Walking the internet, I stumbled upon some curious anon posts over 4chan concerning the conceptual sprites used on this project's planning phase. While the anons expressed a dislike over Julius Belmont's design (which I can understand, this happened before and I don't care), I've been accused of "sprite editing." Let me squash this right now and prove objectively that anon doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about:
Here is the page, saved on an archive (which is why I was even able to find it at all). I'll be taking prints from it:
http://4archive.org/board/v/thread/340124469#p340131642First print:
So, smartass anon (which now I know who it is because he's apparently a complete idiot and spaghetti'ed everywhere) shows up. He thinks the main character conceptual sprites are "sprite edits". Apparently, if I draw Alucard in a way that it is thematically recognizable as Alucard, for instance, then I'm "editing" the original. Please compare Alucard yourself and tell me how "edited" it is to you:
I happened to have one progress sprite, too, as you can see on the print. Alucard not ONCE on the entirety of SotN does a similar pose to this, at all. So I can't even to some sweet ass Frankenspriting. In fact, his entire spritesheet is readily available on the internet so anyone can debunk me right here where the shame will be public. Donoffrio is the one who created Lenora's and Timothy's conceptual sprites. He spent hours tweaking them to my liking, just so some anon who knows not a single thing about sprites could say they are edits.
Anon could've stopped there, but nooo. Anon gets really bold in a really short amount of time:
Anon doesn't not think anymore they
could be edits. Now he's absolutelly sure and wonders if the other anon (who can quite clearly see they are not edits) has ever played Castlevania. Because HOW COULD HE NOT SEE they are not edits and that I'm a lazy hack? And it gets worse:
So now anon has resorted to objectivelly pointing out how these sprites were edited and says "some are barely even edited". Well anon, you're wrong. Let's see how your extraordinarily specific claims compare to reality , shall we?
"The first knight only has some spiky shield added."Look on the
entire Castlevania series for a sprite that is the exact same as this one only without the shield. I even put in two process sprites of mine (two of which don't have a shield) to make your work easier. I could compare them myself, but the sheer amount of knight sprites on the series is so incredibly huge the image would not fit on here at all.
But, by all means, find one and debunk me, please.
"The following five sprites don't even seem to be edited at all."Wow, anon! How could I not tell they're
exactly the same!!!!!!To be fair to our (mentally handicapped) anon, the colors are similar. In some of the sprites the colors are the exact same, even, and this is because at the time I was using similar/same palettes to evoke the similar aesthetic cohesion of the originals. But anon can't even tell apart the Skeletons' skulls. Because his own is too thick.
"The green scorpion tail eye is another typical starting enemy, which he again added spikes to"In red the Peeping Eyes I made. So, to anon, if you draw a "typical starting enemy", then you're editing sprites. Anon, you need to try harder. This is not the expert analysis I expected from you.
This next one is so out of touch with reality that it's hysterical:
"The dragon heads look identical to the game sprites. The mermen are just colour edits"CAN'T YOU SEE THEY'RE EDITED?!! No you can't, because they aren't.
"The medusa heads aren't even colour edited?"Not a single pixel changed at all. And I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for this meddling anon!
"The wolf is based on the punching wolf (might have a new head?)">might have a new head
rarest_pepe.jpg
Anon goes on and on, and gets to compare me to a guy who did use graphics from Order of Ecclesia's Wygol Village to build his own game, which is really deep offense to me, actually, because I did no such thing whatsoever. You may be thinking "Why is PlotTwist paying any attention to what some neckbeard thinks on /v/" but these things actually DO reach me as a pixel-art professional. My clients do question me and do wonder if I'm ripping shit from other games, to which I must offer a lengthy explanation in technical terms why this is not happening. My work has been featured before on places with big audiences. I cannot let any 17-year old idiot say things of this nature and let it slide.
I can take /v/ shitposting, no problem. You can tell me my sprites suck and that I have no imagination, I will try to do better, I really will. You can be relentless on your critique, I can take it like a big boy. But don't accuse me of stealing (oh oh "editing"), or I'll have to debunk your shit to hell and back.
Really, this is a small thing. But it is a small thing that is stored forever on the internet and that, if I could find, others will.
If you, anon who typed this stuff, is reading, then know this: You are not a video game connoisseur because you like shitposting anonymously. You're not a graphics expert (I am). And you have not played Castlevania nearly enough to tell a mere sprite from one another (I did, and I can even tell what sprites you're comparing mine to without you even mentioning them). Ideally, your best bet when you don't know something, is to shut the fuck up.
Although, I have to say, if this guy couldn't tell the difference from my sprites to the official Konami ones (which I adore, as they are works of art whose level I aspire to achieving), then I'm a bit flattered. On that regard, you're welcome, anon.
Closure:
The enemy sprites used here were not even meant to become final Umbra sprites. They were concepts/practices which I quite clearly stated to be recreations
here. The objective was to reimagine the enemy in a way it doesn't deviate too much from the originals but still provide something new to look at, hence why you'll notice that my Merman is similar to the original Merman but has a more defined pose, or why palette similarities are present. But are they "edited"? No.
The objective of this post is demonstrate that I won't stand idly to accusations without evidence as small as they may be, and show transparency on my part. These dudes don't come here say this kind of shit to my face, I wonder why would that be.