Canceled Mace's Deadly Case

[MadGear]

(off-topic: I've seen quite a few playthroughs of BDD: The Revenge appear on YouTube recently. One of the comments in one of those videos actually said the following: "This is what the original game should have looked and played like." I did not expect that. I don't think I could ever wish for a better compliment than that ;D)

Back on topic:
Here's a little test-video of the subway stage. Notice the flickering lights and the sounds they make.
Also notice the shaking and the sound when the train passes by. I actually went and found the sounds of the train and the lights on YouTube after searching for "train sound" and "flickering light sound" or something like that. I downloaded them, raised the volume of the sounds and then made them into .wav files.

These effects came out exactly how I wanted them to be, so now I will focus on putting the enemies in the stage. After I've done that, I will focus on stopping the train in the middle of the screen so that some enemies will walk out the train to fight you. Maybe a mid-boss will walk out the train at a later point in the level?

 

[MadGear]

I had accidentally put the video on "private", so you guys probably couldn't watch the video. I changed that, so now you should be able to watch it. Let me know what you think.

 

[O Ilusionista]

Hey man, can I share some feedback?
I do believe we should go straight to the point when giving feedback, so nothing personal, ok?

- There is an perspective error at Subway stage. Compare the angle of the red line (floor) with the angle of the green line (obstacle)

Either fix the skew in photoshop, or change the sprite of move it down a tad.

- This is more a personal opinion, but this stage is very recognizable. You should change some parts or at least change some colors. Plus, why the player cast shadow but the barrels not?

- There is a light error here. The floor is too bright for the time of the day. Since there is no visible light near the floor, it looks weird - the floor should be darker.
Plus, there is a shadow error (a common mistake) - See the direction (and darkness) of the shadow cast by your character compared with the shadow cast by the plants...
Compare with the Island stage and you will see what I am talking about.

- This stage graphics looks scaled up - you can noticed by the box at the background. Don't scale up the graphics, its better to edit them.

But there are two things which really bothers me a lot:

1- The mix of pixel sizes plus blurried sprites (water). Don't do this, as it looks horrible and ruins the game look

2- Where are the shadows at girl jacket gone (same for her belly)? If you compare the shading style of her jacket with her pants, it looks very different and pops ups a LOT.

In the good side, I liked the subway effect. Nice touch.

 

[MadGear]

Oh boy, that's a lot of feedback.
Alright, let's see if I can find an order to answer.

- There is an perspective error at Subway stage. Compare the angle of the red line (floor) with the angle of the green line (obstacle)

I would have never noticed that. Good eye. I can probably fix that without too much trouble.

- This is more a personal opinion, but this stage is very recognizable. You should change some parts or at least change some colors. Plus, why the player cast shadow but the barrels not?

Never noticed the barrels didn't have shadows. Again, good eye. I already gave the barrels shadows. I really like this stage as it fits perfectly for that part of the story I have in mind. I couldn't find another stage that kinda looked like a 'China Town' stage.

- There is a light error here. The floor is too bright for the time of the day. Since there is no visible light near the floor, it looks weird - the floor should be darker.
Plus, there is a shadow error (a common mistake) - See the direction (and darkness) of the shadow cast by your character compared with the shadow cast by the plants

Wow, a lot of details go over my head. You actually see the most tiny details (which is a good thing). How about I put in some lampposts? Most parks have lampposts, now that I think about it.

- This stage graphics looks scaled up - you can noticed by the box at the background. Don't scale up the graphics, its better to edit them.

Yeah, those boxes are from Streets of Rage 3 if I remember correctly. I already found another 'warehouse' level, so I will change that.

- The mix of pixel sizes plus blurried sprites (water). Don't do this, as it looks horrible and ruins the game look

Unfortunately, I can't find another jetski sprite that looks better than this one. I've searched other mods and the Internet and I couldn't find anything that looks better. I'm not really sure what is wrong with the water. In game, it scrolls by really fast, so you probably won't even notice that it's blurried. Do you have any suggestions for a better 'water' sprite?

- Where are the shadows at girl jacket gone (same for her belly)? If you compare the shading style of her jacket with her pants, it looks very different and pops ups a LOT.

The pants were already detailed like that because the original character (Vanessa from The King of Fighters) has them. I only had to re-colour them. The jacket, on the other hand, I had to manually create and animate. I'm not good at spriting so I can't promise that I can fix that. BUT, if you could show me an example (could you take that jacket sprite and edit it for me and than show me?), then I probably know what to do and then I can edit all other sprites...I hope.

In the good side, I liked the subway effect. Nice touch.

Well, at least I'm glad you liked the subway effect I'll see what I can do about the other stuff.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[O Ilusionista]

You are welcome. To have "smart eyes" is part of my job in real life (I am an Art Director)

Unfortunately, I can't find another jetski sprite that looks better than this one. I've searched other mods and the Internet and I couldn't find anything that looks better.

Post here only the jet sky sprite, please. Let me try to help you.

 

[MadGear]

You are welcome. To have "smart eyes" is part of my job in real life (I am an Art Director)

Unfortunately, I can't find another jetski sprite that looks better than this one. I've searched other mods and the Internet and I couldn't find anything that looks better.

Post here only the jet sky sprite, please. Let me try to help you.

You are an Art Director. Well, that explains it

Here you go

And if you wouldn't mind...

Could you please show me how the jacket would look better?

As for the water sprite: I suppose I could take a look inside other mods and see if I can find a better 'water' sprite.

I'm off to bed. It's midnight here in the Netherlands so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Feel free to say anything if you want. I'll just read it tomorrow, then. Good night

 

[MadGear]

So O Ilusionista,

What are you planning to do with the jetski sprite? Make it look better and less pixelated? Change colour? I'm curious ;D

 

[MadGear]

I added some lampposts in the 'park' stage. Is this better? I also changed the shadow direction.

And here is that other 'warehouse' stage. This 'warehouse' stage is not a finished product. I intend to fill it up with barrels/boxes and stuff.

 

[O Ilusionista]

No, I think the floor should be darker, like this:

I will try to edit your sprite once I have time.

 

[MadGear]

No, I think the floor should be darker, like this:

I don't suppose I could copy this picture and insert the floor in the actual image? Would save me a lot of time to be honest. I always ask permission fist

I will try to edit your sprite once I have time.

Thank you.

 

[maxman]

I don't suppose I could copy this picture and insert the floor in the actual image? Would save me a lot of time to be honest.

You don't have to exactly copy that picture and pick colors for the dark floor. It's just that you need to make contrast on lighting/shading with day and night like in real life. You can change the colors in contrast in Photoshop to darken the floor. It doesn't have to be exactly like that image but you'd give in a darker color a taste for night times. Otherwise, you can make a shadow or dark entity for the whole screen or level by putting a simple black color in one blank image. You can set the transparency with alpha 6 in the character header. Same with using a simple white color for light.

[attachment deleted by admin]

 

[Bloodbane]

Here's a little test-video of the subway stage. Notice the flickering lights and the sounds they make.
Also notice the shaking and the sound when the train passes by.

Nice!

After I've done that, I will focus on stopping the train in the middle of the screen so that some enemies will walk out the train to fight you. Maybe a mid-boss will walk out the train at a later point in the level?

Hmmm.... you might need to calculate the stopping point properly to prevent the train from stopping at wrong spot. i.e at spot where train's doors are blocked by pillars. Or just remove the pillars

 

[MadGear]

All good advices and suggestions. I will continue work on the mod. I'll let you know once I've made some progress.

 

[MadGear]

How about this? I, personally, think this looks better indeed. Thanks for suggesting and actually showing me it, O Ilusionista. The darker colour of the floor goes well with the night setting. Any other ideas/suggestions?

 

[MadGear]

Here's a little test-video of the subway stage. Notice the flickering lights and the sounds they make.
Also notice the shaking and the sound when the train passes by.

Nice!

Thanks! Glad you like the effects

Hmmm.... you might need to calculate the stopping point properly to prevent the train from stopping at wrong spot. i.e at spot where train's doors are blocked by pillars. Or just remove the pillars

I actually have an idea how to make the train stop. Maybe have a second 'train.txt', and then edit the train sprites frame by frame and let it stop in the middle of the sprite image. Not really sure how to explain it so, hopefully, you'll understand what I'm saying The pillars won't be a problem...I hope.

 

[O Ilusionista]

How about this? I, personally, think this looks better indeed. Thanks for suggesting and actually showing me it, O Ilusionista. The darker colour of the floor goes well with the night setting. Any other ideas/suggestions?

Yes, way better

 

[MadGear]

Yes, way better

Thank you! ;D I also had another idea about those lampposts: I've seen in some other mods that you can actually SHOW the light coming from lamps/lampposts.

I'm talking about this:

This is a sprite from Mr.Q's Return of the Double Dragon mod. In-game, that darker colour actually lights up, giving the effect as if the lamp actually lightens the floor. You think it would look nice if I created that same effect for those lampposts that I have in the park stage?

 

[O Ilusionista]

Yes, it adds a little extra detail to the mod

 

[MadGear]

Hey guys, I've got a question.

I have an 'mp' bar located under my health bar. But the mp bar is not required during a vehicle stage. So I made a new icon for the 'weapon'. It is the exact same icon for the health bar but without the mp bar, and yet, the blue bar still shows up during a vehicle stage. Let me show you below:

This the normal icon. It has the health bar + mp bar that you'll see during most stages.

And this is the 'weapon' icon. Notice that the mp bar is missing from the image.

But whenever I test the vehicle stage, it shows the health bar just fine and without the mp bar, but I can still see the blue bar that would be inside the mp bar during normal stages.

Now my question is: How do I get rid of that blue bar during that stage?

 

[O Ilusionista]

mp {int}

~{int} is an integer, a number from -2147483647 to 2147483647.
~This is the total amount of MP this entity begins with.
~MP is drained by attacks set to drain MP. It can be recovered in several ways.
~You can use decimal numbers, but it will always round down, so there's no real point.
~If the number is greater than the width of the life bar, the meter will "double up" the display. Since the MP bar is already pretty thin, this can make it hard to tell how much MP you have remaining sometimes.
~Not required. If a player doesn't have it, they won't have an MP bar displayed.