I felt like JJ2 projects other than levels, needs its own space. Mods mean mutators, scripts, animation additions/changes. Perhaps even music remix WIPs too.

So, to start, I'll show a preview of my Lori sprite remake project:
EDIT: Heres the new version.

Old one:

Yes, it still looks a little shrunken due to limitations. Turns out if I want to make the available space bigger, a completely new anims.j2a will need to be made (which involves some complications as JSD just won't cut it).
Here's the official one for comparision.

The project aims to provide better consistency between sprites and the offical art. Only the greatly inconsistent/badly drawn sprites are getting a major overhaul.

Secondly, I've been working on a tileset remake. Here's a preview of an animation from it. Can you guess what it's a remake of? Whoever guesses correctly will make me post more of the set.



EDIT 2: Here's an improved version

The differences betweeen the official one and yours are not big, but I've got to admit, yours looks slightly better than the official. Keep up with that, more people should work improving Lori.

I have no idea what tileset are you remaking :l

Great art as always, trey!

Desolation remake (just guessing)

or is it supposed to be a remake of an official tileset?

PJ guessed it right, he just asked it on skype for some reason. It's a remake of darkness.



Okay, I'll explain the whole thing with the two brick types being the same colour:

The right one is the second version, but SE thinks they look like battered metal plates. But I don't really agree and wondered how I can get to make them look more stone-like. This isn't the whole set so far, just the most complete tiles other than the flame animation.

What's Darkness? I can't find it on J2O or in my JJ2 folder...

edit: Ah, mirrow's set (here)... curious to see how that will turn out!

This:

And so here's the new version:


However, complying to her tall idle sprite will make the gunspot higher. But she doesn't look shrunken anymore.

Originally Posted by Violet CLM

I rate this preview ROCKIT LAWNCHAIR out of 10

Originally Posted by Violet CLM

ROBO Fight
That's awesome Violet! Keep it up!

I will create a Search and Destroy custom gamemode mutator in the near future

That background is extremely distracting. I thought it was an image covering up the brown blocks.

I very much agree with cooba on that. It took my brain some processing to understand what's supposed to appear closer on that screenshot. Also, if those little spikes in the top left corner are intended as hurt scenery rather than eyecandy, you may want to enlarge them a fair bit or vary their color. There are few things as annoying as barely visible hurt scenery.

Thanks for the advice. I will try to fix the tileset.

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How about this background? Is it any better?

Whats the theme? I don't get it, it seems like a random hodgepodge of official tiles mashed together.

As for the background, try desaturating and darkening it. I don't think the appearance was the problem, just the colour. If the background is brigher than the foreground, people will draw their attention to the wrong area.

It's Fanolint.

As much as I like the concept, there's a whole bunch of stuff that doesn't come together too well. Perhaps Castle tiles could go better with Tubelectric tiles were it not for the completely different depth of shading they got in the process of palette change... But those fans on the ground just look weird pasted in like that, they need some sort of support to stand on, or at least shading beneath them. Furthermore, the color of these fans, and also pipes and tubes, doesn't go with the rest at all. Try to make it more consistent with the WTF fans. Those trees could also use some desaturation on their greens.

Also, I'm hoping you're going to do something with that glass pane to make it more... glassy.

This tileset is made for a specific level. But since the level isn't even started yet..



Here's a preview. Can you guess what it's for? Anyone who knows from me telling them, don't spoil it please . And yes, the top right counter is Razz drawn from scratch.

The sketchy Jazz isn't part of the tileset though. It was simply a warmup. But I like it so I'm posting it anyway. Critique if you want, you all know I'm a brutal tileset critic.

Originally Posted by Treylina

This tileset is made for a specific level. But since the level isn't even started yet..



Here's a preview. Can you guess what it's for? Anyone who knows from me telling them, don't spoil it please . And yes, the top right counter is Razz drawn from scratch.

The sketchy Jazz isn't part of the tileset though. It was simply a warmup. But I like it so I'm posting it anyway. Critique if you want, you all know I'm a brutal tileset critic.

I think it's pretty neat
Why drawing sad Jazz for warm up though? Why not a happy one or maybe another facial expression? Just asking.

Originally Posted by Primpy

I think it's pretty neat
Why drawing sad Jazz for warm up though? Why not a happy one or maybe another facial expression? Just asking.

Different emotions for different situations. I'd imagine him to be grumpy when he loses though. I just drew up whatever emotion I felt like doing in this case though.

I will just assume that whatever expression the artist draws reflects..something.

Originally Posted by Treylina

Different emotions for different situations. I'd imagine him to be grumpy when he loses though. I just drew up whatever emotion I felt like doing in this case though.

I will just assume that whatever expression the artist draws reflects..something.

Anyways, I like it. It's not flawless but Nickadoo would definately approve it Looking forward to see more of your drawings and tilesets, I love them.

I've begun to make another mining tileset. For now, only 5 tiles have been fully colored.


I tried to make them as similar to official JJ2 tiles as possible.

By the way, it's tedious to shade every single tile pixel per pixel. Isn't there a free program that does the shading for you?
You have this gradient image:

You create a face from 3 or 4 lines / bezier curves, like this:

You apply the image to the face. The final result will be this:

This would turn hours of pixel per pixel shading into just a few minutes of planning and applying.

If you have GIMP, you can copy that gradient image, then use the draw curves tool to draw the shape you want, press the selection from curves button, and then paste your gradient image in.

BTW, those five tiles look really great!

Thank you!

Anyway, I didn't explain myself ...
I do NOT want the program to turn this:

Into this:

But into THIS:

I already knew the GIMP selection thing. What I need is the image to be stretched along the face.

Originally Posted by DennisKainz

I've begun to make another mining tileset. For now, only 5 tiles have been fully colored.


I tried to make them as similar to official JJ2 tiles as possible.

By the way, it's tedious to shade every single tile pixel per pixel. Isn't there a free program that does the shading for you?
You have this gradient image:

You create a face from 3 or 4 lines / bezier curves, like this:

You apply the image to the face. The final result will be this:

This would turn hours of pixel per pixel shading into just a few minutes of planning and applying.

Hmm...try Graphx2? It's the program most similar to deluxe paint out there, and it's free. Mind you, I haven't used it much (and lack experience) because I couldn't get used to the interface, so I may be wrong.

Originally Posted by DennisKainz

I've begun to make another mining tileset. For now, only 5 tiles have been fully colored.


I tried to make them as similar to official JJ2 tiles as possible.

By the way, it's tedious to shade every single tile pixel per pixel. Isn't there a free program that does the shading for you?
You have this gradient image:

You create a face from 3 or 4 lines / bezier curves, like this:

You apply the image to the face. The final result will be this:

This would turn hours of pixel per pixel shading into just a few minutes of planning and applying.

You seem really good at art. Keep up with the tileset, it will most likely turn out well. Question, is it a desert-themed tileset or a mountain-themed tileset? Or, don't know, something else?

I have abandoned my previous project for a new mining tileset. This doesn't mean I won't start a new one in the future, if I have enough time and motivation.

Meanwhile, here's a draft for a remake of the official Castle Dungeon tiles:

I'm not really dead, I've just been occupied with other matters. Thus progress has been slow lately.

So, I improved the flame animation. Now it looks more like fire.



I might add more frames where the fire is not spitting, idk.

And I polished up the Lori idle animation. It was finished a while ago but I didn't feel very motivated to show it because I figure most people won't be able to tell the difference. Just look at the gun. I also got rid of the badly placed grey and pink pixels, but those aren't noticeable at the standard scale (they are noticeable at the standard scale if you make her all-black, though).

Original:


Polished:

I'm glad you put so much effort into Lori, it's a character I really like to play as c:

First really public preview of my first attempt at a tileset mashup. Only layers 3, 4 and 8 were used to create this screenshot. Because I don't actually have any background layers yet. For a challenge, try to name all 10 tilesets visible on the picture.

That's truly amazing, Sir Ementaler.
Heaven, Carrotus and Psych are the most blatant ones.
I also see bits from Diamondus, Mystic Isle, and Inferno.
Not sure about the other 4. Maybe the crystal is from Mezmerize?

Originally Posted by Sir Ementaler

First really public preview of my first attempt at a tileset mashup. Only layers 3, 4 and 8 were used to create this screenshot. Because I don't actually have any background layers yet. For a challenge, try to name all 10 tilesets visible on the picture.

It looks genuinely fantastic. I'm really looking forward to see more levels with the finished version of this. Keep it up! ^u^

The only flaw is the intersection between the soils.

I'd have rather used something like this:


Here, I used tiles 1/8 and 1/9 instead of tiles 1/2 and 8/2

Btw, what are you gonna name it? And are you making backgrounds? If you do, I'd love to have the Holidaius mountains in it!

Originally Posted by DennisKainz

If you do, I'd love to have the Holidaius mountains in it!

I agree with Dennis!

I'm working on a new level. This time, for the movement started by Sir Ementaler to make good levels withous any use of Plus or Angelscript, I'm making a Single Player level that doesn't require JJ2+ to work.
Here's the file

LAST EDIT 24/03/2016

Originally Posted by DennisKainz

And are you making backgrounds? If you do, I'd love to have the Holidaius mountains in it!

Funny should you mention that, I actually actively considered it. The Holiday Hare tilesets have probably the best currently available mountain background, yet for some reason most tilesets that reuse graphics from official sets choose to go with the tiny Diamondus mountains. I've yet to see how it actually fits the rest of the set though. I hope to include more background options than offered by most tilesets, because it gives a set a much higher reusability factor. Besides, the amount of layer 4 eyecandy already bumped the tileset into the TSF-only region, so might as well do my best to make good use of the remaining space.

Originally Posted by DennisKainz

I'm working on a new level. This time, for the movement started by Sir Ementaler to make good levels withous any use of Plus or Angelscript, I'm making a Single Player level that doesn't require JJ2+ to work.

Whereas I appreciate the mention, I think that's misinterpretation of my intentions. AngelScript is a brilliant tool that can greatly improve a level, and the only reason I didn't use it in my recent levels is that I think it would conceal or overshadow the point I was trying to make about what event-sized multiplayer levels should look like. The goal was to demonstrate advantages of an alternative style of level design, and to do that is much easier when level design is the only gameplay factor, as opposed to the addition of scripting.

Bump, because people seem to forget this thread exists. So uh, here's my hotel tileset WIP that I haven't worked on in months to make this post less worthless;

That looks incredible. Keep up the good work!

The ground looks great! Looking forward to the final result!

I had actually edited the grass lately to make it not pillowy. Which one is better?



Or should I tweak again to make the grass smoother? (which probably involves giving it a thicker darker outline). Or give a better suggestion.