Exult Forum

Greetings!

I have some questions about the capabilities of ES.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is a limitation of sizes for sprites in ES, especially npc/monster sprites?

Also, is there a way to add more character sprites for different animations? For example, I would like to change the way an npc holds and fires a gun and a bow. It looks very strange how characters swing these items while firing them. Maybe a script could be written to display a different set of frames?

I'm also searching for sites that provide free graphics as game resources. While it is fun to draw graphics, it can get quite tedious, or just never come out right. I'm looking for dinosaur graphics that can be modified for ES. A wide variety of jungle flora and fauna would be great as well.

Is it possible to script interaction with just about any object or terrain? How hard is it to take something like baking bread, but apply it to other things?

That is all for now. Any information will be very helpful!

Scythifuge

As far as engine capabilities, I believe the answer is yes to all of it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that animation can be governed by usecode. Just as well, I definitely know you can utilize usecode with pretty much any shape. Check out the Quests and Interactions, at the Seven Towers, to see a good example.
I don't know of any free graphics resources, particularly ones that would match in Ultima 7's graphic style. Perhaps somebody else could help you with that.

Thank you for your reply!

I am hoping that there is a way to create larger monsters. Maybe a trick can be possible to create them with different pieces like the giant turtle, but have the game treat it as a monster rather than a barge. Its going to be hard to depict a t-rex, or an aptosaurus.


I found some anime-style sprites, some low-quality sprites and some other stuff, but nothing that I would bother modifying for ES. I have an idea that involves extracting certain graphics from U7, drawing outlines around them, and then erasing the original graphics within the outline, and then use the outline as a template for new graphics.

Its been almost a year since I first thought of the project. I may have more time to work on it now, so I'm going to try to tackle all of the graphics before building the world.

Scythifuge

Ohh... Time to create Howl's Moving Castle!

While I'm still hoping for an answer to the sprite size or "barge to monster" question, I'm going to experiment with trying to get some dinosaur graphics. My son has some dinosaur figures that I going to try to photograph at an "Ultima VII type angle", transfer them to the pc, and try to alter them to get them into the game. After searching for royalty-free graphics for ages and only finding an untextured triceratops, I'm running out of ideas.

The way I see it, a triceratops should be as large, or maybe slightly smaller than the turtle/barge in Serpent Isle. A tyrannosaurus could fit an average human inside it's jaws, so a t-rex will need to be of a larger size. Some creatures will be easier, because they are smaller. I already have an idea as to how I'm going to create the Myrmidex drones.

Once I know that it is possible to represent large creatures, I'll be more comfortable with trying to redraw U7 graphics and begin to build the world. Part of me wants to make Eodon larger, so that it takes longer to walk between villages, but its too early to say for sure. Some obstacles that I mentioned in my original Savage Empire thread still remain, but now that I'm thoroughly bored with playing games and editing Morrowind (for now), I want to get into learning ES again.