DKC Atlas Forum

[spaceman2028]

So how's the progress on said cheetah buddy going along right now?

Anyways thanks for responding to me.

[zaneebaslave]

Still not quite done with the model, right now.



No back legs or tail at present. But look! I think I figured out the Donkey Kong sprite lighting and shadowing! So now things are even MORE authentic! As for the color of the cheetah, I'm not sure if I like it. I mean, it's the coloring of real life cheetahs, to be sure. But once color reduced, it's kinda.... beige and unappealing. I might do it more yellow or orange, maybe? Tell me your thoughts!

[Qyzbud]

It looks very good as is, but I agree that a touch more yellow might help.

Great job on the lighting, by the way.

[spaceman2028]

Also, if anyone forgot:
http://pictures.wikia.com/wiki/Donkey_Kong_(Fan_Sprites) — Link fixed by Qyzbud (brackets in URLs can cause issues — wrapping the link in [url] tags can help)

These photos will help with stagemaking and the creation of enemies. You just gotta find a way to kode and use da spritez.

[CatLoverMolly]

Personally, I liked the color of the head you had before. That was a good tone in my opinion.
And @Spaceman2028, believe it or not, a good number of those sprites were created by me and Christopher Araujo; you might notice several of them are labelled DKC4, or have Sassy's *insertnamehere*. Thanks for posting the link, though! I wasn't aware they had been uploaded to one place, that makes them easier to keep track of.

[Phyreburnz]

Spaceman2028, it looks like the last parenthesis is not in the URL box thingy, so the link isn't working if you click on it. If you select and copy-paste it, it works.
I think some yellows and/or oranges would look nice added in. I do think, like CatLoverMolly said, I like the way that the colours looked just of the Cheetah's head, they were more vibrant.

[ArnyTheMutant]

It seems that this project just gets better and better
Nice work on those sprites, zaneebaslave, kersplash and the cheetah buddy look like real DKC sprites!

[leo_core]

Long time since I posted anything, I'll try to answer all and also have much to comment on the great projects I've seen here in the forum. Erockbrox with his "hack DKC2: Donkey Kong Edition" just to name a example.

I´ll Try to be succinct not to pollute the topic.

That level looks great.

Thanks sir, praises coming from you are always greatly appreciated xD

Leo, are those leaf sprites from the land before time!?
Good luck coming on back, by the way!

Thanks! Do not understand your question, anyway here is the video.

That level looks AWESOME! I like the color choice.
And I second CatLoverMolly. 10/10 would love christmas gift
This is the coolest project ever ^-^

Your comment was much appreciated, is this support and tips from people on this forum that consiguimos continuously improve. Remembering that I have seen and accompanied many amazing projects of foristas here, all have their merits.

Well, we'll see. Right now, I'm thinking of new enemies and new characters to add into the game. Right now, I'm thinking of a new K.Rool. I might draw a picture of him once I finish the new cheetah buddy.

I could not help but compliment him on his work with kersplash and cheetah, you really have done a remarkable job. Thanks for all the help.

First I need to clarify something that certainly comes to mind of people who follow our project for longer time ago.
Why are posted as new things, things that have been seen before and are present in playable demo?
Anyone might think:
"A video showing "news" about the animal buddies? Most of these animals have been shown before, this is nothing new!"

To clarify this question, there are several improvements in the engine that are not "perceived" by those who will play.
Reduction of lines of programming for the same task (it raises much engine performance), more accurate collisions, etc, etc. HyperKalango is working hard on it!

It had been almost a year that I did not open the project and now editing this sample stage seen very significant changes. For example, something that most people probably did not notice is the system of switch between kongs and partners that has changed drastically compared to demo that we released last year.

It was a very "heavy" use unified system by sprites during switch between kongs and HyperKalango redid the whole part making a system of individual sprites every kong and partner. I'm sure I must have spent much time on it. He has done an really amazing job with the engine optimization. I am very pleased to be working with him and the NecroToad in this project, are two extremely competent guys.

Unfortunately I do not have the time to help the Hyper Kalango as I really like (I currently work two jobs doing four shifts per day, besides taking care of my family.) and NecroToad is littered with their own projects. But I have helped according to my limited time allows me.

There is still much to do and to thank everyone who will collaborate with sprites and suggestions.
This video is not showing all that is currently possible to do, is a small sample:

[Simion32]

Oh wow. That's looking exquisitely better than the last demo.

It all looks to be functioning much more cleanly as well. The level is awesome, too, though it needs a bit more "flow", although I understand you may be using it for testing purposes.

Really great job!

[spaceman2028]

Leo, those leaves falling down from the sky that seem to partially split are called "tree stars" in a prehistoric dinosaur-themed film known as "The land before time." A game based on the movies uses those leaf sprites.

Great level, by the way!

[CatLoverMolly]

The engine looks so smooth! I think you've got the original DKC games down really well. I also really love that level, though I think perhaps animating the water at the bottom would help it look even better. Really great progress going on

[sonosublime]

That newest demo looks amazing. When all of the assets from the DKC games are put together, it really does become a platform game like no other.

[CountryFan]

VERY impressive!


However, for the DK Barrel, would it be possible to have the initials change when the Kong inside does?

[CatLoverMolly]

However, for the DK Barrel, would it be possible to have the initials change when the Kong inside does?

I second that idea, there could be a swirly animation where the letters sort of swirl like the bonus barrels do, but into a dark red DD for Diddy, then a pink DX for Dixie, then a blue KK for Kiddy, and obviously the red DK for Donkey. Naturally the animation would skip whatever Kong(s) are being used at the moment, and the letters should look sort of like in Tropical Freeze but with Kiddy instead of Cranky.

[leo_core]

Oh wow. That's looking exquisitely better than the last demo.
It all looks to be functioning much more cleanly as well. The level is awesome, too, though it needs a bit more "flow", although I understand you may be using it for testing purposes.

Thanks! I'm happy when we show something that goes with good impression by his grate. I edited this level just to do a little demonstration. Would not be a level for the game, not that way. Although this level go to the game release, but with different level design.

Leo, those leaves falling down from the sky that seem to partially split are called "tree stars" in a prehistoric dinosaur-themed film known as "The land before time." A game based on the movies uses those leaf sprites.
Great level, by the way!

We can use different sprites for the leaves, one that is more in line with the trees in the background. I thought this kind of leaf is the most visually beautiful, however I am open to suggestions.

The engine looks so smooth! I think you've got the original DKC games down really well. I also really love that level, though I think perhaps animating the water at the bottom would help it look even better. Really great progress going on

Thanks for the suggestion. The water of the marsh will be replaced or removed, has not been defined for this level. Phyre and you are the same person? I ask this because of "Molly" in its name.

That newest demo looks amazing. When all of the assets from the DKC games are put together, it really does become a platform game like no other.

Thanks! xD

VERY impressive! However, for the DK Barrel, would it be possible to have the initials change when the Kong inside does?

Very interesting! We had not thought of it, is actually more personalized!

I second that idea, there could be a swirly animation where the letters sort of swirl like the bonus barrels do, but into a dark red DD for Diddy, then a pink DX for Dixie, then a blue KK for Kiddy, and obviously the red DK for Donkey. Naturally the animation would skip whatever Kong(s) are being used at the moment, and the letters should look sort of like in Tropical Freeze but with Kiddy instead of Cranky.

This is a fabulous idea! I'll talk seriously with HyperKalango in this regard, thank you!

I was encouraged to continue the project too! HyperKalango did all these amazing improvements with the project source. He is one of the most humble people I know with an intelligence far beyond the ordinary. I am reserving two hours of my day just to work on the project.

[CatLoverMolly]

Gonna leave this here if you guys need it.

Not the prettiest, but it'd be a good start. Maybe Phyre could do something with it.

[spaceman2028]

You may want to change the diddy logo to a darker DK logo instead, just to avoid confusion. That, and in Tropical freeze the DK barrel just changed color. The DK initials remained the same in that game(although i think the initials changed for cranky, but that will be an exception).

[CatLoverMolly]

Are you sure about that?

I've never actually played tropical freeze (yes yes i need to save money) but I literally just pulled the letters off of these and recolored the DD to a darker red because blue is a really weird color to use for Diddy. I guess they could have changed them in game but I know I've seen a screenshot of the DX barrel, and the concept art on the Mario wiki (which is a great source for the DK series too) isn't labelled as Beta on the DK Barrels page.

[Phyreburnz]

Well, I'm not sure If I'll be able to do anything with that or not... I can try, but I can't promise anything. I've tried editing those barrels before and it's tough because of the way they move.

My suggestion would be, if I can't put those letters on, to change just the colours, make blue for Kiddy, pink for Dixie, red for DK, and yellow for Diddy. Out of those tropical freeze ones, I think that Cranky's colours would fit Diddy better. I always thought of the yellow team colours (and with the yellow star later added to Diddy's shirt) when you would use colours to differentiate between Diddy and DK, since the reds are so similar.

[CatLoverMolly]

Maybe for the colors thing, the barrel could stop wobbling when it's about to switch Kongs, the swirly sound the Bonus Barrels make in DKC3 would play, and the colors would fade. Could be done by having each Kong's barrel on a layer and by playing with transparency.

[leo_core]

Thanks for your help. I would ask if you can edit the barrels with the animations. We could try to do this but we are 100% focused on only edit the engine, sorry to have to ask for something laborious.

[spaceman2028]

Just make the DK initials change color for now as a simple animation. It's easier to understand them that way. I personally agree with yellow for Diddy and blue for kiddy as well! Also, when the barrel changes kongs, the noise of the first kong would play, then the barrel would jump up and do a flip as the colors of the DK initials change, and then afterwards it repeats for the next kong.

Phyreburnz, do you think you can do this?

[zaneebaslave]

Well, I have something here for you all. It's a complete sprite of the cheetah, in all it's full unedited glory! It's not animated, yet. I still have to plan out all the animations for this one.



Donkey Kong is riding her, too. She's pretty big in comparison to... say... every other animal buddy. You may argue that cheetahs are in fact not larger then elephants and rhinos. I reply to you that they are also not big enough for gorillas to ride on them. But in a world where there is a spider big enough to wear human-sized sneakers and let monkeys ride on it, then there is room in this world for huge cheetahs also!

You may also be wondering why I didn't finish this model earlier. Sorry about that, procrastination got the better of me. Plus, ya know... Hyrule Warriors and all. Anyways, I am finished with the body of the cheetah. I still feel as if there needs to be some sort of... feminine clothing to this cheetah. But I don't quite know what it should be. Maybe... a bow? Is that cliche?

[CatLoverMolly]

A simple red bow on the tail could look good, that wouldn't be too cliche, I don't think.. But I digress, excellent work!

[Mattrizzle]

The initials on Kiddy's barrel would be KD, not KK.

In Tropical Freeze each Kong's initials come from the first and last letter of the first syllable of his/her name:
Donkey
Diddy
Dixie
Cranky

Edit: Corrected, thanks Phyreburnz.

[Phyreburnz]

I think sweat bands or a scarf would look good. A scarf is probably more feminine looking than sweat bands, though.

I also don't know if I agree, Mattrizzle. Dixie's second syllable does not start with x, it starts with I. You say dix-e when you say it, not di-xe. Same with diddy and cranky. Did-e, crank-e. So it's more the first and last letter of the first syllable, I guess... but that's semantics I guess...

Either way, it's not something I'm confident about being able to do at all... I'm thinking what I'll be able to do will just end up being a colour change. I'm really not thinking that I can edit the letters to look right. Those dk barrels are tough mo-fo's to edit.

[CatLoverMolly]

I could possibly try something over the weekend as far as the 'flipping while transitioning' idea goes. So everyone agrees on red DK, yellow DD, pink DX, and cyan KD?

[Tonberry2000]

Scaling and editing the DKCTF battles might be a good place to start.
As for the Cheetah, it looks great so far, but it's not quite "Donkey Kong" enough. I'd suggest more expressive eyes at least. Some kind of accessory might be good too.

[zaneebaslave]

I can't say I disagree with that synopsis. The problem with a face so small is that it's hard to get all that much detail into it. Eyes especially. I'll try a few things later and see if I can get more Donkey-ness to it.

[CatLoverMolly]

I think if you managed to do something with the eyes, and then once you finish the animations and all that it should be fine as long as she behaves in an expressive manner. You know what I mean, right? Looking around and swishing her tail while idle, that sort of thing?
Also, I'm about halfway done with those 'flip to next kong' sprites.

It looks weird to me but it's really the best I could do ^^' Note that the flip animation could also be used for picking up non-DK barrels.

[hiperkalango]

what is this Zane?
this is wonderful!

[CatLoverMolly]

Added Kiddy. I used the blue from his pajamas for his KD, but I dunno, it seems off to me. It might just be a palette thing. Anyway, next I'm going to work on making Dixie's barrel and cleaning up Diddy's.

[spaceman2028]

Kiddy's barrel logo is far too bright to be of his palette. But it's a good start there molly!

[CatLoverMolly]

It actually really is from his palette. I used the eyedropper tool to extract them from this sprite.

But I digress, as I think I've succeeded in making it and Diddy's a bit prettier.

I decided to do Sassy and Tiny for fun while I was at it. I honestly like Dixie's the most, myself, and for Tiny I really don't like the shade of blue I used, so I might change that.

EDIT:
There we go. Sooooo...does anyone wanna make a lil animation with that?

[leo_core]

Donkey Kong is riding her, too. She's pretty big in comparison to... say... every other animal buddy. You may argue that cheetahs are in fact not larger then elephants and rhinos. I reply to you that they are also not big enough for gorillas to ride on them. But in a world where there is a spider big enough to wear human-sized sneakers and let monkeys ride on it, then there is room in this world for huge cheetahs also!

Besides being a great artist his arguments are convincing! It's getting great !

CatLoverMolly these barrels are really good! Did you could darken a little letter outlines KD? (from Kiddy barrel)
The letters are not as prominent compared to other barrels. Thank you for the precious help!

[leo_core]

I am excited about these custom barrels, I intend to show them in action in the next video.

[CatLoverMolly]

Done and GIF'ified.

I feel like the DD and KD barrels seem a bit weird but I really don't know how to fix it...any of my fellow spriters out here have any ideas?

[spaceman2028]

Regarding the custom barrels, all we need out of them is to make ones for Chunky and Lanky and we're all set with the classic gang!

Also, i was wondering, would adding cranky(who would be like in tropical freeze) and funky be a radical idea? You would have to make custom DK symbols with their sprites, but nonetheless the sprites look good on their own.

[CatLoverMolly]

I wouldn't mind making the letters for Cranky, Funky, Lanky and Chunky. Heck, I'd even be ok with making Candy, Swanky, DK Junior and Wrinkly. But I don't really have any desire to make entire barrel animations for them all, there's not really any need for it. If anything, I could make one single frame for Candy, Cranky, Wrinkly, Swanky and Funky and stick them in the backgrounds of their respective areas, but I'd rather do no more than that.

[Phyreburnz]

Well, I see that you've animated the barrels. I saved them on my phone and transferred them to animate them... and I'm glad you can see that they look kind of off. Like I said before, those buddy barrels are tough to animate. They look wonky and are just odd with the way they move. I really think just a simple colour palette switch is all that's needed. I'm working on that as we speak. I'm making custom colours for each one to match their palettes the best. I'll upload the colour palette changes and animation tomorrow, since I am at my boyfriend's place and can't use my lappy on the internet, just my phone.

[CatLoverMolly]

I'm going to have to agree with Phyre here.
To save time I went ahead and made my own recolorings of the DKC1 barrels using the Kongs' palettes (though, Phyre, I'd still like to see yours )
DK
Diddy
Dixie
Kiddy
Sassy
Tiny (I used her palette from the minigame in DKC2 GBA, could also be used for Kiddy)

The flip animation is still there, but I didn't want to mess with putting the frames in the right order as far as that went. If you guys wanted, Leo/Kalango, you could just go for a simple fade. Maybe I could try the flip animation with the DKC2/3 barrels.

[Tonberry2000]

I like that much more. Much simpler. I would say that it should rotate around the barrel, maybe? Or fade into the next color?

And looking at the Cheetah, he seems a bit too tall AND long. I wouldn't make him any larger than Rambi...

[zaneebaslave]

And looking at the Cheetah, he seems a bit too tall AND long. I wouldn't make him any larger than Rambi...

Think of it in line with detail. The cheetah has a tiny head, small legs, and a pattern of dark spots. The other animal buddies have none of these things. They have the liberty to be small because they have one palette, large features, and no pattern. I could afford making him smaller, but not very much. If you want drastically smaller, then I'll have to make it over again...

[Phyreburnz]

I think the size is fine. The only thing I would suggest is maybe exaggerate the feet by making them bigger, but just by a little bit.

[Phyreburnz]

Oh, CatLover, you said you wanted to see the colours that I came up with (they're pretty much the same as yours ). Here they are:

buddy-barrels.gif (35.31 KiB) Viewed 141153 times

[hiperkalango]

I'm sorry, you could use the model of a barrel of DKC2 / DKC3 ??

[spaceman2028]

Use the DKC1 animation for DK barrels to make it more smooth when the transitions happen.

[Tonberry2000]

Those barrel colors are perfect.

[Phyreburnz]

Here are the custom colours in a sprite sheet. I have both the barrel types (DKC1 and 2&3).

barrels.png (58.52 KiB) Viewed 141114 times

[Simion32]

My color coding suggestions:

Following DK64's convention, I'd suggest actually using Yellow for Donkey Kong and a Red coloring for Diddy Kong. It matches up better with existing known color-codings, though it kinda slaps Tropical Freeze's scheme in the face.

My Full Listing (Color/TrimColor):
Yellow/DarkerGold for Donkey Kong
ClassicRed/ClassicOrange for Diddy Kong
Pink/YellowTrim (Like Phyre's colors) for Dixie,
LightBlue/Yellow for Kiddy
LightPurple/Pink for Tiny
JungleGreen/LightGreen for Chunky
DeepCobaltBlue/LightBlue for Lanky
ArcadeRed/SnesGrey for Cranky
White/ReallyLightGreen for Wrinkly
AlmostBlack/DarkGrey for Swanky
BandannaMaroon/SurfBoardBlue for Funky
HotPink/BrightRedTrim for Candy
DarkBrown/LighterDarkBrown for *ahem* Bluster
DeepPurple/LightBlue for Sassy (trying to mitigate conflict with existing Tiny colors here)