THUNDERDOME 5!! REDESIGN Classic Game character!

[Jason Manley]

"hey all...here is the thread to post any questions or discussion about the latest thunderdome contest due may 1 2003.

LETS SEE WHAT U GOT!
the question is...what do you want foster to write in that book you are going to win as part of the prize package??

:)

j"

DAVI: Ok, the thunderdome is being changed.
the "NEW" theme is going to be..

REDESIGN CLASSIC VIDEO GAME CHARACTERS
...don't fucking do "fan art"

we took off the "movie characters", because there isn't much i could see coming from that and it some up jumbles the topic.

And we are defining classic as... NOT NEW GEN CONSOLE CHARACTERS... meaning soul calibur characters aren't classic. mario is... Same fisher(splinter cell) isn't...kid icarus(hint) is...

--------
list classic games here for help give people ideas

[Smeagol71]

Great idea Jason! Thanks, I'm definitely going to shoot for this one.

Hey, are we doing a "first come, first serve" kind of thing with the characters, or will it be okay if there are some duplicates in the choices? I guess if there is they'll be different takes on the same character anyway.

If we do have to call 'em...I CALL DIBS ON THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON!

Good luck everyone! Can't wait to see this one from everyone!!!!

:D

[Jason Manley]

you can do any you choose....duplicate or not...just have fun and do the best image you can...treat it as a portfolio piece...

good luck...


jason

PS...the great contest idea came from andrew...both games and film nowadays are pushing the same idea and he thought it would be appropriate to the kind of work that you all will face as concept artists or illustrators in the future.

[Nimrod]

Are we allowed to submit more than one entry?

[Loga4]

Thats really cool idea!
I mean to ask same question as
Nimrod,but he did it first:)
Another: ds it have to be character from
game/movie or it can be from comics or books,also?
Anyway,thanks Jason & crew,I will try
to participate.
Cheers!

:chug:

[Jason Manley]

well as far as character choices...just about anything is fair game nowadays. game and film are pulling from just about any franchise. How can you update these characters for current use...so they are relative to todays ideas and marketplace.

one of the things the judge will look at if you choose to do a video game character is how well that character would actually transfer into a game with todays technology. it is important when designing characters for games to keep in mind poly limits and where you can focus your details both with texture and with triangles. if the character is too detailed in structure than it simply can not be done with todays tech.


so...think about why you are changing things...but first and foremost just make a killer piece.

I will have andrew post the qualities the judge will be looking for in terms of the video game character redesign...other than color..line..idea...lighting...clarity of idea...etc...


j

[Lono]

i dont know man,, i was up at Id recently looking at Doom3,, and those guys dont seem to be too limited with there poly count,, now granted the engine does a lot of cheating with the lightmaping, and there is an actual low poly model underneath.. anyway,,, there gonna be licensing the shit out of that engine in the near future so i have a feeling thats the direction pc game tec is heading in... i also hear from an inside source that Valves new tech is gonna blow doom3 out of the water.
my point is that the "extreme" poly count limitations will soon no longer be a crutch to the concept artist. currently they are,,, sadly.

-Lono

[Fozzybar]

But the subject is about video AND film characters...i mean, there are no polys in movie-actors, are there? Also i think that in the concept arts you should/could add more detail, just to show how your char looks and works...even if you have to reduce the details afterwards when making the poly-modell...am i wrong?






...probably yes...;)

[Lono]

hey,,, are we challenging those scoundrels of Poo,, or is this a civil war?

-Lono

[Lono]

im working on my character right now...

that book is good as mine..

prepare to be ownzored!!!

-Lono

[seb]

for the sake of arguement, any chance of any of the future thunderdomes being other than character driven? so far everything has been character based and i'm sure an enviroments, props, vehicles, etc design project could be cool.

[KeatonMarks]

do you think this topic may cause whatever judge to be biased, choosing a character he likes or relates with most regardless of the artists skill/presentation?

Example: i love megaman... if someone chooses megaman as 'great character' peice, i might be more inclined to choose that based off of the character alone, disregarding other artists choices.

[Mr.Magnetichead]

Lono have you seen anything on S.T.A.L.K.E.R?

That game is gonna blow any competition out of the water.

[Jason Manley]

no it will not be judge biased...i love megaman...bs...hahaha... i love cats but this isnt a catwoman contest.


anyhow...yes..the next contest will not be character at this point.

also...if you are doing a character for film than dont worry about poly counts and such....if you are doing a character for games and you want to work in games or do work in games than we can all learn and share some info on the aspects of design that go into that kind of thing. functional design is important too.


no poo vs world....anyone from eatpoo is welcome to participate and come here to try to rule the nest. there is a lot of talent over there.

ps...lono...lets just say that ive seen the tech you are talking about and that since video cards can currently and in the near future will only be able to handle so many polys, textures, lights, bumps etc...that any new engine coming out will simply be a different balance of those things. doom for example is heavily balanced on the lighting side...ive played that demo...ive checked the amount of lights in their scenes..HUGE....the characters however are super low poly compared to some other engines i have seen. i think doom is still hovering under 2000 per character so that they can focus on the lights and the amount of characters in game...also with the normals maps...that only changes subtle surface for the most part...you cant normals map giant shoulderpads and such....the contour of the forms stay low poly...its just an illusion i guess. so low poly considerations are still and will still be important for years to come. normals maps also take a lot of time and resources to use...do you want more characters on screen? or do you want normals maps....those kinds of things have to be balanced.

[Jason Manley]

submit as many entries as you like...GO FOR IT.


j

:)

[davi]

altered beast
zelda
super street fighter 2 turbo
bad dudes
kid icarus
pacman
Alone in the Dark 1
pre playstation 2 final fantasy
Bionic Commando
Ninja Gaiden
Metal Gear
Contra
Metroid
Double Dragon
Punch-Out
Excitebike
Ms. Pac-Man
Donkey Kong


check out vgmuseum.com for more ideas.

[Atmospheria]

This contest will be very cool!...
Don't forget the old commodore games....the last ninja, green berret!! they were rockin!!

[Smeagol71]

OH MAN...Davi, I never even thought of some of the games you mentioned. LOL, I would love to see someone do Pac-Man or Donkey Kong. LOL! That would be hilarious!

Indiana Jones
Robby the robot
Sinbad
Ymir
Gort
Saucer Men (from Invasion of the Saucer Men)
Cylon warrior
Daggit
E.T.
Snake Pliskin
Mad Max
Metropolis robot

We could go on and on, eh? Just some ideas, would love to see any of those!

[Deth Jester]

I was thinking of charecters in old cartoons i use to watch which would be cool for games... like

GI Joe
Thundercats
SilverHawks
Transformers
Voltron
Inspector Gadget
Snorks
Smurfs
Dragon's Lair
Gobots
Johnny Quest
Captain N: Game Master
DuckTales
Jem
Richie Rich
Space Ghost
Robocop
ghostbusters

and I can't remember some more.. like that one about the futuristic cops show that was highly stylized.. and Reboot, I think that was 90's though.. and there was this one with a car that had tail like a scorpion, but it was a buz saw... *shrug*

just some ideas...

are Cartoons cool J?

peace

[Runcible]

Not to get off topic...but Jester, I think that was Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors! I remember that. A bunch of plant-based kind of cars and stuff, right?

[davi]

JESTER we actually changed the topic away from cartoons/movies and such and are going to just stick with video game characters

[Deth Jester]

thats cool

I can dig it!

vid games....

Im gonna have to go with

Oregon Trail... Im sorry! jk!
or maybe

Carmen Sandiego! now that game rocked!!!! heheh

wow brings back a tear to my eye. the good ole days! of computer learning with games.. :)

I liked Super Dodgeball and River City Ransom.. on Nintendo.

Dodgeball might be fun.. they made a sequel to it where you could get armor and stuff.. I think I might do that....

oh well keep the ideas roll'n

[davi]

http://snoot.org/toys/wuss/vg/

dodgeball could be freaky if done all sci-fi'd

http://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/icarusr.gifhttp://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/trevorl.gifhttp://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/kirbyl.gifhttp://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/nemor.gif

http://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/motherbrain.gif - "i will crush andrew jones" - http://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/metroid.gif

[Nimrod]

NINJAS HAVE KIDNAPPED THE PRESIDENT!!!

ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO SAVE HIM?!?!?


I'M BAD!

[Android]

Ok -

well to better clarify, Imagine that you just landed your dream job as a concept artist and a new studio. you are developing games for a new next gen console so new that it has not even been announced yet, every publisher is beating down your door to develop a game for them based on thier existing franchise characters. you have the oppourtunity to choose any character you want . this includes any old nintendo, snes, sega genesis, turbografix, atiri, any old school standup is also in the mix, that includes galaga,dig dug, centepede. whateven you want. your challenge is to take the old dated character based on the old sprite, the box art or your vision of it and revamp the design, bring it into this generation and update it.
Since it has been my job to do this for the past few years revamping the metroid franchise, I will be ineligable to compete,( but I will be making some drawings for inspiration) so I will be one of the judges of this thunderdome.

I will be making my decision based on a number of critera.
from, color, line, creativity, function, and most importantly coolness. the minumum requirement is one concept of the character from the front view, make sure his pose is ledgibal and clear. additional drawings of the back and side will also hepl you chances of wining. extra points will also be awarded for any design of supporting characters within the same franchise or background elements you chose, as long as they do not take away from the readibility of the character. you can enter as many characters as you want. but the award will go to one drawing so make it good.
I will try my best not to be biased based on the character you choose, of course if you choose to reconcept metroid I will enevitably be holding your work under a tighter microscope. :)

I hope everyone will enjoy this contest, for those of you tryong to break into the game industry, or those of you allready in it, the concepts you finish will be a great addition to any game portfolio, good luck and get drawing:chug:

[donkeyslayer]

this looks like real fun. i want to do mother brain. or something from metroid. i love metriod, but prom loves it more. it will rock. thanks for pumping me up, andrew

[Adam]

agreed - prom, this is your moment man :) break out that old school metroid shit!!!

PS - anyone recognize?

http://bombshelter.ghostopsmod.com/pics/jm.gif

[gallon]

Okay, is this console games only ( as nintendo 8, 16 and sega) or can you do amiga games as well....?

Moonstone (brahahah, satanic laughter, sword of sharpness....ah, those were the days..)

Edit* Didn't realize there was a page 2. Andrew covered all my questions.
Thank you, and i gotta play the new Metroid (and I really hope that you can't get "stuck in a hole as in the old version :)).

[wassermelone]

Man Im definetly going to do Frog or Magus from Chrono Trigger...
I was think of doing White Mage from the FFs... but Frog would be really cool =)

Magus the floating badass would be pretty cool too...
And it would be good to get rid of that cruddy concept art done by the DBZ guy... =|

[Android]

adam,- agreed- prom is going to be very stiff competition, I definately had him in mind when designing this contest, he has the qualifications to judge this contest but I didnt want to take the fun away from it for him.

work for this contest must me new work specificaly drawn for thunderdome, no dusting off some old stuff and passing it off as fresh. new work only please

toaster- yes, this is your oppourtunity to show the word how YOU would have designed these characters.

when starting your drawings, take as much liberty with the look of the characters as you feel fit, but make sure to keep thier mechanics relitvely similar. for example, if you were to redesign the bionic commando, he better have a gun that shoots some type of projectile and and bionic arm that extends so he can swing from trees.

[wassermelone]

How much liberty can we take with these characters?
Obviously the "basics" of the character have to be same... such as Frog needs to stay a sword fighting Frog in knights armor not a robotic cat that uses laser beams etc etc...

...
So everything but the basics eh?

[Adam]

i was wondering if people would be interested in a Thunderdome WIP thread? I know most of you guys probably don't need one, but it'd be really helpful to me to be able to get feedback on my ideas...if nobody else is interested, maybe i'll just start my own thread in the help section, but i thought if there were a lot of people we could save some forum space or whatever. I know it's a contest, and most of you probably wouldn't want people to have sneak peeks at your awesome work, but I for one KNOW i don't have to worry about winning or people jacking my ideas ;) So a feedback thread would be handy...

PPS - to get in the old-school mood, check this out (if you haven't already): http://remix.overclocked.org/index.php

[wassermelone]

Adam: I would love to be able to post WIPs


I think a good example of how well this works is the www.threedy.com contests...
They are really fun to browse

[Adam]

I think it would work really well if there was like one WIP thread, and then everyone could just keep editing their post to it with their latest WIP - it would keep it easy to browse, and then people could jump on IRC to trade ideas and get inspiration and stuff maybe? I don't want to clutter anything up, but I definitely think it would be fun to see people's stuff in progress!

PS - posting .nsf's and sprites from whatever game you're doing might be cool too - that way people could soak that up to help with you ideas or whatever? Ideas ideas....

[grey]

pong.

[oglzogl]

I am wondering, is the poly count still as much of an issue? I would guess it is.. If so, I've got to say that I am very unfamiliar with the limitations that the poly count implies. Is there some where I can go to get a better understanding of what those limitations are? I think I have an idea of what those would be because of the gaming that I do, but can somebody post a link or direct me towards more info? Much appreciated!

This is going to be a tough one for me. Aside from my early days playing Galaga or Defender, or playing the Ultima series on my Apple IIe (or the text based Zork) I really don't know many old school games. I really didn't get into gaming until the first Diablo came out.. Been all down hill from there though :)

Well, I like a challenge. I guess I have gone back and revisited the older Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior games recently. Maybe I'll give something from one of those a try.

I just thought of another question. Does it have to be one of the main characters.. or could I do, say, Bahamut:

http://www.rpgicons.com/images/icons/ff4/sm/bahamut.gif

or Odin:

http://www.rpgicons.com/images/icons/ff4/sm/odin.gif

(One of the summoned creatures from FF?)

[Avetice]

I'm in the same boat as Oglzogl in terms of the poly count. Video game design does interest me but I haven't really done enough research yet(just started college). Any links about poly count, or just try to judge what we think we be simple enough for a video game?

[Digisaur]

Here's my list of classic favs that first came to mind. Any one of these seem ripe for re-design...

Karnov
Bionic Commando
Shadow of the Beast
Berzerk!
Alien Breed
Rastan
It Came From the Desert
Altered Beast
Golden Axe
Joust!
Magic Sword
Rampage
Strider
Xenophobe

...I already have a couple of Xeno redesigns from a project that never went anywhere, at a company that later imploded. Here's one of them just for giggles while I work on the new ones. It the lizard-bug guy, one of the playable characters.
BTW -- Are we posting our pics in here?
http://www.digisaur.net/sketch_img/lizzybug2.jpg

[Oblio]

On the poly count side:

For those whoe have no ideea i'd say - do it without considerint the poly's - BUT - post it before the deadline - i'll try to guide you from there.
The poly limit is not much of an issue this days - but there are still limitations.
The best way to learn is to work at it - so do your blody concept and i'll give you the poly feedback.
Maybe some big guns will help me here too (Bobo.. are you listening? :D )

Now.. regarding the char - i'm warning you - this time - I'M IN!!!
:rambo: :arcfreak: :machinegu :nana

[davi]

so am i :)

i am doing http://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/eggplantl.gif

Eggplant Wizard (Kid Icarus)

[davi]

http://www.retro-games.co.uk/index.html

[Severith]

Has it to be pixel art :confused:

and what you mean with bring it to the new generation, something like if I want to draw Samus from Super Metroid, I should draw her like with new armour and new stuff, n shit, but still somehow the same concept?

Or like, totally different but somehow recognize-able ?

Please any of you pros show us an example on the real thing, please?

[davi]

this doesn't have to be pixel art.

games from snes are fine, computer games are cool too. just have to be from like very early 90's and 80's.

doom1 would work

[weapon82]

Found mine. I used to stare at the armor drawings in the manual. The first game I ever played. Good times...

http://www.woodus.com/den/gallery/graphics/dw1nes/box_art/dw1_front.jpg

[Runcible]

Wow...that's a flashback and a 1/2! I'm right there with you Weapon82. I remember that game and the pics inside the manual you're talking about! :D

Those certainly were the good old days!

[donkeyslayer]

OH MU GOD!!!! REAL FLASHBACK. that was back in the day when nintendo could afford to send people games for free. my brother played the hell out of that game


Edit: is it ok if there is a B/W piece? or does it have to be color?

[Android]

Well as far as the poly count thing goes, dont let that hinder your concepts too much, but dont you should keep them somewhat reasonable. lets pretend like we are making characters for the next generation of console games, less is always more. remember that the older the game the more freedom you will have with the design, if the character you are redisgining is based on 25 pixels you have alot of flexibility with your interpritation of the design.

[Nekokaiju]

This sounds like a blast!

I've already started to blow off work and started redesigning
Joust.
I'll have to post early sketches soon, So I don't go way beyond my allotted pollys.

Thanks guys. Great idea.

[Smeagol71]

Well, great minds must think alike Nekokaiju...I've decided to do Joust as well and have started sketching! What a great game, eh? I remember spending hours and many quarters in the arcade playing that one. Can't wait to see your sketches! Good luck! :D

[wassermelone]

Hmm... I was doing Frog from Chrono Trigger but I decided his froggy aspect was a bit too restricting character wise. Plus I don't really want to draw an anthropomorph =|

So its either Magus... or one of the FF characters (White Mage...)

[Severith]

We can start to post here, yeah?

Oh btw, we can post progresses right?

:chug: this is going to be fun

[fell]

man, this thunderdome is kicking ass, i love the idea!

street fighter 2, out of this world and zelda are my favorites for re-designing

[killing.people]

adam: journey to silus. http://bombshelter.ghostopsmod.com/pics/jm.gif:p

[Android]

Smeagol71 and Nekokaiju, wow, your both doing Joust , that makes three of us.:)

[Smeagol71]

Arrrggghhh! I think I'll just hang myself now. :whoa: LOL! Andrew, you're judging right? Not officially entering the competition? LOL!

Seriously though, can't wait to see what you have in store. Always a treat! Are you thinking more traditionally or futuristic for your design? Or would you rather keep it under wraps? :D

[Android]

youll see it soon enough, but it is more futuristic fantasy inspired, at first I wasent sure how futuristic to take the design, then I remembered that the joust characters teleport into the world so it must have a high degree of technology.

[Nekokaiju]

Wow.
Sounds like I have my work cut out for me.
This is exciting, pushing me to do my best.

I can't wait to see your designs.

I put many quarters in that machine also...
As soon as I saw Panzer Dragoon, I thought man there needs to be a new Joust out there.

Just maybe...soon? ;)

[davi]

oh lord...hope you guys dropped the flying emu concept..

[Nekokaiju]

Davi, I love the ostrich, emu, rhea, or whatever it is.

Android,
Have you seen the Lynx cover art with the bionic bird?
http://atariforce.free.fr/lynx/images/scans/joust.jpg

And I came across this old concept art...

http://www.avians.net/scarletdown/gallery/Misc-Art/

Okay I need to stop googling... and get back to work


enough Joust talk....Now who's doing Q*bert?

[fletchgirl]

http://www.vgmuseum.com/scans/atari2600.html
the front and back of classic game boxes... funny to compare!

[imager777]

Two words. MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!!

[Adam]

One word: CRAP

[davi]

the designs from the new mortal kombat will be pretty hard to beat :)
good luck!

[Loga4]

Heh,long ago I was own Amstrad CPC:)
and games I was playing most were Exelon
Last Ninja and Saboteur,so I think I will try
to do something from those games.
Man,Saboteur was killer game :D
Good luck all!

[pazshadow]

hey, could i do herzog zhwei, that german game for the sega genesis?

[tyboogie]

hersog Zwei--that game was cool!! and also teh german shooter for Playstation---Einhander was really kickass too!!

[Adam]

i think that was a japanese game with a german name....but it was DEFINITELY cool :)

[Tedsuo]

One guess which character I'm going to do... :D



Weapon82, looking forward to your armor redesign. How about we paint a picture of your character totally killing mine when this is over?

:chug:

[joel]

i loved playin arkanoid for some reason, so guess ill play with that. Sorry if this questions been asked/answered but how do we submit our design?

[Oblio]

I have decided:

http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2345

[Landmate]

Am I allowed to do a character from Fallout.

[davi]

fallout was released in 1996 - 1997, that's far from "classic" to me. I suggest games that were released before 1990. I went out just a few months ago and bought fallout in a new package, so that too me means it's not classic at all.

[oglzogl]

.. that rules out pretty much all the Final Fantasy games. I thought they were okay.. but maybe they were mentioned as fair game before the contest changed.

Oh well, back to the drawing board...

[Tedsuo]

I imagine Final Fantasy I, II, and III are all eligble, as they are all classic sprite based rpgs from childhood. But I agree that anything released on a greater than 16-bit system is a little too modern to need redesign.

[Adam]

i think the point of this contest was to take a very nearly abstract blob of color (or retro-instruction book illustration that in no way resembles said blob) that for whatever reason has emotional/nostalgic value for you, and to breathe new life into it, and to make it something that represents both the way you respond to the character and game, but also what the game was originally about. The challenge is supposed to be in placing all the nostalgia/emotion of the original game or that period of your childhood or whatever into that one picture, the inspiration for which is a total of 64 little blocks of color, or a black-and-white, nickel-sized instruction book illustration :) Choosing a well-developed character that has been repeatedly rendered in 3D would seem to defeat this purpose.


that's my take on it anyways...i didn't make this contest up though, so i could be way off base here - mods, please correct me if i am!

[Nimrod]

But... Fallout is an INSTANT classic... ;)

I have a question for the judge/s - Is it encouraged or discouraged to make a layout/turnaround type composition? For instance, if I show my character from multiple angles on a neutral background, will I be rewarded for making it easy to see and visualize in 3d (like concept art from movie art books I guess) or will I be docked for having a boring/un-artistic composition?

[Belisarius]

:D

Hope this is proper. I only did Lineart because that is all I wanted to do.

This is a newly designed Castlevania hero. Of course he still got the obligatory whip.
I thought it would be cool to make a character based on Castlevania since the setting and the heroes were always very intriguing.

http://images.deviantart.com/large/indyart/fantasy/takeoncastlev.jpg

[LEN]

I'm going to throw my hat in the ring, I also choose joust

[Android]

well then thy Joust is on , may the warrior with the highest lance will. I have some wip sketches I will be posting soon..
I had no idea oust was so popular, it is as great game and definately deserves the justice of a makeover.

[MindCandyMan]

I am workin on something with castlevania as well...the characters were so cool and the mood was real dark.

I can't wait to see joust in so many different ways!

[imager777]

Why is mortal Kombat crap? It is a clasic in every way. It was arguably the first game to stir up major controversy amoung the masses. It was wildly fun, and it's old as dirt. Granted, it's not as old as Asteroids. If I can do more than one, or if MK is ruled out; I'll do Centipede. I hope that's spelled right. This time I'll really do a piece, since I didn't compete last time. (Unless all my stuff just sucks so bad, that I'm ashamed to show it.)

[mtomczek]

I am going to have to go with Bionic Commando. Although Pitfall Harry, and the kid from Zombies Ate My Neighbors are close behind. Not sure yet.

[Dick]

So should this be straight up concept art style, just like proposing it, simple, sides front, parts and that deal. or should we make an actual finished pic with setting and all that jazz? or is this another "whatever you want" question?

[murderdoll]

This contest is really hard for me. I never played such old videogames. I don´t know characters from old games. But I try it. I like the little boy from "Kid icarus".
What is about "Heimdall" it´s from 1992. Can I draw this? Or is 1992 not old enough?
Maybe "Donkey Kong" or "Indiana Jones".

.::Simone::.

[Adam]

Killing.People - I just saw that you recognized it!! Yay! I loveded that game so much...

[Cannibal80]

Maybe I'll draw Commander Keen from the games called 'Commander Keen'... Isn't Keen really old Id (Doom, Wolfenstein) stuff?

Anyway: Keen is this kid in pyjama's with a footballhelmet on, whose babysitter gets eaten by aliens and generally weird stuff happens to him all the time. I first played the game on a CGA graphics computer, and the game was like all Cyan, Magenta and black/white (no yellow, red or green). So maybe I'll stick to those colors?

[Jason Manley]

another prize has been added to the package...we have a printed book of marshall vandruffs sketchbook signed . ...marshall is Justin Sweets teacher...as well as a teacher of john dickenson...puddnhead...myself...bernie wrightson etc...he has even had drew strusen in his classes.

anyhow....its just another cool little spoil for the victor.


jason

[MindCandyMan]

Dude that's awesome! I am working on saving up the money for his perspective series...that's a great addition to the prize pool Jason!

[Dez?]

SO we don't have to consider poly count limit at all?? This is going to be fun.:evilbat:

Also how many characters can we do?(It was probally listed somewhere in the previous pages but it's time for me to head to class.:( )

[Smeagol71]

Oh man...that new prize...drool drool.

[Ribking]

Um....Hi everyone.
This is my first post.
I consider myself a "hardcore" gamer (you know...the kind of guy who likes challenge and gameplay over visuals). And I dabble a bit in the arts.
So I finally decided to go for it....Here is what I'd like to do.

http://www.classicgaming.com/megaman/1/spryellowdevil.gif

"The Yellow Devil" a.k.a. "The Puzzler"
Hands down most difficult mini-boss character from Megaman (if you don't wuss out and use the pause button repeatedly). He made a return appearance in Megaman3, but with all the passwords and E-tanks, the challenge was completely negated.

Here's my question....
The Puzzler is not a main character in any way...but he is from the back-in-the-day era...and you gotta admit....he ain't got much "detail". Would y'all consider him "legal" for this contest?

[JonnyDOH]

Hey! Does Wizardry I count as one of the classics? I just got a great idea for a creeping crud! (Albeit in a tasteful representation-- as far as creeping cruds can get, tastefully, at any rate...).

[OmniDose]

:) just thought I would throw in my entry,
http://aw.localhost.ee/aw/view/2705.html

oldschool, but still fun :)
Space Harrier will live on

Either that or maybe ProtoMan

[Payback]

A question: I was thinking about trying to redesign Spy vs. Spy, but as I understand it that's based off a comicstrip. Is this a valid game?

[Android]

im not going to be too up tight on what is and what isnt a classic video game, if its classic to you thats good enought to me, just as long as you make it look cool,

you dont have to focus on the main characters of any video game, bosses suportion characters enemies are all fai game,

i remember the old spy vs spy for my pc, they are comic characters and they were techicaly featured in a video game, to they are fair game. i wont stop you but comon there are so many freking cooler video game characters why spy vs spy?

the final submissions will be posted in a thunderdome finished entries thread, for the time being feel free to post them in the itf finally finished section to get feedback,

good luck everyone!!

[Payback]

Well, I was just playing around with the idea, and besides I don't think I would be able to make a cool pic anyway. This is just for fun to me, but dont get me wrong... I will try to do a very good job. :) I mean I do have time til the first of May.

Since I aquired some sort of selfawareness around the late 80's I havent even heard of the games you're talking about. So I'll just have to find something from around the early 90's which is very nostalgic for me... But I did play alot on my bro's C64... I was thinking maybe Gauntlet, but I remembered that in that game there was only the regular fantasycharacters so that would be kinda lame.

I'll keep searching. :D It's the remembering part thats hard.

Edit: Ok, I think I found it now. Speedball... I hope that will do Android ;)

[killing.people]

i am not sure if anyone has posted this link, but it is a great resource for
old game screenshots (http://screenmania.retrogames.com/index2.html).

[Jaku]

i have another resource

http://www.megspace.com/entertainment/bigbarr/

i tought that playing again that games could be good for brainstorming...

[Tanika]

I'm taking a go at princes zelda. She should never have been a 'poor little princess locked in a castle' :D

[blackhand]

Blaster Master. I didn't even own an NES, but the coolness of this game crossed console boundaries.

I'm relishing redesigning the tank, SOPHIA.

[Groady]

How can you go past Alex Kidd (ya know, the built in game on the Sega Master System 2). It would interesting to see how people would tackle that.

Also do you think Sonic the Hedgehog is old-school enough? It's been revamped into 3d several times but so has Mario.

Cool competition.

[I.was.ink]

I really like this one! It's mother Brain right?
http://snoot.org/i/wuss/vg/motherbrain.gif

I wanted to see mother brain in metroid prime, but that didn't happen of course.

So I'm going to go for it!

this is going to be haaaaaarddd! :(

[syco26]

Can anyone enter in this?If so where do you send your entries?
If I can participate in this I will be doing SubZero.He is my all time favourite character.

[Joachim]

Hey, great contest, love the idea...Have to join in :)

Btw, where are you supposed to post your final piece ?

[Ouroboros]

Alright, I was hardcore into NES. Even had the robot accessory. I'm going to do a boss character from one of my favorite NES games, Megaman II.

Airman:

http://www.classicgaming.com/ummxzw/mm3/Guides/Mm3guide/Airman.gif


Prepare to be 'blown' away! Get it? har har har.

Ouro

[Mirana]

Simple pencil rough of the White Mage from the infamous Final Fantasy 1. The only FF game I have ever played... Never could figure out if the White Mage was male or female. Probably male, but I'm trying to even up the score a little bit.

http://www.hikarikat.com/mirana/sketch/04_22_03.jpg

Not sure how to render this one...hm.

[Maxx M.]

I totally apologize if this has been adressed.

"one of the things the judge will look at if you choose to do a video game character is how well that character would actually transfer into a game with todays technology. it is important when designing characters for games to keep in mind poly limits and where you can focus your details both with texture and with triangles. if the character is too detailed in structure than it simply can not be done with todays tech."

On Diablo, we had Hella expensive models,
and on starcraft, the Overmind was over 1 millions poly's
Square's in game models are doink at a whopping
3K but their cutscene characters are NUTS!!!!!!
It seems to me (jeffrey, VF4) that polycounts are a moot point in judging. Abe's Oddessy is a great example of a
bright and colorful character featuring an insane amount of
polys, but the game is all about 2D Sprites. (don't start
screaming about the 3rd one!)

just a thought.

thank you for looking. and good luck to all!!!!

-Maxx M.

beautiful peice Mirana!

[nardfrog]

Im so tempted to to samus but Im afraid if I dont please android he will kill me. Fot those of you who dont know android did ALL of the concept work for Metroid Prime. Yeah.
Plus I bet like a million people are going to do samus or megaman.

[Joachim]

well, I think think it's stupid if the "jury" consider poly account etc.... because that has a lot to do with the artist converting it into 3d. The artist designing the character shouldn't take into account that it will be realtime or not, because a good realtime modeller should be able to fake quite a lot of things. In my opinion that is just a challenge as this is a character design challenge. -If that matters it will only be confusing, because the the jury's result will be affected by the way "they" work and the way they are used to do stuff. 3d modelling job is a challenge the same way as designing the character. If that should matter it should be a part of the competition, to see how well you can model and texture the character design.
dunno if this is the case but since you mention it maxx m.

[Mirana]

We *are* talking about designing, right?
#1 I thought that re-designing is the same as doing concept art, and as such...don't most illustrators pretty much do whatever they want in any medium? Isn't the point just to get ideas and give the 3D artists something to work with?
#2 Judging based on the technical limits of games is an unfair advantage. I have never worked in the gaming industry and I haven't really played any games (mostly computer games, at that) since the early 90s. "Poly count" is a foreign term to me and I'm not sure even an avid gamer would understand that enough to create a piece.

Anyhoo, just my two-cents since I didn't notice that post on the first page until now. ^_^;

[DustinTrimble]

Mirana, love that mage, she doesn't seem quite, confident? Cool maybe she's a novice. I don't know the FF1 backstory:P

[Mirana]

Like most RPGs every char starts as a beginner and levels up. In FF1 the character image actually changes to look like a bigger, more advanced char once you hit a certain level.

Thanks for the comment! ^_^

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Contest is over, but I interpretated it as taking a small 3 color sprite and paint it in a higher resolution, fill in details where necessary, like as if it was featured in the manual or something, or, as if you were doing a sequel and the AD told you do design something that looked like the design from the old sprite artwork. Could be Section Z armour Mark II, Blaster master Sophia tank Mark XI, etc...