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Hi all,
So, I'e been using my spare time to learn photoshop (well, re-learn after 10 years off), and the release of V1.0 OpenXcom inspired me to do a little mini-project. Thought it'd be worth sharing.
I havent actually had a chance to try the mod yet, but it looks very promising! Good work guys.
(https://i.imgur.com/vmgafQB.jpg?1)
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Nice. Reeeaaaally nice.
Speaking of a mod, do you mean some X-Com addition you are making?
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If you are looking for some job here ;), have a look at Solarius FMP mod (Final Mod Pack) and inspect the Research tree
Having images for new research nodes would be very helpful :)
Global idea would be have images split in two parts : left side = black, right side = image as nice as the one you created
See Alien Alloy below as an example
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I definitely wouldn't say no. XD I'll release the first version within days, so everyone will see what it is and what it needs.
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amazing the conclusions you people will jump to, notice he never said he was making a mod, and within 2 posts it's already part of the FMP, and you're making UFOPaedia image requests.
maybe appreciate his artistic talent and wait until he discloses further details about what he has planned before you try to assimilate and influence his efforts?
nice work, vulgar monkey, looks like you haven't lost your touch, although the highlighting and shading on his left arm looks somehow high contrast, like too much bloom has been applied? minor critique aside this is a very interesting take on the power armour design, certainly much more appealing to me than the baggy beige suits i'm used to.
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amazing the conclusions you people will jump to, notice he never said he was making a mod, and within 2 posts it's already part of the FMP, and you're making UFOPaedia image requests.
maybe appreciate his artistic talent and wait until he discloses further details about what he has planned before you try to assimilate and influence his efforts?
You are not wrong :-[
So VM,
1) Apologies !
2) Welcome !!
3) Congratulations for this amazing work !!!
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amazing the conclusions you people will jump to, notice he never said he was making a mod, and within 2 posts it's already part of the FMP, and you're making UFOPaedia image requests.
maybe appreciate his artistic talent and wait until he discloses further details about what he has planned before you try to assimilate and influence his efforts?
Frankly, you're right. The truth is, sorry but Aldorn got a bit too far ahead and put both Vulgar Monkey and me in an uncomfortable situation. I thought making some non-consecutive comment would smooth things out. Now I can see I should have reacted more strongly, but the damage is done.
As for "he never said he was making a mod", yes he kind of did - he said he was doing a "mini-project". I was merely interested if it was a mod.
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Lol, looking back I can see how my wording could be interpreted either way! That's fine, dont worry about it.
But yes, the mini-project is just painting in itself - since I'm trying to set myself particular goals and develop some more professional standards, I break things down into mini-projects.....it's what seems too work for me in regards to self-teaching.
My intent was simply to share the picture since it was related to and inspired by the work of the devteam (great work again btw), but as it happens if you do need more pictures doing then I'm 'available' (ie I currently have nothing better to do with my time, lol), so if you can give me specifics I could have a think about it. Frankly it'd be doing me a favour too as it'd give me something to sink my teeth into.
The good (and challenging) thing about xcom assets is that they're lo-res and muddy enough to suggest an idea, but allow for a lot of interpretation. Aside from using the silhouette and a couple of interesting hardpoints around the helmet (eyes, antenna, odd little mouthpiece) the old armour for example was very open, so that makes it a great way to practice concepting out ideas from an existing IP imo. Could be fun.
Can't make any promises, but I suppose the thing with concept arting is that 90% of the stuff that gets turned out by the artists never gets used anyway, so the more stuff you get the better, right?
Warboy - absolutely, good eyes! Yes, for a moment I was considering applying the high contrast gloss from the gauntlets to the whole body, but since this was a test piece I ended up with them being shinier than the rest, and just colour shifted the rest of it to attempt some sort of pearlescence. Just a bit of an experiment really. First time I've dared try reflective materials tbh so I'm just pleased it wasnt a complete write-off. :)
I borrow a technique from car modelling and had the 'paint' build up over a few layers of base/metallic/gloss, so it's easy enough to change.
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My intent was simply to share the picture since it was related to and inspired by the work of the devteam (great work again btw), but as it happens if you do need more pictures doing then I'm 'available' (ie I currently have nothing better to do with my time, lol), so if you can give me specifics I could have a think about it. Frankly it'd be doing me a favour too as it'd give me something to sink my teeth into.
So VM, I will not lose this opportunity !
Can't make any promises, but I suppose the thing with concept arting is that 90% of the stuff that gets turned out by the artists never gets used anyway, so the more stuff you get the better, right?
Even if you provide just one image, this would be more than nothing !
No one here is forced to do anything, and providing some stuff to others is just already very pretty.
So if I give some details of what could be interesting in my opinion.
Some nice pictures (constrained as possible to fit vanilla spirit) would be useful, in order to illustrate some new modded research topics
Have a look at advanced research description below (provided by Solarius FMP).
STR_POWER_SOURCE_MINIATURIZATION: Power Source Miniaturization
STR_POWER_SOURCE_MINIATURIZATION_UFOPEDIA: With Anti-Matter Containment research complete, we have developed the technology of building a miniaturized version of the UFO Power Source. This advanced battery greatly exceeds any other portable power source we had before.
STR_ALIEN_POWER_SYSTEMS: Alien Power Systems
STR_POWER_SYSTEMS_UFOPEDIA: "Alien technology routinely uses incredibly advanced components that store, release and transmit high energies easily, safely and with minimal losses. Although completely different in design from our own equipment, and using unusual materials, they can now be copied relatively easily by our engineers and used for a variety of applications."
STR_ALIEN_BIOLOGY: Alien Biology
STR_ALIEN_BIOLOGY_UFOPEDIA: "Our preliminary research regarding alien remains show an astonishing fact: they have DNA much like ourselves, but it is so different that we should assume it has some extraterrestrial origins - or at least coming from some inconceivable depths of time. Moreover, we also found certain fragments that seem to have been added artificially, fragments that were probably extracted from modern Earth organisms. Our theory is that it helps the aliens to adapt to our environment, but even so, this adaptation is either short-term or incomplete: lacking the pre-processed nutrients and with poor immunology, the alien would be unable to survive on Earth for more than a day or two, therefore special arrangements must be made to keep a living specimen for study."
STR_ADVANCED_PLASMA_PHYSICS: Advanced Plasma Physics
STR_ADVANCED_PLASMA_PHYSICS_UFOPEDIA: "While plasma has been known to human science for decades, it remained highly unpredictable and difficult to produce in a controlled environment. The alien culture seems to have overcome these obstacles centuries ago, thanks to some dedicated mathematical equations and technological advancements derived from them. Now we are able to understand and copy this equipment for our own energy needs."
STR_TRACTOR_BEAM_GENERATOR: Tractor Beam Generator
STR_TRACTOR_BEAM_GENERATOR_UFOPEDIA: "This large-scale device is used in Alien Bases to assist large UFOs with precise landing. It employs artificial gravity to decrease and otherwise manipulate mass of large objects at up to 400 metres. It is, however, far too bulky to be mounted on any flying craft, even the largest UFOs, and therefore provides no advantage to our troops."
STR_ALIEN_GRAVITY_GENERATOR: Alien Gravity Generator
STR_ALIEN_GRAVITY_GENERATOR_UFOPEDIA: "Alien Gravity Generator is in fact a graviton emitter, which can amplify, nullify or modulate gravity fields on small scales. While it has no direct combat application, it is sure to be a great boon to human space exploration, atmospheric flight and many fields of engineering."
STR_FUSION_EXPLOSIVES: Fusion Explosives
STR_FUSION_EXPLOSIVES_UFOPEDIA: "While the Elerium in itself element is extremely efficient at releasing large amounts of energy at once, it can also be used to initiate a fusion reaction. While not as efficient, a fusion blast is far cheaper and easier to create. Combined in the right proportion with a highly energetic crystalline material, this allows for violent discharges of energy, emitting large amounts of heat but very little radiation. This discovery can potentially revolutionize human warfare against the aliens."
STR_PARTICLE_MICROACCELERATION: Particle Microacceleration
STR_PARTICLE_MICROACCELERATION_UFOPEDIA: "Many alien designs, including plasma weapons, feature a particle acceleration chamber. Based on gravity modulation, this component accelerates small lumps of matter to whirl at great velocities, creating enough heat to produce plasma. This process is very fast, but it requires E-115 to provide the necessary amount of energy."
STR_ANTIMATTER_CONTAINMENT: Anti-Matter Containment
STR_ANTIMATTER_CONTAINMENT_UFOPEDIA: "Anti-matter is an excellent source of energy, but it is also why it's extremely unstable. The aliens have overcome this problem by a clever application of gravity fields, separating the anti-matter from normal matter and thus preventing them from reacting with each other, as long as the field is in place. This discovery is likely to bring great advancement to the human civilization, and can certainly be used against the alien threat."
STR_DELTA_RADIATION: Delta Radiation
STR_DELTA_RADIATION_UFOPEDIA: "Delta rays are completely different from any other sort of radiation known to humanity, as they are shifted out into something that can only be described as 'hyperspace'. These rays generally do not interact with ordinary matter or energy, so they are harmless to humans and impossible to detect with ordinary equipment. They do, however, react with the Elerium element, exciting its atoms and destabilizing their structure, therefore allowing for quick conversion from matter to energy. Unfortunately, the right frequency to provoke this reaction makes their range extremely short, which prevents us from disrupting alien weaponry on the battlefield."
STR_ALIEN_ELECTRONICS: Alien Electronics
STR_ALIEN_ELECTRONICS_UFOPEDIA: "Instead of integrated microprocessors, the aliens use specially grown crystal matrices to create logic machines. While not inherently faster, these crystals allow for a multi-threaded communication between its nodes, therefore achieving and even surpassing the level of the theoretical quantum computer. Now we have the rough understanding on how these alien 'electronics' work and even how to program them, but sadly we do not possess the technology to make them from scratch - we need to rely on whatever we can gather on the battlefield."
STR_ALIEN_CODES: Alien Codes
STR_ALIEN_CODES_UFOPEDIA: "For interplanetary communication, the aliens use special equipment that seems to be able to emit waves which travel faster than the speed of light. These waves are modulated to encode messages with a complex, yet logical pattern. This pattern is now understood by us, which gives us hope of attaining the possibility of intercepting and decoding alien communications."
STR_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY: Alien Neuropsychology
STR_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY_UFOPEDIA: "While there are many types of alien life forms, they do share certain neuropsychological features that are either inherent to their species or artificially inserted. These features allow the aliens to cooperate in a hive-like manner, despite obvious biological differences. These common patterns seem to be related mostly to non-verbal communication, internal visualisation and transmission of simple emotions. Now we can have expect to be able to somehow tap into their interpersonal communication channels and possibly use it to our advantage."
STR_ALIEN_SUBJUGATION: Alien Subjugation
STR_ALIEN_SUBJUGATION_UFOPEDIA: "While humans use electrical impulses to cause a neural system to overload, the aliens have developed a much more efficient and safer method, based on gravitic distortion. A gravity wave of a fine-tuned frequency disrupts higher brain functions within a fraction of a second, while leaving other bodily functions unharmed. This method is extremely effective in temporarily disabling humans, be it on the battlefield or in alien surgery rooms."
STR_PLASMA_WEAPONS: Plasma Weapons
STR_PLASMA_WEAPONS_UFOPEDIA: "Plasma weapons are very powerful tools of war, based on accelerating particles from within a minute anti-gravity field."
STR_FUSION_WEAPONS: Fusion Weapons
STR_FUSION_WEAPONS_UFOPEDIA: "Fusion weapons use Elerium-based explosives to create powerful blasts of pure energy."
STR_ALIEN_OPTICAL_PROCESSOR: Alien Optical Processor
STR_ALIEN_OPTICAL_PROCESSOR_UFOPEDIA: "Aliens use a special device to communicate with their navigation equipment. This device emits carefully modulated flashes of bright light directly into the eyes of the operator, stimulating their brain and therefore feeding them with information. It is unclear how this device receives feedback from the pilot, but it seems to read and analyze their brain wave patterns, which are then processed and fed into the UFO Navigation."
STR_ALIEN_GARDENS: Alien Gardens
STR_ALIEN_GARDENS_UFOPEDIA: "Alien Bases contain special facilities for cultivation of genetically engineered plant-like life forms. Despite their name, these 'gardens' play little part in alien food production; instead they produce various biochemicals used in alien industry and warfare."
STR_ALLOY_AMMO: Alien Alloy Ammunition
STR_ALLOY_CANNON_UFOPEDIA: Recent advances in material science - brought about by studying the Alien Alloys - have enabled us to construct a fearsome craft weapon, much more powerful than the previous cannon.
STR_ALLOY_AMMO_UFOPEDIA: With the knowledge of how to process the ultra-strong yet lightweight alien alloys, we can now manufacture alloy bullets capable of withstanding higher muzzle velocities without disintegrating, fired from alloy casings that are lighter yet stronger than previously possible.
STR_FUSION_WEAPONS_CALIBRATION: Fusion Weapons Calibration
STR_FUSION_WEAPONS_CALIBRATION_UFOPEDIA: "Alien fusion weapons are extremely potent, but they must be recalibrated daily to stay usable. Since we have learned how to do so, we can employ such alien weapons from now on, provided that we manage to secure them on the battlefield."
STR_PLASMA_WEAPONS_CALIBRATION: Plasma Weapons Calibration
STR_PLASMA_WEAPONS_CALIBRATION_UFOPEDIA: "Alien plasma weapon clips must be recalibrated daily to stay usable. Since we have learned how to do so, we can employ such alien weapons from now on, provided that we manage to secure them on the battlefield."
Beware that it's WIP, and Solarius will have the last word on it as he is the owner (@Solars, I hope I will not offense you asking this for your stuff, as I'm not sure to have well understand your previous answer regarding any confidentiality of your stuff ; if you disagree, I will just remove this post)
In any case, wait for some other people to give their own opinion on it, I just put forward an idea
Beware with transparency / black, palettes, ... (I can just warn you on this, without be able to help you in no way :-\)
As an example, see below two screen shot of how it is displayed in game
- 1st one is vanilla
- 2nd one is modded
Third image (IMG_UFOPAEDIA_ADVANCED_TECHNOLOGIES.PNG, whose owner is Solarius even if I changed the file name) is the source file used (in my mod) to obtain the second screen
Also, picture is only drawn on right side of image, left side being transparent/black (I don't really know)
FYI, I use this image for any other new technology, so as you can see, I could make with just one image... In that way, more images would be a nice to have !
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The FMP is a group project, I'm merely doing almost all the work. XD
Sure, I've planned to add pictures to the new research. I haven't gotten to it yet, since I want a working release first, but worthy contributions are priceless. So Vulgar Monkey, if you like the project and would like to participate, you'll be more than welcome!
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Well, on an initial skim read I've had a few vague ideas pop up already, largely due to the fantastically written blurb text.
As for immediate matters though, I have a couple of questions:
1) What do I need to know about the game pallete? I assume just the 256 colours available in the other images?
2) So, how does the text screen handle transparency? Going from the sample screens, am I to assume that pure white just comes out as transparent and all others are left as is, or am I misunderstanding?
3) Would you like these to any particular timeframe, or shall we just see how things tick along? For reference, that armour took a couple of days painting and maybe a day of faffing around with sketches, planning, thinking and experimentation. On and off anyway, an hour here an hour there. But then again, that was at 4800x3600 resolution, and xcom runs at.....less. What was it again, 320x240?
Also, just to give you an idea, as well as the established art style I was getting a bit of an Alpha Centauri vibe from some descriptions, if anyone remembers those cutscenes?
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Well, on an initial skim read I've had a few vague ideas pop up already, largely due to the fantastically written blurb text.
That's great to hear!
As for immediate matters though, I have a couple of questions:
1) What do I need to know about the game pallete?
It's a complex issue, since there are several palettes used by various parts. As I understand, you're interested in the big Ufopedia pictures, so I'm attaching a pic that certainly has the right palette for this (courtesy of Dioxine).
2) So, how does the text screen handle transparency? Going from the sample screens, am I to assume that pure white just comes out as transparent and all others are left as is, or am I misunderstanding?
Still under assumption we're discussing big pics, to the best of my (meagre) knowledge they can be non-transparent - the text will be displayed on them. We'll just need empty space for the text. Still, I haven't really played with big Ufopedia pics.
3) Would you like these to any particular timeframe, or shall we just see how things tick along? For reference, that armour took a couple of days painting and maybe a day of faffing around with sketches, planning, thinking and experimentation. On and off anyway, an hour here an hour there. But then again, that was at 4800x3600 resolution, and xcom runs at.....less.
Nothing like that, we're working in our spare time anyway. Whenever there's some new content, I'll be adding it to the next release. So don't worry, there's no special commitment except what people impose on themselves.
Also, just to give you an idea, as well as the established art style I was getting a bit of an Alpha Centauri vibe from some descriptions, if anyone remembers those cutscenes?
Sure I do! Loved the game, even though it kind of sucked as a game... :D But I can't say if I've been in any way inspired by Alpha Centauri. If anything, I may have mimicked Xenonauts, though it wasn't my intention.
Thanks for expressing the interest, hopefully this will lead to something awesome! :)
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Ok, I'm a little new to pixel-art so have gone away to look up some techniques, and think I have a grasp on things. There's a certain technique that lets you put together lo-res imagines with hi-res input.....if that makes much sense. :D
Anyway, that's beside the point, I just wanted to check another thing that occurred to me just now while looking at the vanilla ufopaedia entries. Are your new techs sitting alongside vanilla entries, or are some of them meant to act as replacements? I'm just wondering if it's worth doubling up on redundant topics like vanilla 'UFO Power Source' (which already has an image), or if I'd be better off focusing on the more exotic stuff which doesnt have an existing analogue in game already?
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Anyway, that's beside the point, I just wanted to check another thing that occurred to me just now while looking at the vanilla ufopaedia entries. Are your new techs sitting alongside vanilla entries, or are some of them meant to act as replacements? I'm just wondering if it's worth doubling up on redundant topics like vanilla 'UFO Power Source' (which already has an image), or if I'd be better off focusing on the more exotic stuff which doesnt have an existing analogue in game already?
I haven't removed any vanilla research topic, only added new ones. This means that the UFO Power Source stays as it were, though its prerequisites may be different.
I hope this answers your question :) In short, only new stuff requires attention.
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Right, thought I'd share what I've got so far. I actually did all these within a few days and was going to hold off until I'd done the rest this week.....but I ended up getting sidetracked by other stuff this week and didnt get around to anything. One part procrastination, another part juggling several jobs at once. Meh.
(https://i.imgur.com/A4CjNtp.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Ou0DJ5Z.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/0pRcOXB.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/SozmpeF.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/IeRWGNh.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/bodgsNM.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/hLFbIdg.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/p6IGwW2.png)
Anyway, I have to say it's an interesting workflow doing uber lo-res index art, I quite like it. However, I do have to bare in mind the low level of detail and what that allows.....in one or two of those I think I tried to do too much with the image. For example, the green dude was meant to have the fusion explosives detonation reflected in his goggles, but at such lo res it doesnt really read well - I'd probably go back and try to just zoom in on one lens, and try not to mess up the composition too much.
The only other thing I'm not 100% sure on is if it keeps with the feel of existing art. I never used to notice as an xcom player, but the art for ufopaedia entries (of which there isnt as much as I remember) is of a totally different style to the menu backgrounds. The former are semi-realistic, the latter very comicbook. Frankly I'm surprised just how much of a gradient you can achieve with the existing palette, and I think I might have overdone the lighting as a result. Still, some of the remaining stuff should end up a bit more industrial, and with the indexing method it's easy to mess with levels, colour balance, and posterisation effects to achieve a different look. Little bit of trivia....running this stuff though the cutout filter makes it look just like Flashback, all faux-polygonal and stuff. :)
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This is simply breathtaking. So much stuff, so good!
Yeah, some of it deviates from the standard X-Com graphics style, no point denying this. However, I don't think it creates much discrepancy, since the original graphics also fell into a number of styles which were loosely related at best (UFOs to UFO components, for example). So it's OK.
And guessing what's what is fun in itself. :)
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Thanks dude
I will try them and let you know, but I already like some of them.
And there is a kind of unity in provided designs, that's a very good point.
It would be useful to have some guidance about what you had in mind for any of them (as explaining "fusion explosives detonation reflected in his goggles")
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How do you mean - the other ones I posted, or the ones I've yet to do?
For the next few, I'm trying to base them around vaguely real-world stuff....an amalgam of fusion reactor designs, particle accelerators, etc.
Alien codes will probably be a big bank of screens doing cryptography stuff, electronics will prrrrobably just be a big crystal with geometric etchings on it (possibly under a microscope view), the shooty stuff will probably just be in various states of disassembly for one and being used on the range in another. I usually bang a scene together in sketchup real quick if I'm unsure of angles and composition though so I usually play it by ear to some extent.
The one that has me slightly stumped is the radiation. First thing I think of is just a picture of some kinda waveform but that seems a bit of a copout, I dunno.
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How do you mean - the other ones I posted, or the ones I've yet to do?
The ones you already posted here (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=2485.msg26653#msg26653)
I mean, did you draw them having in mind some of the Tech Tree topics below ?
STR_ALIEN_DATA_SLATE_UFOPEDIA: Alien Data Slates are portable devices used to store crucial technical information regarding the invasion. They can only be found in possession of aliens of the highest rank and should be investigated as soon as possible.
STR_POWER_SOURCE_MINIATURIZATION_UFOPEDIA: With Anti-Matter Containment research complete, we have developed the technology of building a miniaturized version of the UFO Power Source. This advanced battery greatly exceeds any other portable power source we had before.
STR_ALIEN_BIOLOGY_UFOPEDIA: "Our preliminary research regarding alien remains show an astonishing fact: they have DNA much like ourselves, but it is so different that we should assume it has some extraterrestrial origins - or at least coming from some inconceivable depths of time. Moreover, we also found certain fragments that seem to have been added artificially, fragments that were probably extracted from modern Earth organisms. Our theory is that it helps the aliens to adapt to our environment, but even so, this adaptation is either short-term or incomplete: lacking the pre-processed nutrients and with poor immunology, the alien would be unable to survive on Earth for more than a day or two, therefore special arrangements must be made to keep a living specimen for study."
STR_ADVANCED_PLASMA_PHYSICS_UFOPEDIA: "While plasma has been known to human science for decades, it remained highly unpredictable and difficult to produce in a controlled environment. The alien culture seems to have overcome these obstacles centuries ago, thanks to some dedicated mathematical equations and technological advancements derived from them. Now we are able to understand and copy this equipment for our own energy needs."
STR_TRACTOR_BEAM_GENERATOR_UFOPEDIA: "This large-scale device is used in Alien Bases to assist large UFOs with precise landing. It employs artificial gravity to decrease and otherwise manipulate mass of large objects up to 400 metres away. It is, however, far too bulky to be mounted on any flying craft, even the largest UFOs, and therefore provides no advantage to our troops."
STR_ALIEN_GRAVITY_GENERATOR_UFOPEDIA: "Alien Gravity Generator is in fact a graviton emitter, which can amplify, nullify or modulate gravity fields on small scales. While it has no direct combat application, it is sure to be a great boon to human space exploration, atmospheric flight and many fields of engineering."
STR_FUSION_EXPLOSIVES_UFOPEDIA: "While the Elerium element in itself is extremely efficient at releasing large amounts of energy at once, it can also be used to initiate a fusion reaction. While not as efficient, a fusion blast is far cheaper and easier to create. Combined in the right proportion with a highly energetic crystalline material, this allows for violent discharges of energy, emitting large amounts of heat but very little radiation. This discovery can potentially revolutionize human warfare against the aliens."
STR_PARTICLE_MICROACCELERATION_UFOPEDIA: "Many alien designs, including plasma weapons, feature a particle acceleration chamber. Based on gravity modulation, this component accelerates small lumps of matter to whirl at great velocities, creating enough heat to produce plasma. This process is very fast, therefore it requires E-115 to provide the necessary amount of energy."
STR_ANTIMATTER_CONTAINMENT_UFOPEDIA: "Anti-matter is an excellent source of energy, but it is also why it's extremely unstable. The aliens have overcome this problem by a clever application of gravity fields, separating the anti-matter from normal matter and thus preventing them from reacting with each other, as long as the field is in place. This discovery is likely to bring great advancement to the human civilization, and certainly can be used against the alien threat."
STR_DELTA_RADIATION_UFOPEDIA: "Delta rays are completely different from any other sort of radiation known to humanity, as they are shifted out into something that can only be described as 'hyperspace'. These rays generally do not interact with ordinary matter or energy, so they are harmless to humans and impossible to detect with ordinary equipment. They do, however, react with the Elerium element, exciting its atoms and destabilizing their structure, therefore allowing for quick conversion from matter to energy. Unfortunately, the right frequency to provoke this reaction makes their range extremely short, which prevents us from disrupting alien weaponry on the battlefield."
STR_ALIEN_ELECTRONICS_UFOPEDIA: "Instead of integrated microprocessors, the aliens use specially grown crystal matrices to create logic machines. While not inherently faster, these crystals allow for a multi-threaded communication between its nodes, therefore achieving and even surpassing the level of the theoretical quantum computer. Now we have the rough understanding on how these alien 'electronics' work and even how to program them, but sadly we do not possess the technology to make them from scratch - we need to rely on whatever we can gather on the battlefield."
STR_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY_UFOPEDIA: "While there are many types of alien life forms, they do share certain neuropsychological features that are either inherent to their species or artificially inserted. These features allow the aliens to cooperate in a hive-like manner, despite obvious biological differences. These common patterns seem to be related mostly to non-verbal communication, internal visualization and transmission of simple emotions. Now we can expect to be able to somehow tap into their interpersonal communication channels and possibly use it to our advantage."
STR_ALIEN_SUBJUGATION_UFOPEDIA: "While humans use electrical impulses to cause a neural system to overload, the aliens have developed a much more efficient and safer method, based on gravitic distortion. A gravity wave of a fine-tuned frequency disrupts higher brain functions within a fraction of a second, while leaving other bodily functions unharmed. This method is extremely effective in temporarily disabling humans, be it on the battlefield or in alien surgery rooms."
STR_PLASMA_WEAPONS_UFOPEDIA: "Plasma weapons are very powerful tools of war, based on accelerating particles from within a minute anti-gravity field."
STR_FUSION_WEAPONS_UFOPEDIA: "Fusion weapons use Elerium-based explosives to create powerful blasts of pure energy."
STR_ALIEN_CODES_UFOPEDIA: "For interplanetary communication, the aliens use special equipment that seems to be able to emit waves which travel faster than the speed of light. These waves are modulated to encode messages with a complex, yet logical pattern. This pattern is now understood by us, which gives us hope of attaining the possibility of intercepting and decoding alien communications."
STR_ALIEN_OPTICAL_PROCESSOR_UFOPEDIA: "Aliens use a special device to communicate with their navigation equipment. This device emits carefully modulated flashes of bright light directly into the eyes of the operator, stimulating their brain and therefore feeding them with information. It is unclear how this device receives feedback from the pilot, but it seems to read and analyze their brain wave patterns, which are then processed and fed into the UFO Navigation."
STR_ALIEN_POWER_SYSTEMS_UFOPEDIA: "Alien technology routinely uses incredibly advanced components that store, release and transmit high energies easily, safely and with minimal losses. Although completely different in design from our own equipment, and using unusual materials, they can now be copied relatively easily by our engineers and used for a variety of applications."
STR_ALIEN_GARDENS_UFOPEDIA: "Alien Bases contain special facilities for cultivation of genetically engineered plant-like life forms. Despite their name, these 'gardens' play little part in alien food production; instead they produce various biochemicals used in alien industry and warfare."
STR_ALLOY_AMMO_UFOPEDIA: With the knowledge of how to process the ultra-strong yet lightweight alien alloys, we can now manufacture alloy bullets capable of withstanding higher muzzle velocities without disintegrating, fired from alloy casings that are lighter yet stronger than previously possible.
STR_FUSION_WEAPONS_CALIBRATION_UFOPEDIA: "Alien fusion weapons are extremely potent, but they must be recalibrated daily to stay usable. Since we have learned how to do so, we can employ such alien weapons from now on, provided that we manage to secure them on the battlefield."
STR_PLASMA_WEAPONS_CALIBRATION_UFOPEDIA: "Alien plasma weapon clips must be recalibrated daily to stay usable. Since we have learned how to do so, we can employ such alien weapons from now on, provided that we manage to secure them on the battlefield."
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Oooh, right, yeah.
Er, ok, from top to bottom you've got:
Dude holding bullet is Alloy Ammo (Could just as easily do a closer-up view of a stylised bullet itself though, it's just that you can't get much clean detail in these)
Dude floating in a scaffold is testing out Alien Gravity Generator (I'm thinking of the elevators, see)
Dude in a helmet with big bright eyes is testing the Alien Optical Processor. This was inspired by those new helmets for F35 pilots that have external projectors aimed into the visor, but again this is one of those ones that isnt as clear or detailed as it might need to be. I could tighten in on the head/face a bit more maybe.
Sectoid Trio is Alien Subjugation. I figure they're looming over the viewer, mid-abduction like.
Supply ship with purple beam is Tractor technology, being bought in for a landing.
Orange hazmat guys inside the sectoid guts are researching Alien Biology.
The last one is Alien Neuropsych. I was utterly stuck on how to visually represent psychic communication, so in the end went with one of those old Zener Card tests from MK Ultra (and Ghostbusters).
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Perfect, that's exactly what I expected to know, thanks
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I'm thinking of adding this to the next release. Or maybe the one after the next, since 0.5.5. is almost done and I don't want to delay it.
Again, astonishing job.
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A quick test
I had to create a new image (I used GIMP) of 320x200 then paste your 160x160 so that it fit to the right side
I never use GIMP, so I am not sure about what I really did (i.e. I did not take care of palette), but it seems to be ok
And result is perfect
EDIT : I tried to make another one, but I did not succeed : colors were changed, background was white, ... and I do not know what I made for my first attempt, as I tried many things :-\
Given that you have some agility to create such images, would it be possible for you to make them 160x200 (as a second version), then include them in a 320x200 new image (with black or better, transparency) and put them to the right at (160,0). As an alternative, eventually keep them 160X160 but put them on (160,20) ?
EDIT2 : I succeeded once more...
Perhaps 140X200 would be a perfect size, as it would allow more text to be displayed (as you can see I will have either to resize text box for french translation, or to truncate translation a bit)
EDIT3 : In fact, I am not sure about the perfect size, I have to chek it
Anyway I made a last try, and now it's ok, but I have had to reduce original image then put it in a 320X240
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Shouldnt be a problem, I can just resize the canvas.
Tbh for the time being I've just taken the template from earlier in the thread and worked on the assumption that all screens would be the same, but in retrospect it does seem that some of these have quite a lot of text. I dont know if that makes any difference to how the image has to be aligned.
Also, be aware that I have a feeling I may have absent-mindedly done a global levels adjustment on one of the images AFTER converting it to the game palette, so it may display a bit off, especially if black is taken as transparency or something. I dunno, it might be fine, but would take seconds to fix anyway, so let me know if that's the case.
Anyway, did another quick one for the antimatter reactor.
(https://i.imgur.com/LoMOnSn.png)
If anyone gets a chance they should google some of the new fusion research designs (not just tokomaks, but the crossfire or wiffleball), there's a lot of stuff now that has that really awesome sci-tech geometry thing going on. Very nice to look at.
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Beautiful art work, make sure you keep the HD versions ;) maybe one day i will be able to add them also :)
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Ah, they arent really 'hi-res' in the conventional sense.
They're still 160x160.
....however, doing index-art allows you 'hi-res' input on 'lo-res' imagery. Normally when you try to convert something to an indexed 256-colour palette you dont know exactly how it's going to look until you do so, which is potentially problematic, and once an image is in indexed mode you lose all your high-fidelity Photoshoppy input, like soft brushes or a smudge, or even multiple layers. It basically becomes MSPaint. What this method does is allow you to paint something up with full Photoshoppy controls, and pre-visualise what it'll look like after being converted to the game palette. Very handy.
But yeah, they're still otherwise just 160x160 grayscale images. Wouldnt be hard to upscale them and do a bit more detail though. Working up a decent render in greyscale and then doing a gradient map (or whatever kind of colouring, really) is pretty quick and efficient. Could probably just ramp them up to 4k and do a quick paintover.
You know what isn't quick and efficient? Line art. Urgh.
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Shouldnt be a problem, I can just resize the canvas.
Tbh for the time being I've just taken the template from earlier in the thread and worked on the assumption that all screens would be the same, but in retrospect it does seem that some of these have quite a lot of text. I dont know if that makes any difference to how the image has to be aligned.
Yeah, I think it's better to align them, so making them all of 160X160 seems nice.
Anyway, a width of 170 is required for long text (at least for french translations)
Given that the sheet is of 320X240, reducing images to 150X150 and moving them to position (170,40) should be fit the requirements.
I take the new one for Antimatter Containment ;)
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Yup.
Got one more for tonight....Plasma wep maintenance, although I suspect some of the other weapon ones may end up being vaguely interchangeable. In any case, actually coming up with weapons is pretty fun.
(https://i.imgur.com/UtXUiGb.png)
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Great, I can't wait until I can start adding them! :)
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I tried to refit them so they are compliant with Ufopaedia
How I worked (using GIMP) :
Copy original FILE.PNG to FILE1.PNG and FILE2.PNG
Open FILE1.PNG :
- Resize to 320X200
- Apply Background color (fill in image with background color => becomes white, but appears black/transparent under ufopaedia)
Open FILE2.PNG :
- Resize to 130X130
- Copy in memory
Switch to FILE1.PNG :
- Paste
- Move it to (95,0) [tip : using CTRL]
- File > Overwrite
See result below
I made some test in order to know how many chars fit in a 180X200 ufopaedia text box : about 780, better limit to 730, depending on words size in different languages
I attached resulting files as a zip archive in case anyone would test them.
Beware : Advanced Robotics, Advanced Technologies and Repair Armors are not from same set, belonging respectively to MickTheMage, Solarius Scorch and Chiko. They were not intended to this purpose, I just used them as I did not have any other, but they will be replaced if some other pics are available
Which settings I am using in order to display them under ufopaedia :
ufopaedia:
# Alien Neuropsychology
- id: STR_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
type_id: 7
image_id: IMG_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY_UFOPEDIA
text_width: 180
section: STR_ALIEN_RESEARCH_UC
text: STR_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY_UFOPEDIA
requires:
- STR_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
extraSprites:
# Alien Neuropsychology
- type: IMG_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY_UFOPEDIA
singleImage: true
width: 320
height: 200
files:
0: Resources/HellMod/Ufopaedia/IMG_ALIEN_NEUROPSYCHOLOGY_UFOPEDIA.PNG
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3 more for this afternoon - fusion weapon calibration, fusion weapons in use, and plasma.
(https://i.imgur.com/4aknIua.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Ow2lSuw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/TXA6X5E.png)
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Nice dude !
Attached the archive with resized Ufopaedia pictures
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Sorry Vulgar Monkey, what does this pic represent?
(https://i.imgur.com/hLFbIdg.png)
I have some ideas, but wouldn't want to be wrong. :)
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For example, the green dude was meant to have the fusion explosives detonation reflected in his goggles, but at such lo res it doesnt really read well - I'd probably go back and try to just zoom in on one lens, and try not to mess up the composition too much.
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Ah OK, thanks. :)
BTW I finally started adding the pictures and it seems that 160x200 would fit my screen better than 160x160. Is it the same for everyone, or just me? I mean, does it depend on personal resolution settings? I'm a complete greenhorn here, since I never cared about resolution.
EDIT: I went ahead and used the Alloy Ammo pic for the FMP entry on the modsite. I think it conveys the mod's spirit damn well. (There's already one praise of it on the mod page.)
Vulgar Monkey, the next release will finally contain your awesome work. And of course there will be molto credits. :)
EDIT: And the version 0.6 is up! It contains all the pictures made until now. I also used some picture found on pixiv for the Alien Gardens, partially because we don't have one yet, but also to see how it'll look like if I make it 200 pixels high. I'm attaching the result.