Just some rough line work and AO bake to map everything out. Might add a little more geo to the shoulders and thigh plates to sell the overlapping metal better.
I'm using the BPainter addon which is a pretty decent alternative to 3Dcoat especially since you don't have to leave blender. Just takes some getting used to the setup.
So that plan changed reeeeeaaaal fast. The process takes way too long for what I have time for these days so I'm trying to figure out a different approach which is based more on the original style of value fills with pixelated line work and adding color with some edge highlights. I'm also going to test out a stepped lighting shader and maybe use an outline shader on select parts of the mesh.
Still need to do some minor detailing and bake down the chainmail and clean it up but here's a WIP of what I'm thinking.
Here's a paintover I did for the footsoldier enemy (probably going to make changes to the design since it's now even more similar to the player character)
Got the new model in engine and ended up stripping the color out again, lol. Can't seem to break away from the original grayscale aesthetic but I'll probably do some more color experimentation.
I need to figure out how I'm going to handle character shadows soon, too. Since I intend to have a lot of enemies on screen I'm sort of leaning at the old-school "blob shadow" approach with just a plane and a black circle with soft edges. Could write a little bit of logic to have it still draw on the ground when jumping but otherwise keep it super simple.
I haven't been able to find a solution for dynamic shadows that doesn't completely destroy the dark atmosphere I'm trying to create so I've been experimenting with non-projector-based blob shadows. Since I want to have a lot of enemies on screen at once I thought this might be the better route to go.
I'd like to expand on this a little more with maybe scaling the shadow the higher the character is off the surface and maybe adjust the opacity as well but for now it's just some super simple logic.
Finally got around to making some updates to the base skeleton. I reduced the polycount by about 4k in just the fingers and toes and increased the head size a bit. Also playing around with getting the textures to read better in engine.
bout shadows hmm would be good to see some more of the character movements and such in them, right arm left arm strikes ect. Otherwise cool updates. If it is not do-able its not do-able, its cool just something i thought on first glance.
@iam717 thanks for the feedback! Honestly, I just don't know enough about lighting in Unity, lol. I'd like to get better shadows in the future but for now I'm just cutting some corners and going with a bit more of that PS1 method.
Excited to get back to this project and going to explore the hand-painted look again. Started cleaning up the textures on the base skeleton, keeping the values pretty clamped for this pass.
Thank you @Lord McMutton, I did have a lot of fun with the monochromatic look quite a bit; It allowed me to spend more time focusing on learning other disciplines without being so concerned with polished artwork.
Replies
cool stuff dude!
Thanks @killnpc I'm really looking forward to reworking the enemies because who doesn't like to make skeletons!
Such a cool style !! Love the snappy animations
Thanks @MarchandVenter I'm having a lot of fun with it!
Just some rough line work and AO bake to map everything out. Might add a little more geo to the shoulders and thigh plates to sell the overlapping metal better.
I'm using the BPainter addon which is a pretty decent alternative to 3Dcoat especially since you don't have to leave blender. Just takes some getting used to the setup.
Got a general lighting/form pass done with some planar definition and color blocked in.
So that plan changed reeeeeaaaal fast. The process takes way too long for what I have time for these days so I'm trying to figure out a different approach which is based more on the original style of value fills with pixelated line work and adding color with some edge highlights. I'm also going to test out a stepped lighting shader and maybe use an outline shader on select parts of the mesh.
Still need to do some minor detailing and bake down the chainmail and clean it up but here's a WIP of what I'm thinking.
Here's a paintover I did for the footsoldier enemy (probably going to make changes to the design since it's now even more similar to the player character)
Trying out some toon lighting in blender
Painting weights getting the new model onto the Knight rig. I also picked up the Lazy Weight Tool addon for blender so trying that out.
Got the new model in engine and ended up stripping the color out again, lol. Can't seem to break away from the original grayscale aesthetic but I'll probably do some more color experimentation.
I need to figure out how I'm going to handle character shadows soon, too. Since I intend to have a lot of enemies on screen I'm sort of leaning at the old-school "blob shadow" approach with just a plane and a black circle with soft edges. Could write a little bit of logic to have it still draw on the ground when jumping but otherwise keep it super simple.
I haven't been able to find a solution for dynamic shadows that doesn't completely destroy the dark atmosphere I'm trying to create so I've been experimenting with non-projector-based blob shadows. Since I want to have a lot of enemies on screen at once I thought this might be the better route to go.
I'd like to expand on this a little more with maybe scaling the shadow the higher the character is off the surface and maybe adjust the opacity as well but for now it's just some super simple logic.
Finally got around to making some updates to the base skeleton. I reduced the polycount by about 4k in just the fingers and toes and increased the head size a bit. Also playing around with getting the textures to read better in engine.
bout shadows hmm would be good to see some more of the character movements and such in them, right arm left arm strikes ect. Otherwise cool updates. If it is not do-able its not do-able, its cool just something i thought on first glance.
@iam717 thanks for the feedback! Honestly, I just don't know enough about lighting in Unity, lol. I'd like to get better shadows in the future but for now I'm just cutting some corners and going with a bit more of that PS1 method.
Put together a quick gameplay video using the new player model. Can't wait to get back to this project.
Did a paintover of one of my sketches for a flying skull enemy idea recently. Might have to model it once I get back to this project.
The sketch
I love watching this progress!
Well done, keep up the great work!
Excited to get back to this project and going to explore the hand-painted look again. Started cleaning up the textures on the base skeleton, keeping the values pretty clamped for this pass.
I do love the grayscale aesthetic- it's very striking!
It benefits quite a bit from the enemies being skeletons, what with their bright bones contrasting with the mid-gray environments.
Also echoing the love for the proportions.
Keep at it!
Thank you @Lord McMutton, I did have a lot of fun with the monochromatic look quite a bit; It allowed me to spend more time focusing on learning other disciplines without being so concerned with polished artwork.