New poacher art?

[Turuk]

See, I am still here

The offering was sufficient to draw you out.

[Crow_T]

I stuck these in game and the heads, in particular the face bandanas, looked off. I've attached some edits. They do look pretty dark here, in Firefox, but in Wesnoth read better (although just playing now they are a bit dark compared to other outlaw units)

[Zerovirus]

Nope, those sprites you posted at the bottom of the last page aren't mine, and I don't know who made them. (It feels like I really should know, though.) With regards to the proposal in the first post, I'd be happy seeing them in-game, maybe with a bit of work on the bows, which have some really stark outlines right now.

E: Looking at'em again, they might actually be Jetrel's work. I mostly imitated his style with my whole 'super thin feet' thing, and the edge highlights and color palettes remind me of his style.

[Telchin]

It might be too late to critique these sprites and I'm far from an artist, that said while I agree that they seem to be of higher quality, I'm afraid I'll have problems telling them apart. In the old/current sprites the unit changes color of his clothes as he levels up (poacher=yellow, trapper=black, huntsman=brown). While I don't demand that the color change remains and I'm aware that there are some changes in the costumes, I'm afraid that they're too subtle. (I already have similiar problem with elvish archer's upgrades, as they're all green-clothed blonde archers.) Does anybody else feel the same?

[Crow_T]

I think the color issue is still being hammered out.

[Sylar]

I wish I could experimentalize with all these changes that you mentioned about 'couse it may be that all of you have right in some way, but I think I will better wait for Jetrel's reply, after all everything depends on him.
About distinguishing the levels, we can give knife to passive picture of Trapper maybe, or, like Telchin said, give them different colours. Maybe they should change like a leaf during the season changes? First green, then yellow, and finally brown. I suggest to reject black due to some of you say that poacher should be more like forest ranger that a bandit.

[Turuk]

I wish I could experimentalize with all these changes that you mentioned about 'couse it may be that all of you have right in some way, but I think I will better wait for Jetrel's reply, after all everything depends on him.

TSI is in an equal position to critique and pass judgement, his opinion is just as valid for what is viable to be committed. I would go by his post and see what other advice he comes back with, you may be waiting a bit for Jetrel, though he is just as likely to appear as TSI did.

[Jetrel]

They need to have a fairly dramatic difference in the appearance of the levels; as the in-game ones do. (This has been a fairly common mistake I've made earlier in my days here, where I've come up with a new sprite, and tried to 'rush things' for the other levels by doing some quick-and-dirty edits).

What you've come up with is a fairly good single-level treatment for, say, L2 or somesuch, but it's definitely not going to be viable, spread across multiple levels the way you'd suggested - the sprites are just too similar.

So pick a given single level of unit you want to go after with this, and let's take a shot at it.


(Fwiw, those guys on the previous page were mine; they didn't go in the game because I wasn't happy with them at the time - amongst other things I'm not a fan of the goofy 'tiny feet' thing, since they're at the wrong angle in this particular sprite to render like that - I had been trying to get away from the oversized rendering used on some of our other sprites, but what I did here wasn't right. If you want, we could maybe mix some of them in? The real thing we need is help with the animations.)

[Sylar]

During after-dinner free time, I've prepared this:

Actually we have the first unit here, with some cosmetic changes:
-hair & clothes colour (my own palette; now jacket is made from 4 colours)
-corrected position
-corrected bow (if I understood correctly 0Virus' comments)
-brighter contours
-smaller bandama
-shadow edited but now I think there is something wrong with it

Then I want to thank you Jetrel for comments but I'm not shure if I know what do You mean (sometimes my English super-ability doesn't work correctly ). So firstly, You said that I should pick one of my units and create new two levels basing on picked one? If it's true, I would'nt choose lvl 2 unit becouse it's weaker than the other two in my opinion, but I can't decide between lvl 1 or 3- both are good. Next, you advising me to mix parts from your poacher unit tree version with mine or I readed something incorrectly? And what about animation? If U mean that single unit tree, I hope that animations that I've made are good enough to just correct them end use- after all, these animations are based on the default ones, like I said.
Sorry and please be patient if I understood something in wrong way.

[StandYourGround]

What Jetrel was saying was to focus on replacing one of the mainline poacher units with the general design you have here, and think about new designs for the other mainline unit. Basically, this design is perfect for one, but can't work for all of them at once.

[Sylar]

I believe that my 1st lvl unit is the best to replace it with the mainline and then make other levels basing on him, but maybe it should be decided by the general public interested in this topic.
BTW, I have next poacher edit: comparing him to the other archery units I observed that my unit is too big for lvl 1 archer, so I've cutted him a bit. Also changed torso style, but maybe unnecessary?

Edit: For Chief, I've made another version, with jacket more like in the older one, with changed belt also. Still I have a feeling that the first one in this post is more esthetic, but belt can be changed to the new one.

[Chief_Chasso]

I like the original torso style better. The belt on this new torso seems to be a bit off- maybe make it more curved?

Edit:
@Sylar- The updated version is really cool. But I have to agree with you- I actually like the original belt better. I just wasn't sure why you changed it? I'm a non-artist, but for what it's worth, keep up the good work!

[Vyncyn]

I really like those new designs for the poacher and the new colour fits in better than the black one, you made first.
But i think it may be a bit too bright. A greener or darker hue might be more fitting.

[Jetrel]

I believe that my 1st lvl unit is the best to replace it with the mainline and then make other levels basing on him, but maybe it should...

Yeah, I think you should avoid designing the other levels too strongly around the first one - they need to look more different than you've shown thus far.

[Sylar]

So generally, can I work on the next lvls personally? That's kind of you. But from the 8 of July I'm going to the UK to get some cash for studies or eventually stay there a bit longer and I'm not shure if I will find a time to work on the units. I hope I will but I thought it will be better to warn You.