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REGARDING USE OF FACE SETS
Posts
Illustrious
520
Illustrious
View playlists
CloseI am assuming the answer to this is pretty much a no brainer, but thought I might as well get opinions, so
My main hero now has a set of 12 available expressions in her face set. I started the game only having a couple of them. So I have been reviewing every line of dialogue she has, choosing the expression that best fits. Not only is it tedious to try to capture every little nuance in what she may be saying, but I am starting to imagine
the rapid changing of expressions being very distracting to the player. Originally I thought all this attention to detail would be appreciated by the player. What do you think?
If you have ever seen someone try the same thing in their game before, did it win or did it fail?
My main hero now has a set of 12 available expressions in her face set. I started the game only having a couple of them. So I have been reviewing every line of dialogue she has, choosing the expression that best fits. Not only is it tedious to try to capture every little nuance in what she may be saying, but I am starting to imagine
the rapid changing of expressions being very distracting to the player. Originally I thought all this attention to detail would be appreciated by the player. What do you think?
If you have ever seen someone try the same thing in their game before, did it win or did it fail?
Eike
2708
I'd use the same face for a handful of textboxes before switching. Changing with every single textbox could seem kind of manic. But otherwise, I really can't see it hurting.
I'm sure a couple of games have done this... IIRC Love and War did it, but that's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
edit: Well. If the game's very centered around the protagonist and they're by far the central character it should be fine, but if the secondary characters are almost/as major as the protagonist, it would seem kind of odd that only the hero got all the expressions.
I very occasionally gave three characters of various importance alternate faces just cause they were on the faceset
I'm sure a couple of games have done this... IIRC Love and War did it, but that's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
edit: Well. If the game's very centered around the protagonist and they're by far the central character it should be fine, but if the secondary characters are almost/as major as the protagonist, it would seem kind of odd that only the hero got all the expressions.
I very occasionally gave three characters of various importance alternate faces just cause they were on the faceset
The Real Brickroad
2626
Personally I find face sets of any kind to be very distracting. I say skip them entirely.
I think Lun did it with some characters in The Way (Rhue I recall had different expressions).
It depends on how you do it if it's distracting or not. Do them based on how the character is feeling and not what they're saying. If they're frustrated show them talking with their eyes closed, feeling confident have a bit of a smirk, things like that. Otherwise you'll be trying to lip sync and that just won't work without spoken words. Like any detail, you don't want to bring very much attention to it at all. If it's pretty subtle, it works really well and adds to your presentation, but if not it really really detracts.
The most important thing though is making sure your dialogue is good though. If you find yourself needing to change the facesets a lot, it could be that you a) have more than one faceset portraying the same emotion b) your characters mood is changing much too rapidly. Unless it's a character with a mental disorder, emotions usually stick for a period of time instead of drastically changing one second to the next. Aka when you're mad, you aren't going to jump to being happy for a sentence then back to mad.
It depends on how you do it if it's distracting or not. Do them based on how the character is feeling and not what they're saying. If they're frustrated show them talking with their eyes closed, feeling confident have a bit of a smirk, things like that. Otherwise you'll be trying to lip sync and that just won't work without spoken words. Like any detail, you don't want to bring very much attention to it at all. If it's pretty subtle, it works really well and adds to your presentation, but if not it really really detracts.
The most important thing though is making sure your dialogue is good though. If you find yourself needing to change the facesets a lot, it could be that you a) have more than one faceset portraying the same emotion b) your characters mood is changing much too rapidly. Unless it's a character with a mental disorder, emotions usually stick for a period of time instead of drastically changing one second to the next. Aka when you're mad, you aren't going to jump to being happy for a sentence then back to mad.
Darken
3952
I always liked the idea of the actual charasets/sprites displaying emotion. It is kind of dumb when there are two graphics representing one character. I don't mean putting bubbles or sweatdrops over their heads, but editing them so that they do more body related emotions. FFT did this a lot (well it is not the best example since it also uses facesets).
As for The Way, it was done pretty well, but I feel some of the faces were pretty lame looking at times.
As for The Way, it was done pretty well, but I feel some of the faces were pretty lame looking at times.
Darken
3952
Woaaah, how come I didn't think that heh. Hell even FF5 has good emotions and the character sprites were worldmap FF1 sized.
I don't recall FF6/Chrono Trigger having facesets at all? I only played them on the SNES though. Probably added them to re-releases or something.
FF6 had some added, but I meant that they show emotion on the character, not the message box.\
E: Ninja'd by GRS.
E: Ninja'd by GRS.
I always liked how Tales games pulled it off - having cutscenes and dialogue with no facesets and only character emotions (along with voice acting, I suppose) but having optional dialogue with moving facesets and emotion.
Moving facesets would be ridiculously time-consuming though.
Moving facesets would be ridiculously time-consuming though.
D-Bones
227
author=Darken link=topic=3997.msg80662#msg80662 date=1245036153
I always liked the idea of the actual charasets/sprites displaying emotion. It is kind of dumb when there are two graphics representing one character. I don't mean putting bubbles or sweatdrops over their heads, but editing them so that they do more body related emotions. FFT did this a lot (well it is not the best example since it also uses facesets).
As for The Way, it was done pretty well, but I feel some of the faces were pretty lame looking at times.
Mother 3 did this amazingly.
author=D-Bones link=topic=3997.msg81002#msg81002 date=1245183243author=Darken link=topic=3997.msg80662#msg80662 date=1245036153
I always liked the idea of the actual charasets/sprites displaying emotion. It is kind of dumb when there are two graphics representing one character. I don't mean putting bubbles or sweatdrops over their heads, but editing them so that they do more body related emotions. FFT did this a lot (well it is not the best example since it also uses facesets).
As for The Way, it was done pretty well, but I feel some of the faces were pretty lame looking at times.
Mother 3 did this amazingly.
Especially the "cowboy goes batshit insane" emotion!
drgn_lord50
824
author=kentona link=topic=3997.msg81020#msg81020 date=1245187637I agree :D
emotions are overrated. your game needs more swords.
Darken
3952
author=Craze link=topic=3997.msg81011#msg81011 date=1245186015
Especially the "cowboy goes batshit insane" emotion!
Goddamn I knew of the spoiler beforehand but I didn't expect such a powerful animation to happen. It was so touching. :'(
Illustrious
520
I wasn't aware my 50 swords for the game would be inadequate. This is really discouragiung because my sword designer has left my project thinking his job was finished. I still have someone who is really good at putting polearms in rpgmaker games.
D-Bones
227
author=Illustrious link=topic=3997.msg81102#msg81102 date=1245214546
I wasn't aware my 50 swords for the game would be inadequate.
Damn right. You need at least 137.
