$12256 / $11500
VCMI, the libre reimplementation of the HoMM3 engine has just released version 0.96 and is now pretty much usable and even comes with an Android port ;) It also has quite a few additional "better than original" features including great mod support.
What it lacks it a free/libre asset replacement pack to allow creating fully FOSS mods/games.
So far you need the original game files (can be bought for $10 at gog though).
Given all the great pixel-artist talent on this page, it would be cool if we would try to jointly come up with a small base asset pack to make VCMI a stand alone game. It doesn't have to be much for now, just enough for people to start making their own story mods for it afterwards.
A cool start for the icons would be this I think.
Contrary to the original game, an "all pixel style" (no pre-rendered stuff like in HoMM3) would be probably easier to do. We also have more of that already, although the LPC stuff is probably at a wrong scale (could be maybe used for the battles though).
What do you think?
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Started a collection: http://opengameart.org/content/libre-vcmi
(please request to be added as collaborator)
Edit: this older collection of mine is also relevant:
http://opengameart.org/content/music-and-soundfx-for-a-3d-action-rpg
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I'd like to help with this. I don't know how much spare time I'll have in the near future, but if you can point out what needs to be done, I'll see what I can do.
Ok cool, I don't have a lot of time for this either (nor am I skilled with pixel art), so it really needs to be a wide collaborative effort.
I added you as a collaborator to the collection. Feel free to add other stuff.
For now it seems we need to come up with good start of a tileset, preferrably in Dawnbringer's pallete to have it fit to your great golden GUI (not sure if that one will work with VCMI though, alternatively we can use Kenny's but it's not very pixelish) and the color converted icons by priorblue.
I think the biggest gap is in unit graphics. Maybe we can use the ones from Wesnoth, but those are more isometric. We could also run into issues with mixing GPL art (wesnoth) with cc-by-SA stuff from OGA, but I guess that is solvable somehow. Would it be possible to convert these to the dawnbringer pallete also?
Personally I also do not like the HoMM battles with the big sprite units, so maybe it is possible to use the same wesnoth units with the hex tiles from the original HoMM3 battle system (but alternative background tiles). It would be a bit of a hack though.
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Ok I would like to see a small raise of hands what people preferr as game art-style:
Option 1: "Wesnoth"
Try to use as much as possible of Wesnoth's art. Units should be fine both for overland and battles, but terrain tiles are a bit difficult to convert (hex Vs. quad).
Pro: nice looking set and much is done already; Con: game will look like Wesnoth, graphics are a bit dated by todays standards
Option 2: "OGA pixel"
Rely on OGA pixel graphics (see collection), but there is a big lack of unit graphics. LPC assets might be partially used, but not perfect in style and scale.
Pro: own style; Con: lots of new graphics have to be created, little art consistency.
Option 3: "OGA paintery"
Go for a modern 2d paintery/flash game style. There are a few graphics like this on OGA, see:
http://opengameart.org/content/2d-strategy-objects or http://opengameart.org/content/strategy-objects-vulcanic-fantasy-theme or http://opengameart.org/content/fantasy-ui-elements-by-ravenmore or http://opengameart.org/content/ui-pack-rpg-extension or http://opengameart.org/content/pink-knight-assets
Pro: modern look, can work with easy to modify vector graphics, Con: not that much available, less talent in OGA community
Option 4: "Pre rendered"
Using a mix of "Unknown Horizont" and "Flare" assets one could probably also create a nice looking game with (comparably) high resolution graphics. Would be also easier to convert assts to the different tile system as they can be re-rendered from the 3D files.
See example: http://opengameart.org/content/6-isometric-buildings
Pro: lots of art availble, high resolution Con: some don't like pre-rendered look, lesser amount of active 3D artists in OGA community
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After having had a look at what is available, I am kinda moving towards option 4 even though I am not a big fan of the pre-rendered look. Converting all those various 2D graphics into a conistant set and getting them to play along with the different tile format seems just too messy and a lot of work, while re-rendering the 3D assets in the needed format seems quite strait forward. It would also be a "graphical" update to HoMM3 as compared to a retro-downgrade the pixel version would most likely turn into (not necessarily bad, but somehow we have enough of that already).
Given the better reusability of the 3D stuff, it might also help the two source projects somewhat more if we create new assets.
Last but nost least... we could somehow make a story tie in with Flare... "Heroes of Flare" or so ;)
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Opinions?
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I agree that the biggest issue is with unit graphics.
I'd personally prefer the second option (OGA-made pixel).
Using Wesnoth assets would make for a very Wesnoth-like look, not very original.
I personally don't like painterly assets very much (but that's a matter of tastes, I guess), unless they are at reasonably high resolution, and I don't see many artists around here that have the skill to make high quality painterly assets (save for stuff made by Ravenmore and Eleazzar, though the latter hasn't been around for a while, we haven't got many of them).
Pre-rendered stuff could work as well, given the set of 3d pieces we already have. Still, as you said, there are not many 3D artists on OGA.
On a personal side, I like pixel art graphics more than the other options, but I guess that's just me. I get your point about the pixel 'downgrade' (you're quite right saying that we have a lot of that), but as I said I find pixel-art quite appealing.
On the practical side, pixel art could allow us to use some of the already existing DB32 pieces, recolor some non-DB32 assets and make some more when missing. We have a good deal of artists that can at least edit and recolor pixelart pieces.
One could use only the units from wesnoth and try to stick to the less often used ones ;) Can someone try how difficult it would be to convert them to a different pallete to change the look even further? I imagine that it might get quite complicated to do so with animations.
Another option would be to use the ultra clean stuff by Kenny (like these: http://opengameart.org/content/hexagon-tiles-buildings or http://opengameart.org/content/hexagon-tiles-93x) easy to edit as they are all .svg But also not a lot of unit graphics and that one really doesn't mix well with other styles. I really do like the idea to work with vector graphics as source though.
Edit: The Glitch SVG stuff might have some units, but it's not very fantasy theme like:
http://opengameart.org/content/glitch-inhabitants-and-cubimals-svg
http://opengameart.org/content/glitch-alpine-landscape-svg
VCMI does support transparent 32bit .pngs so the pre-render option should look quite ok. The creatures and playermodels from Flare are also not bad, but most lock badly when rendered with a slightly higher resolution than intended. We could look for other 3D models to render, but again all not so optimal.
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Well, I'm more skilled with vector art than pixel art, and I don't really have much spare time ATM, but I guess I could do some "commision" work for free, as I like helping out with projects on a whim for some reason. Well, as long as I don't have to use Dawnbringer's 16 color palette, I get that it's a good palette and all, but me and it just don't get along at all (probably because most of the colors I often use either have only one or no entries devoted to it, thus, they always look very 8-bit, but not a stylized, good looking 8-bit (like SMB3 or the Mega Man series), an amateur "8-bit" in which the term is used as an excuse for no shading whatsoever).
Here's a couple of (automatic) DB32 recolors of Wesnoth sprites. I used Photoshop, but I guess the process could be automated... It'd be easier if the animations were packed into spritesheets first.
They are quite close to the original, but with a lot less colors.
Regarding the vector stuff:
The CC-by licensed "Code Combat" units seem like they could fit well:
http://blog.codecombat.com/we-have-open-sourced-everything
Edit: @Buch: not too bad, but my concern is that you will get color jumps in the animations if you don't painstakenly convert it all by hand.
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Ok those Code Combat assets are a bit difficult to get, but via the editor you can create CC-by licensed sprite-sheets in all sorts of resolutions:
For example:
http://codecombat.com/editor/thang/soldier-m
See also: https://github.com/codecombat/codecombat/issues/94
I think these are rather great :)
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Well, meritocracy all all that... I have my VCMI with the original HoMM3 files set-up now and the next step is to lay the foundation of what is needed for a mod (through which one can hopefully replace assets one by one).
I think those vector-based graphics show the most promise, i.e. we have pretty much all that is needed and to create them is relatively easy. It is also a way to utilize a 2D engine in a way that looks modern.
I think the easiest first step is to take the interface graphics (the RPG set) from Kenny and try to replicate most of the graphics stuff of VCMI. Help is appreciated.
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Well, this project is very difficult
http://forum.freegamedev.net/viewforum.php?f=70
But maybe you can use Ancient Beast graphics (for monster)?
http://www.lgdb.org/game/ancient-beast
Here you have some screens
If you need help, write - but I'm not sure if I'll be able to help you
Fervi
Yes the ancient beast stuff looks nice, but would be a bit difficult to mix with other available art.
btw: here is a good tutorial for getting VCMI to run with the gog HoMM3 files:
http://www.tuxarena.com/2014/07/playing-heroes-iii-natively-in-linux-wit...
p.S.: gui setup is amazingly primitive, it is a full screen picture in the respective screen-resolution. I guess in the long-run it would make sense to replace that with something like CEGUI or librocket.
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