Unit sprites for Invasion from the Unknown/After the Storm

[woodmouse]

I like the brighter colored Shaxtal thingy more. It looks more like metal to me, at least. And Elynia looks unrelaxed. I don't know if that's on purpose, but I just wanted to say my opinion.

[Iris]

There are many things wrong about that test of Elynia's "standing" (as if) frame. The real point of the draft is the wings.

[VS]

Feel free to disregard this if you already considered it all, but...

Her hands are at strange angles for this kind of position. It's not related to anatomy, only comfort. It must be rather tiring to hold them up (2) all the time, no? Holding the staff that way on ground (1) works because you can rest your hand on it, but when flying? I would say something like (3) could be natural. Maybe. I never tried flying

Of course that all is true only if she is pulled up by her wings. If it's a magical force that makes all parts of body float, then it's probably fine.

EDIT: oops:

There are many things wrong about that test of Elynia's "standing" (as if) frame. The real point of the draft is the wings.

[Iris]

I am still trying to come up with an adequate pose - of course, it still remains to be seen how it will look when animated. Disregard that stupid left leg.

I also commited a small fix to Anlindë's (L4 Elvish Avatar) torso by shortening it by a pixel; additionally, most of her special effects have been removed and added as a separate halo overlay to avoid cluttering the baseframe so much.

[woodmouse]

I think the legs of that Alindë sprite look a little like they would be broken. At least the left one. (At least I see them like that)
But I love all the sprites you make, they're so cool!

[Iris]

Going back to that later. I have priorities:

Shadow Master

master-drone.png (3.01 KiB) Viewed 5918 times

[thespaceinvader]

As discussed on IRC, a try at digitigrade legs for the Shadow Master. If you like them, you can shade them yourself

It might also fit with a slightly more hunched stance. Also, looking at it now, i think the leg further from camera needs a slightly thicker thigh.

[Turuk]

It might also fit with a slightly more hunched stance

Indeed, I would either lean him forward to make him hunched, ready for action, or if you want to keep him more vertical, perhaps move his legs in the other direction to look as if he is resting back on his haunches? Though that would require different arm positions, bah.

[Iris]

I deliberately decided to not make him less humanoid. I tried many different designs for him, but neither of them made sense for a unit that is both suited for melee fighting and a magic user. He may be a level 6 but I do not want to go overboard converting him in a ridiculous-looking creature. More importantly, I wanted to make clear that he is not related to the mass-production Shaxthals.

I tried to make him digitigrade without departing from the humanoid appearance, but it didn't work very well as you can see.

So, I may make a few additional fixes, but the overall look won't change. If Kitty will use this as reference, I give her freedom to add whatever she deems necessary to make him more "scary"-looking. I also tried adding more stuff, but the sprite size doesn't allow me to do that without extrapolating the details. Also note that the robe-less variation posted here has no hair, but the real Shadow Master should have traces of hair. Description:

"With those words, as he pronounced them, he lifted his mask from his face, and
let it fall to the floor, breaking to pieces, producing the only sound that
could be heard, as all the present people looked in dread the face of their
probable fate. Beneath the metallic mask was Argan, not the Shadow Master. But
he was no longer a living one, a natural being. His face had various metallic
objects embedded, and his skin was mostly gone, except for a few traces of it,
and his hair. Be it not for the conversation taking place at that moment, one
would think it was just a larger Shaxthal drone. And what lied beneath his
robes, by taking a single look at his face, was obvious. Argan, the Master of
Darkness, was proved to be the Shadow Master." [...]

Left: Robes+Mask (used in-game)
Middle: Robes+No mask (used in-game)
Right: No robes or mask (unused)

master-drone-l.png (4.57 KiB) Viewed 5870 times

I couldn't avoid adding more flesh than necessary to his face in the sprite - otherwise it'd have looked just like random red bits on the metallic exoskeleton.

EDIT: this is some left-over code from a message hex in scenario 23B that may or may not be accurate nowadays:

Code: Select all

        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "Log entry 1393 - Mal-Zagarn")}
        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "Finally, the raiding battalion lead by Mal-El'zah managed to find the secret city where the Argazar civilization hid for the last time. After long and deep excavations they got access to the cryogenic chambers where a prototype of their artificial bio-organism was preserved, as indicated by the record glyphs.")}
        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "After hours of investigating the design plains, I could produce an enhanced prototype with an antigravitational engine that")}
        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "I/O error reading log entry.")}
        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "Log entry 1398 - Mal-Zagarn")}
        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "I cannot understand completely why, but the reproduced genetics of the preserved prototype do not make a functional organism that lives - for now I shall investigate how to use an existing and fully functional organism for the living basis of the biomechanical system.")}
        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "Log entry 1399 - Mal-Zagarn")}
        {MSG_GLYPH ( _ "I borrowed three prisoners from the south-western hunters for my experiments - two males and a female. Unfortunately, mangling them shortened the males' lives, so they did not last for long enough to test. However, the female had an impressive resistance to damage and injure, so [...]")}
        # so I could finally remove her limbs and most of her vital system after
        # connecting her trunk to a support machine. I managed to embed the mangled body
        # into the new drone prototype - however, I forgot a very important detail,
        # her nerve system was still sentient, and after the anaesthetics' effect ended,
        # the drone went out of control.
        # -- Log entry 1405
        # The next experiment was made with a similar female, but after removing
        # non-essential lobes from her brain. The result was a complete success, although
        # the prototype drone could obviously do nothing but breath and feed.
        # -- Log entry 1407
        # I managed to replace the missing brain lobes with a embedded microcomputer,
        # using a neural interface; small programs of neurocommands were successful in essence,
        # as the organic part of the drone would react to them. However, those parts still
        # need an external power supply - they cannot move the heavy metal armor yet.
        # [...]

Apparently I was on something when I wrote that.

[thespaceinvader]

I discussed it with Shadow Master on IRC after posting, and he doesn't like it, so this is as far as it'll go.

[Iris]

This is Elyssa, in her unmasked variation. The masked variation should be eventually done too, and I should fix the many flaws with this sprite someday, but it won't be soon because I've got other things to worry about.

[Sangel]

This is Elyssa, in her unmasked variation. The masked variation should be eventually done too, and I should fix the many flaws with this sprite someday, but it won't be soon because I've got other things to worry about.

That's one very cool sprite. She looks very tall and imposing - certainly taller and more imposing than your average Wesnoth human - while being almost frighteningly skinny. That's very true to the portrait by kitty.

[Turuk]

She looks very tall and imposing - certainly taller and more imposing than your average Wesnoth human - while being almost frighteningly skinny.

Indeed, we were discussing her height on IRC and one of the things we liked was the fact that it makes her stand out as different/odd, which really fits given the character. Makes her seem commanding and superior, and not just another sprite.

[woodmouse]

Wow, that's really cool. But only thing that bothers me a little, and it's because of Kitty's awesome portrait, that she's not dark. I mean, Kitty made the portrait dark. Anyway, that's just my opinion. Anyway, I liked the old one more. It was just somehow... more menacing looking. But then again, it was the masked one... Anyway, I like it a lot.

[Iris]

Masked.