Ragoon's Graphics For HoMM3SW

Amazing attack animation, my friend. Not sure about the head trajectory during the movement and the tail trajectory during the attack, but it's already enough for v0.8 and it's up to you when you get better.

The Wyvern is truly the hardest creature to animate (and that is why I didn't start it because I would lose dozens of hours), so consider it as 3 creatures at once.

Werewolf design for the witch:


Lineups:



PS Death knight anims are coming later today hopefuly

PS2 Thanks for your concern about me :p
It is not conncected to modding so you have no reason to worry




//EDIT
Naked:

Now Witch has a claw I would have never thought, that her line-up can look so cool!

That has some style. Yet, the concept definitely should be improved somehow. For now the Toad looks too alien on level 5, so we should think a little more about the lineup shift.

What about narrowing the Werewolf's body a little bit? Now it looks too strong and probably it's not the best way to make it 2-hexed.

Well, why not?

okay, not very good muzzle turned.

I like what you did there Agar, especially his head! But I dont really like his new hands (nor old ones).
I will try to fit it into one hex and fix front heavy problem (probably leg position should help).


//EDIT

Here it is:


Also brown variant/upgrade (maybe "Old Werewolf" ? ):

I'd prefer first variant of head - it looks less canine, so unit does less interaction with Wolf and Anubite.
And, I think, it needs loincloth to be separated from animals, for intelligence showing purposes

Just a quick rough sketch illustrating my personal vision of a Heroes 2 werewolf:



Maybe you'll draw some ideas or inspiration from it  
Great job on the sprites so far!  Too bad I'm too busy preparing content for HotA 1.5.0 and can't help with animations for TSW myself right now.

Of all the heads so far, I think that I personally prefer original head by Ragoon. It really is different from the wolf and Anubite, but also fitting.

Dr Slash version is really unique and interesting, but way over the top! Agar's head is really nice, but maybe too similar to the wolf. Werewolf's head doesn't have to be too wolfish, it can be more monstrous or even somewhat human-like.

Classic wolfman:

Brown variant looks really nice actually and I would love to have it as a downgrade.

Brown - Wolfman (Tier 4)
Black - Werewolf (Tier 4 Upgrade)

Names are straight from MM6, though the look is slightly different.

Not interested in the Wolfman. Let it be un-upgradeable.

I am not talking about changing the head, only color for the upgrade. I mean come on, upgrades are already somewhat lacking in the new towns. Only warlock had so few upgrades in vanilla. For the beta it's okay, but for the final version - why not?

Plus, you mentioned yourself that werewolf is closer to undead and most undead creatures are upgradeable. I don't see any harm here.

Can we talk about it AFTER beta is out?
For now I'm interested which version Orzie think fits :p
Dr Slash, the head is too long now imo
Your version looks like anubite even more

NikitaTheTanner, well, undead are all people that can be trained one way or another


PS I've got nice output about werewolf on polish acid cave 3 votes for yes

Some of these guys are okay with the Gipsy title, so I'd be cautious about their sense of beauty.

I'll throw my suggestions in the thread soon.

Orzie wrote:

Some of these guys are okay with the Gipsy title, so I'd be cautious about their sense of beauty.

Meh, it's just a few and far between;p And I think it's mostly due to not-so-great English. Also, there's the romanticised context of the word, which is actually used sometimes to describe travelling peoples overall.

I do think it's a poor choice, though - "Gypsy" doesn't seem to me like a good name for a leader of a warring nation;p Not much connection with foghting, not much connection with some mysticism or magic... Dervish isn't exactly that either, but it's way better - and has actual connection with the desert.

As for the werewolf - I love Agar's one. Even though the head might be a bit too canine, it still looks just perfect - simple and not over the top yet intimidating. And although I'd love to see the brown one, I guess the black kinda ties in the ent with the rooster better. Great job, though!

The wyvern looks very nice! Maybe its mouth should be a little more closed when its flying? Just a thought :-)

And the warewoolf is cool, i just get it, if its supposed to be a swamp based town? But you properly got some 'lore' to make it fit.
With that in mind, shouldnt the tribal be more native Americanish? He looks a little african inspired right now, like the goblin. But again, just thoughts :-)

Abekat, Witch faction is a voodoo theme town, so everything about native american, african cultures, curses and swamps/jungles ofc

Orzie wrote:

I'd be cautious about their sense of beauty. Smile

I dont get how bad choice of faction name correspond to the sense of beauty, style and I find that a little offensive

My bad, no offense meant of course. Just was pointing out that for some people who are not so familiar with the project (i.e. not tracking its progress and all discussions every day) and, on the other side, people who didn't study Heroes 2 as a book, many options would seem rather fitting. And yeah, I agree that acceptance of the Gipsy word is more of a language-related topic. I myself was once more or less okay with that option left by the old team just because I couldn't offer a better name myself.

Concerning the Werewolf, it seems that Ragoon's latest developments over Agar's concept are the best option because of the simplicity of form which is in fact obligatory for Heroes 2. Yes, it's really bad that it duplicates the Barbarian's Wolf, but this can be arranged in the future versions. For now, I'm dying in the choice between the brown and green underpants.

UPD. Seems that green will fit more organically, if we imagine that we build the castle and buy the creatures subsequently in the process of the game. Naked is not an option definitely because there should be a combination of colors. The mane (hair on the head and back) should probably be darkened to more or less satisfy the Boar and provide color variety:

Abekat wrote:

And the warewoolf is cool, i just get it, if its supposed to be a swamp based town? But you properly got some 'lore' to make it fit.

Well, the vibe I get from the witch is fury of the wild and all that stuff - fierce, strong animals, murderous trees, not things you'd like to see at your everyday forest hike. Werewolf does seem to fit that theme pretty good. Also, they were mostly semi-wild monsters roaming the woods back in the day, so it kinda fits this darker side of nature Witch represents. Idk if werewolves in MM6 are connected to the undead, but if HoMM2's style is supposed to be fables and well-known legends, the wild monster should be more fitting.

I've made v8 harpy waiting for inspiration for animating :p
Still needs fixes, but after so many misses I would like to hit for the right design before putting finish to it



Lineup comparison:





//EDIT
PS Death knight walk anim that I did recently, has to do for beta:

I still don't understand why you always try to switch the Harpy's shape towards a more ugly and malformed version, while the very first version you've presented was the most precise (yet, too small), proportional and the most polished at the same time. What we really needed here is just increasing the Harpy's size proportionally with some possible careful adjustments over the arms and legs to make her looking massive enough, plus the discussed correlation between leg and wing colors.

I'll throw the picture when I'll come home from work.

Quote :

PS Death knight walk anim that I did recently, has to do for beta:

Nice job, although I initially wanted to implement this kind of animation. The Death Knight would look lifeless but confident that way, having a straight posture. The current movement of the Death Knight reminds me of a turtle just a little bit, unfortunately.

Harpy is "ugly" in every Homm game + M&M6 :p
I just dont see is as a pretty, wild angel but rather blood thirsty monster-woman

About anim, I didn't changed posture, just legs + hair
Will try to stabalize body more & we will see

//EDIT
Better? I will focus more on remaining ones for now

Regoon and Saki: i see your point, i can see how the warewolf dwells in a dark forrest.

I like your new version of the harpy Ragoon - she looks more threathning now and fits the tier.

Just a quick thought, to make the tribal more special, could you add a single shot to him, so he can throw one spear (without penalty)? In his lore, he could be some kind of hunter

Abekat wrote:

Just a quick thought, to make the tribal more special, could you add a single shot to him, so he can throw one spear (without penalty)? In his lore, he could be some kind of hunter

That is probably not going to happen for a number of reasons. 1. the Tribal is thought as a defensive, strong, but slow unit. That way he is very unique at the moment. 2. His sprite doesn't support that he throws spears, the spears are clearly not meant for throwing and he large shield doesn't help. 3. We would then have to redo animations/make new ones which is the least needed at the moment. 4. the gameplay of having a lvl 1 unit with 1 shot is very far from H2 and HoMM gameplay in general. No shooter should have less than 4 shots in my book.

Don't take it personal, I just don't think it is a good idea

Yeah i see, it was just an idea :-) np m8

Orzie, I'll wait for your version of the harpy then and will not touch it anymore, guess my visions will not satisfy you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Still think it fits better

Secondly, I've managed to finish Death Knight and Wyvern animations for the beta, It was a horrible process though XD Sorry for some blurry frames too, I just tried to make it work and minimalize the loss in quality which can be fixed for next release








NEW ANIMATIONS

Death Knight attack - Separate:

Wyvern hit and death - Separate:

//EDIT
PS I've also speed up tribal attack which looked lazy: (cut 1 frame lol)