Super Smash Bros. Imitation: Demo now working

[shyan]

I looked over GrooveMan.exe's thread about the Sprite Project forum, and it seemed here was an appropriate place to show SSBI. Even reading it multiple times, some of it confused me. I hope this is where this kind of topic belongs (really, I was confused between here and Sprite Discussion). In the image posting format, I must also ask if it's forum legal or encouraged to post in animated gifs, entire sprite sheets, or a working demo containing the sprites/animations/physics I've created up to this point. If anyone can clarify, it would be much appreciated! ^^

(I'll maybe delete this box of text, once I'm more familiar with forum expectations)

Big introductory wall of text.

Greetings everyone. This topic is dedicated toward SSBI influenced custom Sprites, Animations, and Art developed by me. I originally only did paper/pencil drawing, but once I have improved my talent, I wanted to go design computer art, which I use MSPaint to develop all my past and present work. I seem to have adapted a strong skill for spriting, so I have pushed myself to master my style. I draw everything using MS Paint w/ mouse, check animations with Game Maker, and (if applicable) send to Lunapic to properly turn into a gif file. All animations were produced from scratch, and I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't take or use them in any way or form.

A note before I begin, some animations are outdated and are unintentionally slowed to 10 fps from their real fps (40-60) automatically through my animation program (Lunapic), please don't point out that they appear animating too slow.

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The style I have used since I began spriting back in 07' varied, until I finally found a style that was unique. I have used this style ever since, and it has influenced all my work to date. Each character uses a black outline surrounding the outer most layer of the character, and I use minimal shading when coloring them in (up to 3 colors per surface). The objective of this spriting project is to mimic the feel of the real game without tracing it's design. No blurs will be used, many frames are incorporated into each animation, and every command for each character will be made when it is finished (including some I "made up". ^^). Well, on to the actual sprites!

Kirby
All animations are also designed for when the character is facing either left or right! Sometimes when I see other regular fighting games (Street Fighter for example) they simply mirror/flip the sprite so the character is usually always facing us. Kirby and each of my other SSBI characters will have different Left/Right poses for each move.













I obviously can't post every sprite/animation of Kirby I've produced by now (60+ animations and 800+ subimages to date)... well, maybe I could. If you like the style and are curious about any future work. Please refer to the most recent game demo, and or follow the topic as I design more sprites. (They're coming, don't worry.)

The Game
Smash Demo v0.8
*Password is my forum name, look for "save file to you PC: click here".
*Contains everything from previous versions, and includes Side tilts and smashes.

These animations, plus a multitude of other animations not listed on this post are viewable in a active gameplay demo. It was produced in GM7, using the GML feature. Although my coding skills are adequate for the demo purposes, I'll need an experienced coder to design a more effective system when SSBI lifts off. The demo should give the player a general feel of the system I'm planning to have. The whole smash out of the arena using abilities thing obviously still exists, with my own little twist on the overall engine. For controls and notes, the game begins by showing them to you.

I have many plans for SSBI that I have not exposed in any of my posts yet, you'll have to wait and see. ^^

This style, known to me as Bealupia style, is quite versatile and effective, I trade marginal detail for simplicity and shape, and I've used it for a very long time. In time, I may be able to produce more complex characters and animation using this style, as I always put in maximum effort in everything I do.


Other works SSBI related: (Quite older)
Robotnik and Astrobotnik - Off style
Kirby on a spinning Trophy - Is a sprite
More that I haven't uploaded by now...

I am working very busily on animations. (Current: Kirby's Left Flip Kick)

I hope you liked what you saw, and I'll be able to continue making them until both of these large projects are all completed! Thanks for viewing! ^^

[Tea]

Why not help with the Smash Bros project? Cuz these are pretty nice sprites, albeit a little pillowshaded.

[shyan]

Well, I began spriting Kirby like this back in April of last year without much original intention of doing anthing this huge with it, but the idea has evolved into one of my two favorite personal projects.

The light source is defined from the upper left, so depending on the surfaces shape and material, the darker shade was placed in the opposite corner. Shinier surfaces get a more noticable glow near the light, but on some others this is completely absent. All the sprites also have a darker inline around the outline as well, and it's part of the style design.

[Baegal]

on the one with kirby spinning on the trophy, you need to make the bottom part (the shading or something) move too, because it looks like the trophy is standing still and the top of it is spinning in circles

[triptych]

wow uh

unless you plan of having this entire game run in SUPER SLOW MOTION with absolutely no power behind any of the attacks

there is literally no reason to use THAT many frames in /any/ of the animations you posted
actually no even then

there would never be any reason to ever use that many frames in an animation for a game ever

[shyan]

To Baegal>
The trophy base is completely round and flat, from my observation. Perhaps I was unsure if it required spinning as well since the light remains constant, there was something ippy with the arms and legs during some of the rotation frames, but I was going to fix those someday.

To principal wilson>
These are indeed for a game I am designing. Oh, and my animation program (Lunapic) slows all the animations to 10 fps from their original speed, so they appear in slow motion. Apparently, 10 fps is the fastest that program can allow.

[CeeY]

You might want to speed up the frame-rate. It will get rid of the lag and increase the quality of the animation.

[shyan]

To CeeY>
I've been trying to figure out what was causing everything I was animating through Lunapic to become slowed to 10 frames per second from their original speeds (which is 4-6x faster), but to clarify I bolded a line on the first post.

I thought I should fix the link containing my most recent demo, this is the actual game file:
Smash Demo v0.8
*Password is my forum name, look for "save file to you PC: click here".

It contains everything up to previous versions, with added features as well. If you have the time, please take the time to try it out. If you get confused about techniques or controls, just read the notes. Up to this point in its progression, I've used the judgement and advice of people I know to help the physics engine, changes to game mechanics, camera, and image quality (even then the demo is far from perfect).

Press R to restart if you fall off the stage for whatever reason.

[Locked Achievement]

Can you save this as a file where you don't have to download anything? like making it an online game?

[Tea]

Nice engine there.

[triptych]

To principal wilson>
These are indeed for a game I am designing. Oh, and my animation program (Lunapic) slows all the animations to 10 fps from their original speed, so they appear in slow motion. Apparently, 10 fps is the fastest that program can allow.

nonononono

you completely missed my point

i'm not complaining that they look like they're in slow motion, i'm stating that because you're using WAY too many frames in any given animation, they appear like they're in slow motion


take kirby's punch for instance
here's your version:

you may not have noticed this because you were working on it for so long(?), but because there's so many frames here, it loses both a LOT of power, but seems to be focusing more on fluidity than actual effectiveness of the attack.
now i'm not saying fluidity of an animation isn't important, but when it comes to an attack, the actual power of the attack should be the main focus


here's your animation again, with only 8 of the 15 original frames remaining. not only has the power behind the attack increased, but the attack itself now comes off as an actual attack rather than an extension of the arm. and no fluidity was lost in the reduction of frames!


honestly, there would never be any reason to use the amount of frames you have in these animations

[Locked Achievement]

Yeah, a lot of those poses are very, very slow. just get rid of a few frames, as wailson did, because tey look much more flowing

[shyan]

Your point is valid and taken, princaipal wailson; but I intend to share my honest opinion.

When comparing the two animations, one contains 16 subimages (the original) and the other 8 subimages. One does indeed appear to be accelerated (twice as quickly) since it contains half of the images used in the original. This effect could also be achieved by increasing the speed of the longer animation (x2) to match the speed of the quicker version, except the longer animation fills inbetween the gaps of the shorter animation (hopefully, involving greater detail). I would never hold back on anything I do, using fewer images to convey an animation is the easy way out; any animation can use an appropriate number of images as long as it still holds the feel of the animation chosen, in some cases more images are required to make the move believable without using blurring effects.

The lag in the punch is intentional, because it's waiting for user input if they wish to use the second punch in the string of attacks. If the initial punch recovered too quickly, it could become more safe to use as a quick poke. Everything I've sprited and animated, was animated so with a reason. Any one completed animation can take anywhere between 1-4+ hours, based on the complexity of the character and action I want to achieve. Time is really not too much concern, because if I can achieve the desired effect and look, it was worth every second.

If you hadn't already done so, please take the time to try the demo. I'm sure it can reinforce everything I've been trying to describe as there is rarely ever an animation that can have 'too' many images. (To Aurapigonstilts: Sorry, it was built in Game Maker, I'm afraid it wouldn't be able to play in your browser).

[LunchPolice]

I downloaded the demo.

The animations were impressively fluid, and the engine itself was quite good as well.
Anyone who thinks the animations are too slow should play the demo and see them at their proper framerate.

[Baegal]

you're not understanding the point.

Making less frames for an animation isn't the "easy way out", it actually makes a lot look better.
The reduction of certain frames is needed to get the desired effect for something like a punch or kick.
If everything had the exact amount of frames for a motion, it would look like it's in some sort of slow motion, no matter how fast the framerate is needed.