Ok once again I ask you all to bare with me, I'm a newby.
It says somewhere on one of these sites that there will be a lot of premade art that comes with the game so just about anyone who can count over ten without taking off their socks should be able to make a game. I intend to use this artwork only until I'm skilled enough to make my own. I just want to know if there will indeed be premade artwork for buildings.
Also, will there be alot of this premade art? Oh and you can whine and snip about how you shouldn't be on this board if you can't use an advanced $5500 business 3D artwork system thingy, but frankly, I don't give a dam- a dang. And I don't even want to hear "if you use the premade artwork it's going to be yesterdays news". I believe that it's a great way to start and I'm not asking this question to get a sermon, I want an answer so I know how to design my first game(which will be maybe 15 minutes of playing time, I just want to take small steps first). Of course I'm also designing an epic of a game(in MY standards, ok?).

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"There is no escape"

I agree, there is no shame in using the premade art, it is a very good way to make a great game quickly (so long as the idea's in the brain :)). As for how much there will be, I can't really say because I don't really know, but from the screenshots there looks like there should be a lot (pure speculation - nothing to do with me owning the beta). Andrew might tell you, but then he might do one of his Welch's Patenented Annoying Answers and say something like "There will be enough."

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(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum10/HTML/001524.html")The Tides of War(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.ohhla.com")The Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive(/url)
Hip Hop Recomendation of the week: the Wu Tang - The W
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For most of its life, the RPG genre has never been the leader in graphic spectacularity.

While I personally am an advocate of doing things yourself (heck, I make my own BREAD from scratch, OK?), I also have a severe case of "Not Invented Here" syndrome that developped in Art School and have enough of a geek streak to figure out how to do animation and music and all that stuff on my own.

However, I would hope that nobody will sacrifice gameplay for dazzle. Ideas tend to stagnate over time, and "Feature Creep" seems to be one of those things that becomes more powerful with time, so if you don't have experience working on long projects, getting your idea out quickly (but not poorly) via premade artwork is a good idea providing the artwork suits your idea.

As for the quantity and quality of the included artwork, you'll have to wait for an official answer, which as Necromicon guesses, will likely be something like "there will be enough."

And if you don't want to spend $5500 on a 3D program, I seriously suggest you look into Animation:Master ( (url="http://"http://www.hash.com")http://www.hash.com(/url) ) for a mere $300. I'm continually surprised at how powerful this program is for the price. Of course, you're also going to need something like Photoshop for 2-D art as well.

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--You notice that you have been turned into a pile of ashes.

Quote

Originally posted by sanehatter:
**For most of its life, the RPG genre has never been the leader in graphic spectacularity.

**

as an answer to your statement, i ask you to go here:
(url="http://"http://cubemovies.ign.com/media/previews/video/zelda/zeldademo.mpg")http://cubemovies.ig...a/zeldademo.mpg(/url)

That is all.

Peace out.

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See the faggot with the earring in the makeup.
Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair.
The little faggot's got his own jet airplane,
The little faggot he's a millionaire.

Yeah some RPG's had pretty good graphics. On the other hand...
I remember hearing about Baldur's Gate and its awesome spell effects. Well when my little guy cast "Larloch's Minor Drain" I burst out laughing. I mean, wow. Shot down. Dead. Looked like something you'd find on a gameboy classic, it was so terrible.
So it goes both ways I guess.

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Kirin- A half deer/half dragon that plagued the lands of ancient Japan. It is said that Kirins are responsible for more deaths than any other deer. Recently Kirins are not very common however...

Quote

Originally posted by the Necromicon:
**I agree, there is no shame in using the premade art, it is a very good way to make a great game quickly (so long as the idea's in the brain:) ). As for how much there will be, I can't really say because I don't really know, but from the screenshots there looks like there should be a lot (pure speculation - nothing to do with me owning the beta). Andrew might tell you, but then he might do one of his Welch's Patenented Annoying Answers™ and say something like "There will be enough."

**

No "great" things should be rushed

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Here. Have an iMac.
Take it.

::casts artificial enthusiasm::

Yay, cookie cutter games.

::casts indignation::
Cookie cutter graphics aren't acceptable in any other genre
of game,please,don't make the exception with RPG's...

...So Says The Chill!

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"With an icy glare of indignity..."
"Lock it down"
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Status as of (12/27/2000): Web Board offender with a Karma rating of -1.

I would disagree with you, Chill... sort of.

"Cookie-cutter" graphics are certainly to be avoided if possible; if you've got the resources available, original is certainly better, even if the quality is mildly lower. I've started on some graphics of my own, and they're certainly more FF4-ish in looks than they are of the level of the Coldstone sample shots, but I plan to use 'em anyway.

Nonetheless, if you have the ability to create a great story, and use the "cookie-cutter" graphics in original ways, people will hopefully be able to overlook the graphics (especially since Coldstone's ones look to be very nice) and focus on the gameplay.

Original graphics are good, but great gameplay is more important. Best of luck, Lorenoth.

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“If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?” - T.H. Huxley

Quote

Originally posted by Lorenoth:
**Yeah some RPG's had pretty good graphics. On the other hand...
I remember hearing about Baldur's Gate and its awesome spell effects. Well when my little guy cast "Larloch's Minor Drain" I burst out laughing. I mean, wow. Shot down. Dead. Looked like something you'd find on a gameboy classic, it was so terrible.
So it goes both ways I guess.
**

Don´t tell me you are one of those who don´t even try a game if the graphics not are AWESOME.
One of the best games in history is Monkey Island II:LeChuck´s revenge.
I still love this game, and if someone made a new version of it with 3D-graphics I would chop them into tiny bits.
CHOPCHOPCHOP!! HARRHARRHARR!
I just wish someone could erase my memory so that I could play it from the beginning.

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"This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let´s not bicker and argue about who killed who."

Quote

Originally posted by Knight of NI:
**Don´t tell me you are one of those who don´t even try a game if the graphics not are AWESOME.
One of the best games in history is Monkey Island II:LeChuck´s revenge.
I still love this game, and if someone made a new version of it with 3D-graphics I would chop them into tiny bits.
CHOPCHOPCHOP!! HARRHARRHARR!
I just wish someone could erase my memory so that I could play it from the beginning.

**

erase your memory. if you look in ambrosia's ftp server you can find something that andrew made called ulife, or on the ambrosia cd there's something else called optical. just stare into the montior while you run one of those programs...

I agree with most, but my game will only be shared with family and friends, so I don't care one bit how similar mine will look.

I hope there are others like me, because face it, you can't get hundreds of strangers to play your game anyway, so nobody here is going to get their hopes up.

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Quote

Originally posted by the Necromicon:
**Andrew might tell you, but then he might do one of his Welch's Patenented Annoying Answers™ and say something like "There will be enough.":p

**

Well you would too if you were making a living selling products, besides, you can probably bet that Andrew would be telling the truth.

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You don't have GameRanger? Get it! (url="http://"Http://www.GameRanger.com/")Http://www.GameRanger.com/(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by chill_rx:
**::casts artificial enthusiasm::

Yay, cookie cutter games.

::casts indignation::
Cookie cutter graphics aren't acceptable in any other genre
of game,please,don't make the exception with RPG's...

...So Says The Chill!

**

Mmm. I want a cookie! I want to beta test coldstone! I want a cookie!

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You don't have GameRanger? Get it! (url="http://"Http://www.GameRanger.com/")Http://www.GameRanger.com/(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Knight of NI:
**Don´t tell me you are one of those who don´t even try a game if the graphics not are AWESOME.
One of the best games in history is Monkey Island II:LeChuck´s revenge.
I still love this game, and if someone made a new version of it with 3D-graphics I would chop them into tiny bits.
CHOPCHOPCHOP!! HARRHARRHARR!
I just wish someone could erase my memory so that I could play it from the beginning.

**

no, I'm not one of those people. I beat Baldur's Gate.. and love the game . Ok islands and monkeys together kinda freak me out, ever since that Imax theater presentation....

I'm not going to be using "cookie cutter" premade art ok? I want to use it to start with, then change all the pictures when I finish my game, I don't want to spend all of my time drawing a single character and not even working on the game. Oh and Chill, since you seem to be so against premade artwork I cannot wait to see your game, especially your artwork. Please let us all know when it comes out ....

:::Casts Imitation::::
...:::With an icy air of pompousness:::::
...So says the Lorenoth!!!!
(just for some comic relief. I hope you realize how childish you sound, chill)

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Kirin- A half deer/half dragon that plagued the lands of ancient Japan. It is said that Kirins are responsible for more deaths than any other deer. Recently Kirins are not very common however...

Hmm. I've been on the coldstone hotline server (I forgot the IP server but theGlueBubble has it posted somewhere) and there are a whole lot of small, 2D tile based game sprites, but I doubt most of the games will use those sprites, people may make their own sprites just like those premade ones with draw programs.

I'd like to use somewhat larger sprites, though 2D tile based seems like a good place to start with making games.

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Bi-Polar Mood-O-Meter
Evil ( ( ( ( ( ( (•(•(•(•|•)•)•)•)•)•)•) ) ) ) Good

Oh, and Chill, exactly what is it that you refer to "Cookie Cutter" graphics? The premade graphics I've seen so far look great, but I don't intend to use them too much in my work in progress (For now mostly just storywriting)

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Bi-Polar Mood-O-Meter
Evil ( ( ( ( ( ( (•(•(•(•|•)•)•)•)•)•)•) ) ) ) Good

Quote

Originally posted by Lorenoth:
**
:::Casts Imitation::::
...:::With an icy air of pompousness:::::
...So says the Lorenoth!!!!
(just for some comic relief. I hope you realize how childish you sound, chill)

**

Hehe, I found it very funny.

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"Bond, GlueBubble Bond."
"To reach the Order I have attained, I traveled deeper into Chaos than I wanted. Now, as I stand upon my shelf of Order, and see the Chaos swirling around me, I realize I haven't come up at all."

I'm sure chill won't, however

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Kirin- A half deer/half dragon that plagued the lands of ancient Japan. It is said that Kirins are responsible for more deaths than any other deer. Recently Kirins are not very common however...

Quote

Originally posted by chill_rx:
**::casts artificial enthusiasm::

Yay, cookie cutter games.

::casts indignation::
Cookie cutter graphics aren't acceptable in any other genre
of game,please,don't make the exception with RPG's...

...So Says The Chill!
**

I say Chilly, you take great pride in your ability to take 'cookie cutter' text fonts and weave a most luminous tapestry of allusion, illusion, sophistry and verbosity... Why shouldn't graphic icons of a simplistic form also be used repeatedly to create their magic in the minds of the beholder?

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...it wasn't me...

It sure would be a waste if Chill didn't show up.

:::With a freezing air of ignorance:::
....I am better than everyone here and if you are a newby you should be dragged out into the street and repeatedly beaten with a fine steel baseball bat with a little pointy pin on the top and a wooden handle area and the end is one fire, except the fire is really cold, and.............
So says the Chilly Willy!

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Kirin- A half deer/half dragon that plagued the lands of ancient Japan. It is said that Kirins are responsible for more deaths than any other deer. Recently Kirins are not very common however...