Continuum Facelift

[»jabjabjab]

I have been playing around with the thoughts for some time, thinking of special things we could do to improve our client (Non-Code wise) for a year. It would be nice to get this kindof thing done, because we don't need coding done from PriitK to get players in-game. our graphics are as old as Subspace itself. This is a bad thing.

 

 

After I saw Diwa's first work, I thought that he had potential, but I wanted to see where this would go. I asked for acouple Shot angles, and when I saw his Side/corner tilted view (like VIE's) I was positive. Diwa is a great artist, and is really wanting to create all the ship models. This is what we have been waiting for. A chance to refirbish this game, not to make it into something else, but to enhance it, and keep the 2D spaceship feeling it's had all along.

 

 

I am starting a project that will involve a massive change in the graphics, and sound interface of continuum, meaning new gfx, new sounds, new skins, a cool splash screen, and maybe a cool new default tileset(Overlaying the default's tile placements for up down corners etc.)

 

 

As far as coding goes, It's perfect. Ofcourse we've had ideas over the years, but we got AS3 now and I think that's far more than enough for coding potentials. It's time to put makup on this old hog and turn it into the divine swine of the MMO gaming industry!

 

 

What I want in this project are the following:

 

• Skins
  
• Sounds (Involving In-game to Main Menu noises, and maybe a splash noise too, because i hate that thunder noise).
  
• Graphics (Excluding ships because nobody is better than Diwa's ships)
  
• Fonts (I like the current font, it doesnt have to change, unless someone finds or makes something much better.)
  
• Banners maybe
  

 

When this is completed I'll put the continuum folder in a extracting installer with a cool icon I found lying somewhere of the continuum symbol.

 

Anyone can contribute to this project. This is made by the Continuum community for Continuum community.

 

Cheers! -JabJabJab

 

P.S. Check the attachment I have. It's something I did (with Flabby's help ofc <3) to made for the splash screen.

I also like the dsb skin so I'm putting it in there too for ideas and such.

 

Edits:

(7/04/09) - Added Doc Flabby's skin.

(7/04/09) - Added menu click noise.

(7/06/09) - Added noises (You notice a "slight" filesize change)

(7/06/09) - Split files into seperate sectioned 'RAR's.

(7/10/09) - Split the RAR's into folders to organize the files. Also added graphics, and sounds.

skins.rar

Misc.rar

graphics.rar

Edited July 10, 2009 by jabjabjab

[»doc flabby]

This is a nice skin im using at the moment (its a mod of telson's skin) i think its nicer than the dsb one

contskin2.zip

Edited July 4, 2009 by doc flabby

[»jabjabjab]

Updated.

 

 

How about we change what the non-ssc zone msg says, and make it more friendly for noobies. The message is probably what is scaring others from exploring other zones.

 

 

 

Example:

 

Origional:

This zone is not connected to the central player database. You should use a different password for this zone as your passwords may be exposed to zone staff. Do you still wish to login using the current password?

 

Mine:

This zone is not connected to SSC. If you wish to keep zones from recording your information on this username, we recommend you have a username for non-SSC zones. Do you still wish to proceed?

 

 

 

It still gives out the warning but in a friendlier "It can happen" than "Watch yourself, because we will strike when you least expect it" message to the newbie public.

 

 

We can also change icons for the in-game and main menu, aswell as cursors, what some things say, and in this project we can also change tips of the day, tips in game (i think) and some other things.

Edited July 5, 2009 by jabjabjab

[»jabjabjab]

Is there anyway we can put this cursor on continuum's exe? Anybody with the special talents to do it and make it so continuum actually works!?!?! but no seriously the exe's icon sucks ballz.

[larrythehamster]

Whatever happens...

I strongly feel a consistent branding is a must.

The splash, the forum, the SubspaceOnline site, the client skin... All needs to have a matching image.

 

For far too long everything has been done seperately with people pulling in different directions or not synchronised.

 

I know alot of it is out of many peoples hands, but if you're doing a looking for an overhall, a "corporate image" branding is a must IMO.

[»jabjabjab]

Could explain why VIE succeeded with SubSpace...

 

 

Updated.

Edited July 6, 2009 by jabjabjab

[Dr Brain]

Could explain why VIE succeeded with SubSpace...

 

 

Updated.

 

Explain what you mean by succeeded. I seem to recall them failing with SubSpace before I even started playing.

[»jabjabjab]

Did they not get alot of population?

[Trained]

Did they not get alot of population?

 

Of course they did, but it was 1995 and they had commercials and heavy advertising right? VIE = FAIL.

[Samapico]

In 1995, the thrust exhaust on the ships were considered high-end graphics

[»jabjabjab]

LOL! that's amazingly funny. Also, if anyone has any interesting background images (stars, galazies) that they want to contibute, gimme. I'm thinking some default banners will be nice too. Also, im trying to get some either really good blue tinted steel icon gfx, or some really good green icons with good detail.

[Samapico]

for banners, grab the top 50 or something from the banner emporium

[Trained]

As for galaxys and stars and whatnot, check these out:

 

http://www.brusheezy.com/brush/613-free-cosmic-brushes

[»jabjabjab]

sux i cant use them for paint.net, and I'm certainly not going to pirate ps.. :/. Maybe you could use them and contribute to the project

[Dr Brain]

The GIMP can use them. Just put them in gimp's brush folder. I tested it with version 2.6.

[»jabjabjab]

Hmm GIMP seems rly hard to use :/

[Diwa]

Whatever happens...

I strongly feel a consistent branding is a must.

The splash, the forum, the SubspaceOnline site, the client skin... All needs to have a matching image.

 

For far too long everything has been done seperately with people pulling in different directions or not synchronised.

 

I know alot of it is out of many peoples hands, but if you're doing a looking for an overhall, a "corporate image" branding is a must IMO.

 

I absolutely agree here.

 

I'm not sure anybody (I guess in this case, jabjabjab, considering this is his project) knows what they want the end results to look/feel like. I'm afraid in the end, all the graphics/sounds/whatever might feel a little 'slapped together' and not really have that 'make-over/facelift' feel jabjabjab is looking for. You can see it already with the files that have been attached in this thread.

 

larrythehamster hit it pretty much on the nose with his post. And I think the SubspaceOnline site is a decent place to start when considering a facelift for the rest of subspace.

 

 

 

Anything worth doing is worth doing right...

[»jabjabjab]

Actually Diwa, I put the files in faste, and more in bulk, so people can weed through these files and then respond with what they like, what they hate, and what they think they should replace things with. This is not only what I can do, this was made for the sake of the community's build, and efforts.

[Samapico]

Hmm GIMP seems rly hard to use :/

Tutorials

 

 

Learn them

[»jabjabjab]

Updated. Added background stuff i found on internet and resized them. They looked good so I decided to keep them.

 

2 things to note:

 

1) The files are only the size they are now because the last thing I will do is Compress and file type changing.

 

2) You can choose in these files what you want removed, and even suggest a file to be put in. Opinion is strongly suggested for the efficiency of this project.

Edited July 10, 2009 by jabjabjab

[Dr Brain]

It's a bad idea to change any of the in-game sounds and graphics. They were professionally made and go well together. Change the skin, splash and menu sounds, but leave the in-game stuff alone.

[»jabjabjab]

Well the ships (If Diwa does finish them) will be added aswell. I agree, to an extent. Im sure there can be in-game changes that could enhance it even further, but to ensure that we will not replace the already good material with worse, and because the community decides on what is good and what isnt, the way to fix this potential negative outcome, is to let the community decide what is good and what is not continuum-worthy to be in it. I do understand where you are comming from brain, but considering this game at it's current state, This surely is not a bad idea, and it is also fail-proof because the community in the end gets a hand in what they want to play with.

[larrythehamster]

I think Diwa is spot on, and also answers to an extent Dr Brains post.

 

If this is gonna be done, the facelift updates have got to be done from scratch. If we just take all the cool little additions people have designed, while individually they may look cool, they won't go balance and fit properly. We need to custom purpose design a full set of updates that will work together and suit everything.

 

As for Brains point about them being professionally made... Yes they were, but that WAS over a decade ago; everything needs refreshing.

 

I'm going to take a look at knocking up a skin and splash, see what I can do. Watch this space.

[»jabjabjab]

I completly agree with lth, I threw these in there to test the flavors and to see if it sparks anyone's imaginations.. I just hope the ones with talent won't cower under the covers with this project. It's free for anyone's modification.

 

So whose going to do the sounds?

 

Whose going to do graphics?

 

Diwa's got ships.

 

Maybe we can make up our own '50' banners instead of stealing them.

 

It should not be very hard at all. Ive got the Menu stuff going on, that's mine to deal with.

[Dr Brain]

The fact that they were made a decade ago only matters if: the technology has improved, or the artists have improved. The technology hasn't changed, and over the past decade, 2d sprites have become a lost art.

 

Just because you can make a good looking 1024x768 image doesn't mean you can make a good 32x32 one. No offense to Diwa and his excellent hi-res warbird, but his low-res warbird does not look good. I use an alternate shipset in Hyperspace because I needed different ship radii, NOT because it looks better than the VIE one (because it doesn't).

 

Things should be refreshed if and only if they'll look better afterwards. Change for the sake of change isn't enough, and I'm worried that that seems to be the thrust of this project.