SHP Forums

So you want to be a photoshopper?

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 8:14 am So you want to be a photoshopper?

Indeed, these are the first two screens made into one for the sake of the wallpaper size.

My favorite was the end screen for Quest For Glory 2...



or was it...




I can never remember!

I don't remember the ending screenshots! Funny if they used the same... everything... except III to IV and then the title.

Tawmis wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 8:08 pm I don't remember the ending screenshots! Funny if they used the same... everything... except III to IV and then the title.

Well, that's just a little pixel manipulation on my part. Here's the original end screen:



A little over a year ago, Steve Alexander of Infamous Quests mentioned on Twitter that the original end screen didn't hold up so well: Shadows of Darkness was supposed to be the third QFG game, but the Coles didn't feel as though Hero was quite ready; the result was Wages of War as an 'in-between' game...

BUT, that decision came AFTER QFG2 shipped, which is why the end of QFG2 (now incorrectly) says QFG III: Shadows of Darkness.

So, I made the two 'corrected' mock-ups:

• One changing the Roman numeral to "IV" to properly match the game's title ("Shadows of Darkness")

• One changing the game title to "Wages of War" to properly match the game's Roman numeral "III"

I even joking mentioned that there ought to be a patch made to use my corrected "QFG3: Wages of War" end screen in the game...

Some amazing pixel work! <3

Tawmis wrote: ↑Fri Aug 06, 2021 10:02 pm Some amazing pixel work! <3

Thanks, Tawmis! I'm quite the amateur, but do enjoy little projects like this.

For those who are interested:

A1. The letters for "Wages of War": I could re-use the same "of" and the following letters already present in "Shadows of Darkness": a, e, s, r

So, I had to create the W and g in a similar style. The g started from the curved bowl of the d, and I added a long tail/swash for visual interest. The W was made entirely from scratch, and I ensured that it had the same pointy serifs that the other letters had at the cap height.

Next, I put the letters together, then flipped them vertically and skewed them to match the angle of the shadow on the stem of the f.



A2. Next, I extracted the background picture from the game's resources (below), and recolored the original white to match the bright cyan of the actual end screen.



A3. I then copy-pasted the upper portion of the original screen (the moon, "Quest for Glory III", and stars). I also re-used the original "of" and copy-pasted it onto the sand dunes, since it is present in both titles.



A4. Lastly, I copy-pasted the new title (with shadows) over the background, added back the sand ridge on the left mid-foreground (cutting off the "Wages" shadow to continue the illusion of a rolling, 'hilly' surface as in the original end screen) and added back lines in the sand over the "Wages" and "War" shadows, then match the dithered colors of the original letters and background... Pixel. By. Pixel.





B. For the Roman numeral change (III to IV), I just 'joined' the two right I's at the bottom to form the vertex of the V, then matched the coloring style. I had to take into account the left-leaning curve of the three I's to ensure that the V also appeared to curve to the left without becoming too distorted! Still, this one was a lot easier, though...

The time ye took to pixel "color" the shadow effect is admirable!

Thank you!

Wow, that sounds like a lot of effort. Well done, goatmeal!

For an encore, would you like to do the same for the shot when the moon does the "evil grinning face"?

Would I "like" to? No, not really...

But I'll do it anyway.





Note the color shift of the letters, from white & dark grey outlines with a light grey interior to bright red and bright blue outlines with a black interior. The shadows cast by the letters also shift from a dither of blue and cyan to black and cyan.

That's awesome. Now make them say Hero's Quest instead.

Seriously, get art with the evil moon!

MusicallyInspired wrote: ↑Sat Aug 07, 2021 11:55 pm That's awesome. Now make them say Hero's Quest instead.

Thanks, MI!

I almost said that's above my comfort level, but then I realized that most of the letters are there: e, r, o, s.

I'd just have to make an H and an apostrophe (').

Maybe someday...