Cyborg: Graphics

The recent developments on the 7th faction for Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Cyborg.

The main idea of the faction is to create a mixture of unreleased Heroes 3 Forge town with a tribute to the old school Might and Magic series.
So that, the concept of the Cyborg faction will be different than the "classic" Heroes 3 Forge, but still can have some similarities with it.

The campaign story related with the new faction is being developed, as well as the lineup and some unique features for this class.
MORE INFO ON THE IRONFIST WIKI

Please note: all graphics are considered WIP (Work In Progress) until further notice.



The castle on the global map replicates the classic Forge concept with some tweaks due to the different Heroes II castle exterior designs.



The faction exterior is based on Sheltem the Dark, the main antagonist of Might and Magic 3-4-5 games by New World Computing.



The heroes originate from Might and Magic 3 (the portraits of other 5 will be created later), and the castle icon also replicates the classic Forge castle concept.

It looks good!!!

The first hero portrait based on the MM5 Sheltem concept. May be upgraded in future.

Cyborg's campaign story is presented.

In his destructive rampage through the worlds left by the Ancients after the Silence, Sheltem the Dark discovers Enroth and manages to activate the Heavenly Forges spread on the western wastes of the main continent as an artifact of the old Ancients legacy. Easily he finds a group of greedy psychopats and cold-blooded maniacs to lead his new armies of terror against his nemesis, Corak the Mysterious, and the native people of the continent, reforming the Heavenly Forges to satisfy his own imagination. Enroth has met a danger the scale of which cannot be compared with anything ever existed.

The final form of the Cyborg hero in battle. It also supports palette cycling animation in the game.



The basic concept originated from a cover of Might and Magic V box, old school science fantasy-styled.

Now animated. More graphics are expected to be posted soon.

If you need any help with music or concept arts - ask me freely. I can even do some portraits for Heroes if you want.

Orzie wrote:

Now animated. More graphics are expected to be posted soon.

Niiiiice!!! With the animation it looks really great!!

Amicus wrote:

If you need any help with music or concept arts - ask me freely. I can even do some portraits for Heroes if you want.

That would be awesome. You know, first I thought to make the Cyborg class as my solo project, but now I realize that in this case it will barely come to the finish line due to my various activities and recent change of plans in my life. So that I would appreciate any help in graphics and music, too. The castle opera OST is not yet made, although I could write it in theory, but I simply don't have time. Still, I hope to find time and skill to record the male opera vocals for the track.

The graphics niche has a lot of vacancies, the greatest being the 640x480 townscreen. In fact, I didn't have any drafts of the townscreen at all, while it must be 3D-modeled and then treated in Photoshop to achieve the grainy texture like Agar did in his draft of the desert faction townscreen for H3SW. I don't have the skill at all in 3D-art, so that this work can be entirely yours with a lot of space for your own ideas. The faction lineup is still being decided, and I only approved the tier 6 creature (the strongest) being the Colossus based on the MM5 Xeen Guard.

The castle form, however, should be presented like the classic one because the more simple things are, the better things are. At least for Heroes 2.

GodRage wrote:

Niiiiice!!!   With the animation it looks really great!!

In fact, I already animated the hero for the battle so now he can cast spells, rejoice or turn upset just like the classic heroes do.
I expect to make these graphics working in the game soon. Project Ironfist allows to make your own .FRM files responsible for the sprite animation frame order.

Some trash collage)

For our VCMI Polish Forge, we're preparing new heroes. One of them is Seldon - a Technician:



The original portrait, before improvements, fits however more Heroes 2 style rather than Heroes 3 style. That's why I thought it would be nice to have Seldon in both VCMI Polish Forge and Project Ironfist. I already prepared a portrait which fits both palette and size to Heroes 2 standards:



Feel free to use it, but only if hero's name will be the same.

Hey, that has nice chances. I don't know when I will start adjusting the dude, but I think it's definitely possible.

This looks absolutely amazing! I cannot wait to play it!

I like your enthusiasm, Aescule! Check out the media page to see our current direction: http://ironfi.st/media/

Darmani wrote:

I like your enthusiasm, Aescule! Check out the media page to see our current direction: http://ironfi.st/media/

a 7th class?? What's not to love?

I'm trying to make a graphic for the hero on the map:

Looks like fun. But please consider using solely Heroes 2 palette, and keep in mind that there are blue and red colors (grouped by 4) which are cycled in the game.

What do you mean by using the Heroes 2 palette? The graphic is currently added to the game.

https://giant.gfycat.com/EmbarrassedWhichAmericanavocet.webm

Fine then.

Now I have two frames of animation. If you have any objections, tell me now,  it will be easier to make changes at this stage.

Well, if you mean that I may have any objections, it's not true, because de facto I do not work with Project Ironfist (if only I could stop time, probably I would, but... real life doesn't really allow me to participate in so many nice projects). So, the Cyborg faction is my concept draft which was accepted by the Ironfist team a while back. It just didn't fit to my vision of Heroes 3 The Succession Wars, but I wanted it to be developed as well. The guys went a little bit different way than I would with it, but anyway.

Of course I would fix here and there, added shadows and semitones, remade the helmet, etc. but it's up to you and your development as an artist. I hope that the team will see your work here and appreciate.

I'm sad to hear that you are not working on Heroes 2 Forge. I hope at least TSW will be completed.

I'll check some tutorials on shading.

At least one my idea must be finally brought to life, so I made choices. During the last 5 years, my life changed drastically. Who knows what will happen in future, though.

Actually you just may look at original graphics on the first place. Compare your hero with, for example, a Knight or Barbarian: they have darkened pixels on edges + bright pixels on their bodies which added a lot of volume to them. Your hero is currently looking more flat because he doesn't have semitones and is pretty dark. Careful operations with lighter and darker pixels may lead you to victory much faster.

You also can place an original hero as a reference near your hero in a graphic file which you use for the development of your sprite. Thus you will be able to see how the original sprites are done more effectively.

Also pay attention on how your hero fits to the adventure map. Currently he is a little too dark and unrecognizable on green grass. This may be due to the lack of semitones as well.

Also, you may pay attention to the texture of the cloak (it's pretty chaotic on your hero, while it could have a little more order). The area where the hero's body contacts the cloak, should be shadowed if we are to leave the shape of the cloak "as is". But I would also draw the cloak over the hero's body, because any cloak would cover a part of the hero's back.

The second version of the hero inspired by the necromancer. The horse does not look mechanical enough, but it's definitely better.

Now that's closer. Yet, you shouldn't lose the contrast of the cloak; your initial variant had nice bright and dark tones, while the update looks a little bleak. Just brighten some pixels on the "lit" parts of the cloak, don't be afraid to make them even close to pink, and try to add some variety on the texture.

The same applies to the brown/orange texture which is used as the horse body and Sheltem's legs.

The horse's face and Sheltem's helmet could also have some grey/white pixels (like you did on the legs) so it will look more detailed and less flat.