You know, you could draw it and Steve will put it into the roadmap;)

It would have to be inhuman in strenght. Maybe color it green for a hulk reference?
It should be qite slow though IMO - imagine yourself having a huge ball tied on your leg.

Or maybe, when he swings the ball and chain, he could throw it and somehow magically the chain extends, you know, to include a suprise/humor element.

Hello i dont know how to make this drawing please help me out!

Drawing is easy:

Open paint. If you don't know how, assuming you use windows, press win(the key with the windows icon)-r and enter paint into the text box. Then just draw.

I suggest you to download a free program called GIMP though - you can google it.

As for putting images to the site, you already know how to put links into the tags. You could upload the images on a website like imageshack or similar.

And voila. There is a tutorial on the downloads page on how to make images better-looking, if you think your pictures are bad.

Anyway, you make alot of suggestions, which is good. You should get around to learn making drawings - even if they were not perfect, someone might pick the image up and give it a lift. Also, even a rough draft will give a good idea on how you want the thing to look like - otherwise it might turn to something else than you imagined.

If you really don't believe in your skills, you could try to get some of your suggestions more detailed and thoughtful, and they probably could be noticed by someone who does these kinds of things - drawing and animating.

You may ask from me - why don't I do the images to your suggestions even though I seem to have all this time to comment on the site?
Well, that is a difficult question, but I have some suggestions myself - I'd rather animate them first, you know. Overall, I just like commenting on the site and supporting the project in other ways than doing images.

I would make anims if I wasn't busy renaming them on a consistent basis... So many anm_ObjectName_animType_speed_frame's I should really download the fileRename...

This suggestion would go rather well with having a human city kind of place, or in another village... They spawn from a prison!

A million million million million million million thanks to u but can u contact sketch to help me out a little because ive seen and heard that he is good at drawing

Admin: I have no means of contacting Sketch, but hopefully he will see this comment=)

Wow. Spawning from a prison. Wow. Cool=D

Im planning on make a drawing for this one but how do u make the monster look like its a sprite because mine looks like paint

I'm not sure if sketch has easy internet access, to be honest.

Im asking how top put it on the suggestion so that people can see it while there eading like how sketch and other people do it.I dont want to put onto a site because i try copy and pasting but it doesn't workbecause wont allow you to paste

By the way megaman4ever can u check my other suggestions I want u to look at them because i think they are cool

After making a suggestion, you cannot modify it.

It won't work if you are trying to copy and paste the image itself - you have to put it up on the internet and copy the address, since the text area you are writing a suggestion or comment to only accepts text(hence the name).

As for seeing your suggestions, I believe I have seen most if not all of them. I don't often feel obliged to leave an unhelpful comment though, which is why I haven't commented to all of them(and so notified you that I've seen them). Besides, I don't know if you've checked all my suggestions either. Not that I really need you to, but just thought to add that for comparison.

You will have to upload your pic somewhere, then use the html tag <img src=" with the close quote, then > to show the picture, for an example, look in the allowed html when your making a comment.

Also, if you're spriting, you're gonna want to be really zoomed. Somewhere in the realms of 800x

Thank u i Will be checking ur suggestions alot and thank u for using prisonbrekers in ur comment about cowboys

I get the feeling that I seriously screwed things up here with that comment...

Yeah it took a bit of sorting out but it probably wasn't you're fault. Even if you used the & lt ; (without the spaces) the stoopid browser converts it to real html before submitting so when I approved the comment, I effectively converted it to real html hence the mess.

Ergo, my fault not yours.

Screwed what?

I don't notice anything, oh well.

So steve r u accepting my idea

You didn't notice anything because I fixed it. It's not a case of me accepting your idea it's a case of someone actually doing it.

ok sorry

here is MY IDEA for the picture
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/8132/prisonbreakernew.png

The ball looks sort of 3D-ish(it goes in the direction of the Z axis in the other XYZ coordinate(where Z doesn't go up)), or it hovers in the air.

Atleast I got that impression.

Anyway, it's quite big, which isn't really a bad thing in this case(you need to be muscular still to swing that thing). I wouldn't mind seeing that in the game myself. Well, aesthetically seeing, at least. I don't mind the suggestion either though, don't get the wrong impression=O

Everything's good by me as long as I get to fiddle with it in MRopen eventually.

What if when he threw it, it dragged him through the air with it?

^I like how Hobbes is thinking. :)

I like how everyone thinks except for idiots like my brother:)

Oohoo! It is time to pump up this bad boy!

Yes, make a new sprite.

I think it's a nice idea, and was wondering when you'd get to work with this one.

Make sure to roadmap it if you do;)

Roadmapped. Thanks megaman4ever.

Well I am supposed to do this, so I did it.


This is version 1 and I don't really like it too much. For the next version I'll make the face look better and make the ball bigger, I feel like it is too small for what I was imagining.

But first, I need your thoughts. GIMME YOUR EARS!

I recall making an image of my own. Oh well.

First off, it's Egyptish style - not good. As in, the torso is towards the watcher unlike the legs. Make the other hand on the background and bring the other to the side (as in, the middle, if he guy is facing sideways).

Just remember that he's facing left or right and not the screen itself, and fix the arms/legs based on that. The leg on the right should be on front, the right hand barely if at all visible in standing image and the left hand maybe a little bent, but not streched in the back like that. (see, the head gives off that the guy if facing left, so right is backwards)

My version:

Neither of those directions are great.

The one you want is between 30 and 45 degrees towards the screen. That way, you can see details about the object, but its still believable that it's moving sideways.

Hmm, ok then. I'll try to make it 45 degrees when I remake it. I totally forgot about the body angle.

Yeah, but it was surprisingly hard due to the black border. I can't handle that at all (plus, used paint, no snazzy shading tools)

Well, I tried making look like the enemy was at a 45 degree angle stance by changing the position of his arms. Hopefully this is better.

His face kinda creeps me out.

But I like him. He's cute!

Yeah, I might try to make his face look better. The face and feet are always a problem in my graphics.

I like it

Thanks Steve. Nice to see you online.

I think the hands are sort of wiggly or misplaced, though. :D

Other than that 5/5.

They are sort of misplaced. The right hand doesn't fit well with the position of the arm. I'll try and fix it soon.

I changed his look a little but I tried to retain the 45 degree position. I also made the ball a little bigger.


And guess what? I decided to make the walk as well. This is probably one of the first walks I've made with the arms moving. I have also added little dirt particles next to the ball to give the effect that it is being dragged against the ground. Though, I have to change his right arm, it looks like it is punching.


And...I have the spawn. There is some airbrush work in there too if you don't notice.


:O. I've got the grave for the prisonbreaker as well!!!!!1111

I might also make changes to the spawn. The window just doesn't fit in to me.

..The arms are moving, and they are moving way too much. It looks like he's punching the air. Do you wave your hands like that when you walk? Do you think a prisoner would? The right arm needs a complete fix, I can't really give much hints on that. just, more subtle, and don't be afraid on making the body overlap it more. The left arm.. ..seems twitchy. In the way that it is moved in only a single frame. You should have it in both positions for an equal amount of walk frames, since movement of arms is often synchronized to legs. It would look much smoother, I think.

It.. ..also looks kinda reversed. The legs look like they are moving backwards, to me. You may need one additional anim frame to make it smoother, or you could try to put the right arm lower and then reverse the animation cycle completely..?

The spawn is looking nice, if anything, the shading could be less pillowed. The light is coming from either upper corner, not the front, generally. In addition to shifting all the shadows (I think the darkest ones should be in lower left, then getting gradually lighter, diagonally), you need to pay attencion to which areas are lighter than the prison material, due to high amount of light. Namely, if the light is to come from the top right corner, the prison should be a bit brighter in those areas.

Grave is fine. A lack of commentary on its part is a good thing, as I'm often giving a lot of criticism.

The stand.. ..is alright, his eye could be shifted one pixel to the right (absolute) so it looks more like he's looking diagonally right from the player (from prisoner's perspective), instead of directly left. If it were looking directly left (like now), it would collide with his arms being like that. The ball's chain looks a bit like it's tied to his belly instead of, I don't know, foot? Same with attack anim. But it looks good this way, so I don't know if you should bother changing it.

The dirt on the ball is cool, but barely noticeable against most backgrounds. But it's cool. Regardless, I must point out that it doesn't rise that high while moving - remove or shift the single dirt particle which is highest and close to the ball. (this might make more sense if the anim order is reversed, it's hard for me to picture it that detailedly - if you do that, the dirt may look better)


Please note that even though I have a lot to say otherwise, the graphics look very nice. Definitely better than the old ones, in many ways. The important thing is that you bothered to try something and do your best - many of us don't :p To improve, you could look at existing gfx in MR. And not just look at them, pay attencion to details and think almost pixel by pixel, why is it there and the chosen colour. Or if pixel by pixel inspection and thinking is too much, pay attencion on the ways surfaces are coloured and things like how arms and legs and heads are drawn, animated, shaded, how are they attached to the body base, how wide or narrow are they, how is outlining done, what do the body proportions look with different creature alliances.

The fan game kit on the download page is the best place to start; since almost if not all gfx are by Steve, the style and flow of animation is very good. The other good graphician is Sketch, obviously. Note is very decent as well. But in addition to copying how things are made well (and how to make gfx which will fit in with the already existing ones in the game), it's important to make your own style too. Unfortunately, sizes like 16x16 or 24x12 don't give much room for style. But there's still some distinct differences I see when I look at gfx made by different people in the game.

Thanks for extensive feedback, it really helps me improve my future graphics.
I am not too sure how I'd fix the 'walking backwards' situation. I will fiddle around with all the frames and see what I can do. The right arm definitely needs a fix and I guess I could work on the left arm a bit.

I will definitely try to get my hands on all the MR gfx. Will read tonight hopefully.

Atten.. Attension? Nope. Attencion isn't right either, right? Atten.. Attention! Right!

..There are just some words in English which are really hard for me to remember for some reason. Probably because their pronounciation differs from the writing so much in relation to how Finnish is pronounced. The other hard one is probably. I used to write it propably all the time, but it just felt wrong every time :D

Oh well.

Has anyone heard of the indie game Driftmoon? It's quite a different adventure-RPG, and really great and so creative. Kind of genre-breaking, and gives a similar feeling which I got when I played MR2 years back. "This is something good, I just feel it. And the gameplay is interesting, challenging and unusual - but still very solid and working."

The game looks interesting and the fact that it's Indie, really makes me want to get the game. May buy it eventually.

I love adventure/RPG games.

You can always play the free demo - it has quite an intriguing start, and around two hours of play time too.

The thing is, the demo cleverly ends in a cliffhanger. If you buy the game, you can play the alphas, released every week or so. But yeah.

Just a thought for the movement could you have it where the leg that doesn't have the chain ball attached to it move quicker then the leg where the chain ball is attatched so it looks like he is dragging the ball with one leg and attempting to dash with the other.

I've changed it from the traditional 'ball to leg' to 'ball to arm'.

@megaman, I guess I'll check out the demo.

@megaman4ever: the extent of my graphics drawing tends to be modifying other graphics.

Modifying or not, the graphics always come out awesome! I'm always impressed when I see a graphic by you. An inspiration for alot of us including me.

good work!

Thanks Steve. Always good to hear from you. :)

Wanted to experiment with a new animation tool I discovered so did this.



If anyone wants to improve it the .ase file is here

http://themetalbox.com/steve/gfx/characters/pb_walk.ase

The anim tool is called ASEPRITE - it's pretty much perfect for our needs :)

http://www.aseprite.org/download/

Downloaded. It really looks like GIMP except stripped down to the fundamentals. It also puts more emphasis on the animations which is nice. I'll probably use this in the next animation I make.

As for your animation, it seems a little too fast. The legs move in a weird fashion for me. I just woke up, so I am not too sure.

Whoa! A wild steve-nemation!

It's the first anim tool I've used on the PC which is actually better than deluxe paint on the Amiga. From me, that's high praise!

Yeah, I had several goes at the feet. This the best of a bad bunch. If I get time today, I may have another go.

That sounds promising - if it's better than GameMaker for making gifs, it's a must-get for me!

That said, I'll have a look when I get back to my desktop in around a week.

Well, I didn't get time!

Time doesn't come up very frequently!

Free time doesn't come very frequently. :/

Omg im finally back from China :l

Whooo!

you went to china???? when O_O

not a bad idea

China! Sounds exotic!

Fixed up the prisoner spawn. Took out the window and improved the shading.

Nice!

I wonder how prisoners get spawned from the jail.. ..Do they jailbreak their way out of the system?

I was wondering about the attack - would it be more of a curve or a 360 degree swing, or would he kinda throw it forwards and then pull it back, 2D Zelda Darknut style?

Hmmm, good point regarding the spawn. I think I'll bend the bars a bit to make it look like the prisoner broke through.

I haven't thought much about the attack but perhaps it could be an overhead smash against the ground. He would then slowly drag it back.

I would like it if during a spawning (when they spawn from the spawn) they could make a little hole in the jail before escaping from it.

I think that it would be better if it was static, although I don't think that that's impossible.. The mouth spawn for the whatever-they-were-cave-dwellers has an animation upon spawning, if I remember correctly.

Correct - you can animate spawns if you wish.

Figured I'd animate the spawn, here it is.



I am not sure if it's too fast or too slow so comments on that would be great.

Thing is, I think it would be good if their spawn was not animated, rather just be a still of the prison with the bars bent. Since we're bending bars at all, it seems to point towards making this a somewhat logical spawn.

What I think is that once the bars are bent, why don't all of them just break at once? If that happened (kinda like the invisible spawners), the spawn would be more of a "time bomb", rather than like the other spawns which more or less spout out creatures at semi-random intervals. It also makes no sense for the bars to be un-bent after one of them escapes, so I'd personally opt for a still image with either the bars bent or not.

As for just using the last image of that animation and be done with it - in my opinion the balance would be better if there were two bars on both sides, or even a total of five. I get that feeling since in the last frame of the animation, just the middle bar moves, and that makes it look kind of out-of-place (since it moved so much during the whole anim). With four bars, there wouldn't be a bar in the very middle, which would mean that none of them would be bent so much.

The shading and the furthermost bars on each side look good to me, though! I'm not sure how it works on a different background than white, but the color scheme is kinda like a darker goblin building, so it can't be bad. If it doesn't look good enough on the green of the grass tiles, you could try lightening the overall colour up just a little bit (except for the outline), or make the outlining only one-pixel wide (it looks kind of thick, which is not necessarily bad, though).

So in short - if the bars are going to be bent, animated or not - it would benefit the overall image greatly if there were four bars instead of three. This is to avoid having a middle bar, which makes the balance of the image weird.

I was actually going to use four bars instead of three to make it look better but I didn't really want to change anything. I think I'll try to do one bent with 4 bars and another still with 4 bars and we'll choose which one is best.