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Messages - RSSwizard

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691
OpenXcom Extended / Re: OpenXcom Extended
« on: September 11, 2014, 01:30:10 am »
Ability to coup-de-grace an unconscious character.
I hate having to use a medi-kit to revive an alien just so I can shoot him again. Since you get more points for killing an alien than you do for subduing it (like 20 or 25 for the later ones, vs 10 for capture).

693
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 11, 2014, 12:18:36 am »
Thanks, I did originally mean for the rocket launcher to be a dual tube which "snapped onto" the launcher, but it makes much more sense for it to be a quad anyway. The tube ammo can take up 2x3 size too but you get 4 rockets instead of 2 for it.

And some more lasers here, these being for fans. I hate the way Fallout 3 lasers look, and despise Fallout 3 in general. But I couldnt find any silhouette fallout 2 fanmade models. I would go to the trouble of making them myself if i was going to use them (I am a rabid fan of fallout 2, but more specifically fallout 1).

694
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 10, 2014, 10:47:26 pm »
LOL omg the blaster pistol from blake stone. Yeah but I absolutely loved the sound effect for it, and from the sprite death animations of the bad guys it looks like it does some serious frikkin damage.

Love that green gun too, reminds me of the rombulan disruptor rifles from star trek. Rombulan weapons kick hind end.

695
Work In Progress / Re: Help with the position of text on a UFOpedia page
« on: September 10, 2014, 09:31:06 pm »
Do ufopaedia graphics need to be .SPK format or can they be normal images like anything else?

Ive thought about doing a full-size ufopaedia rework before, where every single thing gets a full size color image just like the Aircraft. Including all of the items, armor, HWPs, and so on. But thats a hell of alot of work and I wont even try it unless I know if its feasible.

The alternative is making them like TFTD ufopaedia and treating them the same way that the Alien Autopsy is (so rather than the right side, its just on the left side)

696
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 10, 2014, 02:23:36 am »
Got some more I think people could use.
I know the white p-90 looking thing is kinda stupid, but its got that minimalist 80s / 90s outer limits kind of feel.

697
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 10, 2014, 12:39:30 am »
EDIT - - Pimp My Gun is a dam good starting place to make an authentic gun sprite from. When resized down to the small bigobs resolution you can easily make adjustments to make it more like you want it to be. However the monotone nature of the graphics from PMG means at the 96/64 pixel height stage youll need to define lines and raise the contrast on it so that way it doesnt turn into a bunch of gray goo when you go down to the native bigobs 32/48 pixel size. So if you dont want to take someone's gun picture it is still pretty easy to make your own.

I use Photoshop 7 for my spriting normally.

First I take an image and rotate  it around, flip it, whatever to get it in the proper orientation and I crop it down to the parts of the item that I want to be visible. That means for assault rifles the magazine might get chopped a little. Then because of the fat/squished orientation of a 2x3 size item I sometimes then select parts to squeeze and I just move them, like shortening the barrel or elminating parts of the stock to make it shorter.

Then (takes deep breath) . . . Resize it down to Height 96 or 64 depending on the size the item will be. . . Apply Unsharp Mask at about 50% to sharpen it a little . . . Then resize down to the native item size of 48 or 32 height.

Unsharp Mask it again and it should be ready for PRIMARY EDITING

I use the Pencil Tool at (1 pixel square size) and I adjust the OPACITY of the Pencil to about 25-35%. I end up having to go back and forth from 100% to the lower level frequently so I dont give it a specific number, I just move the slider (uggh).

Usually I pick a color like black and use it to darken lines and apply texture to the sprite. Or I select a lighter color of the type I want and use it as a kind of "lighten" tool.

>> This means I dont have to painstakingly select exact colors to use.
>> However I do have to generally stick to the kinds of colors and hues that are in the XCOM Palette otherwise I could get color inaccuracy.
>> Sometimes I check colors on the Xcom palette to make sure im picking ones that are close.


Post Processing
Fill in all areas that should be transparent with the transparency color (I pick a Hot Pink Fuscha since I will almost never use this color in anything).

Expand Canvas to 32x48, using the Top Left as the focal point.

Downsample to Indexed Color, using a specialized Xcom Battlescape palette as the Custom Palette to convert to. That palette is used in all of my images, and it replaces some colors in it (like the last 16 colors, and the first color) with odd colors that are unlikely to be present.

If there are any color errors in the preview I cancel the downsample, and select areas to Adjust Hue/Saturation on to adjust the colors so they will remap correctly. Then I downsample.

If there are any errant pixels I select a similar color from that area and I eliminate them (forbidden colors, or just pixels that stick out in the wrong places for some reason).

And often frustratingly have to set the Opacity of my Pencil tool back to 100% so it will draw in Indexed mode because I forgot to set it back before.

Then go into the Color Palette and use its eyedropper to select the transparent color so I can make an transparent .gif out of it. And then its done.


For Simple Color Remapping:
Convert to 24 bit, use Hue/Saturation and select a certain color range I want to mess with (like Reds or Blues or Yellows), then adjust the range more finely at the bottom of the dialog box. And I change it to the color I want.

Downsample back to the modified Xcom Palette again.


Source of Experience: Been spriting since Wolfenstein 3D came out (1992).

698
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 10, 2014, 12:21:28 am »
Quote
Mine if I use a few in my mod?
Yup, they are free to use and modify as you see fit. They are generally taken from other places and resized and adjusted and so forth but sometiems I make my own. I don't care either way though, I feel better about it if people just use it (only restriction is that nobody else can restrict me from using it)

#DemLazers

699
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 09, 2014, 11:19:24 pm »
Quote
Yeah, curiously, lasers are the least accurate weapons in the game.

I always felt that way about the lasers too. The idea was I guess to make them weaker from a game balance perspective.

Lasers should be Exceedingly accurate, not just from a pinpoint precision perspective. Because you can two-stage the laser. The laser emitter is a natural laser dot sight, and a bright one at that. But when you pull the trigger it engages full power and does the damage.

Then it has both fast target acquisition and pinpoint accuracy, without recoil (and without bullet drop at a distance). The laser shot literally goes right where the dot is pointed.

The accuracy stats ought to be almost universally over 100% or even 150% because they're so easy to aim (you dont even need to line up iron sights or look down a scope). But that breaks game balance. You could do the same things with plasma weapons too.

Arguments about lasers not being accurate at extreme ranges . . . well maybe that applies to the aerial Laser Cannon but not the handheld lasers, which are fired at ranges less than 200 yards. As we all know a laser of any kind, if properly aligned optically, will be accurate and pinpoint at that range and much further.

But . . . Lasers really should be single-shot-at-a-time guns though. The idea of using a Continuous laser beam that cuts is an industrial machine under controlled conditions, or a purely sci-fi concept.

For it to be able to operate at maximum efficiency it would be a Pulse Laser, firing at Terrawatt strength (like 50,000 Megawatts) but over such a very short period of time that it seems like it was instantaneous. They already have these, but they are bulky and have to be powered by a direct power line feed (NASA uses them sometimes to ionize paths for attracting lightning strikes).

The difference of course, is being able to turn that into a handheld weapon. More power just means rather than firing for a few microseconds maybe it fires for a millisecond.

In reality the damage tends to be kinda explosive in nature rather than piercing or cutting. When materials and liquids are vaporized they explode, and get in the way of the laser penetrating deeper, which causes them (in this short period of time) to expand even more violently.

The game does portray this accurately by making it a shot weapon just like any other. And it can do alot of damage (like the Tank/Laser) without it penetrating through.

Speaking of which . . .

700
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 08, 2014, 08:59:01 am »
@elerium lasers - sounds good, but no thanks. I love the sprites for it though, and that it uses ammo. Those ammo packs for it look radd.

My idea is that the basic lasers are so effective for the fact that they dont require much research, that they are somewhat overpowered. They are good solid weapons all by themselves (ahem the laser rifle anyway), after all the laser rifle does 60 damage and the plasma rifle does 80 and in all other respects they're basically the same.

By adding additional research, and requiring you to have E-115 stocked to make them (but not maintain them) it balances them out more. I do think the heavy laser always deserved to do 100 damage for its weight and slow firing though, regardless of the timing or its role in the game. And it explains how they can be charged up for hundreds of shots and just plugged back into the wall again when you get back home.

701
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 08, 2014, 03:45:46 am »
Niiiice on the translations. I cant even speak anything other than english so its kinda beyond me, one of the downsides of any mods im going to make will be it'll only have english entries.


Quote
Is it possable for me to use/modify/base off these sprites?  I'm currently working on a Elerium Based Laser Mod.

I love the idea of elerium based lasers. The way I see it is laser guns should be a kind of thing that automatically requires alien tech research, otherwise we'd already have them. Heating issues, battery storage, all of that is stuff that holds us back from having genuine laser guns.

In the mod im planning it basically goes like:

1) Initial research gives you bolters/gyrojets. They replace the role of lasers initially but the accuracy isnt great and they dont have many shots. There isnt any future in that research either.

2) E-115 research allows you to research Laser Weapons . . . you get Heavy Laser first, then Laser Rifle, then Laser Pistol (miniaturization dynamic). Each one requires ONE unit of E-115 to produce, and has infinite ammunition just like vanilla. Its explained that the E-115 is used to produce superconducting wires, and a capacitor that can hold a charge of hundreds of shots worth of energy. They still do roughly vanilla laser damage amounts, but unlike the gyrojets they have no ammo restrictions (the gyrojet pistol is a revolver with 5 shots, and the rifle holds 15)

3) Alien plasma weapons require a starter research just like Laser Weapons (called Plasma Weapons). You need to have Alien Alloys and E-115 researched first. And to research the weapons you also need to have the items. You don't need to research the clips, but the research requirements for the weapons are increased (1000 for each).

4) The alien plasma clips don't require any materials to produce, they're basically just gas canisters for ammo feed to the weapon. Instead the weapon costs upwards of 10-15 units of E-115 to produce. The idea I had for it was the plasma weapons could just have infinite ammo like the lasers do, but I wanted to keep the plasma clips around anyway just because of the balance factor (and because I love the way the Plasma Rifle Clip looks).

But then again in mine the plasma gun balance is changed. They're more like the TFTD sonics, and the pistol is a massacre because its fast and does as much as the rifle (so each one is generally equal in stature).

Speaking of which, another sprite drop (I dont have any use for this particular one, im guessing it would work as some kind of laser pdw, just me being creative)

702
cool, so it looks for a ufo power source, and then puts a fuel object under it.

When it blows up it does 180-250 points of damage (blast radius 10 it seems).

I always give E-115 ground object alot of armor so it can survive the explosion, good to know how much it causes.

703
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 08, 2014, 01:23:31 am »
Im not protesting! Not one bit!

I think the origin of my post was something I saw way back when on the forum, from when openxcom was in its infancy, and someone was worried about copyright issues. And for reference I Dont mind if people borrow my sprites and use them. I may produce a sprite dump sometime soon, I hope people dont mind me dropping one here or there though (and im not trying to steal rockfish's thunder either).

704
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 08, 2014, 12:24:01 am »
Quote
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAA!!
Im not sure how to take that scorch, I seem to be getting a negative reaction lately.

The pic was an example. No its not technically mine, but its a rehash and recoloring of something else, which I painted over. It will be the plasma rifle in a mod im making (and the existing handob for the plasma rifle might even be passable because of the similar coloration).

Just saying if anyone was concerned about copyrights at all, the xcom:eu style is obvious, but using other X random stuff from god-knows-where and rehashing it would be incredibly more difficult to pick out. And even then, the indicated party of whomever it might be that it was rehashed from would have to find out and bother to take offense at it. And even then it would be nothing more than replacing one sprite.

Ive got some others here in a similar vein. They arent 100% completed, may still need some editing.

705
Work In Progress / Re: Weapon Rework/Expansion - Version 0.8
« on: September 07, 2014, 11:36:20 pm »
As usual these sprites are *Excellent*, and its always an inspiration for me to do spriting when I see good work like that.

But as a "Weapon Rework", and im not sure what that means exactly, it was stated awhile back in another forum post that duplicating the style and reusing artwork pieces from existing vanilla Xcom graphics is a copyright issue.

I think somebody in our community ought to make a custom, not-eu-style rework of all of the xcom weapons and items, or we should band together and make one. Which is not only great, but also fresh (and manages to look good even at the painfully low resolution of 32x48 pixels).

Like this (attachment). Could be a Laser Rifle or Plasma Rifle.

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