fan made graphics?

[BrTarolg]

as we were told, one of the big reasons why av 4 looks so much like geneforge, is because good graphics are extraordinarily expensive <or rather, hard to make and very time consuming>

 

i know out there in the community there are plenty of people willing to make graphics for this game <i know i would> - even if i had to do it the old exile way - making each step and graphic one by one for all different directions, casting spells, arrows, moving left right up and down, fighting, holding swords, daggers etc.

 

it really pained me to see that alot of the graphics like pots and cuboards and stuff were just the same as geneforge, and that the game resembled geneforge so much - instead of being more true to the previous avernum and the exile series

 

<though ofc, exile had about 100 spells in the third one, and it was almost impossible to beat the game on hardest difficulty >

 

i mean, IF an avernum 5 comes out <god forbid > perhaps there might be a fanbase for making graphics for the game?

 

or maybe even a patch to the current game.

 

i mean, i like how avernum is basically like a 3d <easier> exile but not like a geneforge

[*i]

If you have any graphics, you are free to send them to Spiderweb Software of course. If they are really good, Jeff might use them.

 

I really don't understand the aversion to Geneforge graphics in Avernum games. They're just a sequence of pixels to represent things. Why reinvent the wheel when certain graphics work just fine? Makes no sense whatsoever.

 

Also, please use a spell/grammar checker, it's very hard to read your posts.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by *i:
I really don't understand the aversion to Geneforge graphics in Avernum games. They're just a sequence of pixels to represent things. Why reinvent the wheel when certain graphics work just fine? Makes no sense whatsoever.

I think the aversion derives from the general impression that many of Avernum 4's monsters were designed to fit the graphics available, breaking continuity with the rest of the series in the process. Since when has Avernum been infested with "hellhounds", for example?

[Kelandon]

Many of us liked the look-and-feel of Avernum, which is pretty different from the look-and-feel of Geneforge. A4 doesn't really have the look-and-feel of Avernum anymore.

 

It's viscerally hard to believe that A4 takes place in the same area as A1 and A2, because A1 and A2 looked so similar and A4 looks so different.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally by BrTarolg:

 

Quote:

it really pained me to see that alot of the graphics like pots and cuboards and stuff were just the same as geneforge, and that the game resembled geneforge so much - instead of being more true to the previous avernum and the exile series

This shouldn't be surprising, though. After all, many of the items in the Geneforge series, like bowls, daggers, trash, robes, etc., were also used in the Avernum series.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Ephesos]

Quote:

Originally written by Thuryl:
Since when has Avernum been infested with "hellhounds", for example?

*cough* Cave Worms?! *cough*

Erm... yes, these graphics are strange. But at least Jeff has shown he's willing to try and fix stuff, particularly with the whole chitrach fiasco.

I sense a hardcore Exile fan.

[Alorael at Large]

I agree that cave worms and hell hounds were a little disconcerting, although to be honest I think cave worms belonged in Avernum the whole time to keep things looking dangerous for the average traveler. Aside from strange monsters and the loss of elevation, though, I don't understand the complains. Avernum was extremely stylized (some might even say ugly). Geneforge is less so. A4 doesn't suffer from having pretty graphis.

 

—Alorael, who is sure Jeff would love to have new, good, free graphics as long as they're actually good. Inundation in mediocre art would likely just make him stop accepting or looking at anything.

[Kelandon]

Quote:

Originally written by Punctuated Silence:
Aside from strange monsters and the loss of elevation, though, I don't understand the complains. Avernum was extremely stylized (some might even say ugly). Geneforge is less so.

The complaints stem from people whose opinions are the opposite of yours (GF seems ugly to me, Avernum pretty).

[BrTarolg]

well also the gameplay felt more like geneforge, and less like avernum which was a shame.

 

like, i preferred it when you could walk into a town on the map, instead of actually having the town there - then again some people prefer it that way so..

[Spidweb]

I am hesitant to enlist civilians to make graphics. After all, it's not their job to fix my games, and the format of the graphcis to work in the game is pretty exacting.

 

The Geneforge graphics/elements in Avernum 4 are being reevaluated on a case by case basis. Some were problems. (The chitrachs and spawners, which were mistakes.) Some were minor problems but inevitable. (The re-rendering of Geneforge PC designs without the Shaper symbols.) Both of these things will be better in the next game.

 

And some of the Geneforge graphics will stay in because I think they fit well with Avernum. For example. I think the cave worm (using the artila model) looks nice in the underworld. Believe me, if I had the artila graphic eight years ago, I'd have put it in Avernum right away. Same with the roamer/hellhound.

 

And I think the new sliths and nephilim look awesome. So there. :-)

 

- Jeff Vogel

[VCH]

Yes the Slith and Nephilim do look great.

[Goldengirl]

Jeff, I think that I would prefer it if you could swap around the graphics for the portait and the figure.

[Ephesos]

Okay... the cave worms just seemed like a break from continuity, as did the hellhounds. I suppose we can give them a chance.

 

I agree about the sliths and nephils, though. The only issue I had with them was that the sliths just seemed too big.

 

Quote:

Originally written by Scienceking:

Jeff, I think that I would prefer it if you could swap around the graphics for the portait and the figure.

What? This makes no sense.

[WiKiSpidweb]

Quote:

The only issue I had with them was that the sliths just seemed too big.

I always assumed that they were larger than humans.

The creature that bothered me, and I'm surprised no one mentioned it, was the Giants. They were not much taller than the ogres. And their heads were really wierd.

[Mister Fox]

Quote:

Originally written by Ephesos:

Quote:

Originally written by Scienceking:
Jeff, I think that I would prefer it if you could swap around the graphics for the portait and the figure.

What? This makes no sense.

He means choosing a portrait and an icon that don't match. In the older Avernum games, you chose the portrait and icon separately, and you could change either of them later through the abilities menu. The only thing I don't really like about the new graphics is the lack of variety in the Nephilim and Slitherzakai characters. Also, the lack of elevation in the Geneforge system makes the world seem less like Avernum. If I had any artistic talent I would have graphics to contribute, but I'm more of a writer.

[Student of Trinity]

Not having played A<4 I didn't realize worms and hellhounds were new. They seemed natural beasts for the place, to me.

 

I'd like to see something like the good ol' Purple Worm from D&D. I think the A4 combat engine ought to be able to implement extreme hugeness very well, by giving resistance to practically everything except area attacks. Graphically it would be harder. Perhaps most of the monster could actually be terrain; the fact that it remained after the monster was killed could be quite reasonable.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Student of Trinity:
Not having played A<4 I didn't realize worms and hellhounds were new. They seemed natural beasts for the place, to me.

And if they'd been there since Avernum 1 (or, for us real cranky old-timers, Exile 1), I'd agree with you. But they weren't, so adding them mid-series is bound to be a little jarring.

[BrTarolg]

jeff - just a thought, how long did it take you to make exile 3? it mustve taken you years and years... it is so incredibly detailed and complicated

 

its my favourite out of all your games at least

[Ephesos]

Quote:

Originally written by Mister Fox:
He means choosing a portrait and an icon that don't match.

Ah. Well, at least I finally know what he meant.

Quote:

Originally written by Mister Fox:
I'm more of a writer.

(shudder)

[Alorael at Large]

E3 probably took about a year. That's Jeff's usual production cycle. It's hard to draw out one game when you have to put food on your family.

 

—Alorael, who couldn't resist and who will make no apologies for having failed to do so.

[Sullust]

Perhaps the cave worms spend most of their life in a dormant state in the soil. Every couple of centuries they wake up in mass to breed and then go back under.

[Mister Fox]

It's a widely known fact that Lincoln is to blame for the cave worms and hellhounds. Abraham Lincoln was exiled for wearing a hat that was too tall, and generally making a mess of any situation involving a hat on the surface. In Avernum, however, his tall hat found acceptance. That was until his hat flattened Avernum out, freed cave worms, created hellhounds, and revived Retar Ihrno. Abe was banished to The Abyss, where he was eaten alive by the rare and elusive Cave Baboon.

[Cronocke]

Quote:

Originally written by Alorael, through yet another alt:
... It's hard to draw out one game when you have to put food on your family. ...

*snickers uncontrollably*

[Retrospecter]

Quote:

The only thing I don't really like about the new graphics is the lack of variety in the Nephilim and Slitherzakai characters.[/QB]

I fixed this (and my human guy too) by taking the inventory character pics from Av. 2, lowering the palette size to 256 colors (they won't work otherwise), and copying them over the Av. 4 pics. There's still only so many mini-pic things, but at least it isn't as limited. Make sure to match it up so your mage guy doesn't look like the archer chick, or something. Make back-ups just in case.

And me, I never got into Geneforge, and it's been so long since I've played an Avernum game, that I didn't even really notice the graphic differences all that much otherwise

[Dikiyoba]

Okay, I must getting a bug somewhere, because this topic has been brought up again, but the last post that I can see was two days ago. (And there's no second page.)

 

Edit: Posting fixed it.

 

Originally by darkmatter:

 

Quote:

I fixed this (and my human guy too) by taking the inventory character pics from Av. 2, lowering the palette size to 256 colors (they won't work otherwise), and copying them over the Av. 4 pics.

That's exactly what Dikiyoba did, too.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Dikiyoba:
Okay, I must getting a bug somewhere, because this topic has been brought up again, but the last post that I can see was two days ago. (And there's no second page.)

Edit: Posting fixed it.

UBB does that every so often. It's happened to me a couple of times.

[BrTarolg]

lol obviously the gods love my thread and keep bumping it up