Khalifate facelift: Redux

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Sleepwalker
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Khalifate facelift: Redux

Post by Sleepwalker »

Hi

Of all the custom factions out there the Kalifa are the only ones so far with any chance of ever making mainline. One of the reasons they haven't is because their graphics aren't up to the current wesnoth standards. Sadly no one has had the time, will or ability etc. to improve them.



Noy has asked me to help with this and I agreed. I took a little break from the portrait I was making and revamped the base frame for the first unit, the Ahadath:

Do you think it's good enough for mainline?

EDIT: Realized he was a tiny bit too tall, dwarfed him with one pixel row.

EDIT2: Fixed his shoes.
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Ahadath.png
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Last edited by Sleepwalker on December 12th, 2012, 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Longbow
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Longbow »

That's cool, he is nice and shiny like most mainline graphics at least.

I'm no artist but it looks good enough for mainline to me, but possibly slightly taller, I think level 1 normal units should be 38px tall (something like that) and he looks a bit tiny compared to my avatar...

:)
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by JW »

Sleepwalker wrote:Of all the custom factions out there the Kalifa are the only ones so far with any chance of ever making mainline. One of the reasons they haven't is because their graphics aren't up to the current wesnoth standards.
The Kalifa do need a facelift. Maybe you'd be interested in more UMC once you're done with these guys? :wink:
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Thrawn
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Thrawn »

sleepwalker-even if kalifa do not ever make it into default, EE is an incredibly popular era, and making art in it better would be greatly appreciated by all.

That looks really nice ^_^
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Sapient »

I am definitely in favor of Kalifa revival, since I found them to be a very fun faction to play as ... except when they level up and look goofy :P , but with some new sprites you can take care of that issue.

I can't give a ton of feedback on this, because I'm not a great artist myself. However, there's something a little stiff about the look of his axe and shield being so straight up-and-down.
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Max »

Sleepwalker wrote:Of all the custom factions out there the Kalifa are the only ones so far with any chance of ever making mainline. One of the reasons they haven't is because their graphics aren't up to the current wesnoth standards.
Have i missed a major update? All i can see is a faction with single frame units, no portraits and very basic unit descriptions. It might be fun to play, but i looks to me as if that's as far away from mainline as it can get.

(I'm still amazed by that Thrall - it's an incredibly cute, but still ghastly guy.)

Emphasis added by Thrawn--hope it sinks in
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Noy »

Max

This is a thread about Kalifa art (and encouragement for Sleepwalker), not your personal commentary about the Kalifa's appropriateness for mainline.

Take it elsewhere.
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Jetrel »

:D Wow, that's really nice, and in terms of quality it looks up to mainline standards. I especially like what you did with giving the face some expressiveness. You might flare out the leg of his garment on our left side by a pixel or two, for balance, but overall you've done a very good job with this.
Max2008 wrote:
Sleepwalker wrote:Of all the custom factions out there the Kalifa are the only ones so far with any chance of ever making mainline. One of the reasons they haven't is because their graphics aren't up to the current wesnoth standards.
Have i missed a major update? All i can see is a faction with single frame units, no portraits and very basic unit descriptions. It might be fun to play, but i looks to me as if that's as far away from mainline as it can get.Emphasis added by Thrawn--hope it sinks in
I agree with that - I don't plan on lowering the requirements to mainline something in order to grandfather something in. However, the first step is to get good base images, so let's not discourage that. Rome wasn't built in a day.
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by doofus-01 »

Hi,

The sprite looks good, though as Sapient said it looks a little stiff. Maybe that could be a defense frame?

Edited. As I said above, this thread is for discussion of art. Take your uninformed speculation elsewhere.

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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Turuk »

Noy just made an edit to point this out. Why do I have to reiterate it? No one should have kept posting in the same fashion.


This is a thread in the art workshop. Making that jump in logic, it is therefore about the art for the Kalifa. Not for idle speculation, not for your opinion on if they will be mainline worthy or not, and not for random comments about what you think of the Kalifa as a faction.

Posts following mine will be on-topic and pertinent to giving the OP critiques, encouragement or advice. Anything else will be deleted.
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Sangel »

I like it a lot. The pose is solid, the costuming convincing, and the perspective works. If you can sustain this kind of quality level, the Kalifa will look as good as the mainline factions (at least in terms of base frames).

I'd like to see a little bit more variation in shading/saturation on the body armour (the rest is fine), but that's a personal preference. When Jetryl's giving the thumbs up, you know you're in pretty good shape.
Jetryl wrote::D Wow, that's really nice, and in terms of quality it looks up to mainline standards. I especially like what you did with giving the face some expressiveness. You might flare out the leg of his garment on our left side by a pixel or two, for balance, but overall you've done a very good job with this.
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by TL »

It's a small thing, but I'd second Sangel's comment: his greenish coat thing does look a tiny bit flat, particularly the bottom part (skirt?) Still, nice work, very crisp.
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Unnheulu »

It is probably just me, but his right leg seems like its on his toes, not the base of his foot.

Like I said its probably ust me, and if you dont see it, great!
Great work, keep it up. :)
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by Sleepwalker »

About the chance for mainlining thing; I've been told this faction has the biggest chance from a balance perspective to get in, not because of graphics or that they have a developed background or any such stuff. I can help with the graphics so lets leave it at that.

Longbow: He is one pixel shorter than an elf fighter from toes to eye height, and I read somewhere that elves are supposed to be slightly taller than humans in wesnoth. So hes probably about right height. The new nagas look wider because of their tails and for example their big floppy ears.

JW: That might be a possibility. :)


OK, I widened the coat flaps to the left a little as you pointed out jetryl. About the apparent flatness of the coat things shading, by the reference I was using it looked kind of thick and stiff, for added protection I suspect. My reference also shows that there's a mail shirt underneath. If I add cloth folds and stuff on it it wouldn't look that thick anymore... so I'm not sure what i can do. Still, I made some light alterations on it on the lower part.

I don't think he has a very stiff posture while compared to some already in mainline :wink: . I changed the way he holds his axe slightly anyway. I don't want to change his shield, he looks battle ready i think.

xer, I can see why you think that, tweaked his shoes a bit again. I believe it looks better now.


And now, here's the revamp of the Amir. Noy says he won't have his spear anymore as it's unbalancing towards drakes. Kind of turned out too look a bit like a samurai... But some persian troops had resemblances to samurai so meh, he has the gear from my references. I think the wesnoth style has something to do with it (bigger heads, hands and feet).

He has a lot of TC colors on him as I couldn't figure out a good color for his shirt/skirt.

Thoughts?
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Ahadath.png
Ahadath.png (5.18 KiB) Viewed 15334 times
Amir.png
Amir.png (5.04 KiB) Viewed 15345 times
Last edited by Sleepwalker on January 31st, 2009, 3:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Kalifa facelift

Post by thespaceinvader »

His arms (in fact, the arms of both units) seem a little too short to me. There doesn't seem to be much forearm on either of them. but other than that, great work =) And I agree about the first guy's feet. Putting the soles of his feet at a slightly flatter angle would help.

If they help, you're welcome to make some use of my old desert folk sprites - I was eventually planning on making a faction and/or campaign out of them, but i doubt very much I'll ever get round to it... The last one never really got finished, but I like his helm, so i thought i'd include him.
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