Before I forget, I need to write a bit about some new enemy graphics and animation I recently added to the game. I have been using some of Dan Cook’s excellent artwork for enemies in the game (I used the same stuff for Cosmosis), but in some cases have been bootstrapping his stuff to create unique enemies, or improve on them.
For example, most enemy bosses in the game are a combination of bits and pieces I found in Dan’s “Iron Plague” collection. For the player’s ship in this game, I used one base sprite, but have been developing new ship “parts” that bolt on to this, improving the look, or to be used as new weapons or other modules.
The newest enemy I added recently is a prime example of developing new artwork to create unique enemies. Here is the base sprite I used from Dan’s collection for this enemy:
I used the base piece and changed it quite a bit, using my trusty Wacom bamboo tablet and a few small brushes in PS. I created a bunch of frames for the base piece animation, and used the four corner pieces as “weapon bay doors”. Using the animation system, I created a simple transitioning effect to open/close the door panels. When the panels open, the enemy fires three projectiles in sucession at the player.
The new sprites:
Here is the resulting enemy animation, including firing of projectiles at the player:
