Ragoon's Graphics For HoMM3SW

Nice job! Although I would like to see the Death Knight's legs a little more flexible as well as his sword swing with a full amplitude, this will surely work for the beta.

Concerning the Wyvern, its death is looking a little smooth (closer to Heroes 3) and the corpse is blurry, requiring proper color transitions. I can fix the color transitions, but I also suggest trying to remove 1 or even 2 frames from the animation to make it less smooth. You probably used Warp operation for this piece, but knowing the geometry of the Wyvern I can't blame you.

Yup, used more than just rotating, but it helped only a little bit, still had to spend a lot of time for each frame. Posting cut death anim, leaving color transitions for you:

Old
New

PS What do you mean by sword amplitude?
PS2 About legs, in which animation exacly?


//EDIT

Gnome teleportation

It's just my humble opinion, but I also prefer the original werewolf form from Ragoon. Somehow it seems more threatening, more menacing, and more to a werewolf than to a wolf, as it should be. The other version I guess reminds me so much of barbarian's normal wolf, that it doesn't really feel as a werewolf after all.

I love what you did with death knight, wyvern animations and gnome teleportation. xD So much great work! Keep it up! Can't wait to see all that stuff in final product even if it's a beta.

And just a personal note from my many years of heroes games experience, I'll put out there, to remind some people of what was one of the most amazing things in heroes 2, that made it such a timeless, pure fun and unforgettable game.

It's not just the simplicity in it's graphics. It's also the overall sound. Not just the majestic soundtrack but the detailed well done creature effects too. The creature effects were in fact so believable and perfect to achieve their purpose, that they are still up to this date by far the best in the whole franchise:

The skeleton rattling of bones simply amazing. The sound of flies as the zombie walked, so good. The dragon wings flapping in the air, felt so so intimidating. Titan's lightning attack... The unraveling sound of mummy wraps as the mummy died...  Vampire's cry for "Blood"... The list is endless...

If only the rest of the franchise had as good creature sounds as that game. Despite the fact that great things came along in heroes 3 as improvements (including spells & wog options), the fact remains that the creature sounds in all future games of the series were by far worse than in the 2nd title of the series. In fact, sounds became way too bland and boring in most of the sequels.

I'm just mentioning this, because I feel it's as important as animation/graphics, to the overall experience, and if enough attention to detail and love is put in its cause as was the case in heroes 2, than h3 succession wars could really become a masterpiece by all counts in the future. Both animation and sound are equally important in my opinion, in this specific game at least. It's the many little things that make the difference!

Just wanted to share my thoughts on one of my favorite games ever! Cheers!

Great work Ragoon! I agree with that the Wyvern is a bit blurry, but we can always fix that some other time. About the Death Knight attack, I agree with Orzie that he needs to express more of a "swing" with the sword. It doesn't look powerful enough, so maybe he should lift the sword a bit more slow to a higher position and the quickly slashing it downwards. You can look at Swordsman or Paladin animation frames if you need a little inspiration



//Ragoon
Better? :p

Quote :

It's just my humble opinion, but I also prefer the original werewolf form from Ragoon. Somehow it seems more threatening, more menacing, and more to a werewolf than to a wolf, as it should be. The other version I guess reminds me so much of barbarian's normal wolf, that it doesn't really feel as a werewolf after all.

I love what you did with death knight, wyvern animations and gnome teleportation. xD So much great work! Keep it up! Can't wait to see all that stuff in final product even if it's a beta.

I agree that something must be done with the werewolf's face. I also received some feedback from users willing to save the Mantis, too, but we will see how things will go in future.
Right now I'm trying to deal with the Werewolf and the Harpy to bring an option which would satisfy the majority.

Yes, we are also eager to play the game, and with people like Ragoon dealing with one of the most complicated tasks in drawing we are closer to the release than ever. I've lost my nerve for animation about a year ago, seeking excuses for not returning to it.

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And just a personal note from my many years of heroes games experience, I'll put out there, to remind some people of what was one of the most amazing things in heroes 2, that made it such a timeless, pure fun and unforgettable game.

It's not just the simplicity in it's graphics. It's also the overall sound. Not just the majestic soundtrack but the detailed well done creature effects too. The creature effects were in fact so believable and perfect to achieve their purpose, that they are still up to this date by far the best in the whole franchise:

You are absolutely right about the sounds. For v0.8 beta Uhm already managed to find some nice sounds (I don't know if they are licensed or not, but it is intended that the final release will have only copyright-free content). Yet, sounds and music is a battlefield with different rules and additional help may be required.

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//Ragoon
Better? :p

For sure. Let's leave it like that for the beta. Please don't forget all the accompanying materials in Dropbox so we can return to them later and bring to perfection for the full version.

Better indeed You understood exactly what I meant. Nice work!

Just a note: in fact, I meant even a wider amplitude, closer to this one:



Yet, this will be harder to make, so we can probably leave it for later.

Orzie wrote:

Just a note: in fact, I meant even a wider amplitude, closer to this one:



Yet, this will be harder to make, so we can probably leave it for later.

Damn, that attack animation looks good indeed. :O

Ragoon, Orzie: what are your thoughts on editing current creatures? Will this happen ?

That was a hard decision to make, and I still insist on leaving the classic assets intact, but the Dervish creatures will receive some treatment in order to put them in the same faction. Heroes 2 neutrals were not designed all under the same faction, you know.

So, the Medusa and the Genie are the creatures which are likely to be somehow changed, at least in their color scheme as an aesthetic measure to fit them all together in a desert faction lineup. The geometry must not be touched however.

The color of Rogue's knives and Nomad's weapon/horse apparel might also be somehow adjusted so they will look more or less relative to each other and the abovementioned creatures as well.

Okay, finished gnome for the beta :p
Note that I changed static form slightly:

Comparison:

Separate:

PS Orzie, I'll put projects into dropbox soon

What else must be done for the beta ?

Things are getting close...

Nice job, Ragoon. That will do for the beta, hope you didn't lose much time on this piece.

robizeratul, all what's left was presented in the related topic. Yet, currently the topic requires an update which will come at 31th of January (got some strict deadlines on my work until 30th). Generally, it's the creature animations, portrait polishment, some interface icons and further townscreen development. Also, a very important piece is the main menu improvement which may or may not come from Docent Picolan, the HotA team coordinator. Given that HotA release 1.5.0 is still not in the web, we cannot assume that this is in progress; probably the only option for v0.8 is the current main menu with slight adjustments from me. That's what concerned for the graphics.

Ah, and I also forgot the Underground terrain mountains which might be done by Uhm or another team member.

Concerning programming, the current desired features are the complete list of working creature abilities, hero specialties, townscreen build orders, possible bug fixes after the closed beta test and final preparations for the standalone version (likely with the creation of our own installer exe).

In general, we are close, but there are still troubles in the way, including the quarrels about the Witch's lineup with its Mantis vs. Werewolf discussion and some others. Sometimes it's insanely hard to find a compromise that both makes the project looking good and satisfies everyone's personal feelings, there are situations where you have to push the main agenda regardless of all disagreement in the way, but people's motivation (mine or my rival in a discussion) burns in such quarrels. That's how it works for big projects, and if you will lead a project like this one, you will understand.

Considering my part of the job:

I'm now working on new static form for medusa queen (bow), then will do all animations for her and will upload there.
Next shoot and death animation for crossbowman and his upgrade (+ walk for him).
Then treeant animations.
Dont know how is bandit because it isn't in animations thread, but the last one will be anubite attack and death.

As for the lizardman, harpy and mantis/werewolf, I'm still waiting for proper version from Orzie




Orzie, I can do main menu, just tell me what needs to be done there
PS 1130x706?

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Dont know how is bandit because it isn't in animations thread, but the last one will be anubite attack and death.

By the way, we should add the Dervish creatures then since we are defined on the v0.8 lineup even more that on that of the Witch. I can do it myself to save your time for animation. Some of the creature miniatures are not animated, but I will need to re-check which ones.

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Orzie, I can do main menu, just tell me what needs to be done there

I'm afraid we require help of an active professional here, dear Ragoon. This is a complex work which only people such as Docent Picolan can handle (he's superior at general 2D art). There are some perspective changes required, some things probably need to be redrawn without the loss of style, etc. Ashirox, the author of the image, didn't express any desire to go on further except redrawing the barrel a little, but we already have this menu, the project logo and some other magnificent 2D arts thanks to him, so it's already fantastic.

If nothing happens through February, I'll make a decision what must be done with that piece. It's too important because it's the face of the project (and will be used everywhere), so I cannot afford questionable fixes there. It's like all or nothing situation, because it cannot be fixed over and over like we perform it with pixels.

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PS 1130x706?

No, the source image is much larger. What's more important, it doesn't satisfy the proportion of 800x600 which also will be taken in mind when fixing.

I hope that I will improve to his skill level someday then

You surely will: the more you draw, the more you progress. It would be even faster in case if you were getting an artistic education though, but professionals rarely draw for mods, they venture out for paid work (like Kivo with his current thousands of subscribers on Instagram). Consequently, we wouldn't have you here and wouldn't have the release coming as soon

Orzie wrote:

Quote :

Dont know how is bandit because it isn't in animations thread, but the last one will be anubite attack and death.

By the way, we should add the Dervish creatures then since we are defined on the v0.8 lineup even more that on that of the Witch. I can do it myself to save your time for animation. Some of the creature miniatures are not animated, but I will need to re-check which ones.

If you are talking about line-up threads, then I can create a topic for the Dervish if that helps That is the only one missing.

Ragoon meant the Dervish creatures in the Animations thread specifically, where I was in doubt about the final shape of the Dervish lineup (which is currently defined with the appearance of the Manticore). But yeah, the Dervish topic must also be made

Eventually we've got this:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rn4h5wrqwfum3ei/try1.png?dl=0

Adding it to the game with functioning buttons would take to me no more than an hour or two. It should work for v0.8.

I will be back to work (if my exams will go fine ) after 3rd of February.  I will finish Crossbowman's death animation (it's lacking only two frames) and update bandit with Ragoon's recent work. I will also have a lot of work with repacking original creatures, so if somebody wants to prepare mountains, I won't withstand

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Eventually we've got this:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rn4h5wrqwfum3ei/try1.png?dl=0

Adding it to the game with functioning buttons would take to me no more than an hour or two. It should work for v0.8.

Yeah, that's what I created for the presentation. Ideally, after Docent's fixes, we would have clickable signs with text (just like in H2) in a proper perspective and fully fixed background so it could be used as a project main picture to put everywhere (and ModDB design too). The panel is a failsafe measure, but not as presentative and cool as clickable signs.

That example also lacks shadow for the button panel, and the logo must be overhauled.

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I will be back to work (if my exams will go fine Razz) after 3rd of February.  I will finish Crossbowman's death animation (it's lacking only two frames) and update bandit with Ragoon's recent work. I will also have a lot of work with repacking original creatures, so if somebody wants to prepare mountains, I won't withstand Wink

Good luck with your exams! I will also be available starting from the day after tomorrow. Got an article and a thesis for a conference in Italy to be prepared.

Did you guys see this?

http://melindar.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=/

You probably saw it years ago. What happened to Mellindar ? Didn't see him arround this forum.

Anyway, there's some good stuff there, some was implemented in the mod, some not. Anyway it might give you some inspiration if needed.

I for one like the spear skeleton and the upgraded archer most. Too bad this guy isn't arround.

robizeratul, that is Kivo :p

He created wyvern head lately, but as Orzie already said, he is not coming back, he is practicing now for full time job

That's Kivo's old account. He then started a new one when he decided to go full professional, but didn't develop it much farther.

His instagram is where his activity can be tracked these days. Recent message

Currently Kivo doesn't participate in the development, but I keep his name green to underline he's a honorary member. He's done a great deal for the project in the past, and it was him who tried to bring the mod to a good-looking state after taking the relay after Mister Kalu. Uhm and Sir Albe should probably remember more because I came only in 2013.

Haha, good to see good ol' Kivo having developed his skills. Very impressive, but I miss his pixel art Kivo and Kegolo picked up what Mister Kalu left in late 2011 and spend about a year to create the January 2013 beta and then the closed October 2013 beta. I tried the January 2013 beta and made a feedback report and I was lucky enough to become a beta tester on the 2013 October beta with Uhm and Orzie. I guess it was around that time when I joined the team slowly, but Uhm has been around for the beginning of 2013 I believe