Sci-fi setting: the solar system will end soon (sun will "turn off", just make up some strange phenomena). There are only a handful of escape ships on Earth capable of interstellar travel. Do what you can to get on board. Also, there's no widespread colonization of space, humanity faces a bleak existance as interstellar nomads, but it's better than death?
You are a soldier of an invading army (swordsman, archer, engineer, emissary, anything). The expedition is defeated and you're stranded far away in an enemy land. Will you get back home in one piece, oh Odysseus?
You are an ex soldier. The battles are long over and dogs of war such as yourself are no longer needed. You're without money and got lost in the deep woods. The Hoofed One appears and offers to help you, but in return you must help him collect the souls of sinners. See if you can keep the pace with the wild hunt and learn just how rotten the world is.
Btw, as I was told at my English studies, plot is a causal sequence of events (what caused what) while story is a chronological sequence of events.
Depends on what kind of a retro look you're after. For me the 90s, early 2000s sprites are what I'd call classic and you can achieve some really cool stuff with pre-rendered 3d (the kind you've decided to follow).
I agree it's better for you to go into 3d than pixel art. Both require a certain degree of skill, but with 3d a lot is done for you. You simply set the material properties, camera position, light position and the sprite comes out. And imo it's a lot more forgiving to sloppy work than sprites (don't let that give you an excuse to not go for quality though ;) )
Blender is a good choice I'd say. Especially with the 2.5 series where the interface is much more friendly to newcomers. In addition, it's free, light-weight, multi-platform and is constantly improving.
If someone wants to learn more about rigging (not just the "dumb" follow-me tutorials, but also the explanation behind it) you can take a look at the Mancandy FAQ DVD by the Blender foundation. It's all about rigging and also a bit about animating. http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=99
Having said that, you don't have to buy the DVD, as it's released under some form of CC, so you can legally torrent it or similar. If you do buy the DVD, the earnings go to support future Blender cause. All I can say is a proper rig can make animating things so much easier, I really recommend going through the videos (especially since they are also released under CC).
For the more specific things:
FK = Forward kinematics. Here the control goes from the highest bone in the hierarchy to the lowest bone. You rotate the tigh bone, calf bone follows, foot bone follow, toe bones follow. You rotate the calf bone, foot bone follow, toe bone follow, but the tight bone is unaffected. It's like posing these lego technic figures http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/8712-1.jpg
IK = Inverse kinematics. Here the whole chain of bones is controled by the end (target) bone. For example, you position the foot bone and the whole chain of bones in the leg will automaticly adjust to follow the target bone as best at it can. Instead of manually rotating each bone in the leg, you simply position the foot. And by controlling the foot bone, it stays firmly on the ground right where you want it.
Both methods have their uses. IK allows you to control limbs with very few control bones, while FK is superior when it comes to arcs (like swinging arms in a walkcycle).
In addition to adding some orange, another thing to really bring the design to life is a proper logo where it says "OpenGameArt.org" or perhaps a more interesting version of the current text.
Already mentioned, but I agree the button font doesn't fit well.
Also, the bar with the links could be its own colour, not transparent as it is now (for the background to show through). This way it will appear as a stronger element (not subordinate to the background)
The text in the side bar should be equally alligned. Right now the text under "recent forum activity" is too much towards the right.
Blue and white are nice colour and the mockup doesn't look bad. But perhaps it could be enhanced by adding one additional colour to bring some more life to the design. Something strong (like orange) but in limited places, so it doesn't throw the colour scheme off balance. I made some mockup modification where I threw around different ideas. Perhaps they can be of some use.
Congratulations on the release! It looks really cool and is shaping up into a true game.
Cool stuff :)
Sci-fi setting: the solar system will end soon (sun will "turn off", just make up some strange phenomena). There are only a handful of escape ships on Earth capable of interstellar travel. Do what you can to get on board. Also, there's no widespread colonization of space, humanity faces a bleak existance as interstellar nomads, but it's better than death?
You are a soldier of an invading army (swordsman, archer, engineer, emissary, anything). The expedition is defeated and you're stranded far away in an enemy land. Will you get back home in one piece, oh Odysseus?
You are an ex soldier. The battles are long over and dogs of war such as yourself are no longer needed. You're without money and got lost in the deep woods. The Hoofed One appears and offers to help you, but in return you must help him collect the souls of sinners. See if you can keep the pace with the wild hunt and learn just how rotten the world is.
Btw, as I was told at my English studies, plot is a causal sequence of events (what caused what) while story is a chronological sequence of events.
Depends on what kind of a retro look you're after. For me the 90s, early 2000s sprites are what I'd call classic and you can achieve some really cool stuff with pre-rendered 3d (the kind you've decided to follow).
http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/2002/pc/featurepreviews/rob...
http://www.disciples2.com/d2/images/screenshots/large/ScreenShot044.jpg
http://www.cheats.ru/uploaded/d/diablo2/diablo2-01145.jpg
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/Screenshots/iwd2_021.jpg
I agree it's better for you to go into 3d than pixel art. Both require a certain degree of skill, but with 3d a lot is done for you. You simply set the material properties, camera position, light position and the sprite comes out. And imo it's a lot more forgiving to sloppy work than sprites (don't let that give you an excuse to not go for quality though ;) )
Blender is a good choice I'd say. Especially with the 2.5 series where the interface is much more friendly to newcomers. In addition, it's free, light-weight, multi-platform and is constantly improving.
Seeing you're completely new to 3d modelling and Blender, I'd recommend starting here http://www.blendercookie.com/
For more general 3d concepts and fundamentals, you can also check http://guerrillacg.org/home
Now all you need is time and perseverance, good luck :)
If someone wants to learn more about rigging (not just the "dumb" follow-me tutorials, but also the explanation behind it) you can take a look at the Mancandy FAQ DVD by the Blender foundation. It's all about rigging and also a bit about animating. http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info.php?products_id=99
Having said that, you don't have to buy the DVD, as it's released under some form of CC, so you can legally torrent it or similar. If you do buy the DVD, the earnings go to support future Blender cause. All I can say is a proper rig can make animating things so much easier, I really recommend going through the videos (especially since they are also released under CC).
For the more specific things:
FK = Forward kinematics. Here the control goes from the highest bone in the hierarchy to the lowest bone. You rotate the tigh bone, calf bone follows, foot bone follow, toe bones follow. You rotate the calf bone, foot bone follow, toe bone follow, but the tight bone is unaffected. It's like posing these lego technic figures http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/8712-1.jpg
IK = Inverse kinematics. Here the whole chain of bones is controled by the end (target) bone. For example, you position the foot bone and the whole chain of bones in the leg will automaticly adjust to follow the target bone as best at it can. Instead of manually rotating each bone in the leg, you simply position the foot. And by controlling the foot bone, it stays firmly on the ground right where you want it.
Both methods have their uses. IK allows you to control limbs with very few control bones, while FK is superior when it comes to arcs (like swinging arms in a walkcycle).
Regards,
Lamoot
If you have a higher version of a medal, it will supersede the lower versions in the medals block on the main page.
Very good :)
Cool :)
In addition to adding some orange, another thing to really bring the design to life is a proper logo where it says "OpenGameArt.org" or perhaps a more interesting version of the current text.
Already mentioned, but I agree the button font doesn't fit well.
Also, the bar with the links could be its own colour, not transparent as it is now (for the background to show through). This way it will appear as a stronger element (not subordinate to the background)
The text in the side bar should be equally alligned. Right now the text under "recent forum activity" is too much towards the right.
Blue and white are nice colour and the mockup doesn't look bad. But perhaps it could be enhanced by adding one additional colour to bring some more life to the design. Something strong (like orange) but in limited places, so it doesn't throw the colour scheme off balance. I made some mockup modification where I threw around different ideas. Perhaps they can be of some use.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1482587/OGA/mockup_green.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1482587/OGA/mockup_orange.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1482587/OGA/mockup_orange_tango.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1482587/OGA/mockup_yellow.png
Regards,
Lamoot
For 3d, the limits would be triangle budget and texture size.
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