Alternative 2d-content

[Kahvipannu84]

If I'll do some alternative 2d stuff, I'll post it here.

Here's a quick small change, the rank icons. I found them a bit hard to distinguise from each other, so I made them a bit easier to figure out straight away the rank. I kept the same style.

The folder "ranks" inside the zip file goes to "ufoai../base/0pics.pk3.
Inside the pk3 file overwrite the folder "pics/ranks" with the one you downloaded here.

Download from gamefront:
http://www.gamefront.com/files/21465880/ranks.rar

[bayo]

hi. it looks nice. but IMHO it should use a transparent background

Rememeber if you want to contribute, it is an open source game, we only allow free content. Image you use to create your own content must be free.

[H-Hour]

I like the style very much, but I can only see the preview images. I don't seem to be able to download from gamefront (file not found). You can attach them to your forum post or PM me and I'll give you an email address to send to.

If you would you consider a few changes we could probably use them to replace our existing rank images.

1. If possible, could you create them with no background (alpha)? This will make them more flexible if we ever change our UI.

2. Would it be possible to create the ranks at a higher resolution, at least 256x256? This will give us more flexibility to use them in other ways in the future as well.

And just my personal style preference: could you make the continents on the planet pop out a bit more, so it is clearer to the viewer that they're looking at the earth? This is kind of central to the Phalanx logo and ethos.

[Kahvipannu84]

I wasn't sure if the game allows for transparency, and I really didn't spent much time with these, just made some replacement quick.   But I can work them more.  Do I have to work with alpha channels, or could I just use a file format that uses transparency?

Making the continents more clear shouldn't be a problem, and only pic I used from net for this was some random earth pic which I edited and added the color. I can find a pic that is quarantied to be free to use, or use own one. Making them bigger too propably if I remake them totally and spend more time with them.

You also have to chose a license to release this under:
* Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
* GNU General Public License 2.0 or later

Oh man, I know nothing about that.. hehe. What ever suits the best, if someone finds use for them, I'm more than willing to share.

[ShipIt]

Looks really good. 

I would like the stars more kind of circled around the earth instead of being strictly lined up, but that maybe would not fit the military background ?

Just in case you can solve the technical stuff H-Hour mentioned, would you contribute this work?


Ah, oh, just saw you already did answer my question. Would be great.

[H-Hour]

Nothing complicated about the transparency. Just a PNG file without the background should work. If you have any troubles, feel free to ask. We're familiar with GIMP and Photoshop but can help you figure it out if you use other software.

Here's a public domain map of the world that should be useful for you in recreating the ranks at higher resolution.

Licensing can be a pain. We have to be strict about it here but we can help you find resource material when you need it if you haven't ever worked in the open source community.

[Kahvipannu84]

Ok, I made it bigger, used the map you provided, transparency backround, made the continents more clear, and only pd was used making this (do you need sources btw?). If it's ok, I will make new icons from this with same principle, bronze, silver, and gold levels, and I can post psd file with all layers intact if it's any use for elsewhere.

[ShipIt]

To me this looks great.

[Kahvipannu84]

Happy to hear that.  Here's pic of the small rank icons, I'll upload the files in a moment.

[H-Hour]

Cool. I really like the style. I have just a couple concerns:

1. The leaves have some pixelation, which probably came from scaling it up (pixelation.png). I've attached a PNG (leaves.png) with leaves I drew real quick that you could use (flat, contoured and contoured with noise). You'll need to tweak it as you have the other elements to make it blend in with your style better.

2. There are a couple black smudges around the stars which you can see better against a light background (black_smudges.png).

3. This is a personal taste thing, but I wonder if you have maybe gone overboard with the etchings on the globe -- particularly on the ocean.

4. If you could submit the final images in a power of 2 size, in this case 512x512. Any images not at a power of 2 size will be automatically resized in-game and this can produce artifacts, so it's best to always work in 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, etc.

Also, please submit the source file for whatever program you use (the one with everything on its own layer) so that we can easily make adjustments in the future if we need to add ranks or change anything.

Thanks!

[Kahvipannu84]

Got it H-Hour, yeah it's a bit rough here and there, I agree. Here's the .psd file, I believe you might have better results improving it to your liking than I might, or anyone else wants to further improve it,  and from now on I will add the source-files straight away.
PSD-File:
http://www.gamefront.com/files/21535541/work2.psd

I already did the ranks in 80x80 size, and uploaded them, so might as well throw them here. I didn't take into account that they will be resized elsewhere. 
http://www.gamefront.com/files/21535497/0pics.rar

EDIT:
Here's link for 64x64 pictures:
http://www.gamefront.com/files/21535628/0pics-64.rar

Sources used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Winkel-tripel-projection.jpg
http://www.officialpsds.com/Star-Bling-PSD50058.html
http://pdtextures.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html

[H-Hour]

Many thanks for posting the sources. We all feel much better knowing it's all public domain stuff you've used. We are just nearing a years-long process of replacing art content that was not properly licensed in earlier versions of the game.

I did a bit of touch-up here. Are you ok with these changes? If so, I'll make all the ranks and add them to our repo.

(And thanks for the PSD. Learned something new. Didn't know about setting layers to Overlay/Linear Burn. Nice effect.)

[Kahvipannu84]

Many thanks for posting the sources. We all feel much better knowing it's all public domain stuff you've used. We are just nearing a years-long process of replacing art content that was not properly licensed in earlier versions of the game.

I did a bit of touch-up here. Are you ok with these changes? If so, I'll make all the ranks and add them to our repo.

(And thanks for the PSD. Learned something new. Didn't know about setting layers to Overlay/Linear Burn. Nice effect.)

Oh yes, your changes made it much better  I'm glad it was use for you.

About layers, took some time until I figured out them too, they are really easy way to add desired effects, great feature of PS.

[bayo]

4. If you could submit the final images in a power of 2 size, in this case 512x512. Any images not at a power of 2 size will be automatically resized in-game and this can produce artifacts, so it's best to always work in 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, etc.

For this kind of image, the size should be the real size (without padding or oversized content), and we should use it as an icon (base/pics/icon and use an "icon" property) into the gui. It is much more easy to manage (cause we dont need to think about image coord, and we can optimize the content later for the release).

Depend of what you want to do anyway.

[homunculus]

Is it such a good idea to make the Sahara desert especially bright?
Could be more symbolic perhaps, with just land and sea difference.

Maybe land could be polished and sea not (or the other way round)?
Could be done by cutting sea/land parts from diffuse/specular shading, perhaps.

Then maybe if scaled to 24x24 it will still look a bit like continents, rather than like an unidentifiable bright spot (the bright desert) on dark circle.

Maybe I'll try illustration later.