Project: Metagame - Join and contribute!

[Animator]

yay, happy resolution!

In all seriousness though, tracing like that only really works with a solid color image in the first place, and the way you usually make those is by vector techniques - if you're drawing a raster circle in photoshop, and using this tool to vectorize it, you could very easily just draw a circle in illustrator and eliminate the middle step.

but it's the end product that matters, so if you use this tool to create a good, if slightly inefficient result, great!

LV just pointed out something very crucial that makes this too good to be true. Yes, it processes the image into a vector, but it only gives you the .png file, not the .svg file, as the .svg file is not free. I've decided to re-take Inkscape (since they finally made a good manual), which is also a Vector tool.

[mattk210]

saving to svg works fine for me... i just used a sample image, is that why?
edit: don't worry, it doesn't work

edit again: hold the phone, you said you were getting flash in another topic. Flash can do the same thing as vector magic, just not as well. I guess you could even get the png from vector magic and trace THAT with flash

[NicNac14]

I don't have flash on this computer and my other one is halfway across the world so.. all I can do is provide either raster or vector in .png file and you guys can do whatever you want with those images...
now.. nobody answered my innitial question..

I feel like we are going nowhere..
do we have a Idea of whats going on so I can start some sketches?
please inform me of what we are doing.. somebody?
also.. assembla is totally dead..

please annswer that somebody...

[Geti]

woot, i get a computer for a few seconds. hooray for this moving again.

heres a novel concept: what if we use raster for the visual side (i do love that retro/pixel art feel) and have vectors for collision? that way we get less lag (doing physics by pixel is awkward) and could have a sprited style.
but, if everyone is against that, whatever. i can work with vectors.

on the single character thing: possible, and id love to have it very, very movement based. wall kicks and jumps and flips and rolls and everything acrobatic makes for good gameplay, but the more of them there are, the more the coders will shake their heads. movement, hard and fast, and in my levels, lots of combat.

attached is an image of how i can see the single character thing working.
when you add charge to a weapon, it takes it away from your leg power, so you run slower and perform less agile actions. 4 on the ranged weapon is artillery, an epic cannon mode that you cant move while using.
basically, if all your weapons are off, you can zoom around, if you have all of them set to "pwn" you wont move much at all.

[Animator]

hold the phone, you said you were getting flash in another topic. Flash can do the same thing as vector magic, just not as well. I guess you could even get the png from vector magic and trace THAT with flash

Hm. I could do that.

Geti, while I admire your idea of implementing both a gun and a sword, a) We haven't really verified if we're going to use 1 player or 3 different characters or b) the character is even going to be a robot.

I feel like we are going nowhere..
do we have a Idea of whats going on so I can start some sketches?
please inform me of what we are doing.. somebody?
also.. assembla is totally dead..

Re-read the forum thread and all the IRC logs in Assembla. You will only then get what we're doing.

[mattk210]

geti: I don't think there was ever any doubt we'd be using "vectors" for collision (arcs and lines). That picture you drew IS vector style, you could have made that more efficiently with vectors in the first place.

EDIT:
http://autotrace.sourceforge.net/
http://potrace.sourceforge.net/
those are free alternatives to vector magic. I have never tried them though

[isaacx]

Musicians, I suggest practicing in some techno/ambient music, since this game will involve some kind of planet-adventuring type of thing.


That is all I have to say.

Yeah, i'm not that good with those two types of music, anything you might want to suggest to help (i.e. music examples)

[blackbelmoral]

i don't know, i was thinking giving him head stripes that got brighter as his health increased, just a cool add-on.
tell me about it

[blackbelmoral]

hold the phone, you said you were getting flash in another topic. Flash can do the same thing as vector magic, just not as well. I guess you could even get the png from vector magic and trace THAT with flash

Hm. I could do that.

Geti, while I admire your idea of implementing both a gun and a sword, a) We haven't really verified if we're going to use 1 player or 3 different characters or b) the character is even going to be a robot.

I feel like we are going nowhere..
do we have a Idea of whats going on so I can start some sketches?
please inform me of what we are doing.. somebody?
also.. assembla is totally dead..

Re-read the forum thread and all the IRC logs in Assembla. You will only then get what we're doing.

if someone wants me to, im a good sketcher with a scanner and a good computer artist
want me to make your idea more complex
like the sword idea

[blackbelmoral]

i also think we should have an unlockable character or 2

[Ignate]

Lesson one: Triple posting is bad. But you do have some pretty good ideas, like the health indicator one.
Hah, that vector converter is pretty cool. And just to point something out, the 2D Worms has practically rotated every sprite it has, which looks like hard work. So if the character is made from raster graphics, making it stationary should be good.

EDIT: Some level design ideas. I took the living planet idea from somewhere earlier in the thread.

[Condog]

Lesson one: Triple posting is bad. But you do have some pretty good ideas, like the health indicator one.
Hah, that vector converter is pretty cool. And just to point something out, the 2D Worms has practically rotated every sprite it has, which looks like hard work. So if the character is made from raster graphics, making it stationary should be good.

EDIT: Some level design ideas. I took the living planet idea from somewhere earlier in the thread.

metagame6.png

Those look pretty good, but how would they go against a black background?

[blackbelmoral]

Lesson one: Triple posting is bad. But you do have some pretty good ideas, like the health indicator one.
Hah, that vector converter is pretty cool. And just to point something out, the 2D Worms has practically rotated every sprite it has, which looks like hard work. So if the character is made from raster graphics, making it stationary should be good.

EDIT: Some level design ideas. I took the living planet idea from somewhere earlier in the thread.

The attachment metagame6.png is no longer available

sorry, had to suddenly close the window. and forgot to edit my post. but i was randomly doodling in school (whoops) and got this for an enemy/unlockable character/ boss
also, i haven't perfected the torso/legs/mask. the small front and back views are rougher than the middle one, which i like better. also, we should have shurikens. this guy gets them form a port in his armour.you may need to look at the file larger to see it.

[blackbelmoral]

sorry about the unclear image- here is a clearer one - \
slice that, just click on the image. saving it makes it blurry.
about the black: just use a neutral color like gray, or dark grey. everything would stand out in alpha testing. later, we can change colors and worry about backgrounds
also: i think there should be a

Click to show/hide spoiler

secret final level where it is robotic world

[blackbelmoral]

hold the phone, you said you were getting flash in another topic. Flash can do the same thing as vector magic, just not as well. I guess you could even get the png from vector magic and trace THAT with flash

Hm. I could do that.

Geti, while I admire your idea of implementing both a gun and a sword, a) We haven't really verified if we're going to use 1 player or 3 different characters or b) the character is even going to be a robot.

I feel like we are going nowhere..
do we have a Idea of whats going on so I can start some sketches?
please inform me of what we are doing.. somebody?
also.. assembla is totally dead..

Re-read the forum thread and all the IRC logs in Assembla. You will only then get what we're doing.

sorry about the triple post *again*
but i sincerely hope we're doing robots because that's all im good at drawing
also:sorry about the triple post
animator: i know about the edit button. its just i had to edit the picture, and you cant quote without making a new post, or if you can, i dont know the code on this forum. i guess i could look up, but then it wouldn't get the same message

[Animator]

Yeah, i'm not that good with those two types of music, anything you might want to suggest to help (i.e. music examples)

For example, this could work well for a menu theme, this could work, and I would recommend looking up the Homeworld soundtrack (that would probably be the best thing to do, since it is the best at space-y ambient music inspiration). Good luck.

Oh, and Blackmemoral, it's called an edit button.

[Destiny]

not so keen on the robo-N, geti's blue robot is the coolest yet ^^

Also, these decisions about vector/raster don't seem to be progressing. Or at least not confirmed. So we are using raster then converted to vector? Or are we just going to use vector. Are we definately going to use geti's movement/weapon charge idea, and should i sketch some level design ideas out. I would also like to request a list of in-game items/objects/goals. That way i know what to include in my sketches. For now i will just make them up as seems fit, i guess - then you can give me feedback on... well... everything.

[mattk210]

i'd suggest we're probably using clean solid bright coloured vectors with black outlines (based on what concept art has been like so far), and how you make them is up to you.

I don't know about objects/items/enemies -- I think vague puzzle ideas and such are better than exact level layouts right now because we haven't finalized that stuff. If you need a specific enemy for a level we can probably put it in. (Actually, I don't know.. are we using N-style with a very limited palette of enemies that are reused in different ways or do we have a large diversity of unique enemies that are often used only once or twice?)

[Destiny]

the enemies are on assembla?

[mattk210]

not many, and I don't think a lot of them are final.

[Animator]

I don't know about objects/items/enemies -- I think vague puzzle ideas and such are better than exact level layouts right now because we haven't finalized that stuff. If you need a specific enemy for a level we can probably put it in. (Actually, I don't know.. are we using N-style with a very limited palette of enemies that are reused in different ways or do we have a large diversity of unique enemies that are often used only once or twice?)

No, no, no, no. We are not doing anything even close to N. There is no N, in metagame.

[blackbelmoral]

i think this project is dying. we need something to start it back up

[Destiny]

What we need, is a solid list of criteria and objectives that this game is going to have, and then a set of team-specific lists of what needs doing. Then respective team leaders can dish out the tasks to whoever they decide, and boom! We have a start.

What we need, is LV

[Animator]

i think this project is dying. we need something to start it back up

After only a day of no responses on this thread, you're assuming the project is dead and everyone's forgotten about it? Give me a break.

What we need, is a solid list of criteria and objectives that this game is going to have, and then a set of team-specific lists of what needs doing. Then respective team leaders can dish out the tasks to whoever they decide, and boom! We have a start.

What we need, is LV.

We can't hit a solid list of criteria and objectives unless the majority affix on it, and the majority (as well as contact and actual involvement of workers) is hindering that. We can't have a leader until the group chooses it. It's not that easy. LV is the owner of the project, but even then, he's not really the leader, as you see, because we're doing most of the planning together, giving everyone a say on how things should be done. What we truly need are polls to finalize each and every idea, update people to this new orders, get our leaders, and get shit done.

[blackbelmoral]

i think this project is dying. we need something to start it back up

After only a day of no responses on this thread, you're assuming the project is dead and everyone's forgotten about it? Give me a break.

What we need, is a solid list of criteria and objectives that this game is going to have, and then a set of team-specific lists of what needs doing. Then respective team leaders can dish out the tasks to whoever they decide, and boom! We have a start.

What we need, is LV.

We can't hit a solid list of criteria and objectives unless the majority affix on it, and the majority (as well as contact and actual involvement of workers) is hindering that. We can't have a leader until the group chooses it. It's not that easy. LV is the owner of the project, but even then, he's not really the leader, as you see, because we're doing most of the planning together, giving everyone a say on how things should be done. What we truly need are polls to finalize each and every idea, update people to this new orders, get our leaders, and get shit done.

no, i just mean look at assembla. noone has actually done anything