Saturday, February 18, 2017

Bringing ADOM to life

The technical side of Team ADOM is busy preparing the playing field for things to come. That leaves us artists free to do anything we want! Well...more or less, anyway. We're focused on bringing more life to the "fancy ADOM version" through sights and sounds.



So what are we up to this week? :) Read on. There's a moving picture inside, I promise!

While our programmers are tackling logistics issues Lucas is taking the opportunity to record more ADOM sounds. And boy, he's not messing around.

If you're following him on Twitter (@oneirossw) you've probably seen how his recording sessions look like :D Highly educational stuff.

Animations are progressing nicely. We're more than 50% done in total, with nearly all early game monsters and NPCs covered. Yes, that means you can take a stroll around Dwarftown and enjoy looking at all the dwarves moving, blinking, and generally being alive.

As an example here's a variety of animated monsters huddled around the Player Character:

Imgur GIF
Note the frog's head movement, and the pixies' frenetic wing fluttering while slowly hovering in the air. Zeno's animation system is brilliantly flexible in its simplicity, which is just perfect for our needs.

While I'm preparing the sprites I'm also reviewing them, correcting issues ranging from very minor - like shading or colors, to important ones such as the sprite not matching its in-game description. When all this is done this very well might be the most complete animated roguelike monster set out there.

Next step is moving on to late game enemies. Dragons, anyone? :)

8 comments:

  1. Can't wait for dragons! These look great =)

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  2. Thanks for the update, Ravenmore!

    While the sprite animation as a whole looks pretty sweet, you should really consider the implication of "body part" system.

    For instance, in the video you posted:

    1) The fact that the frog's head is the only thing that is moving is immediately striking.
    2) There are several frames for the pixie animation that extend her neck in an unhealthy fashion. Seems to be an issue of proportions in regards to its tiny body.
    3) The wings of the air grue look completely unattached to the main body.

    I think decreasing "travel distance" of body parts is the easiest solution to avoid exposing them to the viewer. The killer bug looks quite solid in this regard.

    Sorry for the negative feedback, really hope it helps!

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    Replies
    1. I agree, I love the animation system, but after you point it out, some of the tiles are a little goofy.

      The air grue is definitely one I would consider looking at. I bet those wings would be tough to animate, but it looks a little rough without them moving. Maybe it can be changed to be like a cacodemon from DOOM or something :p.

      Past that, I do appreciate the work going into the art. Thanks for the update Raven!

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    2. Thanks! Honest feedback is always good :) Honest negative feedback is best, helps us get our bearings.

      Yes, I expect there will be quite a few wonky animations. Right now production speed is the priority, getting the whole set done + ready to be tested, then fixing things that stand out like a sore thumb:).

      Bat wings are totally on the list, their sprite *needs* to change at least 2 times to indicate different wing positons, not just move up and down. Same for the stiff frog :P


      Hm...interestingly enough I did choose rather goofy sprites. Still, that's not a bad thing - best to catch these things early. Humanoids are much better in this regard. Perhaps next week =)

      The gif is also approx. 2x the size, so it's easier on the eyes when zoomed out.

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    3. Good to hear! I've checked another video you posted on twitter and it had much better quality overall (with the sole exception of way enthusiastic rats), so the choice of sprites is definitely a thing. The work you did on that cat sprite is quite saying about your dedication (static pose -> cool dynamic ready-to-attack pose + animation highlighting that dynamic pose).

      Cheers!

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  3. Hey, will there ever be a day that the PC avatar will match the characters inventory and background?

    Obviously I don't mean every little item in the inventory-- but if even just the weapons switched to match what you have equipped and the hair colour matched what it says in PC's description it would increase my immersion quite a bit i think. It probably doesn't matter to most people but some part of my neurotic mind tells me it matters lol.

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    1. Totally planned. When? When the animations are done. There's just so many :P

      Also with different hairstyles/hair color/facial hair if possible. No promises, it's all based on a effort/reward ratio with so many combinations. But it is my dream to do that, and do it soon =)

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    2. Thanks for the reply- that is so exciting that it's planned!

      I don't stress out about the when. for the past 15 years I've checked this blog at least once a month just in case there was going to be something new. even if you didn't post an update for a whole year I'd still keep checking every month just in case lol

      If you would told me 10 years ago that ADOM would have even come this far I wouldn't have believed you..... Imagine the heights you talented people might be able to take this game to over the next 10!

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