Topic: Castlevania (Working title) - Screenshots & Videos

[A n t r a x x]

In Reply To #30

Let me clarify:

There's not enough physical room to shade the arm in that position, as it's at the edge of the frame. From what I can tell, adding more dark pixels on the existing arm would just make it confusing and crowded. Not like you're going to notice missed shading while it's in motion anyway.

I've edited sprites myself, not nearly as much as you, but... I had to sacrifice shading or proportion in order to fit it into the frame in a sensible manner. I mostly worked with NES sprites though.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

In Reply To #31

Ah, I think I get what he means.  He's referring (I think) to how when you look at the sprite sheet in, say, a ROM, sometimes the sprites are all chopped away and in order to not have to make yet another 8x8 'tile' for those extra pixels, they just choose not to put them.

This was the way of the older ROM formats.  In SotN though, ANTRAXX, I believe they had plenty of room in the spritesheet since it wasn't chopped away too much.

They've gotten sloppier over time.  If you look at the DoS Spritesheet from the ROM, I believe they left out all of the space (basically having the entire frame, even though it's got lots of empty 'air' mask space, it's still accounted for.

I do somewhat agree that the shading (or lack thereof) was done probably to give a sense of perspective, as since one of the arms is facing 'away' from the Camera, and it's supposed to be moving kinda realistically, it would appear 'smaller' to give it the sense that it's actually folded away or pointing away from the camera...

The frame where the leg disappears is because of the 15-color sprite limit.  They did not have a dark enough gray/black to compensate for the shading of the leg under the little tunic-bottom, so they went with Black and that almost turquoise-like color. 

The 'spike' on the knee I think is supposed to be a knee-pad that his boots have, though I agree that it's inconsistent with the way that same area looks in other frames.  I'm guessing the new spriters misconceptualized that part of the boot (whether it's the top of a high boot, or a kneepad/kneeguard attached to the top of a boot), so they went with their gut on it.

That still doesn't explain the pixel holes though, or the missing tunic-bottom missing in some frames, or the tunic-bottom sometimes looking longer/shorter... etc.

[A n t r a x x]

In Reply To #32

Well it's certainly got nothing on Alucard's sprite

Best sprite evar.

[Long John Silver]

Alucard has almost no hair on one of his frames, falling slash forward and has 2 stray red pixels on it.

[A n t r a x x]

In Reply To #34

That may be so, but you can't tell while its moving, can you.

But if they took the celerity blur away it might be more noticeable.

I just love his sprite in motion.

[uzo]

Announcement time!

http://bbs.dimondsoft.com/index.php/topic,420.msg7399.html#msg7399

Starting next week, I will have an open discussion. A question and answer session about the Castlevania game. You can ask anything you want, but I will take only so many questions per session.

This week's topic for our group discussion is TV shows you watch (downloaded and otherwise) if youd like to join that too.

Each session will start at 3pm (Eastern time) on Saturdays, and have no designated ending time.

Not all weeks will initially be Q&A sessions, but feel free to suggest a subject if you'd like.

[uzo]

Change of plans. I no longer have Saturdays available. It is now SUNDAYS AT 3PM EASTERN.

[uzo]

Ok, work is jerking me around on days left and right, so...

For this week ONLY, there will be a Castlevania project Q&A SATURDAY August 23rd. I cannot attend the 3pm Sunday chat due to working that day. This is an additional chat day fro Saturday, and does not replace tomorrow's.

All subsequent chats will remain Sundays 3pm Eastern. Sorry for the inconvenience, but there isn't anything I can do about it.

[uzo]

http://www.dimondsoft.com/castlevania/

HUGE update, new site! Also, the IRC Q&A sessions have been replaced by an email answering system. Check the site out for more details.

[Reinhart77]

there's gotta be a story there somewhere.  why would Maria's owl abandon her to be with Richter and be replaced with a she-devil?  very cute/cool picture.

[Long John Silver]

In Reply To #40

yeah, there's a very good story behind it. it's a test to get the familiars working correctly, richter was first, so was the owl.

[Reinhart77]

In Reply To #41

Heh, I can just imagine the she-devil chasing the owl away from Maria and then whispering mischievous things into her ear.

[uzo]

http://www.dimondsoft.com/castlevania/

Some site updates. Basic FAQ questions, Help Wanted section, etc.

[uzo]

I decided to post a preview of whats to come, since I haven't posted anything in a while.

[thernz]

I love the new Richter sprite. But I recall you saying the game was going to use new characters. >.<