On 6/24/01 10:04 pm LexyBitch wrote:

For instance, my attempts to draw a male ranger have thus far yielded a male monk and barbarian, and a female bard and ranger. I could've got frustrated each time the icon didn't end up looking like what I wanted it to, but instead, I looked at it and thought "Okay, what DOES it look like?" and tailoring the image to that new idea.

I tried following this advice, and from my first four efforts to draw a male ranger, I now have three new varieties of slime and a compost heap icon.

On 6/25/01 12:47 pm Leftley wrote:

On 6/24/01 10:04 pm LexyBitch wrote:

For instance, my attempts to draw a male ranger have thus far yielded a male monk and barbarian, and a female bard and ranger. I could've got frustrated each time the icon didn't end up looking like what I wanted it to, but instead, I looked at it and thought "Okay, what DOES it look like?" and tailoring the image to that new idea.

I tried following this advice, and from my first four efforts to draw a male ranger, I now have three new varieties of slime and a compost heap icon.

from my trying to draw a little girl i got a colorfull plant and three new types of tribble to go in my SpaceHug tribble game....

On 6/25/01 1:08 pm Spuzzum wrote:

On 6/24/01 10:04 pm LexyBitch wrote:

For instance, my attempts to draw a male ranger have thus far yielded a male monk and barbarian, and a female bard and ranger. I could've got frustrated each time the icon didn't end up looking like what I wanted it to, but instead, I looked at it and thought "Okay, what DOES it look like?" and tailoring the image to that new idea.

Regardless of what these weirdoes say, that's the best advice I've heard in a while.

In fact, I was drawing an epee, and it turned out to look like a longsword. Oh, the horror!

Blah. Isn't it kind of silly to have all sorts of different types of swords with individual icons when the medium you're drawing them in is incapable of rendering many of the differences between them accurately and visibly?

On 6/25/01 6:07 pm Gughunter wrote:

Blah. Isn't it kind of silly to have all sorts of different types of swords with individual icons when the medium you're drawing them in is incapable of rendering many of the differences between them accurately and visibly?

Well, obviously Spuzz could tell the difference!

I didn't mean between an epee and a longsword--but while I can appreciate specificity, if you're going to be so specific as to have epees, then that probably indicates a pretty diverse selection of weaponry which would encompass quite a few sets of weapons which differ by only a few minor aspects. The exception here is if you're going for a nostalgic, old-fashioned "console RPG" sort of feel and you have specific but arbitrarily limited weapon selections. Of course, if your game is one that simply uses unique, specific, and often exotic weapon names for the simple purpose of having unique, specific, and often exotic weapon names and pay no attention to what the actual specifications for the exact weapon in question are, you don't have a problem.

For that matter, you could substitute just about anything for "swords" in the quote above and come up with a point which is equally valid, yet equally unhelpful. :)

It's not unhelpful. It's a great excuse for laziness. If you do indeed have two varieties of sword which are too similar to one another that you could distinguish from one another in a realistic, accurate manner within a single 32x32 icon, why bother drawing separate icons from scratch? Just use the same sword icons for broad categories of swords, or simply rotate the icon a bit, give it a few minor touchups and superficial embellishments, and call it a different sword.

Although I wonder where BYOND would be today if Dantom had made one little design decision differently, leaving out icons and allowing us to use only text mode... I imagine many of us would still be here!

Well, on the plus side, your epees would be guaranteeably distinguishable from your longswords unless you were a really, REALLY bad speller.

On 6/25/01 7:28 pm Gughunter wrote:

It's not unhelpful. It's a great excuse for laziness.

Now there's an idea I can get behind! I cheerfully stand corrected.

Dammit, quit cheerfully standing corrected and argue back! I wanna rant and rave s'more about RPG weapon conventions that bug me.

On 6/25/01 8:15 pm Spuzzum wrote:

Well, on the plus side, your epees would be guaranteeably distinguishable from your longswords unless you were a really, REALLY bad speller.

I have no clue why people are discussing this, because not only did I draw no such icon, it was also a joke. =)

I guess I should've added the winking smiley. ;-)


My point I was getting at was that an epee looks hellishly like a longsword, only it's about an inch skinnier. So if you draw a longsword, you might've drawn an epee, and vice versa. If you're someone who cares enough to graphically depict the difference, then you should really ask yourself whether you're focusing on making a good game, or just good graphics. ;-)

I was also implying the same of myself, since for some odd reason I'm making tons of graphics without making any code. And then I make tons of code without appropriate graphics. Sigh, I'm seriously screwed up. =D

You know, when I saw your post, I somehow read "longsword" as "broadsword", which changed it into an entirely different joke entirely.

Actually, my point was somewhat different--while it's possible that you just might be able to realistically distinguish between a longsword and an epee within the limits of a 32x32 icon, there are some weapons classifications with differences too slight to be depicted at all.

Have you ever noticed that the tip of the blade of a scimitar curves very, very slightly back forward again?! I can't understand why people don't draw that!

But either way, heck, just make an icon for "sword" and call it good.

In my case, I have three sword icons; short, curved, and long.