Hah. That was an idea I was trying to convince UrbanMonk to make with me eventually.
Though a little different in the details, I'm sure. Did anyone ever play Paper Paintball in school? Best game ever. All kinds of different units and traps and hospitals and rivers and mines and turrets and stuff.
I love the tank too, though maybe if you could make a few individual panels a slightly lighter/darker shade it'd look more realistic without losing the semi-cartoonyness to it.
@Chrilley:
Thankyou so much. Specular maps seem to be exactly what I'm looking for, and Anim8or supports them
Anyway, here's a more realistic version.
Obviously some parts still need work, like the top of the chassis, the sides of the turret, the wheels, etc...
Think I preferred the original - somehow it just looks more futuristic without the dirt.
Also seem to have lost a gun - not sure how that happened
Can you get a shot of how big you'd want the sprite to be in game, with both textures? The realistic texture doesn't look as good at this size (see tread area), but it might not be an issue if you plan on working with a small sprite.
It'll be really small - maybe 50x50 or less.
However, I might also have a screen displaying the stats of each unit, along with a bigger picture.
I'll probably go with something more like the original, but increase the texture resolution and add some low-contrast unit markings.
A bit like this:
(only better)
Depending on how many units you have and how many directions you want them to face, I would say that you should stick with the pre-rendered approach. It'll be faster to model units and then capture the sprites from multiple angles than it would to pixel them by hand. Bonus: You'll get more familiar (theoretically anyways) with the 3D software in the process, and be able to model other units slightly faster.
I would stick with 3D pre-renders. I find it a lot easier to make the other directions (its merely rotation on one axis). Plus at 50 x 50 I think those models will look great as is.
@Dogzer: I started with TrueSpace 2.0 in 1999 I think. The install files was 7 megabytes total.
I use TrueSpace 3.2 these days, TrueSpace 6 and 7 are quite different and I am happy with the graphics I can get with it anyway.
Like the model too, both, but I think I am more into less realistic objects.
A turn-based game can be quite a fun! See advance wars for example or civilization.
You can also import your tank model (if exported as an obj format file) in my SpaceCraftDemo since that's a software 3D engine with obj support build in java. But it might be a little slow with lot's of models in the field. Ow wait you're not discussing 3D vs pre-rendered 3D in 2D, oops my mistake.
I would go for pre-rendered 3D models instead of manually pixel-ed ones.
Yeah, I love Advance Wars / Fire Emblem etc.
Been meaning to make an AW clone for years (that's not what this is for though).
As for the 3d models - turns out I'm going to be using them at about 35x35 pixel size - otherwise the map will feel too cramped (already had to double the map size once) - it does mean that all the detail in the textures is lost anyway though.
Hull and turret will be two separate objects, and both will be pre-rendered from 32 directions. It'll be tedious as hell, but worth it I think. No animation at least.
Anyway - a quick progress report:
* Map editor is done.
* Map loading is done.
* Switching players is done.
* Unit selection & movement is done.
* Aiming is mostly done.
* Next up is finishing the shooting and damage system...
Graphics are still placeholders and everything you see will be re-drawn eventually.
Pre-rendering from multiple directions is easy, if you have a little know how.
Create a cylinder with 32 faces. Align the center of the cylinder with the center of the model (which should be at 0,0,0 for simplicity). Raise or lower the top of the cylinder to the desired height of the camera. Then, place a camera at each vertex, pointing it towards the point of origin. Now you have 32 cameras all pointing towards your model, and you should also have a consistent model scale for all of your units. All you have to do then is render images out from each camera!
Of course this assumes that the software you're using can support multiple render cameras, and that you're doing an isometric type of view for the units.
As for the lack of detail, that's where it helps to exaggerate certain features of the model itself and make the important bits stand out. The treads and turret of a tank would be good candidates, for example.
Sounds a bit heavy for my liking Aphant, also surely you light source positions will be all over the place in the final product.
Here is how I render my frames.
1) Join all parts together by adding them as children to the main object body.
2) Using the axis tools centre the axis in the middle of all of the objects
3) go to an overhead view and rotate the object as needs be for you desired view (i.e. iso)
4) for each frame set the rotation of the Z axis to i * 360 / 32, where is is your frame number
Render and import, job done with yoru light source staying in the same position . Really quick too.
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this game sounds interesting. do you have a project page for it.
Edited by Sketchy
jenswa.neocities.org
