REFERENCE/TUTORIALS

[Baegal]

This thread provides general information, visual references/resources, and tutorials for anyone who may need some.
Any changes to the project will also be adjusted here. Everything is relatively up to date.

[spoiler=GENERAL INFORMATION]

(everything here is only a minor edit of what Gors originally wrote and is subject to change)

STORY
(might need to be tweaked)
"A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, the very fabric of a small world began to rapidly unravel. Four knights, Kat, Kosheh, Grooveman, and Dex frantically tried to cease the World War that had engulfed the nations of the world tSRopia. However, one of the knights, Dex, was unmercifully slain as he tried to quiet the violent hearts of tSRopia's warriors. Angered at the loss of one of his appointed knights, a massive light erupted from the sky as Dazz, the creator of this universe, descended to the world of tSRopia. He began to destroy his creations, weeping as he attempted to purify his evil engulfed world. However, he decided to spare the worlds greatest fighters. He planned on creating a new world, a resourceful based upon video games. Ultimately, he was unsatisfied with himself as well, and decided he would no longer rule as the most supreme being of the universe. Dazz decided to host a tournament to determine his successor. To make the tournament more entertaining, he embedded the contestants with the powers of the greatest fighters of Video Game history, so the mighty god Dazz would not become bored to a basic, monotonous fighting tournament. Dazz soon left in a chariot of fire, and the fighters prepared for the most important tournament in the history of tSRopia."

GAMEPLAY
The Fighters Resource (TFR), as the name suggests, is a fighting game project starring TSR's original characters. It is a 2D-fighting game that borrows a lot of gameplay elements from famous games from the genre, such as Street Fighter.

The gameplay borrows a lot from 90's 2D fighting games. Two characters face each other in a 2D field. They can walk forward and backward, jump, crouch and attack. Attacking the opponent depletes his HP. The player wins if:

1-The opponent's HP is reduced to 0;
2-The timer ends and you have more HP than the opponent.

You need to win two rounds in order to advance to the next opponent. You beat the game by winning against all opponents. Losing twice to the same opponent ends the fight and you'll be sent to a continue screen. Choosing yes will put you against the same opponent again, and choosing no ends the game.

OFFENSE
TFR has two attack buttons: Punch (P) and Kick (K). All other abilities can be performed by combining those buttons with the D-pad. Attacks can also be performed while crouching or in mid-air.

Differently from some fighters, TFR has 'BACK' and 'FORWARD' attacks. Those can be performed by pressing 'BACK' or 'FORWARD' when pressing an attack button. 'BACK' attacks are weak and evasive, causing the opponent to be launched upwards, and can be used to start combos. 'FORWARD' attacks are stronger and sends opponents away, giving you some extra space.THE 'FORWARD' AND 'BACK' DOES NOT HAVE TO DO WITH THE ATTACK'S DIRECTION.

Specials can be performed by inputting a button sequence (for example, quarter-circle+P). They're exclusive per character and some of them can be performed in mid-air. In order to balance things out, each character can have a maximum of 3 special moves.

Hitting the enemy multiple times in a row summons the 'THANK COUNTER' (aka combo counter). This depletes a good amount of the opponent's HP and gives you bonus points according to number of hits.

Grabbing is performed by pressing any of the attack buttons near opponent. Once grabbing the opponent, you can:

1-Grab-attack him by pressing any of the attack buttons. You can deal him four hits before breaking loose;
2-Throw him by pressing FORWARD+any of the attack buttons.

Note: Some characters' grab-attacks also sends opponents away.

Button-mashing will make you break loose faster.

Attacking or being attacked fills up your 'GOGNIO' bar. When full, you can perform a 'GOGNIO Special move'. They're exclusive per character and can have different effects. Basically, 'GOGNIO Special moves' are divided in two main categories:

1-Devastating move that depletes a lot of opponent's HP
2-Move that gives the player some advantage (such as healing)

DEFENSE
Defending in TFR works similarly to Street Fighter's. The character will automatically block any attack if the player presses 'BACK' button. Defending lowers the damage taken from attacks (though it'll still deplete some of the HP). You can defend while standing up, crouched and in mid-air. Note that defending will fail if the opponent attacks an unsafe spot (for example, defending while standing up does not protect you from low attacks; crouch-defending does not protect you from aerial attacks, and so on).

In addition to common defense, 'BACKPEDALLING' is also possible. 'BACKPEDALLING', or parrying in common fighter terminology, consists in the player pressing FORWARD the exact moment the attack connects. This negates the attack completely and gives you bonus points. Those bonuses increase exponentially as more successful 'BACKPEDALS' are performed, and reverts back to normal if the player misses it or defends normally. Because it requires precise timing, it is difficult to 'BACKPEDAL'.

Some characters' 'BACKPEDALLING' have special effects, such as reflecting projectiles back.

Finally, performing a 'BACKPEDAL' while being attacked in middle of a combo resets the opponent's 'THANK COUNTER', removes the bonus points and stuns the opponent for a long time, giving the player chance to comeback.

SPRITALITY
Spritality is an event that is triggered when you win the second round and has a full 'GOGNIO bar'. Inputting a certain button sequence will deal the unconscious opponent a final blow. Think Mortal Kombat's Fatality, but with less gore.

It is an special animation unique to each caracter that 'humiliates' the opponent, such as changing him into an anime girl (Midnight Moe), sending him into outer space (Chaoxys') etc. Be creative!

HELPERS
Helpers are characters that you can summon a fixed number of times, to aid you in the battle. Think Marvel VS Capcom's helper system.

A helper has four main animations:

1-Entrance;
2-Attack;
3-Leaving;
4-Hurt.

Note: Some helpers don't need hurt frames.

PLAYERS
As of now, there is no exact number on how many players there are.
Each playable character will have its own thread. For the sake of consistency, please title the thread the name of the player that you want to appear on the character select screen with "(PLAYER)" after it.
In your thread, there should be a brief description of how the character plays (lightweight, heavy, long/mid/short range, etc.) and some gauge of how their attack/defense/speed/jump are distributed.
The players all have specific animations and frames that need to be made. They are:
BASICS

• IDLE: Animation that plays while the player is static. Should be a simple loop.
  FORWARD WALK: For when the player is moving towards the opponent
  BACKWARD WALK: For when the player is moving away from the opponent
  DUCK: The player is ducking (1-2 frames for transitions, 1 duck frame)
  FORWARD JUMP: This can be the same animation for jumping in place as well
  BACKWARD JUMP: It CAN be the same as the forward, but please check to see if it look okay
  

ATTACKS

• PUNCH 1: The first punch
  PUNCH 2: The second punch--it is used right after punch 1, so make sure they transition appropriately
  FORWARD PUNCH: A strong attack that blows the opponent away
  BACKWARD PUNCH: A weaker move to knock the opponent of his/her feet
  DUCK PUNCH: The punch used while the player is ducking
  JUMP PUNCH: An attack the player uses in the air
  KICK 1: The first kick
  KICK 2: The second kick-it is used right after kick 1, so make sure they transition appropriately
  FORWARD KICK: A strong attack that pushes the opponent away
  BACKWARD KICK: An attack intended to knock the opponent off of his/her feet
  DUCK KICK: An attack used while the player is ducking
  JUMP KICK: An attack intended to be used in air
  SPECIAL 1: A special attack (Can be offensive, defensive, healing, etc.)
  SPECIAL 2: A special attack (Can be offensive, defensive, healing, etc.)
  SPECIAL 3: A special attack (Can be offensive, defensive, healing, etc.)
  GRAB: For when the player grabs hold of the opponent (1-2 frame transition and pose)
  GRAB ATTACK: A simple attack that the player uses while grabbing the opponent (should be a relatively simple loop)
  THROW: The player throws the opponent (should transition from the grab pose)
  

DEFENSE/HIT

• DEFEN For when the player is defending (1-2 frame transition, 1-2 frame pose)
  DUCK DEFEN The defense pose for when the player is ducking (should transition from duck pose)
  JUMP DEFEN The defense pose for when the player is in the air (should transition from jump pose)
  HIT POSES: There should be 6 (They can each be one pose--some may overlap):
  • HIT: For when the player is regularly hit
    HIT HAR For when the player is sent flying
    DUCK HIT: For when the player is hit while ducking
    JUMP HIT: For when the player is hit while in the air
    FACEPLANT: For when the player lands or is hit to the floor
    KO: For when the player is knocked out and either recovers or loses
    
  COMEBACK: For when the player gets back up (transition from KO pose)
  WIN: The player's victory animation
  

OTHER (should not be highest priority but are still necessary)

• BURNT: For when the player is burnt
  FROZEN: For when the player is frozen (see here for template)
  ELECTROCUTED For when the player is electrocuted
  STRAWBERRY: A status condition where the player is trapped in a Strawberry (see here for the template graphic)
  DEPIXELIZE A status condition specific to a character's GOGNIO move
  MIDNIGHT MOE: from Vipershark's Spritality--the player is transformed into a female character from an anime/manga or video game
  MUGSHOT: 64x64px, styled loosely off of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure styled mugshots (lightsource from behind, so that shadows are in the center of the face)
  TINY ICON: 16x16px, the player icon by the health meter
  LARGE MUGSHOT: A large mugshot for the character select screen (examples--C2B/Gors/Neko/Ocks). 240px tall and between 128 and 160px wide (clipping/cut off on one side)
  

BACKGROUNDS
The background canvases are 640x240px, with scrolling intended. There really aren't too many guidelines for this at the moment. The stages can be character specific, or related to TVGR stuff (ie. Spamhaul, the lounge, GD, etc.).

The background's colors should complement the main palette's graphics, but because progress on backgrounds in preliminary, there is no confirmation on if colors from the palette have to be used.

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=REFERENCE MATERIAL]
NOTE
Almost ALL graphics in TFR are composed of boxes with dimensions that are multiples of 8.
Players should fit in 64x64px boxes generally--range for certain attacks can be done by making some frames 72x72, 72x64, 64x72, etc.
Animations should rarely exceed 5 frames. The most basic frame count is 4 (not everything is tween-level fluid)

MASTER PALETTE


TEMPLATES


GAME ASSETS





HELPER EXAMPLES





PLAYER MUGSHOT EXAMPLES


CHARACTER SELECT SCREEN BETA (LARGE MUGSHOT EXAMPLES)


CONTINUE SCREEN SKETCHES

PLAYER FORWARD WALK EXAMPLES

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=TUTORIALS]
NOTE
Almost ALL graphics in TFR are composed of boxes with dimensions that are multiples of 8.
Players should fit in 64x64px boxes generally--range for certain attacks can be done by making some frames 72x72, 72x64, 64x72, etc.
Animations should rarely exceed 5 frames. The most basic frame count is 4 (not everything is tween-level fluid)
BASICS
[spoiler][/spoiler]

MOTION BLUR
[spoiler][/spoiler]

STRONG ATTACKS
[spoiler][/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[Mystie]

I see you listed burnt, frozen, strawberried, depixelized, and Midnight Moe. Why isn't electrocuted listed on here? I've seen NICKtendo and Chris make electrocuted sprites with their characters.

[Gors]

i forgot to add that as a status effect since the very start of the project

[Baegal]

I wasn't 100% it was necessary. It's been added now o/

[Baegal]

Added a better description for the large character select screen mugshot with examples + added the select screen beta under resources

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

Continue screen sketches:

[tykel]

Continue screen sketches:

Looking rather Smash Bros-ey

[Garamonde]

Could I propose a few palette changes?

   

We don't have to use these exact shades, but some shades in a few of the colors ramps are either outdated or too low-contrast compared to the rest and it just bugged me a lot.

[Crappy Blue Luigi]

i'm not in favor of changing colors in the palette at this point because it'd necessitate changes to existing characters.

ex:




if any changes are to be made, they need to take into account what's already been created with the initial palette.

[Baegal]

Yeah, I think the blues are in a bit of a delicate state right now. I personally don't see to much issue with it. Every palette needs SOME desaturated colors, even if they are used sparingly.

I added the continue screen sketches because for some reason I didn't comprehend they were meant to go under resources, which is why they were posted here :Y
Welp, sorry C2B--added now!

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

I think these Neo Geo Pocket games are pretty good examples of what can be done in approximately 4 frames and with a similar sized canvas:
Fatal Fury F-Contact
The King of Fighters R-1
The King of Fighters R-2
Samurai Shodown! 2
SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium
And a bonus post from Pixel Digest, with Akuma gifs from SNK vs. Capcom.

[Yangfly Master]

thanks chris!
now i got some sword wielding poses in a similar sprite canvas for me to base my character of!
(^ - ^)

[Kosheh]

I'd just like to point out


Here it is in 2x for double its beauty.


The poke/AA game is real.

Accept your fate.
You need to make like an anime fangirl,
and embrace the hell out of poke.

Don't have the range of a dinosaur.
(sorry Sketchasaurus)


(but at least you've embraced this and compensated with cool ideas)

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

For those of who are daunted by making the large portraits... no worries, the menus aren't definitive and this is an alternative which requires only your normal sprites and the normal portrait sprite:


Edit:

little bonus gif

[LunchPolice]

Thought I'd try spriting myself in this style. Does it look right?
(not sure if this is the right thread for this but I don't wanna make a new one when I'm just messing around)