Old discussion and screenshots thread

[Holy_Diver]

The texture mapping for the Som assets is actually quite good. It's pretty difficult to create a texture which maps proportionally in all places. The only technical way to do it in most cases is to start with an texture that is at least 4 times more detailed than what you'll end up with and run that thru some fairly sophisticated algorithm to work out a proportional skinning.

However I have to fault almost all of the Som assets for being about a texel off everywhere mapping wise. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the artist's faults however, as much as a disconnect between the artists and programmers and a budget which apparently included no room for game testers or quality patches

The quality of the monsters especially are top-notch as games go. They have a very endearing quality, like Castlevania monsters, which for me anyway, always makes me happy to see them again and again like old friends. My favorite games have always been games like Castlevania that just consistently produce the same experience with minor variations over and over. I'm always a little sad when From' scraps a line of Armored Core assets in favor of new ones from scratch, while the general consensus seems to be From' committed a crime against humanity when it released like ~7 PS2 games in a row with the exact same assets. Megaten is pretty much the same way, always recycling from the previous game while adding just a little more. Atlus (Megaten) produced some of the most highly regarded PS2 games but there's yet to be a peep about any current gen game coming out of Atlus (Japan) presumably because of the pressure to start over from scratch.

[Verdite]

Interesting.

Crops:

[dmpdesign]

nice as usual ben, i really love those walls.

holy, i plan on making an indie game similar to castlevania: SOTN sometime next year hopefully ;)

[Verdite]

Had internet issues. Back!

Heres a traditional sword i made. Its in its baldric on the inventory screen, but unsheathed in combat.

Its a historical Spatha sword from 500 a.d or around that time...

I made another but i thought you'd like to see this one, as its the sword you start with in the demo!

[Holy_Diver]

That's kinda cool having a sheath in the item menu. Good thing the swing weapon is separate I guess (having complained about that earlier)

Is the swing animation in the screenshot same as in the item menu? Or do you intend to have the blade hidden in the menu? Because it would be cooler if you can see everything I think... eg. with the sheath/sword in two pieces.

You can setup an event so the item you pickup is also different; eg. fully sheathed. Just need to have an event that waits for the pickup version to appear in the inventory, then have the event replace that item with the actual weapon.

BTW: I realize Ex needs to totally rethink the font layout. It's not a problem. But I've kinda put that off. Will probably fix it sometime between the Trismegistus and DoM (cum Ex) releases. It only really effects widescreen afaik. Som is pretty stupid. It bases the height of the letters on the width of the screen

PS: It looks like your game is not finding the right font. Usually MS Mincho. The system default (could not find your font) font is really ugly.

PPS: Is it just me, or is the sword icon on every single menu item (acne aside) just really tacky?

PPPS: Good to have you back. Was starting to wonder myself

[Verdite]

Ah, i dont give up easily and good to know i was missed! I spent a good while last night compiling different vareities of ores into the game, they'l mostly just be for sale value in the demo.

Theres going to be a good amount of going back and forth, if you want the items and exploration.

You can setup an event so the item you pickup is also different; eg. fully sheathed. Just need to have an event that waits for the pickup version to appear in the inventory, then have the event replace that item with the actual weapon.

Thats a good idea actually. I'll test it later. Anyone else think there should be a sheath beside the blade in the inventory screen?
And yup, the sword you can see (about to connect with the skeleton) is the swing model. 
Actually that addressed one of my queries i had a few nights ago. I spent a while making a sword blade, and to not have it in the inventory screen would be a waste.

[Verdite]

Just like to ask you guys... How would you feel if i added the SoM grass (that came with the install) to my game? I know it'd look alot better if i made my own and i could, but i want to get the demo up and ready for dl as soon as possible, and it'd save me some time.

[Holy_Diver]

Well if I'm not mistaken it looks like the sheath or whatever is visible in your screen shot. I assumed that's not supposed to be there / just got attached because you haven't yet taken it out of the swing model.

One plus to using a pickup item is you can place it more naturally into the scene. Though when you pick it up it will use the Take this item? screen. With some cleverness you could use an object, and hide the item under the floor or something... then have the event hide the object once the item is taken. The only drawback there is the object is still visible behind the pickup screen (assuming you're not going with the PICTURE menu background)

Just like to ask you guys... How would you feel if i added the SoM grass (that came with the install) to my game? I know it'd look alot better if i made my own and i could, but i want to get the demo up and ready for dl as soon as possible, and it'd save me some time.

Well we're supposed to all be sharing stuff. So I'm not sure what the problem is. Though FYI I'm pretty sure there is no grass on the original Som disc. So most probably any grass models are author generated. Anyway, the only grass model I can wholly recommend is the one called 7+ I think. The rest are all garbage / not worth the performance hit (no offense to their creators)

[Verdite]

Sorry it seems theres been a misunderstanding 

I've probably not explained properly. The sword doesnt have a sheath attached to the swing model, the sheathed sword is only in the inventory screen. So the sheath you can see is in the inventory window and behind that is the swing model.

[Verdite]

Heres a mace. Its one of my designs, so its not historical. I'd call it a ridged mace. Its short but can smash pretty nicely.

Edit: I'm going to be making a type of ogre's club as a two hander. If you'd like to see it let me know or i'll just put it in the demo.