Era of Magic (EoMa) 4.8.2 - now on Ko-fi!

[inferno8]

I started updating Tharis graphics a week ago. Here's the result:


Some of them need polishing, but I hope you like it I am going to upload a new version of the era as soon as I finish animations.

[bigkahuna]

I really like the hydras and the general line. The whole faction looks more "cold" and dramatic, which is a good thing. One of the things I've noticed in both the old version and the new - there is too much absolute black. In the "ninja" line, almost all the shading is dumped in favor of a black color which makes it very hard to visualize the other part of the unit. I can't even tell what the rest of the unit is when it is that dark.

[bvanevery]

I really like the hydras and the general line. The whole faction looks more "cold" and dramatic, which is a good thing.

Agreed!

One of the things I've noticed in both the old version and the new - there is too much absolute black. In the "ninja" line, almost all the shading is dumped in favor of a black color which makes it very hard to visualize the other part of the unit. I can't even tell what the rest of the unit is when it is that dark.

Disagreed. I'm seeing this through a storyteller's bias, and these units appear in the "To Lands Unknown" campaign. The stark blackness of the unit is a welcome contrast to the bright, cheery colorfulness of the campaign in general. I don't have a problem making out the details of the units, I just use my imagination. The most important thing for separating one unit from another is their different poses, and they are definitely distinct.

[Alarantalara]

Let me join in the praise of the newer sprites, especially the hydras. Are you planning on team coloring all of them, or just the ones you have already done?

I have to agree with bigkahuna about the blackness. You can make it quite a bit brighter without losing the feeling of black. I tried it out with one of the units, but then decided that to post the result would be presumptuous, so I'll just stop here.

[StDrake]

Everyone else goes into praise, so I'm left with picking on details:
-the dodgy guy lev1 lost a lot of his former styles dynamics with that leg pose
-his lv2 with blades..those blades look awfully bend around up and downwards, if you want to show them in the perspective where they'd turn into single pixel lines he'd be better off if those lines were closer to paralell
-the netters net lost a ton of detail on the change, it was a definite net back then, now the lines and holes are a mess, the previous colour suited it more as well
-the bigger hydras' 'faces' got exposed to the point where they will need some shading, not one flat colour on the skin, plus there's a lot of stray pixel issues on the lev3
-the general sprite - maybe I'm seeing things but it looks like there's a 2-pixel jump at the shoulderpad; legs seem to have gained detail or decor while chest and shoulders lost it - it suits the lev3, the lev 4 a little less; feet compared to the previous levels are smaller and less comfortable
-lev 1 with the chakrams - it looks ok, but the change in equipment is quite drastic when he levels, perhaps it would be a good idea to give him a sword in (his) left hand?

I think that's all, neat work overall, I love the sword guys and new hydra styles

[inferno8]

Thanks for comments.

Are you planning on team coloring all of them, or just the ones you have already done?

Yes I'm planning to do so. I'm thinking about converting red parts of their suits into magenta color scheme, but I'm not sure at the moment. As for hydras I have no idea where to apply team colors. Maybe helmets, or stripes on their bodies? What do you think?

I have to agree with bigkahuna about the blackness. You can make it quite a bit brighter without losing the feeling of black. I tried it out with one of the units, but then decided that to post the result would be presumptuous, so I'll just stop here.

I would like to see these improvements. And feel free to post your work any time you want. You are a part of the team

Everyone else goes into praise, so I'm left with picking on details

Thanks for pointing out these problems. I'll try to fix them, when I have time.

I committed all new sprites to the Mercurial repository here:
https://bitbucket.org/bvanevery/eraofmagic/overview

If someone wants to know how they look in game and/or improve them, feel free to download them from this site. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[bvanevery]

Everyone else goes into praise, so I'm left with picking on details:
-the dodgy guy lev1 lost a lot of his former styles dynamics with that leg pose

But standing on 1 leg didn't make any sense. Perhaps the real problem is his new level 1 pose is a bit boring. Like he's going to swagger into a bar and bop someone with his fists. His level 2 "claw thrust" pose looks much better.

-the netters net lost a ton of detail on the change, it was a definite net back then, now the lines and holes are a mess, the previous colour suited it more as well

I didn't like the old net. It didn't hang like a net. It was more like a series of iron rods radiating from his hand. Nets have to be whirled and thrown to expand. If a Roman gladiator swings a weighted net, such as to tangle an enemy's weapon hand, it looks like a bunch of ropes with some balls sticking out of the end of it. I don't know that the new net is ideal, but it's evolving into a more naturalistic direction. At present it looks a bit like a bag.

[inferno8]

I tried to fix the pose of lvl1 hunter and improve the net of lvl2:

[Vendanna]

I need to say that this looks like a good improvement, the new pose apart of less boring gives more charisma to the unit.

Still, the unit is rather dark, I would use the coloration of the mainline human assasin for comparison (also remember that pitch dark isn't used to conceal on the darkness because its unnatural and draw attention to it)

As for the hydras, They are a huge improvement about the old sprites (congrats) tought you could have tried to give an extra head upon leveling (4 at lvl 2 and 5 on lvl 3) after all its an impossing creature and people could expect it.

the level 1 hydra could get some love on the head of our left, since the neck joint doesn't look as nice at it could (the other levels doesn't look weird because you "hide the junction" with one of the heads)

lvl 3 hydra is indeed one of my favourite sprites of your faction (also monsters doesn't need to have team color)

[StDrake]

yep, that takes care of the hunter, not sure about his shadow, but can't really get a proper reference to compare
the net looks better in the forums than ingame, might be something about the colour choice, or maybe the shadow hurts it more than helps

[bvanevery]

yep, that takes care of the hunter, not sure about his shadow, but can't really get a proper reference to compare

Hunter is definitely better. I'm realizing that a white background makes it hard to see his claws.

the net looks better in the forums than ingame, might be something about the colour choice, or maybe the shadow hurts it more than helps

The droop of the net is definitely better though.

[sur.nhm]

Anything about the description I posted last page? If there isn't anything, I'll upload it into Mercurial as soon as I'll figure how the damn thing works...

[bvanevery]

Don't forget to use TortoiseHg as your interface. It makes a number of things pretty easy.

[inferno8]

@sur.nhm: the description is great. I'd like to see more

Today I was working on witches. Here's the result:

Any comments?

[bigkahuna]

To my eyes it looks like the L3 Darkness and... Ice? witches don't look as female anymore. It's a bit harder to tell, but that's just a nitpick and the name will given it away anyhow. A couple more important things -

1. The Matriarch of Darkness looks like she's slinging off mud or something. That won't work very well unless you have some animated darkness-slinging aura around it. The flecks in question are pure black, again something to avoid.

2. The Matriarch of something (the third one/at the bottom) looks like she's holding up a cherry, and if you take the position of the arm and hand into play it looks sort of like a cheerleader pom-pom Perhaps put more hints that it is actually some magical item (which I believe was the original intention)?

Otherwise, they're fine. Honestly I didn't see a need for a graphical rework on these (besides cleaning up some fuzziness and stray pixels), they already had decent artwork. I like how you got rid of some of the repetitiveness in the sprites, though.