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Chronicles' GHZ - Stage, Models, etc WIP thread

Update 29

It has been nearly 14 months since i first started development, and nearly 1 year since i posted about this project publicly on the forums. To celebrate this, i made a commentary-less video going over what i currently have installed in the mod. While some earlier versions of textures and artwork aren't featured in the video, i think it'll give you a pretty good idea on what to expect. The list of changes has become so long that i think it's better to show you everything so far instead of listing everything new.

The video can be watched here:

Thank you for reading and Happy Holidays and Merry Xmas!
Looking good so far
 
Update 30

Today i want update you on my Chao progress.

In Chronicles, you collect up to 40 different chao. For this mod's first release, i scale it down to the 20 common chao. The rare chao will come later... I've worked on a signature pose for each of the common ones.


Let me introduce you the Common Chao! Squad from Chronicles
Here are the poses in the base color scheme (based on the pets mod's chao for consistency - see
https://mb.srb2.org/threads/pets-personal-followers-community-update.28607/page-3#post-529362 )
unknown.png


And in this screenshot i'm giving them color schemes corresponding to their chronicles look. I still got 9 more to do, after that the first set of frames is done.
unknown-28.png

I want to pixel the following sprites:
- walking (see earlier update) was already done in the base colour but looks a little off to me, might adjust it...
-eating
-getting hit
-crawling
-jumping
-greeting
-hugging
-sleeping
-pain and sickness (optional)
-intense emotions (optional)
-begging for food (optional)
-tip-toeing and running (optional)
-flying (custom one is optional since the pets mod already has one - https://mb.srb2.org/threads/pets-personal-followers-community-update.28607/page-3#post-529362)

I put some as optional so the mod won't be in an endless limbo. I also don't need to make separate sprite animations for every single chao atm. As they're common chao, i think it'll be okay to make them mostly recolors of the base form. As with the poses, i'll attempt to give each chao something personal.

Thank you for reading!

Edit: bad internet made me post the same post twice. I removed the double.
 
Update 30

Today i want update you on my Chao progress.

In Chronicles, you collect up to 40 different chao. For this mod's first release, i scale it down to the 20 common chao. The rare chao will come later... I've worked on a signature pose for each of the common ones.


Let me introduce you the Common Chao! Squad from Chronicles
Here are the poses in the base color scheme (based on the pets mod's chao for consistency - see
https://mb.srb2.org/threads/pets-personal-followers-community-update.28607/page-3#post-529362 )
View attachment 59349

And in this screenshot i'm giving them color schemes corresponding to their chronicles look. I still got 9 more to do, after that the first set of frames is done.
View attachment 59350

I want to pixel the following sprites:
- walking (see earlier update) was already done in the base colour but looks a little off to me, might adjust it...
-eating
-getting hit
-crawling
-jumping
-greeting
-hugging
-sleeping
-pain and sickness (optional)
-intense emotions (optional)
-begging for food (optional)
-tip-toeing and running (optional)
-flying (custom one is optional since the pets mod already has one - https://mb.srb2.org/threads/pets-personal-followers-community-update.28607/page-3#post-529362)

I put some as optional so the mod won't be in an endless limbo. I also don't need to make separate sprite animations for every single chao atm. As they're common chao, i think it'll be okay to make them mostly recolors of the base form. As with the poses, i'll attempt to give each chao something personal.

Thank you for reading!

Edit: bad internet made me post the same post twice. I removed the double.
these are probably some of the cutest chao sprites i've ever seen, if i'm being honest.
 
Update 31
Today's quick update is a continuation of the previous chao update. All 20 (common) Chao now have a color scheme corresponding to their Chronicles look. I also added in extra frames to spice up the chao hatching animation.

unknown-35.png

unknown-36.png

Now i'm implementing them into the SRB2 engine. Sadly it's going less smooth than anticipated. Due to the large amount of frames, i tried to optimize it using the wiki. I put in limited sprite freeslots with the thought of using numbers in soc sprite definitions. Sadly, i can only put letters in there, else the wrong frames display. Luckily, using FF_Animate starting from Z allows me to use some frames with numbers. Thus, even though i must rename a bunch of frames, i now understand the tricks to make it work.

While i restructure and reorganise my sprites, have this gif of the first* chao hatching from an egg.

*first from the listed chao above using the new animation. I think i uploaded a Belgog hatching with less flair in a previous update. Since Belgog is typed rare in chronicles, idk what i'll do with him yet.

srb20168-1.gif

Thank you for reading!
 
Update 32
Today i want to show off some background work. I have finished the row of Chronicles clouds. I also use the GFZ1 upper clouds from SRB2 because it gives a nice teal vibe like og Chronicles.

The Clouds:
srb20172.gif


I'm also making bigger chronicles mountains. My previous smaller ones only work when pasted on top of the clouds. The result looked a bit too pixelated imo. Instead i want to create more depth, so with my giant skybox i need bigger mountains. Still working on how it looks best with the limited amount of colours.
1642149907497.png


The goal is to recreate the background scenery somewhat from the original game and add little twists around it. First order of business for the background is to finish the mountains from Chronicles' Cutscene art, and build from there.

Thank you for reading!
 
Update 32
Today i want to show off some background work. I have finished the row of Chronicles clouds. I also use the GFZ1 upper clouds from SRB2 because it gives a nice teal vibe like og Chronicles.

The Clouds:
View attachment 60301

I'm also making bigger chronicles mountains. My previous smaller ones only work when pasted on top of the clouds. The result looked a bit too pixelated imo. Instead i want to create more depth, so with my giant skybox i need bigger mountains. Still working on how it looks best with the limited amount of colours.
View attachment 60303


The goal is to recreate the background scenery somewhat from the original game and add little twists around it. First order of business for the background is to finish the mountains from Chronicles' Cutscene art, and build from there.

Thank you for reading!

Wait, did this level ever release or are you turning it into it's own game or what?
 
Update 33

For this update, i mainly did some coding work together with Felix and Arjr. This was to expand the usefulness of the Chao. I will hint at their use through new spritework. Other than Chao, i did some more asset sprites and expanded on the level in Zone Builder.

1)Level work in Zone Builder
This setpiece is to expand more on the starting area. While the wip barebones, it should make a good introduction/ recap to srb2's mechanics before arriving in the main course of the zone. This route is tailored to rolling characters atm to get on top of the mountain, a side route will also be made for non-roll characters to get there as well.
srb2_start3.png


Next, let's go over new sprites:
I finally finished the set of trees for chronicles' GHZ. A whopping 8 different kinds of trees are now complete:
1644000033620.png

These trees were found all over GHZ's map. I will spread them over the entire zone.

With a quest to make the chao more useful, i made some concept sprites for Barbo, Cheezlet and Choo. Each of the sprite sets are grouped as follows:
-left - Chao holding an srb2 item as a gift
-right - Chao gifting you a chronicles item
-bottom - Chronicles themed cutscene popup
1644000242290.png

1644000271057.png

Note: The nightopian helper set uses an edited version of the sprite from SRB2 itself for better cohesion.

These 3 chao sets are just concepts, and a fun exercise for what my noob coding may lead to. I think this might make the chao a fun reward. How they may or may not be implemented will be explained in more detail later.

That's it for today, thank you for reading!
 
Update 33

For this update, i mainly did some coding work together with Felix and Arjr. This was to expand the usefulness of the Chao. I will hint at their use through new spritework. Other than Chao, i did some more asset sprites and expanded on the level in Zone Builder.

1)Level work in Zone Builder
This setpiece is to expand more on the starting area. While the wip barebones, it should make a good introduction/ recap to srb2's mechanics before arriving in the main course of the zone. This route is tailored to rolling characters atm to get on top of the mountain, a side route will also be made for non-roll characters to get there as well.View attachment 61878


Next, let's go over new sprites:
I finally finished the set of trees for chronicles' GHZ. A whopping 8 different kinds of trees are now complete:
View attachment 61885
These trees were found all over GHZ's map. I will spread them over the entire zone.

With a quest to make the chao more useful, i made some concept sprites for Barbo, Cheezlet and Choo. Each of the sprite sets are grouped as follows:
-left - Chao holding an srb2 item as a gift
-right - Chao gifting you a chronicles item
-bottom - Chronicles themed cutscene popup
View attachment 61886
View attachment 61887
Note: The nightopian helper set uses an edited version of the sprite from SRB2 itself for better cohesion.

These 3 chao sets are just concepts, and a fun exercise for what my noob coding may lead to. I think this might make the chao a fun reward. How they may or may not be implemented will be explained in more detail later.

That's it for today, thank you for reading!
Interesting concept.
 
Update 34

The past few weeks have been spent mostly on coding more for the chao mechanics. Since i can't show coding stuff here, i'll update you on some spriting stuff.

Quite some time ago, i made the giant totemt pole sprite for the front side ( See update 15). This was in Generation's spirit thanks to its blue tints. Because i tried to make this resource as light as possible, i ended up piecing it into too many pieces and got demotivated to work on it further. By taking a step back from that for a while, i realised it is enough to insert each face without issue. And now, I am happy to announce that i finished the totem pole and completed its sides, including the pole's flat as well. I also changed the colour scheme for a more authentic 2000's look.

Colour scheme from before - Generations style:
face 3.png


After - 2000's style
totem pole faces.png


For the 2000's look in the level, i'll use the new look in the level. I do like the earlier colour scheme tho, this might be handy to use for a Generations themed GHZ, so i won't delete it.

The next totem pole i should make is a smaller greyish one, it appears once in the top of GHZ's map. Maybe adding some dark blue shadows in there might also give it a nice touch. Time to start drawing that to see what happens.

I wonder if i should make more faces for this totem pole... Either way, i'm happy with how it turned out.

Thank you for reading!
 
Update 35

For this update i worked more on some spriting stuff. Last time i mentioned i would work on the smaller one. Revisiting the map, i realised the small one is also brownish instead of grey. Nevertheless, this little guy also has its textures complete:

1645728500623.png

Since i worked with these brown shades, i made a new attempt at my bridge tile (see update 19). That attempt was a CEZ styled bridge for GHZ gone wrong imo. So i reworked that from scratch. Now it looks much closer to Chronicles.
This took me way longer than expected. I really feared the brushy stroked style would get lost in translation. But after perseverance, i'm both surprised and excited with the final look. I made a couple of versions of the flats to indicate its wetness like in og chronicles. I also made a bottom flat with colder shades. The side texture for the bridge is an edited version of GFZ's bridge texture.
1645728473539.png


Thank you for reading!
 
Update 36

For this update, I was able to sprite some great new stuff. I'm very excited to share this with you all!
Giant spoiler filled with lots of images below:
Today i'll be showing my version for water, new faces for the totem pole and a box
Have the GHZ map for reference:
DS SC Locations Map + secrets.png

So i wanted to make water based on the chao garden - it's useful for streams (512x512)
1646400807687.png
I tested it in opengl and it looked good
srb20198.gif

But i found it way too light in software so i needed to change some colours
making a variation for still water:
1646401134877.png
srb20199.gif


Here i'm making color variations for testing still water. On the left is more bluey, the middle has dsz's colours, and on the right i tried to have a "shadow" thingy effect. The colours for the left and right ended being too off in software (maybe due to the colourmap?)
1646401443957.png

I went ahead with the middle one with dsz's colourmap, since i think it looks closer to the og chronicles look

testing in opengl:
srb20202.gif

and in software
srb20203.gif


I also made new faces for the new totem pole, and added wings. (this has software water up close):
1646402197835.png


As you can see, i'm still experimenting with the right colours for it. What colour scheme do you think fits best? I'm trying to combine the teal, light blue and dark blue colours in some way... So far i picked DSZ's colours and colourmap. Thanks to that colourmap, the bluer variations turn purple and the like in software while looking good in opengl. So with DSZ's colours the water gets teal in opengl, and purply blue with teal tints in software. Maybe that fits Chronicles, i think? I'll still be tweaking the colours and colourmap of the water. As always, any suggestion and critique is appreciated.

Lastly, have this gif of new boxes:
srb20190.gif

This was a hard but satisfying update. Thank you for reading.
 
Update 36

For this update, I was able to sprite some great new stuff. I'm very excited to share this with you all!
Giant spoiler filled with lots of images below:
Today i'll be showing my version for water, new faces for the totem pole and a box
Have the GHZ map for reference:View attachment 63776
So i wanted to make water based on the chao garden - it's useful for streams (512x512)
View attachment 63765I tested it in opengl and it looked good
View attachment 63766
But i found it way too light in software so i needed to change some colours
making a variation for still water:View attachment 63767View attachment 63769

Here i'm making color variations for testing still water. On the left is more bluey, the middle has dsz's colours, and on the right i tried to have a "shadow" thingy effect. The colours for the left and right ended being too off in software (maybe due to the colourmap?)View attachment 63770
I went ahead with the middle one with dsz's colourmap, since i think it looks closer to the og chronicles look

testing in opengl:View attachment 63771
and in softwareView attachment 63772

I also made new faces for the new totem pole, and added wings. (this has software water up close): View attachment 63774

As you can see, i'm still experimenting with the right colours for it. What colour scheme do you think fits best? I'm trying to combine the teal, light blue and dark blue colours in some way... So far i picked DSZ's colours and colourmap. Thanks to that colourmap, the bluer variations turn purple and the like in software while looking good in opengl. So with DSZ's colours the water gets teal in opengl, and purply blue with teal tints in software. Maybe that fits Chronicles, i think? I'll still be tweaking the colours and colourmap of the water. As always, any suggestion and critique is appreciated.

Lastly, have this gif of new boxes:View attachment 63778



This was a hard but satisfying update. Thank you for reading.
That water looks nice.
 
Update 36

For this update, I was able to sprite some great new stuff. I'm very excited to share this with you all!
Giant spoiler filled with lots of images below:
Today i'll be showing my version for water, new faces for the totem pole and a box
Have the GHZ map for reference:View attachment 63776
So i wanted to make water based on the chao garden - it's useful for streams (512x512)
View attachment 63765I tested it in opengl and it looked good
View attachment 63766
But i found it way too light in software so i needed to change some colours
making a variation for still water:View attachment 63767View attachment 63769

Here i'm making color variations for testing still water. On the left is more bluey, the middle has dsz's colours, and on the right i tried to have a "shadow" thingy effect. The colours for the left and right ended being too off in software (maybe due to the colourmap?)View attachment 63770
I went ahead with the middle one with dsz's colourmap, since i think it looks closer to the og chronicles look

testing in opengl:View attachment 63771
and in softwareView attachment 63772

I also made new faces for the new totem pole, and added wings. (this has software water up close): View attachment 63774

As you can see, i'm still experimenting with the right colours for it. What colour scheme do you think fits best? I'm trying to combine the teal, light blue and dark blue colours in some way... So far i picked DSZ's colours and colourmap. Thanks to that colourmap, the bluer variations turn purple and the like in software while looking good in opengl. So with DSZ's colours the water gets teal in opengl, and purply blue with teal tints in software. Maybe that fits Chronicles, i think? I'll still be tweaking the colours and colourmap of the water. As always, any suggestion and critique is appreciated.

Lastly, have this gif of new boxes:View attachment 63778



This was a hard but satisfying update. Thank you for reading.
nice
 
Update 37

Another hard and huge update has been completed. For today's update, i wanted to upgrade the forest section. Remember when i made those treelines (see update 19)? Now i've made a new set of trees. I made 7 different types, with 3 having a vined variation. So i went ahead and put them in the forest 2d section for easy comparison.

This is the originl version of the forest:

srb20207.gif


Then i added a treeline to it and used a more classic background (see update 19):
1648303484479.png


And here is a quick, rough placement of the new trees, using chronicles clouds for the background:
srb20205.gif

(Note: the giant sprite in the skybox was a quick test on how immersive i want to make the background for the entire level. This isn't related to og chronicles. I was thinking of adding something new instead of filling the entire skybox with the blue background mountains. I'm not 100% sure about this, but i'll keep experimenting if it is okay)

Next thing to do for the forest is make some vine sprites so i can connect the trees. I also want to play more with the space in this area and the tree placement to make it look more like og chronicles. I should also add more bushes to this forest as well.

What do you think about the trees and the background idea? All thoughts, suggestions and critiques are appreciated.

Thank you for reading!
 
I've been seeing the smooth textures you made in the spriting channel! It's about time I visit this thread, lookin' good so far!!
 

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