[W.I.P] Prototype V.2.2C (finally getting somewhere!) [Updated Oct 10th]

[The Data Mage]

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... rkshop.png[/img]

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... ix/bar.png[/img]

Over the last few months I've been dabbling with this technical stuff... Mecha, futuristic scenery and weaponry. Will it ever make it into a game? Well I'll be honnest, I've never finished a game in my life... but heres to hoping.

This is a prototype of the latest style I'm aiming towards. Like my last attempt, I've not added extras like equipment, this is a bare frame. It even lacks shading at the moment. If required I'll post links to refferences used and my old attempts. Either way, I really would like to progress quickly so fast critisism is needed.

Thank you in advance...

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... ix/bar.png[/img]
Updates:
10th October 08:
>Added the three-framed WIP and animation of the hovering stance. I'm sorry I took so long with this, had other stuff going on in live and kinda lost track of it all. Now I'll slowly get this going again. Enjoy all! Oh and I move all of the images into one section for easy comparing.
>Just finished the first attempt of the head opening in its three stages, first the "mouth" dropping, then the forehead lifting before the eyes parting finally revealing the chair in the center. Quite cramped but highly protected. I've just added the animation to the image list.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... ix/bar.png[/img]
These are the current "finished" parts of the template. Once Ive got a working set of parts, I'll start to compile them into character sets for actual use but thats a little way off yet and be warned. There is likely to be around 5 sets and that is before things like attack animations.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... ix/bar.png[/img]
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/imag ... f15f11.png[/img]http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/34/l_00e667c063d3483799e5779a404e35af.png[/img]http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/55/l_e4073634a97b48eeae4d689ba601f4b1.png[/img]http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/1/l_9c892608544f49289bea17577ef91892.png[/img]http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/19/l_c4cfe1fe283248bdbab588a328cafce7.gif[/img]http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/31/l_96e1c9502d0e4bfabf74765ffaa1541f.png[/img]http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/25/m_f7e27473557541589050dcf20611935d.gif[/img]

Spoiler: Stances and Animations I plan to do

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/a.png[/img]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/B.png[/img]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/C.png[/img]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/H.png[/img]
1. Standard Overview. (The one above)
    This will serve the purpose of being the base for all others.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... icix/E.png[/img]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/F.png[/img]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/G.png[/img]
2. Standard hovering stance. (Thanks SakuraPhoenix for the infor)
    Slightly bent legs with one slightly behind.
    will move up and down a few pixels in the animation to depict the hovering.
             ((Currently working on))

3. Idle / inactive stance.
    Will be a crouched stance with the cockpit open. Will have both a version
    with and without the pilot sitting in it.
   
    For this stance I've decided to fist demo just the movement in the cockpit in the head opening and closing
   while the mecha stays in the upright position. I'll post my work on this soon.

4. Mounting.
    This will be an animation of the above, showing the pilot entering the mecha.

5. Dismounting.
    Opposit of the above.

(more to be added soon)

 

[Despain]

This is actually a really nice start. My big question here is what will these be used for? Are these going to be actual character sprites or something else?

My only real criticism for now is in the feet. On the one on the right side, there's something going on there that I don't really know what it is. On both of them, it looks like they'll fall over any second, because they need something sturdy to hold them up.

 

[The Data Mage]

They will actually become sprites in my game, it's the first part of a template I'll be developing which will include such animations as moving (a hovering animation), strafing and dodging, using close combat and range-type weapons etc etc.

There will be more details added but I need the basic shape to progress and be fine-tuned before i can continue.

The feet is a strange one, these are based on the mecha used in Z.o.E (Zone of the Enders) and Xenosaga. They seem to stand on tip toes almost like a ballarina. The only stabilisation comes from small pads that drop down in the hind of bottom leg.

Spoiler: Jehuty from Z.o.E showing lack of feet

http://www.halifax.it/best/zoe2/img/art/jehuty002_color_sin.jpg[/img]
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/ikuo-k01/jehuty3.jpg[/img]

The amount of boosters and stabilisers that will eventually be added make it very light on it's feet. If it lands for any long period of time, it will go into a crouch position in which the pilot can get out.

EDIT: This is my old thread for my first attempt at this.

 

[Despain]

If I remember correctly, most of the time Jehuty was flying in the air or hovering, and the feet/legs were only really there for stabilization. It's fine if your mech is going to be primarily airborn, but if you want it to walk I'd suggest looking at different mechs for reference, for example gundams. I understand that you're going for a sleek look here, but if it's a walker it physically needs to be able to do so.

Is it intended to be a giant mech or just a human-sized robot? If you could put a human silhouette in comparison to scale it would be tremendously helpful.

 

[The Data Mage]

I don't intend it to walk. The closest thing to walking will be a sort of ice-skating glide that it'll do at ground level.

I've had numerous descussions with clest on sleek designs like those of Z.o.E vs Bulky walking tanks of Gundams or Labors from pat labor. He prefers the walking fortress where as I wanted to go for something that could dart around the skies with little effort. So mine will glide or fly at high speeds. It will also have an animation and views of it flying higher in the sky.

It will be giant-sized. The person will sit high up in the frame, I'll draw a scale image for refference. I will probably have to make a custom template for people as well.

EDIT: I will add many boosters, jets and stabilisation units and equipment which will aid to make the theory of it moving almost weightlessly more credible but I want to know that the body and limbs are an acceptible shape before I continue.

Also, Jehuty had limbs because of the humanistic shape they wanted to give it along with Neith and Anubis. The limbs made the mecha human-like, so even when in battles, it was easier to convey a sort of "we're people in here" not just nameless soldiers in tanks idea if that made sense.

 

[Despain]

If yours is flying and gliding and hovering, then it sounds good to me. With that sort of graceful movement in mind, I'm personally ready to sign off on this thing and say "go for it, let's see the next step".

In addition, though, if you want to make it really sleek, you might consider putting more joints or plates or something in it, if that makes sense. As of now it's very much a METAL HUMAN but if you want something to be very agile and elegant then think about how that would work, metal-wise. For an example you can look at your own reference pictures of Jehuty that you posted -- along the sides, in the neck area, and in the joints are areas that look as though they are made of many smaller pieces rather than a large metal plate. This makes more fluid motion much more plausible.

 

[The Data Mage]

Okay, I'll look into adding some inner-join sections to the arms and legs. I believe I'll be able to make these more visable on the side and back views. I'll stark working on these as soon as I've got these two acceptible. Thank you for your swift response and I'll update this as soon as possible.

 

[SakuraPhoenix]

I really loved Zone of the Enders, so to see someone making sprites of them made me nostalgic.
Would it look more like hovering if the legs are bentslightly back in a 10-15 degree angle? I'm not that great with spriting so I don't know if it's possible to make it look that way from the front or back. But it may be possible with the to see the side view.

 

[The Data Mage]

@SakuraPhoenix:

Well it would be possible... I've got a few pictures where some site was selling toys of jehuty and they have him posed in different positions, I might also download all media videos to see what I can do about pulling key frames to get the best possible refference pictures. As soon as I have a basic acceptable shape, I'll move on to designing side views in this static stance. (which will then be my own refference to making all of the other animations and views).

EDIT: I'll add a list to my first post of all the stances that I plan to animate.

@missingno:

I Split some of the bodies plates to make them more like seperate armor pieces, in theory it would give the body more manuverability. I've also added detail to the neck, inner-elbows and legs (I actually switched the knees around because I thought they looked the wrong way). Here is the result, the left is the newer version and the right, the one I have posted im my first post.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... 2-2c-2.png[/img]

Is it better or worse now? What would you suggest?

 

[Devon Jacobs]

The shoulders don't look like they have joints, that would liumit manieverability severly.

 

[The Data Mage]

On the new version, I've made the shoulder pads, split up into many sections, enabling movement. Should I draw a version with raised arms to show this in action?

 

[Devon Jacobs]

Yeah it would help get  view of actions so that it would be easier to give precise crits and advice.

 

[The Data Mage]

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... /Armup.png[/img]
Here is a quick mock up of the arm raised to a horizontal position.

 

[Axerax]

Hey, I haven't had a chance to look at the thread itself, but just wanna let you know your signature link is broke. It says http://http//www.rmxp.org/forums/index.php?topic=50059

Good luck with your stuff

 

[The Data Mage]

I fixed it. Thank you for the info. I removed the extra hypertext protocall prefix.

 

[The Data Mage]

June 25th Update:

I've added the arms raised stance as requested. I've also moved some stuff around and added various things. Hope it's to the satisfaction of people.

Also, as suggested by SakuraPhoenix, I've started work on a hover stance.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... icix/E.png[/img]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/F.png[/img]http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/gaia-alicix/G.png[/img]

 

[Xcelled]

Oooo wow that looks sweet, even without any shading it looks nice the line work is really smooth, and the hover stance looks believable so far.

 

[The Data Mage]

Thanks ^_^. I'll get to finishing up the side positions then work on an Up facing position for both standard and the hovering stance. Then I might get some animated .gifs up here.

 

[Despain]

great progress so far. i don't really have too much to say at this point because you're definitely going in the right direction with things. i'm looking forward to more complicated stances and the shaded versions.

 

[The Data Mage]

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19 ... icix/H.png[/img]
Added side views. These are early development, so I need some feed back on how to advance them. So far I only have side views for the "standard stance". I'll work on a back view of it before moving onto the hovering sides and back.

I think I'll have to animate the hover. Slight moving of the limbs along with a slow rise and fall. Anything else I should include?

Are there any other stances I should add to my "to do" list?