Okay, since I started the video game project I've been thinking.

What makes Cybertron LOOK like Cybertron? Or for that matter other background/settings.

Really, G1, BW, Armada trilogy, comics, cartoon, whatever mythos you're looking at, Cybertron or Transformer built bases have always had their own distinctive look. Not always the same look mind you, but you always felt you were in a place inhabited by robotic creatures. Heck even Beast Machines and Gobots had the feel to it. Infact Beast Machines might have been the best example of it.

Trouble is, after doing some looking into everything AND then trying to replicate that look(in tile form no less) I have found that I can't nail down that particular elusive quality.

So what makes Cybertron feel like Cybertron?

The color? Not really. I've seen it done up in silver, greys, oranges(Autobot and Lithone territory), blues(beast machines), purples, pinks(okay that I blame on the UK comics having poor coloration) so the color isn't the answer.

Amount of detail? Unfortunately no. The detail packed into TF:TM is no where near the level of detail in the original G1 shots. So while not the amount, what about key details?

Here is what I've found:
Seams. I don't know what construction material transformers use, but it always seems to leave seams in the metal, sometimes at really odd places. You can tell it's metal(alloy or polymer I have on clue) because it has seams in it. Even if the bloody thing is shaped like some sort of tentacled mushroom(Unicron and Quintesson design has the more organic shapes, though Cybertron has a fair share). There are no RIVETS or welding spots, or heck anything. The seams are always hairline, and it's possible the Transformers can't even see them(the comic implied they wern't all that good at making out such details) but they're there. Even if they fade out, the implication that the seam is there is enough to make me think "yup, that's high tech" even in a black and white image(Read a black and white Transformers comic, half the seams faded out and otherwise the pannel was just white with Optimus and Megatron talking, but those little implication of seam lines were enough to tell me they were walking on Cybertron(the text re-affirmed that).

Uneven Skyline. Cybertron is not flat. It is layered, with tall buildings and a "ground" that is only a thin shell. A few stories below that is another layer of the shell. There are SECTIONS of Cybertron that seem to be quite smooth(as scene from the orbital establishing shots), but looking out over them you get a feeling that this is no longer the cybertron you know. It's not the inhabited cybertron.
For the proper feeling the skyline can not contain... sky. Clouds and weather formations, while having been displayed(comic and beastmachines primarily) don't feel right. If the sky IS shown, there should be starscape. With one or more of Cybertron's moons visible or partly visible.

Does this all sound appropriate to you? Is there anything further to add? Any things you've picked out that makes cybertron feel like cybertron that I've missed?

It's almost always night on Cybertron there is no day. Otherwise I agree with you completely and utterly JW%

There should also be long metal bridges spanning fathomless chasms.

The fathomless chasms I mentioned, though not in those words.

Presumably when it's a noticable distance when seen from orbit, the view from the edge has to be impressive.

However, after making several metal bridges across those fathomless chasms I noticed something: they were THIN bridges. Is that just my imagination, or did these skyways have to be an inch or less while supporting massive robots traveling spans of hundreds of miles?

I hope not. My game uses reasonably thick(not quite the same height as those who walk on it) bridges.

Yes the bridges had to average 5 feet thick compared to 20-30foot robots.

Gotta love nuclear-hardened steel heh

... Yeah....

Fortunately my characters are on the human scale, so I'm allowed to make the plateforms at least a little thicker in relative terms. Five or six foot thick.

Still a pain. Still doesn't look quite right. Even if it is these guys running about on them...

Hey, what are you using to make this game? What kind is it? Have any development screenshots?

GameMaker6.0

Plateform Adventure(think Metroid/Castlevania).

No screenies, but a nearly identical game is in progress which is currently using the same(though evolving) tileset(eventually I plan on developing seperate tilesets, but until then I'm using the same tiles/enemy sprites) that is at the point where you can download a demo. Look at the thread "FnorDoM Role Call".

Give a shout out too, as I recall you're on the roster CyberPumpkin.

Just pulling this up from the depths to see about getting a second(third? Fourth?) opinion on what makes something look like Cybertron.

I did however notice that while the Ark looks very much like Cybertron(well, cybertron painted orange) the Axalon does not. It's funny, but the Axalon actually looks more like a vehicle than the Ark

The Predacon ship, while having it's own look, also doesn't really look like a cybertronian-scape. I guess it and the Axalon are more alike than different.

Yes, I utterly and shamelessly ripped the BeastWars game for Gameboy to make icons. We can talk about that later, probably when I color them(those are the gameboy colors).

(after editing this three times I found this board will correct Pred-Icon into Predacon without my consent)

can't wait to see the finished product

My own opinion and preference, and this is just what I prefer unless we're going with Technorganic Cybertron, is that Cybertron from orbit looks like Coruscant from Star Wars, except with way larger canyons/chasms and way taller, almost multilayers of cities you can see with a naked eye, since the planet is about the size of our moon. (I know some people say it's Saturn sized... I never liked that personally.)

That's also how I do it in my art. Example.

Love that game! Think I have some correctly colored spites somewhere...

As for the subject, I've had the same problem on RPG Maker. It's on a overhead point of view, so it's mostly the floor that ever gave me problem. Never did find something that worked <_<

The last one, the animated one, is actually 100% custom scratch work. And I have more emblems, including EDF and Cobra. And other fan-factions(just as Dominion of Monkeys and Fnord Empire emblems are in that animation if you look for 'em).

I actually have ALL the little icons, but alot of them are pretty inexpressive. I also have several sprites from the game, which is what I originally wanted it for. Cool little thing, even if it does feel like a fangame("Let's get a couple Primes and Megatrons together and have them fight for no reason! And we'll throw in original characters!" ah the japanese)

Dark Mousette is going to have to wait a long time for a "finished product"... unless you just want me to upload the tileset I have now, I could do that easy. But the games are waiting until the AUG main site goes back up, and the FnorDoM game I'm trying to redo and trim out some excess coding that isn't needed.

Mach Sabre... that referance picture you gave was two oribital or semiorbital shots. I'm thinking more along the lines of what does it look like from the ground. You're not going to see the curve of the planet if you're standing on the surface, in fact I'm going to say that most of the time you won't even see the horizon(given all the towers and stuff you're likly going to be underground/inside/in an alleyway most of the time). Oh, and the size of Cybertron varies depending on your source material. It's best not to think about it.

Blade Raider, since I'm doing side scrolling, I have to worry about walls, but the same thing applies. The only thing I can think of is "seams" in the grey floors/walls, and odd viewscreens on walls I guess.

Ah, but once you leave the building, it gets hard to make the outsides of said building. Also, the battles are side view. Of course, it's not to hard to find screenshots for that. Either way, it's no where near as hard as what you're trying.

Btw, found the correct colored Primal spite I did if you want to see it (note that it's in RPG Maker layout).

Sure, show me all the sprites you've got. I'm farmilar enough with RPG maker, I just don't have the program myself.

As for outside of the buildings, aside from the loooong drops down layers with thin narrow bridges over them, really screenshots have shown me that the ground is pretty much the same outside as it is inside. Metal, with seams. The occasional hillside/building might have an odd viewscreen installed on it even.

Given how technological Cybertron is... what really defines "inside" or "outside"? If there is a roof over your head? If there are walls on all sides?

Ooooh, I see. I mistunderstood the question. What you're thinking is probably what I would go with.

Primal (edited for poses used in battle):



Like the last one best since I got to add his arm gun :D Sadly, never got to the point of ripping his attacks.

Summoning Preds (They aren't colored, but where hard to get):








Sixshot (Monster, which don't move):



Made them myself using screenshots and toy pics.

Most of my other spites are humans, Gundams, or walking spites (Over the head Zelda type).

I might be able to rip a few more attacks for you. I've got the game after all... just no frame by frame methods except trial and error.

I also have the Night Raid animation(BeastMegatron summoning the Predacons), and you're right, it's a pain to capture.

I've also got some of Cheetor. I liked Cheetor's beast mode in that game, it works great for other things(G1 Ravage for example)

Can't say I'm that impressed with the SixShot... but given what you were working with I think it turned out alright. And I'm not really one to talk, none of my attempts at SixShot have been worth putting up.

I'll see about uploading some of my work. Tilesets and sprite sheets and stuff.

Well, here's what it looks like in battle (Res x2):

Sixshot is a monster, so he doesn't move (which I never liked <_<) and poses help it not become boring. The Rattrap is all mine and was never ment to go with that Primal, hence the size difference. Never was happy with his spite. And yes, that's a pirate ship...Why?...Why not! :nuts:

Well... if you want backgrounds...



Those are the backgrounds ripped from the GB game... they're not really that great though.


Or design your own with these tiles. It has some of the BeastWars backgrounds, plus... um... Ninja Turtles, MegamanXtreme, Shantae, Godzilla, and I don't remember where some of that came from...

And since Transformers(except for BeastWars) has always taken place in modern times... why not a modern-ish city?

Also good for superhero games.

Forests are always fun to use as backgrounds I think. Branches to stand on, trees to climb, hanging vines and grass, it's just a fun thing to put into a game... and here's my collection of forest tiles.


Has nothing to do with transformers.

But then again, neither does a pirate ship background...

I made that for FnorDoM's Pirates of the Carribian spoof... that never happened. Color matched it to Kirby's Dreamland, which is why the water is orange.

For a more gothic look though, how about Castlvania?


This is the current "working" tileset for Cybertron.

I, of course, recolor as needed. If I want to do the Arks interior I use the grey wall tiles, but recolor them orange.

To help fill in your Primal animations...


Just a quick bit of ripping for his sword and gun. While I was at it I got a punch you don't have, and the final frame of his Shoulder Smash(the other frames are just his jets, you have them) You'll have to recolor them of course.

I never liked that monsters in RPGMaker don't move either, but what can you do about it? The pose does lend itself to something a bit more dynamic, but that doesn't help that it looks like it could use some cleaning up. Not sure what to say about it though. Shading could use some work(he's currently what they refered to on BobandGeorge as "Pillow shaded" which is fine if you're doing clothing or pillows but metallic stuff needs something to make it look sharper).

Your Rattrap I'm going to assume was intended as Transmetal. The character portraits I can't trust, since that's season 1 Primal, and you have Optimal Optimus... but the Rattrap just looks Transmetal. It's actually not bad work, though you're right it doesn't fit with that Primal.

Oh, and back to Backgrounds... I have a few top down tilesets. I was trying to do an 8bit City of Heroes game actually...


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for the exteriors.



Legend of Zelda and Pokémon for the interiors.

I know neither are all that Cybertronian though.

Blue Hue. Everything on Cybertron always seemed top have a Blue or violet hue, as thugh through a lens. Just hit me, can't remembder if this was mentioned before. The sky isn't black it's deep violet.

*Goes sorting back through his screen caps collection*

You're right!
(And welcome back Dread, we've got some newbies around for you to nuke)

Well, you're not ENTIRELY right, as not everything had a violet hue to it, infact Cybertron itself tended to have anywhere from Decepticon Purple to Autobot Gold(going through orange, as well as all manner of silver and greys), but the SKY always had a tint to it.

And it wasn't because Cybertron had an atmosphere diffusing it into that color(which would be my first thought, since that's why Earth's sky is blue, or at least why mountains and such look blue). When we see shots of space in Transformers almost never is it boring black, it's always shades of blues to violets. Faint and subtyle most of the time, but sometimes downright bright blue. That's just a stylistic choice to make space backgrounds more interesting without putting massive nebula in the frame, but it was the style of Transformers, and thus the Art of Cybertron. I'm going to have to go back and adjust my tileset to include that.

Hrm...

Just wondering... I at one point had the idea of "mapping" the Axalon Underground. The basic idea was that it looks like the Maximal base from BeastWars third season(including both Ark and Axalon... the Arkalon!) with rooms for each of the forums.

Of course, most of it would be designed by the regular posters. Really, never did get around to it. Best I did was edit a map from VGmaps.com to make the backgrounds for the comic.

Oversized Image Linked

If anyone wants to suggest where to put their favorite room(The Hub, Sheol, ect... I think the Smelting Pool is that lava in the center there) feel free to make suggestions, or better yet edit it. We get a decent looking map, I'll turn it into a game.

Of course, I'll slip "monsters" into the game... things you don't yet know dwell in the depths of this forum...

DWELLER ICON!!!! :dweller:

*notices the slew of new icons...*

Uh... what is : :ultragear: ?

Apparently, for "ultragear".

:firefly:

Ha! Firefly's more than just a sprite, she's a smilie!

It's chibi Cheetor!

Yay! BZ(or RB? Who's in charge of this?) has been uploading more icons into the smilies!

Of course I question some of the choices...

I mean I do a Starshooter and an Icefang animation...


And instead Firefly... um Phyrefly... gets the slot? :firefly:

Admittably, the flame burst on the whip/mace is cooler than the claw slash or the sorta aborted sword slice... I'm still working on Starshooters weaponry though. And the backflip into beast mode is cool, admit it. They both deserve a place in there. Probably more than "The Rod" does... :rod:

Besides, alot of these I'm not quite done monkeying around with. Some recolors or animation fixes are in order.

Okay, I think I'm getting off topic here... time to gather up these sprites, icons, whatever and put them in a new thread.

Back on the subject of Backgrounds...



That doesn't look much like Cybertron to me.

I mean, aside from all the 8bit figures clashing with the background, the Background itself, while the outlines were taken straight from a screen capture(I edited out all the Decepticons in the frame), something about it doesn't look right.

And I already know what it is.

I didn't bother to give it shading! Cybertrons backgrounds, while not actually being reflective(you never see the transformers reflections on a wall or floor), DO react to light. And this might be going over something already mentioned, but that light source seems to be something from the sky. Perhaps one or more of the moons are bright enough to reflect "daylight"?

Hi JW%, take a look in the Floro Dery link i posted in the smelting pool, he's the conceptual artist behind most of G1 and TF movie 1986. It will surely inspire you.

Thanks for the link, but honestly there is nothing I could use. All the stuff is insanely complex, but it's also viewed from a long distance and black and white. I'm looking for colored, and viewed from ground level.

It is pretty inspiring though.

Uploaded another tileset. I'm calling this the Axalon Underground set for the moment. Think of it as going to be the Ark/Axalon in the volcano base. When I finish it of course. It's just starting.



Also re-organized my Cybertron tiles. First off, there were a number of redundant tiles that I just never used, and a bunch that I wanted to mirror image. Secondly, the color pallet was out of wack for pallet swaps. Fixed it. Here's Cybertron in Silver/grey...



And as an example, here's some Decepticon territory(simply purple color swap)



Final product of course will use multiple colors for Decepticon, Autobot, ect territory. Plus I'm working on a colorful "Space" background, and since I can layer these, the space background is going to show through when I use the black as a transparent.

Compositing the image all together gets me that.

Still not happy with it. Something doesn't look right. But it's looking alot better.

For referance, that's three Vehicons, one Terrorcon, Two G1 era Decepticons, and two Cybertron era Decepticons. Feel free to take guesses at who they are. I don't expect them all to be recagnizable, particularly since some are in their vehicle modes.

Looks cool :thumb:

Let's see...Galaxy Force Chromia (can't ever rememder her crap Cybertron name), Terrorcon Insecticon, Tankor, Jetstorm (or jet drone), and Galaxy Force Rumble (again, forgot US name). The other two I have no clue, not that good with G1.

Maybe if those purple buildings in the background were Taller or shorter then the road way.

But yeah, that sure looks like what I imagin cybertron looking like.

Thunderblast, Counterpunch(?), Blast Off, Insecticon, Jetstorm, Scrapmetal, Tankor, Spy Streak

And Swoop wins the prize... actually there is no prize.



We'll see about a runner up prize for Blade Raider. Or lack there of.

I'm really surprised anyone got CounterPunch and Blastoff. First of all, CounterPunch is darn exotic, and in that picture you can hardly see any of his vehicle mode kibble(he has hood halves hanging off his shoulders, like Cybertron Blurr, that's it). And Blast off is... well he's a space shuttle. There have been alot of space shuttle transformers, his coloration isn't even all that notable.

Each color is on a seperate layer. The Purple is actually two layers(there's a curving onramp behind that blue tower to the right, don't know why I included that tower), but the Blue is covering up anywhere that would be noticable.

In theory, parallax scrolling means that you can pan the camera around, and each layer will move a different amount. Thus the grey will shoot off into the sky, the blue raise somewhat, and the purple only a little(with the space background not moving. It doesn't tile well anyway). Unfortunately, I'm not sure GameMaker 6 has tiled Parallax.

Ah well, move the buildings in the background so they don't interfer with foreground. Gotcha.

I dunno... Those background buildings just look to human. To many windows, to straight.

I'm sure you can fix that!

Did some fiddling around on the site, so several of the images don't link anymore.

For the Sheets... I did some work on the BWEarthTiles, I'm starting to set it up for Transparency effects. Oh, and I identified some more of the tiles. The Iceberg tiles are from Bucky O'Hare(for NES). Fun game if you can get over the controls.

Added some more building tiles for the Modern-ish city. I think they came from TaleSpin(NES). There's also Krion Conquest, DarkWing Duck, Dirty Harry, and SpiderMan in Revenge of the Sinister Six(all NES).

Added a few more branches, leaves, ect to the forest tiles. I got the new stuff from MegamanXtreme2(GBColor) and Whomp'Em(NES). The old stuff is CastlevaniaIII, Bucky O'hare, Moon Cyrstal, Shantae, Hook, Metal Slug, Street Fighter 2010, MegamanIV, DarkWing Duck, and... I forget. It'll come to me eventually. The idea is there's more there than I need, so I can pick and choose rather than use everything.

The boat tiles are the same. Kirby and Mario BrosIII, with I think some Tiny Toons thrown in for good measure. Pitifully small still, but you can build a boat so I'm reasonably happy with it.

Don't think I did any changes to the Castlevania(III) tiles. Yes, the stain glass Fnord Empire and Dominion of Monkeys tiles are custom. I think the spiderweb is from Shantae, and there's some Batman tiles too.


Speaking of Batman, here are some more tiles from that game. Have fun making Gotham City. Yeah, I know, not impressive.

What I DID enjoy doing however, was a collection of ruins and statuary.

From the games G.I.Joe Atlantis Factor, LittleSamson, Silver Surfer, Batman(all NES), TombRaider(GBC), and Vampire(MasterSystem... never heard of it till I started looking these things up).

Added sewers to the "TMNTCity" tiles. The sewers actually came from AdamsFamily Festers Quest, but it's still a top down view, and what's Ninja Turtles without sewers?

Zelda(and Pokemon) interiors... unchanged I think. My new project is making exteriors.



Needs much work, and I'm not particularly enthusiastic about the project.

Added some crystals to the "AUGTiles". Why? Beats me, but they were fun to use. Also did some fiddling with it to make it more Transparency friendly.

Fiddled around with the Cybertron tiles some more. Only the Grey one is on the site, Purple, Blue, Orange, and Aqua are also used if you look at the composite images.



Also, while it's not used in any of those composite shots, finally found a great Starscape that I can tile into the background. And I think I've found a solution to the buildings looking to "straight"(balconies!) but it's going to take a bit more tinkering around.

In the meantime, does anyone have good images of DarkMount, Iacon, or other Cybertron landmarks? I'd like to put them into my backgrounds soon.