New graphics needed

[OnlineCop]

KQ has borrowed graphics from many other games, some of those are non-free.

It would be preferable that all graphics came from free sources, or were created specifically for this game (and given an open license so it could be distributed in major Linux communities and mods).

One suggestion was to use artwork from OpenGameArt.org. Some that look promising are: http://opengameart.org/content/liberated-pixel-cup-0 http://opengameart.org/content/lpc-tile-atlas

Please contribute to this issue with other suggestions.

NOTE: KQ currently uses 16x16-pixel tiles, and stretches them up to 32x32. If we want 32x32-pixel graphics, some changes to the engine need to be made.

Personally, I'm in favor of changing to 32x32-pixel graphics. Modern computers can handle the memory requirement, and graphics look a lot sharper. Unless we WANT a Minecraft-esque 16-bit look to the game ;-)

[ghost]

In the very best case, I would love to have (hire?) artist making sprites from scratch specifically for KQ.

While some of the sprites available at opengameart are nice, I'm very afraid that digging sprites from different sources will make KQ look like a cheap video game with no personnality.

About the sprite size, moving from 16x16 to 32x32 tiles will make possible to have much better graphics, but will remove the ability to port KQ on GNU/Linux powered handheld that have a 320x240 screen like the Dingoo A320 and the GCW Zero

[ghost]

Hi OnlineCop.

The same applied to the music; for a while KQ had a Debian package but got kicked off specifically because we couldn't prove all the music was free.

[OnlineCop]

Hey PH!

Okay, so we need to find or make new music. We need new graphics. I really don't care if the graphics look hashed together for the first little bit. I remember actually updating the PCX files by hand and adding in new graphics that I wanted in there, but I know that the majority of it needs to be passed off as Creative Commons or given to the project by the artists.

PH, do you remember the list that was created for KQ that indicated which songs were in public domain or OKed to be included in KQ, and which we still needed to find replacements for?

On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 5:23 AM, Peter Hull notifications@github.com wrote:

Hi OnlineCop.

The same applied to the music; for a while KQ had a Debian package but got kicked off specifically because we couldn't prove all the music was free.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/grrk-bzzt/kq-fork/issues/22#issuecomment-46299540.

[ghost]

Check this thread out: (re. the 'extra tracks') http://sourceforge.net/p/kqlives/mailman/message/3298807/ I did some investigating for the existing songs that are used in the game, but didn't get far. TBH you might be better starting from scratch. EDIT: also this http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-allegro-maintainers/2010-January/000295.html and this http://sourceforge.net/p/kqlives/mailman/message/25433357/

[qubodup]

Is it known which graphics need to be replaced for legal reasons?

PS: and sounds?

[ghost]

Don't know about sounds.

Someone told me the graphics were from Final Fantasy - but I have no idea. I looked very briefly, a long time ago (2003?) and I never found them, your google-fu may be better than mine!

[ghost]

I had another go with Google image search. Sensar's mug shot looks to be Holyn from Fire Emblem (http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_characters_in_Fire_Emblem:_Genealogy_of_the_Holy_War)

That's all I know, I haven't time to search for them all, alas.

[ghost]

@qubodup: It's not clear what needs to be replaced, but most of the graphics, music and sounds are non-free for sure. It would be awesome to make all the assets from scratch. I would gladly launch a contest if KQ had more visibility.

[qubodup]

@peterhull90 thanks for the check. I hadn't even noticed mugshots being used in the game at all.

I'm trying to look at the files, however

hero.kq:    Allegro datafile (packed)
tileset.kq: Allegro datafile (packed)

can't be unpacked using dat $file -e "*". Also they are tiny (412 and 221 bytes).

All the .dat files can be unpacked but the images in mpcx.dat and ssprites.dat look weird. Example: back3.bmp: PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 320 x 240 x 8 http://i.imgur.com/9xyCMd9.jpg

1. Does anybody know what the .kq files contain and how to edit/open them?
2. Does anybody know how to handle the psychedelic-looking .bmp files?

Thanks!

[ghost]

1. They’re binary files; the ‘source’ is a text file and there’s a little utility to convert them.
2. You have to specify a palette file when unpacking with dat I knew the details maybe 10 years ago! I will look at the repo again and see if I can refresh my memory.

On 13 Apr 2015, at 06:09, Iwan Gabovitch notifications@github.com wrote:

@peterhull90 https://github.com/peterhull90 thanks for the check. I hadn't even noticed mugshots being used in the game at all.

I'm trying to look at the files, however

hero.kq: Allegro datafile (packed) tileset.kq: Allegro datafile (packed) can't be unpacked using dat $file -e "*". Also they are tiny (412 and 221 bytes).

All the .dat files can be unpacked but the images in mpcx.dat and ssprites.dat look weird. Example: back3.bmp: PC bitmap, Windows 3.x format, 320 x 240 x 8 http://i.imgur.com/9xyCMd9.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9xyCMd9.jpg Does anybody know what the .kq files contain and how to edit/open them? Does anybody know how to handle the psychedelic-looking .bmp files? Thanks!

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/grrk-bzzt/kq-fork/issues/22#issuecomment-92214123.

[ghost]

The utility is rescmp.c. It compiles hero.txt into hero.kq and tileset.txt into tileset.kq. hero.txt contains the heroes' stats. tileset.txt just tells it which tiles are animated (running water, ticking clocks etc)

[qubodup]

2. You have to specify a palette file when unpacking with `dat`

@peterhull90 do you know if it's possible to find out what the palette is? Perhaps a function I should look for in the source can help us?

[ghost]

The palette is the item X_KQ_PAL in mpcx.dat. Try:

dat -pal X_KQ_PAL -e mpcx.dat "*"

To get the images from ssprites.dat is a bit more tricky. There may be some dat tricks I can't remember but I had to add the palette into the dat in order to use it for extraction.

dat -a -t pal ssprites.dat kq_pal.bmp 
dat -e -pal KQ_PAL_BMP ssprites.dat "*"

(the file kq_pal.bmp is created when you extract it from mpcx.dat)

The only thing I don't understand it why the files are re-created as BMP when they were imported as PCX.

Anyway, hope that helps. Pete

[OnlineCop]

http://opengameart.org/content/oga-16x16-jrpg-sprites-tiles has more 16x16 pixel tiles. Might be worth a look.

[ghost]

Do you know the license for these? On Sat, 21 May 2016 at 20:20, OnlineCop notifications@github.com wrote:

http://opengameart.org/content/oga-16x16-jrpg-sprites-tiles has more 16x16 pixel tiles. Might be worth a look.

— You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/grrk-bzzt/kq-fork/issues/22#issuecomment-220795633

[ghost]

@peterhull90 They are hosted on the opengameart.org website, so they all are under an open licence. Public domain at best, GPL at worst.

[z9484]

A lot of the tiles are recolors of Final Fantasy IV. For example The mountain background is used as is in KQ.

I think the characters are recolors of earlier FF.

I can try setting up an open game art collection to gather music that fits.

[OnlineCop]

I tried to place comments in a few places where specific indices within the color palette are used to re-color things like tools/weapons in the player's hands. If we go with different graphics, we'll just need to be sure to update and/or remove those re-colorizing routines.

[OnlineCop]

https://www.patreon.com/bandygrass has some unlocked artwork tutorials that give some good instruction on making animations (movement, etc.). http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299 also appears to have a lot of resources for color, hue, contrast and value.