H3SW: General Graphics discussion

I support this at least as a temporary solution. We can then update the backgrounds to make them looking more H2 style (some are clearly from H1).

Classic H2 backgrounds don't fit for us because they are not made in pixel art, and they stand out too much because of the narrow window size.

I wondered why I saw the H1 background on these, but if it is as Orzie says then I am okay with it. I just thought the actual H2 backgrounds looked fine enough, but I might be wrong.

Thing is, classic Heroes 3 white numbers look really bad and indistinguishable on classic H2 backgrounds. For cartoonish backgrounds this will work much better - but I admit that they will need improvement (and, in case of some ones, they will need replacement, like the Necromancer icons).

I understand. I am excited to see the portraits in-game.

It sounds really good. The backgrounds will need some improvements, but they're heading in a right direction.

Finally found time to finish the conversion of H2 hero portraits to H3 format. This process began over a year ago so I am very happy to finally conclude this by releasing the Necromancers! After looking at Dr Slash's version of the necromancer portraits I am not sure my versions are the best (Dr Slash is a way better pixel artist than me!), but I will let you guys decide

Old portraits of 2013 beta:

New v0.8 beta portraits:

Looking nice. Be sure we are going to put this into work.

At least, when I will be finally able to access Internet from home.

I am glad you like them Even though I am no artist I feel I have gotten better at pixel art during this conversion process, so I think I learned a lot of basic pixel art stuff. Don't worry about me beginning to make more pixel art, because I will only focus on the map fixing from now on

Great work! I will put them together with Dr Slash's portraits and we will see what will come out

Finally all creatures' miniatures are repacked with proper shadow and animation

Spoiler:

I have a suggestion to make maps look more diverse. This is of course not a priority for 0.8, just some thoughts.. This won't work of theres a limit on how many things you can have in the map editor or random map generator.

Thinking of it, I like the moving/animated objects the most, even if it's just very simple like smoke. I also like seeing different kinds of buildings for diversities sake. I think it makes the world feel more alive. So, my suggestion:

Add different versions of the same object. You can do this with original H2 graphics too of course. Lets take the windmill for example. You can have 3 types, one that spins slowly, one normal and one fast. You could remove that little house behind the windmill. You could add barrels too it or a chimney and a smoke to the little house.

This way, using existing graphics and editing, you could have 10 versions of the windmill without as much effort as creating new stuff. Of course ( if it can be done technically) it would make the map editor "fatter", however people those who make maps will be excited for it. And those who only play a game, will see more and more little details.

looking at the map editor, just adding smoke/a chimney to most buildings would make it more visually interesting. It of course makes sense in the lore of the game, it's unusual to see everybody build the same windmill and house .

Uhm wrote:

Finally all creatures' miniatures are repacked with proper shadow and animation

Spoiler:

Damn, such a small thing ads a difference! and look, new creatures in the side. You guys are doing great work !

Uhm wrote:

Finally all creatures' miniatures are repacked with proper shadow and animation

Spoiler:

Great job Uhm! So glad to finally see our new creatures entering the mod. They new shadows looks great too and now the position of the creatures are correct too, so that is very nice. One thing though, I still see a harpy sprite for the gargoyles. Also I was told that we would have a upgrade for the rouge in v0.8, but not for the genie. Could someone please tell me what the state is with these creatures?

Don't worry, I am also not wise to all upcoming creatures I just implemented an order of Feanor's portraits. I think there's still much place for more units, I will be filling it consistently with new updates. I am only not sure about Dervish, his monsters are replacing slots which were empty in SoD and WoG. Probably I will have to create files with completely new names.

Fantastic news! Probably, we will be even able to use them as an official update.

Now, the only things which make our map conversions differ from H2 maps is the harder shadows (H3 vs. H2) and proper color cycling for the oceans. I don't know when we will finally deal with them, but what we have got already is maximally awesome.

good to know Orzie! What about my suggestions? It seems I posted in a bad time...I know it's not a priority right now but i'm curious what you think. I think it's a great idea for the 1.0 release(or even futher) when the time comes! also, did you read my tips from Uhm?

Hope to help the little way I can!

It seems that HoTa crew already dealt with shadows in 1.4 :

[+] Changed the color of the shadows of objects on the sand
[+] Added additional shadow color objects on the map

The last thing we need to complete map objects is separation of hero adventure form and his shadow.

I mean this:

Spoiler:

vs this:

Spoiler:

@robi

I am also very excited to add new buildings When we will do all important stuff, I am going to add many alternative objects for every terrain, as well as new small decorations such as barrels, dead bodies, shacks etc. I hope that other moders will also try to do their own sets and share with community

This is very strange. Is it present in classic H3 in the same way?

Yes it is, but is almost unnoticable, because shadow is hidden behind a hero.

I'll do it later (these holidays maybe), you can make defs.

In previous versions players' crests were a bit... misshapen. We're bringing them back repacked properly. We're going to add completely new black crest!

Fantastic results! Can't wait to see the black crest, too.

They look very good. I like what you have done with the teal color giving it a H1 chest. A thing to remember is that there in H2 is a equally distribution of "shield" chests and "pentagon" chests. With having teal to be a shield we should technically have a pentagon shaped chest for black Don'y know if this is important or not, but it is a little detail.

We had another idea for black, but who knows.

Basically, here you can see "typical warrior" and "typical spellcaster" crests, which may not be so good in some situations, but it's simpler to divide like that. Usually (or at least more often) the orange, yellow and purple really belong to spellcasters on user maps (which in fact means that these colors are more associated with spellcasting).

The black color will be rather different. What I initially thought is the some implementation of the Jolly Roger. The spider on the purple crest already shows that it's generally possible to make such little details looking good. So that I'm very curious of what Uhm can produce.

Okay. Try this quickie.