The Daily Click

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Project: FableQuest: Origin of the Phoenix Knight

Project Started:	30th July, 2009	Last Update:	25th September, 2011
Project Owner:	Strife	Project Members:
Project Type:	Action Adventure RPG	Project Progress:

Water Wins and Woes

Posted 5th Jan 10, by Strife

First of all, I'm happy to inform that I've pretty much finished that blasted council hall that I've been having so much difficulty drawing. Aside from a few empty buildings and a training area that needs to be scripted, the mountain city is pretty much done and playable.

I've moved on to building the swamp area, which shouldn't take very long. It's one of those in-between areas you need to gain experience in before tackling the next dungeon. As for screenshots... well, I can't show everything just yet.

On a different note, I've also grown quite tired of the water acting as a physical obstacle... so I've given Ikkin some Super Not Drowning Skills. She can swim in water now, but can't attack unless she jumps and does a mid-air swing. It's refreshing, but it also means that I'll have to rework some of the areas that originally used rivers to block the player's progress. For the larger bodies of water, I'm thinking rapid currents, cyclones, and other such obstacles would be suitable for preventing the player from swimming to areas they shouldn't be in yet.

Also, quite frankly, my water graphics suck.

Really, they do. Look at it. So solid and geometric. I need help. D: Anyone know of some good isometric rivers that I can look at for reference purposes? No matter how much I play around with the texture, I can't get it to look watery and match the style of the game at the same time. *scratches chin and goes back to work*

Posted by HitmanN

5th January, 2010

Couple of suggestions for the water, although I don't think I've ever made any isometric water areas myself. x3 These are just hunches.

The edges shouldnt 'blend' with the grass. Grass doesn't normally grow in water. The edges/shores are usually either sand, dirt or rock. I'd go for some brown-ish dirt for the edges in the screenshot.

Try having a darker blue in the center parts of the water areas, to imply depth. Likewise, on the edges you can go for some colour that is between the water and the colour of the ground, so you get a feel of transparency, like you could slightly see the ground through the water.

As for ikkin, a bit more of her lower body could be seen, either as a dark blue-ish colour (similar to her hands in the screenshot) or pixellated.

Those are the things that first came to mind. I'm sure you can find a good look for the water after experimenting with the colours a bit.

Good luck!

Posted by Del Duio

5th January, 2010

Another idea for the water: How about having shallow parts where you can jump up and attack, and deep parts where Ikkin can't attack at all because she's too busy swimming around.

Graphics-wise, I dunno. I suck at drawing water too!

EDIT: Although you should have some lighter bits for the edge of the water near the grass IMO and not make it all the same color blue.
Comment edited by Del Duio on 1/5/2010

Posted by Strife

5th January, 2010

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

If I add depth to the water, it would definitely have to be implied, but not visible. I don't want it to look like the bottom half of Ikkin's body is completely missing, nor do I want to divide her sprite into two pieces whenever she's swimming (if only for the fact that some pieces of scenery, such as rocks and cliff edges, are backdrops and the submerged half of her body would bleed through onto the higher terrain).

I think perhaps my biggest problem is getting that wavy, watery look without being able to animate it. My attempts to draw waves so far have ended up with the water looking like blue terrain. I've gotta try and find an isometric river from some kind of RTS or simulation game to see how they pull it off.

As for shallow and deep sections of water, that would require two sets of swimming animations, and i'm not sure if I want to get -that- complex.

; I'll stick with just one elevation for now, and for the deepest parts (such as oceans at the edge of the world), i'll strongly imply that the player should swim back to shore or else get washed away and drown, King's Quest VI style.

I do agree with you that the water should be darker in the center and that it should be bordered with dirt/sand instead of grass. I ought to try that. Thanks again!

Comment edited by Spaceman Strife on 1/5/2010

Posted by Jess Bowers

5th January, 2010