Hedgewars Graphics rules, style constraints, guidelines

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Uriah
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The aim of this thread is to aid people in creating graphics that fit the Hedgewars graphics style.
For a while now I've been receiving graphics submissions from people that, whilst well drawn, simply do not fit the game.

One of my aims as graphics designer on the project is to make sure that the entire game adheres to one particular style.
Graphics that do not match this still will never be included in Hedgewars, regardless of how good they are.

So let's start by talking about what defines the Hedgewars style graphics.

- Bold Outlines (usually 2-4px in width)
- Cartoon style shading
- No Gradients on foreground objects
- Bold Colours
- Shading depth is usually 2-4 colours deep
- Well defined shapes

Let's take a look at the same object drawn in two different styles.

A.B.

Anchor A does not fit the Hedgewars graphics style
Anchor B on the right does.

Anchor A is shaded with a gradient, whilst it's only made up of white + dark grey, shading blends between those two colours as it closes in on the center of the object. This means there are actually many different shades of grey (i.e. different colours) between the outside of the anchor and the center. As mentioned above, the hedgewars shading style is made up of 2-4 solid colours. As you can see on anchor B, which contains 4 different shades of grey to achieve the same effect.

The shape of Anchor A is very clear cut and perfect, Anchor B is slightly more organic, it has lots of smooth curves and a chunky shape that adds to the cartoon look.

Let's look at another graphic

Here I've drawn a quick red glass ball in both styles.
It should be quite obvious, from the style of shading and outline which fits the Hedgewars style most.
All lines, even those made by shades of colour inside an object are clear cut and sharp.

Next let's talk about small details, the graphics in Hedgewars rarely contain small details, if you're drawing something in single pixels, it's probably not going to fit.
I'm going to take Dawidope's volcano grave as an example on this one and compare it to one of my own.

Again it should be obvious which fits the rest of the graphics in the game. Whilst Dawidope's graphic is nice, it contains a lot of single pixel details, much of it's definition is single pixel, pixels are squares, and so single pixel lines do not look smooth or soft. And do not fit the Hedgewars style.

I'm running out of time writing this post, but I think I'm going to post it anyway and add more to it later.
So expect some coverage on backdrops, colours, outlines and more.

One way to test your graphics is to import them into another theme or map, if they look completely out of place, chances are your interpretation of the graphics style isn't working out.
For example, I could take a palm tree and put it on the city map, whilst a palm tree on that map would look strange, it would still look as if it were part of the same game.
You should be able to do this with all of your graphics.

rbaleksandar
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Thanks for this. Hope you don't mind if I include it in the unofficial manual. Smile

HTML = How To Meet the Ladies

Here is my Unofficial Manual for HW. Hope you like it. Wink Smiley Still working on it. Don't worry. Will get it finished...Sometime in the future. Big Grin

Cairo
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Thanks Tiyuri!

Style is spelled style not stile.
Use Dropbox to backup your important goodies!

Wuzzy
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I would add the following recommandation to that: Use SVG from the beginning, convert to PNG for the final result. Also provide the SVG files to make life easier for people who may want to use the images for other things and play around with that.
This is a free software project, after all. SVGs are like the “source code” of the Hedgewars graphics. Smile

Hi, I am a Hedgewars developer. Smile

Zepryzzh
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how to put image into comment

sheepluva
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Zepryzzh allegedly wrote:

how to put image into comment

[img]http://imageaddress[/img]

  sheepluva <- me  my code stats -> 
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UltiMaxKom
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Uriah allegedly wrote:

... the project is to make sure that the entire game adheres to one particular style.
Graphics that do not match this still will never be included in Hedgewars, regardless of how good they are.

aw,,, damned me,,, first time read this post make me realize about my themes here,,, thanks to Spacebattleguy Big Grin ,,, maybe i must end my work to create something here, that because its was not match the Hedgewars Graphics Style Zone which makes my themes still will never be included in Hedgewars playground,,, btw, before see this,,, i want to upload two more themes here, but likely its doesn't fit this ("In War" and "Illusions" themes) ... ... ... but why i still want to create some ugly "Limit-Breaker" themes here ??? hehe, maybe Because i miss things about editing/creating something in WC3 TFT long ago,,,
heh, i running here like a kid that planting a tree on a rock, like doing something that doesn't belong in that place naturally... im Spamming here like dropping tons of trash from the sky at the forest, a peaceful forest,,, what a damned spammer me !!! Big Grin please burn me ^^

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nemo
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As noted in the other thread, even if your theme doesn't match the style guidelines, it can still be added to DLC. Take Luelle's themepack as an example.

Also, Tiyuri did try to maintain a certain level of quality beyond the style guidelines.
He wanted the theme to be attractive, the objects not all flat on plane of map but projecting out or with shadowing, the shadowing at least more or less consistent in direction, and with an overall "fun" feel which kinda ruled out some of the more extreme stuff people posted.

Since his filtering seems to have had good results, have tried to stick with it even if he's moved on to other projects.

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Oh, what the heck. 1PLXzL1CBUD1kdEWqMrwNUfGrGiirV1WpH <= tip a hedgewars dev

UltiMaxKom
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nemo allegedly wrote:

As noted in the other thread, even if your theme doesn't match the style guidelines, it can still be added to DLC. Take Luelle's themepack as an example.

Also, Tiyuri did try to maintain a certain level of quality beyond the style guidelines.
He wanted the theme to be attractive, the objects not all flat on plane of map but projecting out or with shadowing, the shadowing at least more or less consistent in direction, and with an overall "fun" feel which kinda ruled out some of the more extreme stuff people posted. ...


This rise my spirit Flying Saucer Hedgehog
thank you nemo,,, hmmm,,, is my theme can be here ? i'll continue it,,, yeah,,, even its ugly,,,

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nemo
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I don't mind putting it on DLC if you package it - take a look at some of the other ones on DLC for examples.
http://hedgewars.org/content.html

--
Oh, what the heck. 1PLXzL1CBUD1kdEWqMrwNUfGrGiirV1WpH <= tip a hedgewars dev

UltiMaxKom
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Cake Cake Cake Cake Cake

How many cakes that i give you ???

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