Andrettin / Wyrmsun

Strategy game based on history, mythology and fiction
http://andrettin.github.io/
GNU General Public License v2.0
301 stars 47 forks source link

Unused/phased out Wyrmsun assets? #196

Open SenhorFlibble opened 2 years ago

SenhorFlibble commented 2 years ago

I was wondering if there is an archive of any assets that had been used at some point in Wyrmsun's development but later removed, or created for it but not used at all? (kind of like the Freedoom attic)

I can only name just a few, including the old victory and defeat screens (BTW, somehow I can't find who created them in any credits.txt that I checked), the starry sky main menu background, one or two title themes that were not part of Wesnoth soundtrack (IIRC), and if we count edits I think that after the transition to separate building shadow files, some older buildings that had baked-in Warcraft II style checkerboard shadows were edited, and some parts of the sprites got altered as well. Is there anything else?

On a related note, I was browsing the old Stratagus forums and found a lot of WIP art by b_o in this thread. Some seems to have not been completed, for now, or at least has not found its way into Wyrmsun releases, like the Celtic warrior, orc shaman and chain mail orc swordsman.

Even more work by the same artist, but apparently originally not intended for Wyrmsun, is shown here, including what appears like a possibly complete crossbowman unit, as well as some swordsman variations. Are/were there any plans to incorporate those?

I also found a sprite sheet posted by b_o as a replacement forWarcraft's Medivh here, which seems like completely original art as well, but no license is attached. I suppose it could be used in Aleona's Tales if the license status were clarified, but I cannot find any way to contact b_o. I forgot my Stratagus forums password and am unable to restore it as the forums have apparently gone into complete disarray for the lack of maintenance. Since b_o is a major contributor to Wyrmsun, perhaps you would know the answer about the license?

Andrettin commented 2 years ago

I was wondering if there is an archive of any assets that had been used at some point in Wyrmsun's development but later removed, or created for it but not used at all? (kind of like the Freedoom attic)

Nothing like that, unfortunately. The only way would be to dig into old releases, or into the repository's history.

That being said, I do keep graphics which are currently not used, but which could be useful for the future in the game's repository. Like this wool resource icon: https://github.com/Andrettin/Wyrmsun/blob/master/graphics/ui/resources/wool.png

And there are also graphics which are not used yet, but are intended to be used for future additions, such as the armor icons, e.g. scale mail: https://github.com/Andrettin/Wyrmsun/blob/master/graphics/neutral/icons/scale_mail.png

I can only name just a few, including the old victory and defeat screens (BTW, somehow I can't find who created them in any credits.txt that I checked), the starry sky main menu background, one or two title themes that were not part of Wesnoth soundtrack (IIRC), and if we count edits I think that after the transition to separate building shadow files, some older buildings that had baked-in Warcraft II style checkerboard shadows were edited, and some parts of the sprites got altered as well. Is there anything else?

Which victory/defeat screens do you mean, the wyrm/yale/etc.?

The starry sky main menu background was from opengameart.org, by Cuzco: https://opengameart.org/content/space-background

I don't recall removing title themes. Which ones do you mean?

It's difficult to say for sure if that's all, there have been edits to the game's graphics every now and then. For instance, at a certain point the smithies were changed from having just a normal frame (with light coming from inside the building) to have an inactive frame (with no light in the building) and an active frame (with light from the building, and smoke coming from it too).

The are also a few WIP graphics which I have locally, but which aren't in the game's repository. For instance, these different takes on the Gnomish Caravan (only the static frames exist for the latter two):

Gnomish Caravan v2

On a related note, I was browsing the old Stratagus forums and found a lot of WIP art by b_o in this thread. Some seems to have not been completed, for now, or at least has not found its way into Wyrmsun releases, like the Celtic warrior, orc shaman and chain mail orc swordsman.

I don't think he ever put those under an open license, which is why I didn't add them to the game's files.

Even more work by the same artist, but apparently originally not intended for Wyrmsun, is shown here, including what appears like a possibly complete crossbowman unit, as well as some swordsman variations. Are/were there any plans to incorporate those?

Those graphics are pretty nice, but b_o didn't place them under open licenses, so there's the same issue as above.

I also found a sprite sheet posted by b_o as a replacement forWarcraft's Medivh here, which seems like completely original art as well, but no license is attached. I suppose it could be used in Aleona's Tales if the license status were clarified, but I cannot find any way to contact b_o. I forgot my Stratagus forums password and am unable to restore it as the forums have apparently gone into complete disarray for the lack of maintenance. Since b_o is a major contributor to Wyrmsun, perhaps you would know the answer about the license?

Unfortunately I don't know either =/

SenhorFlibble commented 2 years ago

Which victory/defeat screens do you mean, the wyrm/yale/etc.?

No, I meant the older ones. I just did a Google image search and it turns out that at least the victory screen comes from a Wesnoth project artist. The defeat screen also appears to be from Wesnoth, at least the current version has a similar but not exactly the same image too.

Unfortunately I don't know either =/

I take it there is no easy way to contact b_o? Hope I'm not being too pushy here, I just find it a bit of a shame that Stratagus/Wargus offered so many opportunities and there was very active and eager development in the Stratagus community back in the early-mid 2010s, as recorded in forum posts. And now one does not even know where to look for most of these people. I know that interests change with time but it's still disappointing to know there were so many ideas ultimately left unfinished, or at least not available publicly.

Of course I'm grateful for what we have, but it feels a bit wrong that for example out of the few Wargus mods out there, many simply use recoloured Warcraft II sprites and tiles plus a few old frankensprited units from previous mods instead of something more original. You're very lucky to have such talented artists as b_o and Jinn to contribute to your project!

Andrettin commented 2 years ago

I take it there is no easy way to contact b_o? Hope I'm not being too pushy here, I just find it a bit of a shame that Stratagus/Wargus offered so many opportunities and there was very active and eager development in the Stratagus community back in the early-mid 2010s, as recorded in forum posts. And now one does not even know where to look for most of these people. I know that interests change with time but it's still disappointing to know there were so many ideas ultimately left unfinished, or at least not available publicly.

Essentially everything that was created back then is publicly available via the forums, I think. The graphics that aren't under an open license were AFAIK intentionally not open-sourced by their creators, and I think it's unlikely that that would be changed (but I could be wrong of course).

Of course I'm grateful for what we have, but it feels a bit wrong that for example out of the few Wargus mods out there, many simply use recoloured Warcraft II sprites and tiles plus a few old frankensprited units from previous mods instead of something more original.

That is unfortunately often the case with modding communities, I think, with new graphics being scarce. But maybe if the Wargus modding community were larger that would be different.

You're very lucky to have such talented artists as b_o and Jinn to contribute to your project!

Thanks!

SenhorFlibble commented 2 years ago

I also found a sprite sheet posted by b_o as a replacement forWarcraft's Medivh here, which seems like completely original art as well

Upon closer inspection, it appears that this sprite sheet is a recolour of the Seer unit from the Rituals of Rebirth TC, originally made by Kalindor.