Yea, if SD maps were actually in the work, they would have been finished a long time ago. It's either not being made, or extremely poor organization/management, which is the same problem Zone has had for years now. Levels Team is pretty much the one department that almost always has free time. So for SD maps to not be done yet, there's clearly an issue.  

rip our new tileset.  

FRAUDS  

If I was one of the gfx staff I'd step in and work on a tileset for sd  

The original gmap that was released when zone was released for ios was perfectly fine, idk why they changed it.
Right.
Because THEY didn't.
It was the new crew of random staff members that changed it that had and have no idea of what direction zone is going towards.
The reason I quit with my last project was due to the lack of effort from all the staff members. They were either "busy" or just slacking off, either way, they were just screwing around in-game rather than actually working on anything. I asked for things to be gani-ed, to which I received very vague responses or simply got ignored (as a staff member). The lightbikes were meant for a tron-like event/minigame that could not be completed due to some gmap issues or something. *TheDoctor was the coder who helped me on the tron-like event, and TheDoctor was perhaps the only staffmember that exerted any sort of effort or interest in progressing the server with content. Props to him.

The top secret project of zone during my time was a planetary map that was supposed to replace the hover world as the default gmap. I was never fond of the idea and the sneak peaks I took were lack luster. Hopefully this project died and zone will continue to be futuristic space-oriented heavily pvp focused game, similar to what the PC version was.

Zone's current tileset is IMO perfectly fine (shangrila/shawn64's tileset whatever). The lack of skilled artists that can replicate the style of the tileset and cohere to its theme is the real issue. Not that the graphics team aren't skilled, but the fact that they are working on a NEW tileset instead of adapting and improving the existing one, means that maybe they are unable to.

-Existing Server requires the use of guns
-I don't know how to draw a gun
-I know how to draw straight lines and call them spears
-I can draw spears
=Everybody will use spears from now on guns were a stupid idea anyway.

If it's the levels team that is complaining about the tileset, perhaps you need a more talented levels team. If tiles need fixing or more tiles need to be made, such issues should be notified to the graphics team. If the graphics team can't fix your graphics issue, perhaps you need a more talented graphics team. If you believe the levels team IS talented, then why are you remaking the entire gmap for the FIFTH time?

Zone had more coherency and direction in the first two weeks of its release than it does now, many many weeks into the future.

Theres massive floating chairs now? You do know the first floating chair was designed by me (rather half-assed) for the divorce lawyer npc to sit on, as part of an assignment when Latte was still the head of graphics. The first chair was never* intended to be an item, and when it became so, it was a joke at first.

Hoverbikes were lightbikes for a tron event. Got scrapped into a trashy mount, could have made diagonal frames at least but nah, gani/code team would be too lazy to add those, too much work, everyone should use spears instead.

The alien knife was a part of a bigger alien campaign I was planning on making, as I wanted to expand the content of the missions. There were going to be lots of consistent aliens and many mission levels, where the alien knife would be used for objectives as it was derived from the aliens themselves, therefore the only weapon that could damage them. I stopped at the pistol because of how enthusiastic the staff team was on aiding other aspects of the project. Got scrapped as an events item. At least they did a good job coding/ganiing it into a three tier item. Not bad.

tl;dr What's the point of withholding development information, yet displaying a redacted version to a community that is largely driven by player development and community approval? Perhaps you doubt you will actually finish it and want to give yourself a way out? Perhaps you are not confident in your work? Perhaps you haven't done squat and just bubbled in blue all willy nilly over the existing tileset because thats either your actual artistic capability or you are trying to lie to the community about your progress just to distract them all from a larger issue? (See above for larger issue)

If you're going to lead, lead with purpose and open your mouth when you want to be heard. If you're going to scribble in a corner, hang it on the fridge then cry and sob when people look at it... don't hang it on the fridge.

Did you even get Gunderak's approval start this thread? Perhaps you should ask next time and follow your leader's instructions, not your own.  

Posted by Devlin

Zone's current tileset is IMO perfectly fine (shangrila/shawn64's tileset whatever).

I do like the new tileset, but seems like most ones dislike it.

Posted by Devlin

Not that the graphics team aren't skilled, but the fact that they are working on a NEW tileset instead of adapting and improving the existing one.

The tileset artist is a paid one and is not on the GFX team. He has been hired by the higher-ups (was it Unixmad?)

Posted by Devlin

-Existing Server requires the use of guns
-I don't know how to draw a gun
-I know how to draw straight lines and call them spears
-I can draw spears
=Everybody will use spears from now on guns were a stupid idea anyway.

???

Posted by Devlin

If it's the levels team that is complaining about the tileset, perhaps you need a more talented levels team. If tiles need fixing or more tiles need to be made, such issues should be notified to the graphics team. If the graphics team can't fix your graphics issue, perhaps you need a more talented graphics team. If you believe the levels team IS talented, then why are you remaking the entire gmap for the FIFTH time?

As a member of the Levels Team, I can tell you that I just follow orders. If the manager wants a new gmap and the Levels Team refuses to do it, we obviously get fired. Regarding the tiles, there should be more tiles added, but we don't have space and replacing it means other levels may get destroyed.

Posted by Devlin

Hoverbikes were lightbikes for a tron event. Got scrapped into a trashy mount, could have made diagonal frames at least but nah, gani/code team would be too lazy to add those, too much work, everyone should use spears instead.

Diagonal frames? That isn't added to the image. Gani/Code Team has nothing to do with that. Why do we even need diagonal frames? And where do you see spears? I don't get your spears joke.

Posted by Devlin

The alien knife was a part of a bigger alien campaign I was planning on making, as I wanted to expand the content of the missions. There were going to be lots of consistent aliens and many mission levels, where the alien knife would be used for objectives as it was derived from the aliens themselves, therefore the only weapon that could damage them. I stopped at the pistol because of how enthusiastic the staff team was on aiding other aspects of the project. Got scrapped as an events item. At least they did a good job coding/ganiing it into a three tier item. Not bad.

Eh? Regarding the GFX, you did a good job. I assume no one was aware of that and just used unreleased items or didn't like your idea.

Posted by Devlin

tl;dr What's the point of withholding development information, yet displaying a redacted version to a community that is largely driven by player development and community approval? Perhaps you doubt you will actually finish it and want to give yourself a way out? Perhaps you are not confident in your work? Perhaps you haven't done squat and just bubbled in blue all willy nilly over the existing tileset because thats either your actual artistic capability or you are trying to lie to the community about your progress just to distract them all from a larger issue? (See above for larger issue)

If you're going to lead, lead with purpose and open your mouth when you want to be heard. If you're going to scribble in a corner, hang it on the fridge then cry and sob when people look at it... don't hang it on the fridge.

Did you even get Gunderak's approval start this thread? Perhaps you should ask next time and follow your leader's instructions, not your own.

tl;dr you seem to lack information. Tileset is not being made by the GFX members and the problem with the current tileset is that players dislike it. Chelterrar and Gunderak are both managers. New GMAPs have been made because players also disliked them and Tashkin decided to make a new one. That way players don't get bored of using the same everytime.

Your spear jokes are bad. Good job with the alien set GFX, sadly your idea hasn't been used.

No idea what you mean with the hoverbikes, but the diagonal frames have to be made by GFX designers, not gani artists. Coders can use a turn script, but it would look bad and won't work from every view.  

Posted by Hugop

tl;dr you seem to lack information. Tileset is not being made by the GFX members and the problem with the current tileset is that players dislike it. Chelterrar and Gunderak are both managers. New GMAPs have been made because players also disliked them and Tashkin decided to make a new one. That way players don't get bored of using the same everytime.

Your spear jokes are bad. Good job with the alien set GFX, sadly your idea hasn't been used.

No idea what you mean with the hoverbikes, but the diagonal frames have to be made by GFX designers, not gani artists. Coders can use a turn script, but it would look bad and won't work from every view.

If zone is now outsourcing graphics to paid artists, there isn't a point in keeping a GFX team. Why? Because if this "paid artist" is as "godly" as you *imply*, no "unpaid gfx artist" will be capable of matching the quality. Since the devs are paying outsider artists to do the big graphic overhaul, they are beyond desperate to revamp the server. With that said, they won't be dumb and allow for poor graphics to be uploaded post graphic overhaul. That means, they will have to continue outsourcing and paying the outy artist because heshe is getting paid and therefore capable of churning out godly pixel art. Post graphic overhaul, only capable artists will be permitted to keep up with the paid artist. If thats the case, why does zone still have a graphics team at all? Best nuke the current team and wait until the overhaul is complete and host hirings afterwards.

Do you do everything players want you to do?
Players will get tired of any gmap regardless of what arrangement its in. What matters is the content within. The gmap is essentially a massive hallway, and hallways are $@#& when they don't lead anywhere. All you're doing is twisting the hallway is some absurd directions and making a maze out of it without even considering where the start or exit will be.

Spear me the lecture, I've got other things to do.

Thanks, alien knife is considered my trashier creations. Have you seen the dark individual pixels along the sharp blades? Fail. But thanks. Also, cant unsee so sorry.

Hoverbikes were never meant to be mounts. I was never asked if they could be used in such a way. If I would have known they were ti become mounts, then yes, I would have made diagonal sprites from scratch to make it a smoother vehicle.

Thank you for reading the entirety of my post, I appreciate your time.  

Posted by Devlin

If zone is now outsourcing graphics to paid artists, there isn't a point in keeping a GFX team. Why? Because if this "paid artist" is as "godly" as you *imply*, no "unpaid gfx artist" will be capable of matching the quality. Since the devs are paying outsider artists to do the big graphic overhaul, they are beyond desperate to revamp the server. With that said, they won't be dumb and allow for poor graphics to be uploaded post graphic overhaul. That means, they will have to continue outsourcing and paying the outy artist because heshe is getting paid and therefore capable of churning out godly pixel art. Post graphic overhaul, only capable artists will be permitted to keep up with the paid artist. If thats the case, why does zone still have a graphics team at all? Best nuke the current team and wait until the overhaul is complete and host hirings afterwards.

Graal has its own paid graphic artists, some of our GFX artists wanted to make the tileset, but most of our team are still praticing. The paid option with a professional artist was the best choice.

Posted by Devlin

Do you do everything players want you to do?
Players will get tired of any gmap regardless of what arrangement its in. What matters is the content within. The gmap is essentially a massive hallway, and hallways are $@#& when they don't lead anywhere. All you're doing is twisting the hallway is some absurd directions and making a maze out of it without even considering where the start or exit will be.

Can't answer to this since I have not been LAT back then. The first GMAP (which was good imo) had to be redesigned due to the bikes and the lack of space. The stairs weren't bike-friendly.

Posted by Devlin

Spear me the lecture, I've got other things to do.

That was a good spear joke

Posted by Devlin

Thanks, alien knife is considered my trashier creations. Have you seen the dark individual pixels along the sharp blades? Fail. But thanks. Also, cant unsee so sorry.

Yeah, but I am more into the old 8bit style and your alien knife reminds me of it. Always wondered why the artist made a good knife, but put black pixels there.

Posted by Devlin

Hoverbikes were never meant to be mounts. I was never asked if they could be used in such a way. If I would have known they were ti become mounts, then yes, I would have made diagonal sprites from scratch to make it a smoother vehicle.

Indeed, seems like you made many great things on Zone. Did you work only the first 2weeks?

Posted by Devlin

Thank you for reading the entirety of my post, I appreciate your time.

You welcome!  

So @Hugop how far are you/the team into making this new gmap-With the tileset?? Like to hear from you considering you'd be one helping get all this done(I surmise) and already heard from another of how far he/she/they say they are in making this so lets see if its anywhere near the same estimate of percentage? /100% ?

Also You're opinions of the new tileset?  

Where's the back to the future "we have to go back" meme when you need it

Also, I understand that making a tileset is very tedious work and many work at there own paces, but since it was released that a paid professional was to make a new tileset for zone, I managed to complete an entire tileset that filled most tile squares on the template less than two months later. I had never made a complete tileset so I wasn't sure what to expect, not to mention that I wasn't motivated from being paid. How long before it gets done? What's the progress?  

Posted by G Fatal

So @Hugop how far are you/the team into making this new gmap-With the tileset??

The tileset hasn't been finished, for now we are training using the new tileset and understand, how it is supposed to look like. There are still some missing tiles that we need.

Posted by G Fatal

Also You're opinions of the new tileset?

It is a completely different style from any Graal tileset. It is hard for us to say if it is good or not, because you can't compare it to any other tileset, however, I do believe that Zone graphic fits better with this tileset.  

Posted by Hugop

It is a completely different style from any Graal tileset. It is hard for us to say if it is good or not, because you can't compare it to any other tileset, however, I do believe that Zone graphic fits better with this tileset.

Uh oh.  

Posted by Hugop

The tileset hasn't been finished, for now we are training using the new tileset and understand, how it is supposed to look like. There are still some missing tiles that we need.

Uh oh.

Apparently tileset is completed another staff member said and about 15% gmap done..someone in camps lying good to hear your training with the tileset now though.  

Posted by Devlin

Did you even get Gunderak's approval start this thread? Perhaps you should ask next time and follow your leader's instructions, not your own.

chelt is a co manager. idk if he still is tho  

Posted by ViyGeek

chelt is a co manager. idk if he still is tho

He is still on the server, Maybe as Temp Manager? I'm not sure about it yet.