbit might be eligible for automatic recoloration. I think I saw a discussion about doing something like that for loyalist armor colors and orc skin tones, also? If there were a standardized way to do it, then it would theoretically be easy to add visual variety to units. (E.g. variety of horse colors for mounted units, gray/white wolf variants for snow, more colorful farm animals, etc.)

I've experimented a bit with using a palette-switching image path function to make color variations, but my project is a mess of macros and stuff, so I'm sure there must be a better way to do it.
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