Artists wanted for mod project.

[kraken121]

(check out our subforums here http://forums.kleientertainment.com/forum/64-mod-collaboration-hero-in-the-dark/ )

 

Hello everyone, you can call me Krak.

 

Myself and some friends have been playing “Don’t Starve” for a couple months now and fell in love with the game, from the quirky artwork, to the survive or die to the endless adventure mode.  Being fans of modding games we decided to have a go at this.

 

My group is putting together the “Hero in the Dark – Fantasy mod”. This mod will incorporate traditional fantasy elements and lore while retaining the artistic style and the survive or die elements of Don’t Starve. A large focus of the lore and design of the mod will be from D&D and other games/books within the genre.  Barbarians, shadow knights, druids, Necromancers etc etc

 

The goals of this mod is to make an alternate form of Don’t Starve, not to add on to its current game. We plan on adding in creatures, events, more lvs,boss mobs etc.

 

For the past 2 weeks our group has been ripping apart the code to see the possibilities and limitations we will face within the mod itself. We currently have 12 characters planned, 4 of those characters have already been coded and are all set to play (minus the artwork), another 4 are partially coded

 

Here is a taste of what we have coded,

 

An example of one of the characters,  (fully coded and ready to go, just need a face to this man)

 

Barbarian

1. The Lower his life gets the stronger his attacks
2. Chops / mines 50% faster
3. Can eat raw meats with no neg effects
4. Has double the hunger values
5. Has a “rage” clicky ( a separate button), when toggled , loses hunger and sanity every 2 sec for a boost in speed, resists and atk speed

Here is another one that is fully coded,

 

Druid (100% coded)

1. Animal companion
2. Own druid spells
3. Loses sanity from chopping down trees, picking grass and twigs
4. Loses sanity for killing an innocent, ie. Rabbits, birds etc etc

 

This is why I am coming to the community to see if any artists are willing to join our mod team. We need things from Characters, items, monsters, terrain etc We are currently looking for 2 to 3 artists to help us give face to this mod. If you are interested please send me a pm.

 

I know that there were some other ambitious mods being designed but were halted before completion. I assure anyone joining our team that this will not happen, and one will take over for another if they need a break, because we all love to see our efforts and visions enjoyed by others.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Krak

[TheDanaAddams]

This sounds like so much fun! I wish I could help out, since I love D&D-style fantasy stuff... and this sounds like such an awesome alteration to the way the game plays!

Hope some awesome artists get in on this!

[kraken121]

This sounds like so much fun! I wish I could help out, since I love D&D-style fantasy stuff... and this sounds like such an awesome alteration to the way the game plays!

Hope some awesome artists get in on this!

yeah, Myself and another coding and another on text/design, just lack the art heh

 

We have about 6 characters finished so far, took us a bit to add in toggle abils and making the earthquake spell function correctly and some things took a bit like the shadow knights loss of sanity around "good" things but not bad things (was easy but took a bit to track everything down)  but we are still coding away 6 to 8 hours daily.

 

Have a lot of great ideas planned and assuming our understanding of the code is accurate, some fun stuff ahead, deeper caves, dungeons, more mobs, more crafting, overhaul of teh dmg/armor system  etc

 

If we could just get the art for 4 of the characters, we could put out the first version, first four characters planned to go out are Barbarian, Druid, Shadow Knight and Thief, following them would be the Cleric, Pally, Necromancer and Monk ( partially coded)

 

Hope you don't mind, grabbed some ideas from your coding in the Link mod for companions

[TheDanaAddams]

Ahaha, of course I don't mind - the code in all mods is pretty much "look and learn."
I don't think anyone is going to get mad that you copied code from their mod to make your own - we just love seeing cool stuff!

 

The art's a different matter, though, of course.
Taking art is a jerk move. The art for Link is my baby - I'd cry if it were stolen! ;A;

 

I'd love to provide the art for this myself, but I'm simply not well enough. =(

[kraken121]

Ahaha, of course I don't mind - the code in all mods is pretty much "look and learn."

I don't think anyone is going to get mad that you copied code from their mod to make your own - we just love seeing cool stuff!

 

The art's a different matter, though, of course.

Taking art is a jerk move. The art for Link is my baby - I'd cry if it were stolen! ;A;

 

I'd love to provide the art for this myself, but I'm simply not well enough. =(

 

Haha, would never rip off any art from anyone without getting permission first

We will just keep coding away until we can get some artists to join or contribute to the mod, lack of art atm will not stop us, having too much fun with coding and designs.

 

Its just not as fun testing our mod when it looks like this haha

 

and Yeah, saw your post in the Up and away or the off topic forums talking about that, hope you feel better

[TheDanaAddams]

By the way, people, I just want to point out that this is what I'm talking about when I say you need to properly pitch your project if you want to attract people to help out!

We were given details of the scope of the project; details of what has already been done; details of what is needed; background for the project... everything you need to know to decide whether you can - and want to - offer your help.

 

No secretive, hush-hush, back-alley dealing - everything is put on display.

Bravo! ^^

 

(By the way, if you still need art when I am able to work, I would be happy to contribute.)

[Crockpot]

I really love this idea, I wish you luck on the mod!

[kraken121]

By the way, people, I just want to point out that this is what I'm talking about when I say you need to properly pitch your project if you want to attract people to help out!

We were given details of the scope of the project; details of what has already been done; details of what is needed; background for the project... everything you need to know to decide whether you can - and want to - offer your help.

 

No secretive, hush-hush, back-alley dealing - everything is put on display.

Bravo! ^^

 

(By the way, if you still need art when I am able to work, I would be happy to contribute.)

 

 

We would love to have you, when you feel better of course

 

Yeah, I always believe to be open about the work in progress, I should put up some more teasers heh

I really love this idea, I wish you luck on the mod!

Thanks! I hope to have the first version out ASAP , just waiting on the character models.

[SkullStarve]

Hi great project, i'am a big fan of D&D (13 years spend in "GM" role and few in gamer).

Hope you ll get out this mod .

 

You included my fav class, the Druid hope your's ll be better than other "summoner" char i ve already see around mod.

I'am bit hopless to find a descent char (not op or not buggy ) in Don't Starve.

 

So you wana to keep artistic style of don't Starve, that can be great i'am a little bit artist and ve make some art for ppl or even my "game", but not at all great ^^.

Maybe i can try some samples but not sur to be able to make better than Dana !

 

Regards.

[kraken121]

Hi great project, i'am a big fan of D&D (13 years spend in "GM" role and few in gamer).

Hope you ll get out this mod .

 

You included my fav class, the Druid hope your's ll be better than other "summoner" char i ve already see around mod.

I'am bit hopless to find a descent char (not op or not buggy ) in Don't Starve.

 

So you wana to keep artistic style of don't Starve, that can be great i'am a little bit artist and ve make some art for ppl or even my "game", but not at all great ^^.

Maybe i can try some samples but not sur to be able to make better than Dana !

 

Regards.

 

In fact our druid is totally coded, just need play testing for balance, we originally used Abilgales code, but that seems a little op, but will want feedback on the first version we put out.

 

Druid

1. Animal companion
2. Own druid spells
3. Loses sanity from chopping down trees, picking grass and twigs
4. Loses sanity for killing an innocent, ie. Rabbits, birds etc etc
5. gains sanity for planting things, shrugs, trees, bushes, butterflies
6. Spells so far coded are grow,heal,call lightning,Earthquake, summon small tree guardian and summon woodland staff
7. limitations for certain weapons

She has 175hp, 250 sanity, 150 hunger , 1.0 atk and 1.0 run speed

 

We plan to put more spells on over time, like we are planning to add poison Dots (damage over time) effects into the game, given to certain spiders and other mobs, Druid and Cleric will get cure poison at that point, and some other spell ideas we have as well, would like to get an aoe vine spell for CC purposes on the druid, but would def need art for that.

 

We had to do some tweeking with spells though, like the librarian does not get aggro from spells cast, in our mod we do, while testing this early tonight i cast call lightning on a large beefalo herd and got 3 krampus and instant insanity lol

 

We still have a lot of balance stuff to do, but I will start gathering feedback after we post the first version.

 

Right now what we need are character models and portraits for the first 4 chars to be put out, Druid (female) , shadow knight (either), Barbarian (male), and Thief (either), once i get these, I will post the first version of Hero in the Dark out for the community to test.

 

You are more than welcome to try and make some templates for the characters if you want to have a go at it.

 

Krak

[SkullStarve]

Yeah very nice, the spell look like "evard's black tentacles" !
Count on me for testing and maybe more if i can.

I'll do some sample with informations you got me.

 

So what you wana first is a sprite or just a sample CRS (char reference sheet) of the chars ?

[kraken121]

Yeah very nice, the spell look like "evard's black tentacles" !

Count on me for testing and maybe more if i can.

I'll do some sample with informations you got me.

 

So what you wana first is a sprite or just a sample CRS (char reference sheet) of the chars ?

 

hehe, yeah like that spell

 

Need Sprites, none of us on the team are artists at all lol

We had an artist originally but they backed out, but we just kept coding and designing, too much fun.

Once we have the portraits and models for those 4 chars, i will upload the first version of the mod.

 

[Crockpot]

I can do some art for the mod, although schoolwork might get in the way. What do you want me to (try to) draw first? I'm better at items and structures than characters, although I can do both.

[kraken121]

Yeah very nice, the spell look like "evard's black tentacles" !

Count on me for testing and maybe more if i can.

I'll do some sample with informations you got me.

 

So what you wana first is a sprite or just a sample CRS (char reference sheet) of the chars ?

 

 

I can do some art for the mod, although schoolwork might get in the way. What do you want me to (try to) draw first? I'm better at items and structures than characters, although I can do both.

 

Ok, to avoid redundancies, lets work it out here for now.

 

The very first things we should complete are the four first 4 characters to be released. (We do have items planned, a lot, but want some character models done first.) We need the character model, portrait, big portrait, and save slot art.

 

The four characters are here,

 

1. Druid - female, least the rest up to the imagination of the artist

 

2. Thief - male or female, would like a scarf or mask to cover lower half of face, rest is up to the artists imagination

 

3. Barbarian - male, was thinking something like the Vikings logo here

 

4. Shadow Knight - male or female - up to your imagination, villainous would be nice.

 

 

Now that being said, I leave you to your imagination.

 

Now to avoid redundancies, post here what you would like to work on and "call" it, so we don't have people working on the same thing

 

Krak

[SkullStarve]

Okay so i ve made some try and i fugire a issue, i need more information to continue.

 

When you ve create your char what kind of support you use ?

 

I mean two big school is working right now :

 

Ppl who use base char

 

Ppl who use "Danna Tutorial"

 

The big question is what you ve use with your group ?

Because the X by X are not same 1024x1024 for dev and 1024x512 for Dana sheet

 

To make a descend char i need to know or we can get some issue like bad texture or even worst ^^ !

[SkullStarve]

Can't Edit post ?

 

Sorry for 2x post but if you use preset char can you say "who" you use for each char ?

 

Like "Druid = Wendy" for example.

Because position of element from texture are not same for all char.

[kraken121]

Can't Edit post ?

 

Sorry for 2x post but if you use preset char can you say "who" you use for each char ?

 

Like "Druid = Wendy" for example.

Because position of element from texture are not same for all char.

haha, you need 5 posts to receive pm's or to edit.

 

Get one more post so i can PM you the location to DL what we have done so far, so you can take a look.

 

And frankly that art area is something we do not know much about, i do not know which one is better and which one is worse, the tutorials are so outdated and scattered.

 

I sent Dana a pm to weigh in on this

[SkullStarve]

Okay, same for my avatar pic because i can't set one x)

 

So now you can pm i thinks ?

[TheDanaAddams]

Ah, I see what you're talking about, now.

 

There is a slight difference in image quality if you use an existing character's texture sheet instead of the mod character's texture sheet that was provided by the devs. (The one I use in my tutorial.)

However.

This is inconsequential - check my Rainbow Tunic Link. I used its creation as a chance to test a theory, and it panned out. The base template was converted at double-resolution (2048x1024) - and it works just fine, since the atlas is based on percentage positions, not pixel coordinates. You could use 4096x2048 and it would work. Though that would be overkill.

I suggest using the template, mainly because I have documented the facial expressions, and things are laid out to be fairly user-friendly.

The only difference between those two methods was image quality, due to resolution, and this is INCREDIBLY easy to improve, as I just explained.

 

For absolute best HD quality character art, I recommend the following:

Take the template, and enlarge to 400% (4096x2048) to do the art. When completed, shrink to 50% of that (2048x1024) which is still double the initial resolution. Convert this, and bring it into the game.

[kraken121]

Ah, I see what you're talking about, now.

 

There is a slight difference in image quality if you use an existing character's texture sheet instead of the mod character's texture sheet that was provided by the devs. (The one I use in my tutorial.)

However.

This is inconsequential - check my Rainbow Tunic Link. I used its creation as a chance to test a theory, and it panned out. The base template was converted at double-resolution (2048x1024) - and it works just fine, since the atlas is based on percentage positions, not pixel coordinates. You could use 4096x2048 and it would work. Though that would be overkill.

I suggest using the template, mainly because I have documented the facial expressions, and things are laid out to be fairly user-friendly.

The only difference between those two methods was image quality, due to resolution, and this is INCREDIBLY easy to improve, as I just explained.

 

For absolute best HD quality character art, I recommend the following:

Take the template, and enlarge to 400% (4096x2048) to do the art. When completed, shrink to 50% of that (2048x1024) which is still double the initial resolution. Convert this, and bring it into the game.

 

Thanks Dana, helpful as usual

 

Hope this answers your question Skull, i will send u a PM

[SkullStarve]

Yeah great, thanks Danna i've look at "Musha" and he use this technique, now you ve answer at ll my question .

 

So i'am going to my pen, and i ll be back soon ^^ !

[kraken121]

ok, so druid is being worked on currently, just need the barb, thief, and sk

[kraken121]

Thief is being worked on, so whats left for first version

 

Thief

Druid

Barbarian

Shadow Knight

[EmielRegis]

Hello. I tried to make barbarian. How it looks for you?

 

[kraken121]

Hello. I tried to make barbarian. How it looks for you?

 

That is perfectly fine with me

 

But i would need  the character model, portrait, big portrait, and save slot art.Actually for barb, I think  he needs two character models, one for when he is normal and another for when he is raging, unless there is some way of combining them, but looking at Dana's tutorial, my guess is two models might be needed.