Ummm... may i suggest..? You don't need those pics as a base, really. You're fine artist and you do it well. But look at your troops. I've never liked the way the original artist drawn their legs (no offence, but they're really ugly to me, in comparison with the original x-com troopers). Really, the most beautyful legs are riginal x-com's ones. Yours are just stays toooo far from each other. Just try to stand your feet on the same width as they do and you'll understand what i mean (i hope). I s'pose noone would object (i mean copyright thing) if you just combine the upper shapes of your soldiers with the lower shapes (not the contents, though) of x-com troopers' images.
And yeah, you robocop has way too short/small arms. Think about it.
And about the Hover Droid from wiki page. If you happen to use that hover droid - can anyone explain me why on earth it can't die well? i mean, the cpecified sprites are not there during the animation - when it's destroyed it falls on the ground and lies here and looks like something green (some of the aliens, i s'pose).
I've just read the last two pages of this thread and was really, i mean REALLY dissapointed. The only stuff i'd like to see in next releases are the grey alien and the monsteroid (or how is it named..?) and that red drone slightly tuned as look a little bit odd.
But let me clarify myself. I thought that new units are good, but as far as i know you're lacking non-xcom graphics. I mean, last time i've installed ufo2k on my linux i've got it with only chameleon units (which were shown instead of ANY other types of units on the battle field), missing interface images for arsenal and no sound. I thought that only depends on my /dev/hands and i've failed to compile the sound normally, or that the code of ufo2k is not totally compatible with Linux... but i was wrong. The only problem was - i forgot to put that original x-com files into UFO directory. And now you're discussing _adding_ new units with similar functionality to the existing ones? Don't misunderstand me, but thats absurd. I mean, the Grey alien would perfectly replace the sectoids and allow users to play without messing around with those x-com dependencies. So, my idea is to replace sprites for sectoids by those new of a grey alien. Not adding the new race or "skin" for chameleon. The same with monsteroid, but, actually i can't tell you which x-com race it would replace... though, it looks good.
This way you'll get rid of those bloody copyright dependencies on x-com original graphics. Just try to create your new art for that first, then try to create new units. So, if you get the idea you now got the sectoid and, let's say, muton replacement (by grey alien and monsteroid respectively). I s'pose you'll need to draw all human types of armour - thus not using the old graphics. And for those who don't want to use the new art you could just make on option similar to "use old x-com grahics", but applying only for units (or maybe separate units?).
About the tracke scout drone - it's nice, i like robotics, and it goes well with hover droid and other mechanised stuf... but it's too simmetric in the arsenal view. Maybe there's a point to show it 3/4 (whell, i don't actually know the term for that perspective view, when you can observe 3/4th of someone's face). Or if you're insisting on showing it in front, then i'd suppose to add some assimetry to the trucks - stains, chains, headlight (one!) or something - just looks too odd for me. But the upper half is ok.
About other stuff that i've seen here - altaneuron is just ugly. it really just the most ugliest thing i've ever seen. I don't want it to be in any of later releases. I can't explain how to enhance it - it's just wrong in it's root - try to draw another one (or better don't - i don't like those flying brains)...
zombie - it's ok, it may stay, but just as a chameleon skin or a human skin when the human was zombified b cryssalid.
robot - i agree with those opinions on it's legs and he's not of a human proportions (see any anatomy book or just any human photo to understand what i mean).
stalker - ugly disproporional oversaturated thing. to the artist - read a pair of body drawing manuals - your works are missing their human proportions. Just try to overlay your stalker above the regular human image (at least x-com trooper) and you'll see that they're not matching. my advice here - try to take Sporb's zombie silhouette as a base - his zombies are right proportioned.
concerning metapod and scout probe - haven't tried them yet, just downloaded. But according to the images posted - pretty nice =) i like them.
And those trinity just above - ive already said they need right legs at least, but are cool in common. keep improving them.
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And now my apologise to all the artists that are/were involved in creating those arts: i know, i'm noone here and i don't have a right to make some insulting things (and i s'pose some were insulting, however i've tried to avoid them) but i'm a regular user. And this game is made for us, "mortals". And i've said, maybe (!), what any other user could say (or think, even if not explicitly), when he see the game. So, you need our opinion and my opinion (i hope) wasn't just "that's bad - don't do it". I've tried to explain the backdraw of each artwork and gave some pieces of advice to the authors. So, don't ban me and beat me not too heavily. I want to help to improve the game experience.
Thanks =) guys, keep moving and creating anyway.
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Those scout probe and metapod units... well, in the inventory metapods looks charming, while on the battlefield - they're just grey-brown clubs... But, anyway - they have some problems concerning their drawing - they looks like dissappearind when moving at some angles. That's not appropriate way of rendering them (as i suppose), but that's really interesting effect to make some predator-like units (since they aren't totally dissapear, but looks like tiny moving artifacts). Is there any way of making skins looking different for different players? i mean visible for master and half-visible for another?
And scout probe - seeing it in inventory made me think, that there's no great need in making it assimetryc, but rather less saturated. They're too shiny, too colorfull. That's not good for war. But everything else is still fine... =)
Edited by Kraplax, 23 December 2007 - 01:16 PM.
