Ember Ashes Alpha Wad

[Eliwood]

The version you see here on the first post will be the only version needed to download unless stated otherwise. This is to avoid need of constant download use, and will allow for a "main-stream" version of the character wad. The only times it will ever get updated will be when a significant amount of work on the wad is done, like finishing one of the angles. Only then will there will be an update. Until then, the download currently in this post is the only one you need.

After many (well, only a couple) days of work on my original EmberAshes.wad, I have now completed what I deem to be enough sprites to release this character wad!

Ember is a hedgehog character of mine, who has an okay speed, with max jump and a tiny little floatie for swimming! (The two original "stroke" sprites went by too fast so it looked silly). Not much info on the character right now, other than that there will be a lot of placeholder sprites. Her acceleration isn't exactly the best, and she is only mildly difficult to control. Due to her slower speed, you need to use a high-speed spindash to get over certain gaps. I also hope to give her a new ability later, but due to my crap-knowledge of srb2 and its code I am at a standstill right now.

About 1/5 of it is done right now, only due to me posting this here for critique so I can make better sprites in the future.

And the download link is right here.

It is currently a work in progress, so I'm hoping I can post this here for some useful tips, critiques, and suggestions for future updates (and then possibly a release, but that must go through the releases system first).

 

[Sparkxster]

Well Eliwood, this seems to be a very good WAD so far.

The sprites, mostly the ones that aren't a green Sonic, are very detailed unlike some wads who decide to have "skin tight pants".

Now for the ability, Swimming, it's not very often that you see a character with the swimming ability and Ember is actually very good when controlling her underwater. I haven't the faintest how you managed to SOC water running but that's a +1 to your resume. I am one that likes underpowered characters and this is no exception.

Overall, this character is a good one and is actually original whereas some WADS are just a Sonic character with better sprites (SonicRE, TailsRE, etc).

 

[Deadpool The Hedge..]

The choose a player screen is a very unique image. This is a good wad for girls who want there own gender. Its very rare to find a wad with that abilty. But one suggestion is to make her a little faster. But I agree with Sparkxster

Overall, this character is a good one and is actually original whereas some WADS are just a Sonic character with better sprites (SonicRE, TailsRE, etc).

Keep up the good work though.

 

[Sparkxster]

But one suggestion is to make her a little faster.

She's supposed to be slow y'know..

 

[Eliwood]

To my knowledge having swimming as an ability makes water-running an automatic ability. I thought it added to much so I wanted to have it to where you can only run with speedshoes. But as I play as her more and more, I figure that this would underpower her a little TOO much. As fas the speed is concerned, I want to make that be made up in spindash. I originally intended for there to be "multiple" abilities at the cost of rings, but according to what I've been told, this is not posssoible in SOC"ing. As for another thing I need to SOC in, I do want to try and fix the way she moves when underwater. As the description implies, she needs to have quick and percise underwater movement, which gets lugged down when underwater. Swimming temporarily fixes this, but I kind of want totry and just make the slowness of the water not take as much effect. Like she would still be slowed down in water, but not as much as regular.

 

[Sparkxster]

To my knowledge having swimming as an ability makes water-running an automatic ability.

Oh I see, either the wiki didn't say that or I overlooked it, thanks anyways.

 

[Eliwood]

Yeah I don't know if this counts as an update, or if this post counts at all, but I will be reworking on Ember Ashes again! I've gotten pretty sidetracked, but now will begin work on it again! Things that I will be doing is doubling sprite size and using the "highres" feature in the s_skin to allow for more detail. Now I don't have images I can share at this very second, but I am going to be working on the sprites.

 

[Eliwood]

I decided to make the first sprite I "HD" ify to be the water bubble grabbing one. Here is an example as to what it is. These take a lot longer than I expected, but hey, it has decent payoff I hope.

Here is a comparison of the newer to older sprites. I couldn't use the exact same sprite because I just fixed it, but I used one rather similar

 

[Deadpool The Hedge..]

Wow that's alot better then the older sprite, you added more details. I just want to see how the front sprite will be in HD.

((Note: If you have downloaded my wad and enjoy it and I (or someone else) hosts a game with a Ember, you know you have ember, but it still doesn't let you in, you have to redownload the wad. I'm not sure if this is bad of me to do this, but I try to update the Ember.Wad as much as possible, which causes her .wad file to be updated somewhat constantly, from which I update the link down there. I'll actually announce an "official" update whenever a significant amount of sprites get added in))

When you try to update your wad you should add the version info to your wad so people dont need to get confused which version to get (since it might be the same name and different size file). If you make any updates I recommend you should name them like EmberAshesV2.wad (v3,v4,v5 and so on). Just try not to make so much versions.

 

[Eliwood]

If you make any updates I recommend you should name them like EmberAshesV2.wad (v3,v4,v5 and so on). Just try not to make so much versions.

Yeah if I do that I plan on only making about 5 ((excluding the final version)) versions. Each one having a different angle finished as far as the sprites are concerned. The lighting in the sprites have the light coming from the front, so there is a shadow cast in the back.

---------- Post added at 04:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:02 PM ----------

Actually I'm using this post right here as a question to the mods, would it be against the rules if I used this topic for frequent updating? Like for example if I were to post some WIPs every now and then for update purposes would that be against some sort of rule or something? ((like you know, no "forum spam" or something like that))

---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------

Here's a little update for the sprites at the moment.

 

[Deadpool The Hedge..]

I noticed what you did here you added some sleeves to her new sprite and made her have a striped shirt.

Actually I'm using this post right here as a question to the mods, would it be against the rules if I used this topic for frequent updating? Like for example if I were to post some WIPs every now and then for update purposes would that be against some sort of rule or something? ((like you know, no "forum spam" or something like that))


Here's a little update for the sprites at the moment.

And as far as I know spaming is not allowed but frequent updating should be allow, this is in the editing topic anyway.

----------------------------------------------
In the rules.

1. No spam. Do not make pointless topics, one-liners, polls, or forum games.

2. No posting about project plans without proof that you have started. Likewise, do not ask people to make things for you.

3. Do not bump topics pointlessly. If you are bumping a topic three weeks old or more, make sure your post adds something to the discussion.
---------------------------------------------

The only one I think you should worry about is rule #3.

 

[Eliwood]

3. Do not bump topics pointlessly. If you are bumping a topic three weeks old or more, make sure your post adds something to the discussion.

The only one I think you should worry about is rule #3

If all of this is accurate, I think I should be fine, as most of the posts I plan to make here will be related to updating it considering I'll be bumping it semi-frequently to show proof of me working on it still. Although I'm not going to make 170 posts for every single sprite. Probably more for just a set I'm thinking.

 

[Terra]

I just came here, and I have to say, those sprites look AMAZING. Although to me, the front HD sprite looks very strange near the mouth...I'm not sure why...

 

[Eliwood]

I believe I may have fixed it. In the meantime, here have the death sprite

 

[Eliwood]

Here's a bit of a work in progress for the turning sprites. As I have found out, there are quite a lot of inconsistencies that I need to go back and fix, like hat size, bang size, and even quite a few other things. However seeing as I wanted to keep everyone updated, I figured I'd share this wip here for now.

 

[Terra]

By any chance, is this character meant to resemble the person in your avatar? They look very similar, the bang, the hair, the eye color and the hat, so I am kinda guessing she is.

 

[Joosp]

There is a lack of characters who use the HD option for sprites on the MB, and honestly they're missing out. Amber's sprites are really detailed and they look pretty astounding. The extra little things in the HD sprites like the stretching lines of the sweater adds a nice layer of depth that usually isn't seen in many character wads. Besides from the inconsistencies you've already pointed out, the sprite work is really well done. Keep at it!

 

[Eliwood]

By any chance, is this character meant to resemble the person in your avatar? They look very similar, the bang, the hair, the eye color and the hat, so I am kinda guessing she is.

Well my avatar is a human-representation of my sonic fan character, Ember. I've been wanting to make a decent sprite for quite a while now and now I'm starting to work on it a little bit. I need to fix some things though.

There is a lack of characters who use the HD option for sprites on the MB, and honestly they're missing out. Ember's sprites are really detailed and they look pretty astounding. The extra little things in the HD sprites like the stretching lines of the sweater adds a nice layer of depth that usually isn't seen in many character wads. Besides from the inconsistencies you've already pointed out, the sprite work is really well done. Keep at it!

I'm really glad that you like the sprites! I really disliked the sprite limitation, so I'm trying to work on the "HD" versions. I feel like I have more freedom in working on the sprites, and it's really nice!

---------- Post added at 02:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:50 AM ----------

Also here is a "fix" of the sprites. Any inconsistencies that you notice that you can point out would be great and appreciated!

 

[Terra]

I don't know, the side sprite looks a little weird to me on the mouth...
Original:

Edited:

 

[Eliwood]

I don't know, the side sprite looks a little weird to me on the mouth...

Yeah that definitely looks nicer. I'm gonna have to make that improvement on it whenever I get the chance. I'm going to work on walking sprites whenever I get around to finishing these as good as possible. I plan to take as many shortcuts with editing the sprites as possible and editing them later to make sure they stay consistent.

Also as I found out, being high res actually causes the "shrink" game mechanic to break. I found this out when trying Ember out in Egg Rock Zone. The sprites bigger than 70 pixels will not actually shrink, and when you go back to "grow" again the game will crash. Uh. Is there any way at all to fix this/get around this other than to not go with high res?