Hey, so i'm the graphic dude for Serinor. It's really cool cause Eldritch has a lot of the core of the game made and he works fast. Anyway, I have to make the entire art for the game. But one problem I found myself meeting is that i have to do 128 playable character NPC(Yep, lotsa customization :P). Spread around 10 races, it will be a challenge. Probleme is time wise, it will take forever with the other graphics. Both me and Eldritch do not want the feel of the game lost by to much different style art. What me and Eldritch think we could would very well solve both problem. If we divide the race art by different artists, races could have a specific style and not damage the overall feel of the game.

So I'm thinking, any artists interested. No need to be incredibly talented. If you can make a good char we could be interested. Please post comment on this idea on the board. I give my email address to contact me, but I rather have an open discussion on the subject. So contact me at knightmare_syndrome at good old hotmail.com.

Well let me answer your questions :

First let me point out that there are ten races in all. I won't name all of them but a guide by Eldritch to them can be found here http://eldritch05.tripod.com/eoslog/(I like the whole log Eldritch makes, pretty cool). Some race have female/male versions other don't.

1 - Well, depending on the races, size will be different, at this point humains around 24 high. As for orcs they will be 32, dwarf 16, faeries a little less the 16, etc. (All 16 width at this point)

2 - We are at this point making 4 direction 5 frame each animation so that the movements are fluid. As for 'What walkscript should it use? Any special frames?' I will let Eldritch tell you about it. Althought each race will have one ghost npc to have when a character as fallen independant of the class of the fallen char.

3 - I have been working on blackbordered npc at this moment, I agree with the whole using different style will screw the feel of the game. I will post an example as soon as I'm done with it. (I kinda never did a full animated char ever, so I'm having trouble on some part I never did before)

4 - Well between most races, it's not to hard to tell them apart by their very different looks. We got lizards dude, undead, etc. But for class, you can do a template that will make it easier to do others. Hair color change is an easy way to give individuality, so are other things. It all depends how much variation you put. At this point I'm thinking to do different hair does for each class/sexe for the humains(female fighter black hair ponytails, female paladin fighter mid short blond hair). Ok lol, i'm not really answering the question, let me put it this way, body structures can obviously have template, where your variation will go is probably in the accessories. This question is hard since it depends on a degree, and i can't really put a value on the amount we want.

5 - Well good enough so that people won't be distracted by an ugly sprite they can insult. lol Or good enough for Eldritch if you like. :p

And Thank you for the well thought questions.

* I don't honestly care so long as they're consistant amongst themselves and across races.

* Four directions of five frames each according to the pattern '12321454'. Standard VERGE fare. No special frames should be needed for playable characters, though they may be required for unique .chr's that are encountered as part of the story. The ghost .chr for any given race is a unique .chr, should have only four frames, one for each direction, and be a transparent outline of the race's general body shape. [Note: this might be different for Shadowkin.]

* I want black borders. That was one thing Final Fantasy did better than Dragon Warrior. Consistancy is the one thing I'm going to insist on in the artwork.

* Racial templates are fine for 9 of 10 races. Shadowkin are the exception and should have relatively unique looks for each class (though classes such as Fighter and Dreadlord will probably look pretty similar). Eight of 10 races have 2 genders. Fairies are all gendered as 'Fay' and Shadowkin as 'Undead,' so they will require fewer .chr's.

* If you examine my artwork, you'll find that I cannot, in honesty, hold anybody to any standard of artwork. My rallying cry must be 'Consistancy!' As long as everything meshes well, I don't really care how good it looks. So you have to be about exactly as good as the worst artist who does work.

* There's absolutely no hurry. Most races won't be needed for some time yet. Priority is on humans, halflings, fairies, and orcs at the moment. Then dwarves, elves, and kobolds, and concluding with lizardmen, shadowkin, and lukosians. But we're still likely looking at a span of months.