First Screen Shot of MECHA

[Kman1011]

Here is a small sample of the graphics for my first Game MECHA.

The GFX will be different in the final phase. The GFX look a little over the top with the shadowing. I need to show a bit more contrast between the foreground and background. Background map and Items were done using AutoCAD 2006 3D Studio. Character was self painted using CorelPaint and MSPaint.

But this is just first attempt. I won't overdo it next time :P


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[BlinkOk]

hey that looks really cool. the character is just awesome. for the foreground/background thing i'd just desaturate the background tiles by say 10-20%

[Kman1011]

Thanx. This was not the original character though. She is 'WhiteFire'. The original character was 'BlackIce' which would have been the name of the game. But I decided to go with MECHA based on the original game I wrote on my Amiga500 back in '95. The character in that game will be implemented into MECHA as well.

Its easy to create different characters because the character itself is made up of 11 components which move and rotate based on an array() system. I could not possibly do this on any other programming language other than PlayBasic(To my knowledge) because of the ability to rotate sprites.

The use of .bmp files with playbasic has made it possible to use a bitmap editor of your choice. (However I learned that using .jpeg files gives you unexpected results like wrong colours)


But... yeah The background does need the be toned down to highlight not only the foreground but the character and the enemies themselves.


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[Ian Price]

You are better using .PNG files in PB than .BMP or JPEG. It's lossless colour quality and the filesize is much smaller than .BMP and .JPEG (usually).

.JPEG is better for images with lots of detail, like photos though - it shouldn't ever give wrong colours though...

And MS Paint allows you to save in .PNG or .JPEG format :)

BTW - that's looking very intersting :)

[Kman1011]

I've heard of PNG files but didn't think there was an editor for such files ???

I'll try using MSPaint or Corel Photo Paint and see if they use PNG files. Anything to save memory too.

Thanx ;)

[Ian Price]

MS Paint allows you to load, edit and save .PNG files. :)

[kevin]

Anything to save memory too

  The save format doesn't change it's size in memory.   The only thing that can effect this is the screen depth.   (16 bit/24bit or 32bit display)

[Ian Price]

The only thing that can effect this is the screen depth.   (16 bit/24bit or 32bit display)

... And the download size.

[Kman1011]

I'm using 24bit and the GFX still look pretty good.

I'm not sure if Acad can save .PNG files. I'll have to check that. That is where most of my GFX comes from

Nice to know MS Paint saves .PNG

[Ian Price]

If you can save in .BMP in ACAD, then you can open them in MS Paint and save as .PNG - it might be a little bit of hassle, but it will save a lot of wasted time in uploading/downloading of your file due to the reduced size of your file. On a large image you'll usually see a huge reduction in file size.

[hartnell]

Have you tried Graphics Gale? :)

http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/

It doesn't say it up front but the free version does support .png. It's especially made for sprite artists and is the only thing I'll use. :) Here's my current work in progress :



I could show you better, but the spy car is important to illustrate how good GG is. The shading was partly done by hand, but mostly done by darkening or lightening the colors by mixing them using an alpha channel.

-- hartnell

PS. If you ever need any help with sprites, let me know.

[Draco9898]

You are better using .PNG files in PB than .BMP or JPEG. It's lossless colour quality and the filesize is much smaller than .BMP and .JPEG (usually).

.JPEG is better for images with lots of detail, like photos though - it shouldn't ever give wrong colours though...

And MS Paint allows you to save in .PNG or .JPEG format :)

BTW - that's looking very intersting :)

Jpeg is simply AWFUL. Just don't use it altogether....FOR ANYTHING. Even pictures on the web is quite a stretch for me. The way it makes all the colors lossy is terrible, you can have lossy where it's well...alright...(Other formats...) but then you have JPEgs...heh.

MS Paint allows you to load, edit and save .PNG files. :)

Now your going to make me cry...don't use Ms paint for PNG files. Use something like paintshoppro(7 only please :)) where you can strip the image's pallete down to the minimal amount of colors needed. This will save megatons of space (We're talking almost megabytes ->> 100's of kilos , 100's kilos --> 10's of kilos ) making it easier to download, etc.

I like your graphics in your game, however-- the lack of any sense of contrast between background, characters, and INSIDE characters themselves make everything look flat...

The lack of outline on your characters is refreshing, but also at the sametime is going to make it painful to keep track of them on the screen as far as readability goes (Again, contrast)...

You can take my advice or ignore it, I'm just trying to help.

I've outlined a few things below:

[Ian Price]

MS Paint is FREE and it comes with Windows, so he already has it. Photoshop and Graphics Gale are not FREE, so I didn't recommend them. There are a million and one other FREE graphics softwares that save as .PNG, but for just converting .BMP to .PNG MS Paint is good enough. He's not going to use MS Paint to draw the images, just convert them. It's as good at doing that as any other software.

MSPaint strips out any unnecessary colours in .PNG, just like every other piece of software - it's why it's a standard format. There won't be any significant difference between a PS7 .PNG and an MS Paint .PNG.

MS Paint is far more capable than most think. Sure it's not got a whole host of features, but for knocking out something quick and easy, it can have great results. Any art package is only as good as the person using it.

[Draco9898]

MS Paint is FREE and it comes with Windows, so he already has it. Photoshop and Graphics Gale are not FREE, so I didn't recommend them. There are a million and one other FREE graphics softwares that save as .PNG, but for just converting .BMP to .PNG MS Paint is good enough. He's not going to use MS Paint to draw the images, just convert them. It's as good at doing that as any other software.

MSPaint strips out any unnecessary colours in .PNG, just like every other piece of software - it's why it's a standard format. There won't be any significant difference between a PS7 .PNG and an MS Paint .PNG.

MS Paint is far more capable than most think. Sure it's not got a whole host of features, but for knocking out something quick and easy, it can have great results. Any art package is only as good as the person using it.

While yes, they may cost money (I'm pretty sure Gale has a free version...), I'm going to have to disagree on ALL Pngs are the same...
I've taken the liberty to take a tile from this game and save it as a PNG from both PAINT and PSP 7 (using some Pallete based compression, and normal 16.7 million colors as all the art is prerendered- making it very hard to use pallete based compression without destroying image quality)

and to Kevin's horror as he realises his webspace is being eaten (or not, these are very very small), I post another image or two...or three......

[Ian Price]

I said no significant difference - not no difference and compared to the original image, 36kb to 8kb is not a significant differece - especially when you have to pay a couple of hundred for the software!

Besides, looking at those two screenies, the MS Paint one actually looks a LOT smoother - I'd definitely go for that one.

I'm not pro MS Paint, or anti- othe paint packages, but like I said he already has it and it's totally free. And it's still better to use PNGs than .BMPs any day, which is what this post is still all about.