[Completed] Portraits for The Dark Hordes (by tsunami_)

[Roge_Tebnelok]

I have given him gold armour for now. I will later adjust the colour.

Once I saw Nati in golden armor I immidiately came up with idea why on Gwiti it's just bone, so perhaps there's no need in changing the color. I think only shape needs to be similar. Will there be Nati with the staff portrait?
Overall, looks very nice.

[tsunami_]

Will there be Nati with the staff portrait?

Afterwards I may make a Nati version of the lich portraits (just an edit), so they will have the same staff. For level 2 I will draw just one portrait.
Actually it was Nati's staff which I gave to Gwiti.

Once I saw Nati in golden armor I immidiately came up with idea why on Gwiti it's just bone, so perhaps there's no need in changing the color.

What do you mean?

[Roge_Tebnelok]

Afterwards I may make a Nati version of the lich portraits (just an edit), so they will have the same staff.

There's a chance that Gwiti

Spoiler:

will lose that staff by the time of his lichification, and will have to make a new one with hal-f/-ves of Morgorath's skull, which he keeps, so it's not the same staff in part 2 as in part 1.

And, I guess unless there's alternative path with Nati as a protagonist, how will he keep it up to his transformation if he's going to die at the beginning of the campaign when he's not a lich yet?

For level 2 I will draw just one portrait.
Actually it was Nati's staff which I gave to Gwiti.

So nati-deathmaster is actually for lvl1, correct?

Once I saw Nati in golden armor I immidiately came up with idea why on Gwiti it's just bone, so perhaps there's no need in changing the color.

What do you mean?

Perhaps I misread your plan to adjust the color as gold will become bone in final version, but then I reread that gold is added for differentiation, so there's no need to worry about it now. There'll be in-campaign explaination for why material changed on Gwiti.

[tsunami_]

I kept Nati without the staff because KameRamen said O.K. to that sketch mainly. Otherwise I would draw same or very similar staff (this makes life easier for me).

There's a chance that Gwiti
Spoiler:
will lose that staff by the time of his lichification, and will have to make a new one with hal-f/-ves of Morgorath's skull, which he keeps, so it's not the same staff in part 2 as in part 1.
And, I guess unless there's alternative path with Nati as a protagonist, how will he keep it up to his transformation if he's going to die at the beginning of the campaign when he's not a lich yet?

I have not read the rest of the story (or played other versions of the Dark Hordes) but I think Nati will come back as a lich or ghost. Or maybe not. In any case I will not start the lich portraits yet.

[tsunami_]

Here are the completed portraits! In one folder are the 400x400 images, in another are the original resolution. This is for future use, in case they need to be reduced to a different size, for example.
They are all under the licence CC BY-NC-SA (anyone can use and edit). Here is the link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.
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This was the first time I tried shading like this on a computer. It really took a lot of time. But it was also more similar than I expected to shading with pencils. I am happy that the skill transfers! I like gwiti-deathmaster the best.
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As for the rest of the portraits (demilich, dread lich, Tanar, staff edits for Gwiti), I will start them once the campaign is completed and I have played all the scenarios. @KameRamen, in the meantime, I suggest that you increase the size of the other portraits so that they are not midgets during dialogue.

[KameRamen]

I should have replied to you sooner, but it has been over a week. Now that I have more time, I am writing this in a hurry.

Here are the completed portraits! In one folder are the 400x400 images, in another are the original resolution. This is for future use, in case they need to be reduced to a different size, for example.

These portraits are truly amazing! Thank you for all your work. I especially love the portrait for Nati. Of course, the others are great too.

They are all under the licence CC BY-NC-SA (anyone can use and edit). Here is the link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

I will try to add some documentation regarding licensing. I will release a version with the portraits included as soon as possible first.

As for the rest of the portraits (demilich, dread lich, Tanar, staff edits for Gwiti), I will start them once the campaign is completed and I have played all the scenarios. @KameRamen, in the meantime, I suggest that you increase the size of the other portraits so that they are not midgets during dialogue.

All right. I will do my best to complete the campaign.

Finally, I would like to thank you again and in addition apologize for my slow reply. It was unfortunate that the timing coincided with my real life problems.

PS: I would appreciate a brief reply when you have time. Best regards.

[tsunami_]

These portraits are truly amazing! Thank you for all your work. I especially love the portrait for Nati. Of course, the others are great too.

Thank you!

I will do my best to complete the campaign.

Do you still think you will release version 1.0.0 at the end of the month, or will it take longer now? (It's not a problem. And if you don't know when, that is fine as well.)
Of course looking after your real life is much more important. You are feeling better I hope .

[KameRamen]

Do you still think you will release version 1.0.0 at the end of the month, or will it take longer now? (It's not a problem. And if you don't know when, that is fine as well.)

Perhaps a little later, August or September. If it were purely a matter of making all the scenarios playable, I would almost certainly be able to do it by the end of the month, but there is other work that needs to be done to improve the overall quality.

I was more optimistic before, but I think it will be a little late.

Of course looking after your real life is much more important. You are feeling better I hope .

Thank you. Fortunately, my daily life has been relatively calm for the past few days.

[KameRamen]

@

Yeah, I finished rewriting the prose earlier than expected and am currently working on the last three scenarios. Well, if all goes well, all the scenarios should be completed by the end of this month as originally planned, or in August.

EDIT: Now released <https://r.wesnoth.org/p699464>

[tsunami_]

@

The Dark Hordes 1.0 has been released! My plan is to start the portraits in a few weeks*. In the meantime, I made the staff variations for the rest of the levels: Demilich, Dread Lich and Grim Reaper. Grim Reaper may be used or maybe removed, but might as well have all of them.

I had the idea to make the no-skull staff bauble purple-ish for the post-cave level-ups. The idea is that Gwiti magically fused the staff and the skull, and when Morgorath breaks free it damages the staff.

damaged_staff.png (39.38 KiB) Viewed 1942 times

But if blue looks better I can easily change it back. I have those sprites as well.
Using this idea, the descriptions menu should use the half-skull portraits (once I draw them) to avoid spoilers. I made a note about it in the unit file, so no need to remember.

The zip file contains the initiate and deathmaster sprites as well for convenience.
I also changed the animation macro slightly and added "empty" variations to the initiate. (In case he is still level 1 at the end of scenario 3).

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* Update (28/08/25): I was planning to start drawing around now but KameRamen has not replied to my message yet. So I will wait for that and then it will be a little while after that when I post here again.

[KameRamen]

The Dark Hordes 1.0 has been released! My plan is to start the portraits in a few weeks. In the meantime, I made the staff variations for the rest of the levels: Demilich, Dread Lich and Grim Reaper. Grim Reaper may be used or maybe removed, but might as well have all of them.

I had the idea to make the no-skull staff bauble purple-ish for the post-cave level-ups. The idea is that Gwiti magically fused the staff and the skull, and when Morgorath breaks free it damages the staff.

But if blue looks better I can easily change it back. I have those sprites as well.
Using this idea, the descriptions menu should use the half-skull portraits (once I draw them) to avoid spoilers. I made a note about it in the unit file, so no need to remember.

The zip file contains the initiate and deathmaster sprites as well for convenience.
I also changed the animation macro slightly and added "empty" variations to the initiate. (In case he is still level 1 at the end of scenario 3).

Thank you for your excellent work! I have implemented everything into the campaign, including Grimreaper. I also like the idea of making the staff purple. I plan to release a version that includes these new sprites sometime soon.

EDIT: Released. I think I was able to implement the variations without any problems. I made some minor changes to the macro to set the sound appropriately.

[tsunami_]

The time has come to begin the portraits! I will write my current ideas. However, other people will also have good ideas and I would like to hear them (like how Roge had the idea for the staff earlier).

Gwiti
I will make Gwiti smiling for the Demilich portrait. This would be used mainly for the scenarios against the orcs, Alduin, Elvish ambush (when Gwiti is winning a lot).
The Dread Lich would have a more neutral or defensive attitude.
Something that would really help is if someone can tell me the intended appearance, or original inspiration, for the Ancient/Dread Lich hat.

Ancient-lich-hat.png (1.3 KiB) Viewed 1714 times

Staff/Skull
Morgorath uses Jevyan's sprite and portrait. He has notable horns. Should I add horns on the broken skull? I would reduce the size somewhat. Broken-off horn bases is also an option.
Since he wears a hood, I can decorate his skull with plenty of runes and symbols.
I will make half-skull and full-skull variants for all three portraits. That way it will not be constraining if KameRamen decides to change the story level-ups slightly.

Susanne
Susanne is a new character who has large amounts of dialogue, so naturally she should have a portrait. I am quite happy that her sprite has been recently improved during Wesnoth development. (The shadow mage appeared quite fat before).
Susanne is dressed very plainly for a level 2/3, so she will be simple to design. I am thinking she wears a poncho.

design sketch:

I will draw her next after Gwiti because of her importance.

Nati
Nati comes back as a ghost, except it is not really Nati or just some piece of him.
In any case he is a faceless nightgaunt so a whole new portrait does not really make sense.
But I could make an edit, such as drawing the purple markings onto one of the default ghost portraits.

basic idea:

Tanar
I quite like the attitude of the current portrait. I would probably draw something similar but less cartoon-like.
However, Tanar has been greatly reduced in importance. (He has about the same dialogue but Gwiti and Susanne have 10x more), so he has low priority.

Morgorath
I am not sure if there is a need for a unique Morgorath portrait. In any case he is lowest priority, since he has a matching sprite and portrait, and only appears in one scenario.


My current proposed order of drawing is this:
1. Gwiti Demilich
2. Gwiti Dread Lich
3. Staff edits x6
4. Susanne
5. (Maybe) Nati ghost edit
6. Tanar
7. (Maybe) Morgorath

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[tsunami_]

Here are some sketches for the Demilich. Which is better, less aggressive or more aggressive?

[tsunami_]

Here is a design sketch for the dread lich. This robe is not derived from the other ones and cape is red.
I do not have a strong idea for the pose yet. The hat is a mystery I will have to think about.

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[laerne]

I like your roughs. Waiting to see them refined !