[Exult Mod] Savage Empire Total Conversion, Bello!!! Opzioni

[The Ancient One]

Dopo una lunga pausa di oltre un anno, sono ripresi (come già annunciato qualche settimana fa anche su queste pagine) i lavori su questo promettente mod.
Per ora si trova in una fase iniziale, dedicata alla creazione della grafica.

Prima discussione sul Phorum di Exult
Stato di avanzamento del progetto

Stato dei lavori

During the past few days, I have been tinkering with Gimp and shape files. I'm not ready to show anything yet, but I will soon. I will list the objects currently completed/almost (needs tweaked) completed:

1.)Stone Oven - as seen in the Kurak village. It is based off of the original, but modified. The colors are different, and there is more detail. I am considering making separate frames to animate the fire when the player/npc uses it. I am very pleased with how this shape turned out.

2.)Bow - based off of the original, but applied to the Ultima VII bow frames. Again, I am quite pleased, but one frame needs tweaked.

3.)Bamboo Endtable - uses U7 wooden endtable as a base. IMO, it looks better than the original, but maybe to bright a green...

4.)Bedroll - both inventory and in use positions are done. They are based off of the ones used by the pc/npc's while resting in the original.

5.)Jaguar Skin Rug - based off of the S.I. leopard rug, modifed to look like the original. I am thinking of making a bedroll with that and the folded skin, just for different options for the player. There will be frames for each cardinal direction. Many items will get this treatment.

6.)Jaguar cloak - just a recolored leopard cloak. I create or recolor extra items here and there, which weren't in the original, but might be added for more depth.

7.) 2 Large and 2 Small Mats - I tried to give them a basket-weave look. One large and small mat retain colors similar to the original, while the other two are much more dark and green in color.

8.)One Large and One Small Stalk of Bamboo - These are basically finished, maybe a tad bit more tweaking to go. They both have leaves. I'm considering making more frames with the leaves in different positions, for a more varied look. I'm also tempted to animate leaves slowly falling from the stalks. I haven't worked on animating anything with them falling after attacked yet, but I have some ideas...

9.)Crate - wooden crates that are very similar to the ones in Rafkin's lab are complete, with a recolored ship's hold gump. I used the ship's hold gump, since it is wooden and square.

10.)Basket - recolored U7 basket to look like the original. I used the basket gump from Ultima VIII, moved the handles on it to match the actual item, and used the bag gump as a base. Actually, I had to move the handles, because the checkmark overlapped the handle, but now its better. I also recolored the U8 gump to match the basket.

11.)Metal Buckets - three frames- empty, water, and tar. Complete.

12.)Inventory Bamboo Poles - for making rifles and stuff. When harvested, the pole will be green, and must be kiln-dried in the oven, turning it yellow and making it usable for projects(well, thats the idea anyway!).

13.)3 Main Shields - The 3 main shields are done, but the frames for leaning or hanging them need work. I want to have shields and spears hanging on the walls of certain dwellings.

14.)Spear - 90% complete, needs tweaked. I tried to make the spearhead look either like obsidian or flint.

15.) Player Gumps -

a.)Paperdoll Gump - Beta version is complete. I call it a beta, because I might change the style a bit, but I haven't decided. All of the icons are replaced with S.E. interface-icons. They animate like the originals, and they all function properly. The stone head from the top of the screen in the original is used in certain parts of the GUI. He replaces the Disk Icon, and blinks with red eyes when you click him.

b.)Stat Tab- Complete.

c.)Tactics Tab - Complete. Halo is replaced with the Stone Head. Unprotected=eyes closed, Protected=eyes open and blue in color.

d.)Check mark - recolored to green.

...and the last item to mention for now is............


16.)Bamboo Walls - Nearly complete. I have something I am finally pleased with, but I have to finish the corner-pillar piece. After that, I'll do the thatched roof tiles, tweak the door, and create a curtain and shutter for the windows, wall hangings, etc. I'm going to create another wall set that is similar, but with vertical bamboo instead of horizontal bamboo. This is due to my idea of giving each tribe unique dwellings.

I have alpha versions (one frame each) of Rafkin, the default S.E. Avatar. I have decided that each tribe will have unique clothing (what little they will be wearing). For example, the Kuraks clothing will be all made of jaguar skin. I'm still working with the swing bridge. I may go with one that looks more like the original (using U7 boards), but either way, I'll be using the rope railings, since they are working so well. I also have a log graphic from Ultima VIII that I'm going to modify for this T.C.

I think thats it for now. I have a few things started but not finished yet. I have a .gif of all of the original tiles, and I black out each item that I complete, sort of like a checklist. When all of the objects are done, I'll start experimenting with chunk tiles and mountain tiles. I have decided that I will use some items from the SNES version as a base, but everything will be tweaked.

More info to come soon!

Scythifuge

[The Ancient One]

Settimana prossima forse i nuovi screenshot!

Just an update:

I am going to be out of town for the weekend, and will not be on the net. I'm going to have my pc, so I'll be working on S.E. in my spare time. I am trying to get things ready so that I can post pics of the new stuff by the end of next week.

There are some obstacles that I must overcome to meet the screenshot-goal. My bamboo walls all are the thickness of doors, which looks realistic and nice. However, my variations of the corner post do not line up with all of the pieces, even pieces that align properly with everything else. I have an idea that may overcome this situation, and it involves drawing posts in slightly different positions. My posts are not as thick as the originals, because then they would look out of place and silly. The way I see it, most of the posts and walls are of the same thickness, and thus align properly. Because all of my walls are as thick as doors, I will need a post for each position that doesn't align. It is kind of annoying, but not hard to do. I may also tweak the colors of the walls, since they seem a bit too bright.

When I create a new weapon or armor piece, the avatar will not equip them. He holds them like a regular object, or they go into the backpack. However, if I replace an original U7 weapon or armor piece, then they work perfectly. Again, not much of a problem, as there are enough U7 weapons and armor that I can replace them with everything from S.E., but it is agitating. After this mod, I'm thinking about an original, non-Ultima game, and that would need more weapons and armor.

A couple of new objects go underneath objects that are at the lowest point, and I have no clue why this is. If I click the object on top, it will select the object that went underneath. There are other things that need tweaked, but these are the major ones.

Newly completed items are the one-handed macauhuitl, and the aztec cloth armor.