Is this better for character size and hand shape? I traced his hands from a screenshot of N64 footage.

Also, I hear what you're saying about the hands, but I want to keep both of them flat, because he's supposed to be playing the drum, so if one was clenched it wouldn't look like that anymore, but I might try it just to see what it looks like.

He still seems like he should be moved closer.

You should work on those hands... Specifically the fingers. They're just boring pentagons. Try a little free form.

Oh yeah I'll definitely work on the hands. They are just place-holding right now, because I wanted feedback on the shape, whether they're still too flat or not, etc..

Also, I tried moving Bongo Bongo closer to the characters and it looks better, thanks rhofwinds.

.
.
.

No pictures?

Yep! Just needed to work on the hands a bit. Man they're not easy to get right, but I think they look better now.

Hmm, lighting/shading needs work on the main platform, any tips? The light needs to come from the eyeball and it needs to be reddish.

Just noticed that the stage isn't centered properly on the background because I threw this together quickly, so it might look a bit off.
Although ideally Bongo Bongo would be in the background as well, and only the hands would be a part of the stage, that way when the camera moves it would give a better effect of it all.


Also, maybe a dev could answer, but how does lighting work in SSF2. A lot of it seems to be done with Flash, like on Dracula's castle and the metroid one with the grass and moving platform. So how much is sprited and how much is done in flash?

There aren't really set rules for when we apply Flash effects or go for more traditional methods, it's more a matter of going with what will look best in the end. When something needs to fade (like how you made Bongo Bongo fade into darkness for example) then a more subtle transission is required for which Flash effects are best suited. Flashing lights or stuff like that as also bettter done with Flash. More traditional shading is often applied when contrast between colours is required to create depth or when we want to use colours to texture larger areas.

I hope that with this, I've given you a bit of insight and answered your question. If not, I could maybe call out to some stage spriters like Tid to go further in depth.

Oh yeah that makes sense actually, thanks!

I guess for this stage the light from the eye would look better in flash. I love on that metroid stage with the grass how the lighting works. How the beam of light from above makes the characters glow white, how the red flashing light gives them a reddish tint and how they get absorbed by the darkness when they get near the edge.

I would like something similar for this stage. The eye would give a constant glow to anything near it, it would reflect off the hands/platforms, make the characters glow red, and it would get really dark towards the edges.

So, do you have any links to a flash tutorial specific for lighting by any chance? A fairly simple one because I've never used flash before.

I appreciate the help, thanks. Oh and if you see anything else that could use work let me know please.

Oh that's a tricky one Mark, I'm afraid I can't help you there. I myself mainly stick to traditional shading for my work so I'm not too knowledgeable of Flash lightning. I think some good results ought to come up if you Google it though, I would assume that there are quite some tutorials out there, some more advanced than others.

Ok cool I'll look into it.

I guess you guys still aren't confirming or de-confirming expansion stages at the moment right, unless I missed something? It's probably not a priority. Hopefully after version 1.0 though.

At this particular moment we're fully focussed on the main product, and not so much on anything that could potentionally could come after that. That aside, I do highly enjoy coming to your topic to check on your work every once in a while.

Right yeah, sounds good. I'll just keep working away when I get a chance then.

Looking forward to the stream of apex 2015!

Thanks again for the help.

With the Bongo Bongo stage now more or less at a standstill I thought I'd show another stage I started a while ago, around the time Majora's mask 3d was announced.
And finally a stage that isn't from Ocarina of Time.

Also, yes, before anyone mentions it I used the (controversial) tracing method for this stage! I don't normally, but it actually worked better in this situation.



I sort of envisaged this stage as a 4 player stage, more for fun matches than serious ones.

Also, the Stone Tower Temple music is one of my favourite in all of the Zelda games.

Feedback appreciated, and taken into account. This stage is still early in development so I can easily still change stuff if it's not good, let me know!

The lineart is pretty accurate, but blocky. Tracing may not have been the most efficient technique to use here because N64 models are very blocky and it translated to your work. I would suggest that you smooth the linework out before you colour it, unless you intended to sort of keep the building blocky as a means of capturing the nostalgic style.