Forests in DC

[Dinonykos]

I have just finished my first attempt of combining walls and backdrops to simulate a very dense forests. Below is an ingame-animation:

[LurchBrick]

Excellent work! That worked a lot better than I thought it would.

[Dinonykos]

Thanks LB! I think it could still be improved (e.g. the branches in the ceiling could be less horizontally directed and the connections with the trees are far from being perfect), but I am quite happy with the look.
I will add some more understorey-overlays and perhaps a second "trunk-wall"-set to make it look a litte more "natural".

[manikus]

Excellent work, my friend.

This is superior to my own efforts along these lines. (I was going for more of an arched ceiling look, and it wasn't/isn't working for me.)

Some ideas for things you might add -
varied trunk widths, knobs or knots or small branches on some of the trunks, a root system overlay, a bird or other creature sitting on a branch. All of these ideas are just icing on the cake. I guess the flavor of the cake would be Blackwood Forest Chocolate.

Thanks for another amazing example of what we can strive for in DC.

[Dinonykos]

Originally Posted by manikus This is superior to my own efforts along these lines. (I was going for more of an arched ceiling look, and it wasn't/isn't working for me.)

Well, I made it very simple with these 90° branches.

Originally Posted by manikus Some ideas for things you might add - varied trunk widths, knobs or knots or small branches on some of the trunks, a root system overlay, a bird or other creature sitting on a branch.

Yep, my wife also mentioned that the trunks might look a little less uniform. I planned on adding more ferns, mushrooms and a door-like bush. There will probably be some small animals in the scenario, but in form of sprites, not as walls/overlays.

Originally Posted by manikus All of these ideas are just icing on the cake. I guess the flavor of the cake would be Blackwood Forest Chocolate.

I am not aware of a special Blackwood Forest Chocolate. To me, the best chocolate is Ritter Sport (apart from some fair-traded chocolate, but I am at the moment not sure if it is really from Germany). Okay, as far as I know that company is at least close to the german Blackwood Forest. Did you perhaps refer to another Blackwood forest?

Originally Posted by manikus Thanks for another amazing example of what we can strive for in DC.

I always do my best! I have added some animations to the intro-page of my homepage (some of them were posted earlier).

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Dinonykos I am not aware of a special Blackwood Forest Chocolate. To me, the best chocolate is Ritter Sport (apart from some fair-traded chocolate, but I am at the moment not sure if it is really from Germany). Okay, as far as I know that company is at least close to the german Blackwood Forest. Did you perhaps refer to another Blackwood forest?

In the U.S. there are two Blackforest named items that I am fond of: Blackforest Ham and Blackforest Chocolate Cake. Though a quick Google search shows me that I should be writing "Black Forest", but the café I worked at always listed it as one word, though it's been 8 or 9 years, I may very well be wrong. Regardless, the cake is delicious.

Originally Posted by Dinonykos I always do my best! I have added some animations to the intro-page of my homepage (some of them were posted earlier).

Very nice. Sometime when you have a moment, you should think about writing a tutorial on how you make these animated images so that others can do it to show off their work. As I'm sure you are aware, they are much more effective than a simple screenshot at showing an area. No hurry, but something to think about for your tutorial section. I've got one ready that I just need to put together in a .gif image for the Beta page.

[SilentThief]

I was trying to make a large tree trunk with a door in it once, but failed dismally. Since then I've begun a new artwork idea and haven't tried the forest look.

As for the demo of the forest, excellewnt work as always Dynonikos!

ST

[Dinonykos]

Originally Posted by SilentThief As for the demo of the forest, excellewnt work as always Dynonikos!

Thank you very much, but it is "Dinonykos"...

Originally Posted by manikus In the U.S. there are two Blackforest named items that I am fond of: Blackforest Ham and Blackforest Chocolate Cake. Though a quick Google search shows me that I should be writing "Black Forest", but the café I worked at always listed it as one word, though it's been 8 or 9 years, I may very well be wrong. Regardless, the cake is delicious.

I am very sorry, I made my old mistake and confused "cake" with "cookie"! Indeed, there is the very famous "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte" (including chocolate and cherries) and the "Schwarzwälder Schinken"! Both are very delicuous. I was perhaps confused because the blackforest cake needs to include chocolate AND cherries! Otherwise it is a fake. It is interesting that it is not named blackforest cherry cake/torte...

Originally Posted by manikus Very nice. Sometime when you have a moment, you should think about writing a tutorial on how you make these animated images so that others can do it to show off their work. As I'm sure you are aware, they are much more effective than a simple screenshot at showing an area. No hurry, but something to think about for your tutorial section. I've got one ready that I just need to put together in a .gif image for the Beta page.

I do not think that it is neccessary to write a tutorial on the animations... I take screenshots from the editor and put them into Animation Shop (which was part of the Paint-Shop-Pro-9 package). There are some other programs out there that would also work (. You should certainly use a screenshot-program that allows to capture only a specific area of the screen, otherwise you would have to cut the 3dview area out of the screenshot.

Originally Posted by manikus Thanks for another amazing example of what we can strive for in DC.

I have one left:



However, I will probably add some details to the bridge and perhaps improve the brook. But at least this shows that we theoretically can do quite complex structures in DC.

[Dinonykos]

I think the main reason why I have not yet finished an adventure (I am also refering to Stephan1980's thread here) and spend so much time in developing graphics is that I wanted to have some certain elements: harbours with at least one ship, several kinds of forests/jungles, bridges and rivers/brooks, houses with at least two levels, convincing sewers, round walls, convincing furniture and backgrounds that look naturally. This aspect is 99% completed, and I will only do additional walls for special events, e.g. NPC walls or secret doors, or if somebody asks me to make a specific wall. (The high pines are on the way, Manikus, and I have already finished some overlays for the trunks - roots, bushes, twigs, mushrooms - to make the dark forest look more organic .)

The other thing was that I wanted an alternative combat system that allowed to remain in the 3D view and to keep brutality on a low level, e.g. by allowing the enemies to flee or to negotiate during combat. This system finally also works very fine, I'm going to post screenshots sooner or later. However, it is really quite complicated, so I doubt that I will be able to write a tutorial on that that beginners can understand. But I will post the scripts and the Logic-Block structures on my homepage when I find the time. I hope that this is enough ...

[manikus]

I also use Animation Shop and agree that it seems easy to do, but you and I are graphically inclined. I think for many people it is a lot harder to figure out. I had suggested that you do it because I was feeling lazy, but I think I will do it when I get home from school tonight.

As for the Blackforest cake, to me the cherries are secondary (but still deliscious). Actually, the best piece I ever had was a special order cake that substituted raspberries for the cherries. My favorite berry/fruit filling is frutti di bosco (um, let's see, in English that would be 'fruit of the forest')

As for why you do what you do with DC and why that hasn't yet resulted in a released adventure, I believe a lot of the regulars in this forum are in that boat. I have some ideas that translate relatively well to DC, but my big ones (the secret ones) have been worked on for years just to find ways around the limitations of both the graphics and the engine. I have a modern day project that will include no magic, use as realistic as possible graphics and maps of real places and include no traditional combat (everything will be in the 3D view or using the big pictures). I've been working on this for close to 8 years (admittedly not very much the last two or three) and am still a long way from the first promotional screenshot.
And like you, I've tried just about every game creator there is and none of them are what I want, but this one is the closest and I think one of the easiest to use. (I freely admit that I'm a little biased.)