Author Topic: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition  (Read 29942 times)

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Offline gumby

KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« on: August 17, 2013, 04:24:44 PM »
I'd like to propose a new mini-comp with the purpose of collaborating on MusicallyInspired's KQ2 remake.  Easy, short (i.e. completeable) and very accessible for people to contribute.

So here's my idea:  Let's hold a mini-comp for completing room pics (visual screens only, no priority or control screens).  Each competitor will choose a different room screen to complete, and all competition entries will be used in the game, everyone wins!

We'll vote on which screens deserve 1st, 2nd or 3rd place - same as a normal comp.  Again, I wish to emphasize that every submission will be used in the game providing it meets the requirements (see below).  After the competition is complete, I'll update the game with the new room screens & I'll request to have the KQ2 on the Design Desktop (http://sciprogramming.com/desktop.php) to be updated so we can all see the results in-game!

The only requirement is to stay true to the original project, which was to re-create KQ2 using the same style as the KQ1 SCI remake created by Sierra.  Additionally, please read MusicallyInspired's development thread for this project (http://sciprogramming.com/community/index.php/topic,28.0.html) to get some insight as to how he envisioned this game turning out.

If you are interested in competing, just indicate which currently unfinished room you'd like work on & I'll extract the room resource from the game & provide it as a starting point.  I'd like to hold off until we have several committed competitors before actually kicking this off; maybe beginning Sept 1st, with a deadline for submissions by Sept 30th.

Please post here if you are interested in participating.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2013, 04:51:56 PM by gumby »


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Offline MusicallyInspired

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2013, 06:46:52 PM »
I'd also like to add that I'd consider it perfectly all right to take pieces of art from pictures from Sierra games. I've done this myself with a couple of the backgrounds. The small bush on the first screen and the foreground trees on the church screen. Both were from KQ1 and KQ4 respectively.

Also, one other stipulation I'd request to have is that the church inside screen is designed and sketched already by a friend of mine. I'll post his design in this thread later on. That said, if somebody thinks they may have a better design that might work better, I wouldn't be against being creative. But it might be easier to trace the completed sketch. There's also one screen that I started but never did finish. I'll upload the picture resource for that as well.

Anyway, I guess all that's left is to somehow get a list of the unfinished backgrounds up.
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Offline Collector

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2013, 09:48:14 PM »
I was just looking at the Pic resources. It looks like you had imported all of the AGI screens and you were in the process of adding dithering for more detail. I take it that these were place holders for true SCI Pics and the ones with the finer lines are the finished Pics. So for the purposes of the contest, we should choose one of the imported AGI Pics to make a true SCI Pic. The AGI screen could act as as a tracing image. As to reusing KQ1SCI and KQ4 elements, I could make a dump of the Pic resources of both to borrow from for those that do not have these two games.
KQII Remake Pic

Offline Collector

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2013, 01:49:22 PM »
Here is a quick one that I did.
KQII Remake Pic

Offline gumby

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2013, 07:59:41 PM »
Collector - so I can count you in for the mini-comp?  From your example, looks like you've got a screen already looking good to me :)

As to offering to export the images from KQ1 or KQ4, that would be great - I'm assuming that this would be for tracing, correct?  There is the ability within Companion to copy/paste vector commands between PIC resources, but this would force the artifact to be in the same location on-screen as the original.

EDIT: Which tool were you going to use to extract the PICs?  I can't seem to get my hands on anything that will convert a PIC resource to a standard picture file type (BMP, PNG, etc).

Well, I was able to do one at a time through Companion & Studio...
« Last Edit: August 19, 2013, 09:19:26 PM by gumby »
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Offline Collector

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2013, 11:30:15 PM »
I just used The Sierra Resource Viewer. You can extract a resource from the archive or export it to a standard raster format. The default is BMP. You can add the extracted PIC directly to the game via either IDE. You can also import the exported image with Companion to have it converted back into a PIC. Since the image is already 320px x 190px with an EGA palette, it converts readily to a PIC with negligible, if any changes. You can edit the PIC in Companion or edit the exported raster in a regular image editor capable of pixel art and re-import after editing. As long as the palette is still EGA, it should import easily.

I thought that I would do a few. I am working on the other realm where Valanice is held prisoner in the tower. I have one more of the tower that is mostly done.

Here is the one that I am currently working on. I still need to replace the AGI trees and plants. I also need to add some detail to the magenta water.

KQII Remake Pic

Offline gumby

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2013, 11:45:00 PM »
Competitors:  Here is the first map of all the background images that have been created thus far.  For reference back to the originals, I found this AGI room map (http://strategywiki.org/wiki/File:Kq2_map.png). It should be fairly straightforward which images require working on, but additionally it's been updated with green checkboxes to indicate which images are already completed.

There is probably plenty here to support this competition, but I will put together the other maps as well, including interior room shots.

One thing to keep in mind is that adjacent backgrounds should look contiguous; so if two competitors are working on two screens next to each other it's essential to make sure that they sync up well.  For this reason I'm going to recommend that the entries are 'spread out' geographically to avoid this issue.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2013, 10:45:34 AM by gumby »
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Offline MusicallyInspired

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2013, 10:28:18 AM »
As to offering to export the images from KQ1 or KQ4, that would be great - I'm assuming that this would be for tracing, correct?  There is the ability within Companion to copy/paste vector commands between PIC resources, but this would force the artifact to be in the same location on-screen as the original.

This is what I was referring to, however you can also select a group of vector commands and move the coordinates for the commands around by dragging the object around on the screen so they don't have to be in the same location as the original image. You can even mirror, flip, rotate, and scale them!

Tracing would be nightmare! Lol

EDIT: Here are a couple of the sketches my friend made. I added the one of the front door of the church to show where it came from. These images were actually smaller and I scaled them up to fit with Graham's view, hence his presence in the pics.

Also, I added a couple test images I made for the Quartz Tower island as possibilities. They would need more work as they look a little too "pretty" and not natural or overgrown enough. What they are are modified versions of Genesta's island from KQ4, since they were so similar. The different being hers is a nice garden and the Quartz Tower island is supposed to be, as I said, natural, exotic, and wild. I had not yet decided if I was going to use them and modify them or use them as inspiration and start anew. The AGI original definitely had a wild/exotic feel, though, that I wanted to see carry over into the SCI version.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2013, 10:44:59 AM by MusicallyInspired »
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Offline gumby

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2013, 10:39:15 AM »
Nice!  I wasnt aware that this functionality existed - I'll have to try it out.
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Offline MusicallyInspired

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2013, 10:51:16 AM »
Also, here are the picture resources for picture 16, which I started and never finished (pictured below), and the two possible Quartz Tower pictures (modified from KQ4) if anyone wants to do anything with them.

I didn't say it above, but nice work Collector! I was trying to attempt to start steering away from simple AGI traceovers and reimagine the screens like KQ1SCI did. It looks like you had this in mind as well, Collector. If we could keep that a consistent practice with all submissions that would be awesome too!
« Last Edit: August 20, 2013, 10:59:21 AM by MusicallyInspired »
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Offline gumby

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2013, 01:49:08 PM »
MI, along these lines are there any room images that have already been modified in the game already that you wish would be redone (i.e. any other works in progress)?  Or should we consider all the reworked screens to be done (hands off :))?
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Offline Collector

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #11 on: August 20, 2013, 05:52:22 PM »
If you browse through the PICs you will see a number of AGI screens. I assume that these are place holders. I would say any of these need to be done. It sees as if MI has already done a good part of the Kolyma Pics.

As to the maps, http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/PC/index.htm#KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone
KQII Remake Pic

Offline gumby

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #12 on: August 20, 2013, 06:41:18 PM »
Yeah, I'm recreating all the maps using the current SCI resources in the game, and tagging each room with a green checkmark that appeared to already have been completed.  However, that link helps; I was able to create the large one (see a couple posts up), but I need the other maps because I haven't played KQ2 in so long - not even sure if I ever beat it.

I just wasn't sure if there were some non-AGI screens that perhaps MI wasn't finished with yet.

EDIT:  More specifically, it does look like some of the SCI scenes are the AGI ones with dithering applied.  Is the desire to keep these?
« Last Edit: August 20, 2013, 08:09:30 PM by gumby »
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Offline gumby

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #13 on: August 20, 2013, 08:50:36 PM »
I've attached more of the maps in the original map post & the rest are here.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2013, 10:46:28 AM by gumby »
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Offline Collector

Re: KQ2 SCI Remake - Mini competition
« Reply #14 on: August 20, 2013, 09:06:15 PM »
Yeah, some of the screens look to be imported directly from the AGI game. The Resource Viewer can also access AGI resources. I would recommend that we keep the same resource numbering as the AGI. It will make it easier to cross reference the SCI resources with the AGI. Do you have the AGI game? Also, it might be a good idea to mark each screen in the map with the resource number.

As to the AGI screens, MI has already indicated that they should be replaced:
I was trying to attempt to start steering away from simple AGI traceovers and reimagine the screens like KQ1SCI did. It looks like you had this in mind as well, Collector. If we could keep that a consistent practice with all submissions that would be awesome too!

Also, here are the picture resources for picture 16, which I started and never finished (pictured below), and the two possible Quartz Tower pictures (modified from KQ4) if anyone wants to do anything with them.

The PICs I did were of the first two levels of the Quartz Tower. Note the pink light streaming in. So I guess that is the area I'll be working on. I'll work on the tower and and island, first, but will probably try to do all of the the other realm.

I put up a request for KQ2 save games on SHP, but have doubts that anyone has any. I thought that they might facilitate things to be able to jump anywhere in the game for double checking. Debug can allow you instantaneously access to any room, but the flags will not be properly set and needed items will not be in the inventory. Debug will let you set flags and get items, but you need to know the item number. I have not found a list of what each flag or item is.
KQII Remake Pic


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