New WIP by Varia31: The Champ of Chimps - Diddy Kong!

[Varia31]

Hey all! I made an announcement thread over at MMV: http://mugenmultiverse.fanbb.net/t7571-announcement-varia-s-upcoming-projects-list#91829

 

As stated there, my next project is Diddy Kong! While I work on him, I will try to at least lay down some ground work for Jango Fett as well.

 

As evident with my work on Sweet Tooth, I'm hoping to establish a sense of quality standards for all of my creations. For Diddy, I'm going to keep it pretty simple. He will be a 4 button character, and retain the agility and quickness he is known for! He will have a double jump and even an air dash due to having a jetpack, as well as a few tools and weapons. He will feature his voice from Donkey Kong 64, and sound effects from the Super Smash Bros series. Finally, Diddy will be my first creation to feature legitimate alternate palettes! I've already made one that gives him a blue shirt and hat.

 

Plans for special moves
-Peanut Popguns
-Barrel throws
-Dixie Kong assist
-Banana peel hazard

 

Plans for Hypers
-A Popgun barrage Hyper
-A Hyper involving Dixie Kong
-A Hyper inspired by the "beat-the-snot-outta-the-boss" mechanic established by Donkey Kong Country Returns and DKC: Tropical Freeze

 

Finally, here is a bit of what I have made so far! It's not much, but it's a start!

Idle pose

 

Character Select Portrait (CSP)

 

Character Select Icon/Battle Icon

 

Dixie Kong sprite for palette template

 

---

 

Hope you look forward to the project!

[Big Green]

Dang son!

 

 

[AxSeeker]

Interesting but do the sprites have to be so big? you should scale them down to normal size, but at least as big as MvC's Megaman.

 

Also i don't know if you are aware of this but there is a technique which will allow you to turn 3d images into 2d images. I think it was a thread somewhere in MFG using a program. I recommend trying that to see if maybe you can start making conventional mugen characters that match the traditional stuff; that is if you wanna try that.

[PlasmoidThunder]

I imagine the sprites will be scaled down in MUGEN just as Sweet Tooth's were.

[Varia31]

10 hours ago, AxSeeker said:

Interesting but do the sprites have to be so big? you should scale them down to normal size, but at least as big as MvC's Megaman.

 

Also i don't know if you are aware of this but there is a technique which will allow you to turn 3d images into 2d images. I think it was a thread somewhere in MFG using a program. I recommend trying that to see if maybe you can start making conventional mugen characters that match the traditional stuff; that is if you wanna try that.

Like GarchompMatt said, the sprites will be properly scaled down in game. I use XNALara to take pictures of every pose, so the animating process is very time consuming. Besides, if I scaled the images down in photoshop or something it would reduce the quality of the image and would take even more time to do. It took me all of 2015 to make Sweet Tooth. I'd rather try to get Diddy done quicker.. Also, I used cel-shading this time and I've indexed the sprite to be a 25 color palette so that it's simplified and cartoony looking, yet still maintains a 3D look which fits with the classic DKC art style. And again on scaling, Diddy is actually quite small in game. Allow me to provide an example.

 

EDIT

And we've got ourselves a taunt! Diddy says "come on" while gesturing to his opponent.

 

[AxSeeker]

Oh well that looks okay then. Nice!

 

And good point on the original DKC look. Totally forgot about that. This does look better in that case.

[Varia31]

2 hours ago, AxSeeker said:

Oh well that looks okay then. Nice!

 

And good point on the original DKC look. Totally forgot about that. This does look better in that case.

lol Thanks. I'm hoping to give him that classic DKC feel while also being his own thing. I'm definitely giving him a lot of "attitude", as if that wasn't evident enough from his idle stance. ;)

[AxSeeker]

You might want to reconsider his cap being backwards. He only did that when rapping. I recommend saving that just for special situations like taunting, win pose, and maybe hyper startups.

 

Also when he loses or times out a loser, have him move his hat over his face while looking down in shame like Ash Ketchum from pokemon. Or maybe have him take off his hat and beat his knee with it in self disappointment.

 

Just some ideas to liven him up. The Dk monkeys, all of them, were all very expressive, almost like black and white silent film actors who needed to overly express themselves because cinema at the time didn't have audio recordings of voices and sound; hence why they probably did so much body language in DKC, considering that their apes and we can't understand their speech, yet we can still know what they are communicating by their actions.

 

I would of did all that for my monkey if I wasn't so lazy :P

 

LOL

 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing more! Please keep me updated!

[Varia31]

Well, it wasn't only when he rapped. There were some instances, such as this artwork here, where he had his cap backwards.

I appreciate the suggestion, though! But I do have my reasons for leaving it backwards. I know it's his standard look to leave it straight, but I've seen every MUGEN version of Diddy using that (mainly because they just use the sprites from the DKC games), so I'm wanting to do something a little more distinguishing for my version. I also think it makes him look more battle-ready, personally! Plus, at the rate I'm going, it may be a little late progress-wise to switch it now. Sorry.

 

Still, I will still be able to implement him turning and pulling his cap down in shame when losing by time over and such. Sadly I can't separate the cap from his head, so him throwing it is not possible. The cap is attached via a bone on the top of his head, and I've no clue how to separate that. But anyways, again, I appreciate your feedback!

[TopKirby8305]

Looking good so far with this Diddy Varia!  Once he gets done, he'll join my roster!  :3

[Varia31]

4 hours ago, TopKirby8305 said:

Looking good so far with this Diddy Varia!  Once he gets done, he'll join my roster!  :3

Yay! I hope I can do good with him!

 

EDIT

Palette gallery!

 

[Trinitronity]

Uhm...why does Diddy Kong look so furious?

Also, since Diddy Kong is going to talk, I really hope it's gonna be his voice from the Donkey Kong Country cartoon.

[Varia31]

2 hours ago, Captain Papyrus said:

Uhm...why does Diddy Kong look so furious?

Also, since Diddy Kong is going to talk, I really hope it's gonna be his voice from the Donkey Kong Country cartoon.

Play the new Donkey Kong Country games or Donkey Kong 64. He can get angry. I also just want to make him look battle ready. I think it adds some extra personality. And look at his taunt! He'll have elements of fun to him, too.

 

As for his voice, I said this in my OP: it's his Donkey Kong 64 voice. He doesn't really have much spoken dialogue, save for one instance where he actually says "come on."

[Trinitronity]

Ah, good. So everything is still according to canon. Excellent (I never played DK64 and I don't remember Diddy getting angry during my playthroughs of DKC1 and DKC2).

[Varia31]

27 minutes ago, Captain Papyrus said:

Ah, good. So everything is still according to canon. Excellent (I never played DK64 and I don't remember Diddy getting angry during my playthroughs of DKC1 and DKC2).

Actually, in DKC1 when you lose something (like a mini-game) Diddy will actually throw his hat down and stomp on it out of frustration. lol I mean, he doesn't get angry often, but he is capable of that. In DK64 he had this kind of plucky teenager type of personality, and he had some attitude like that of a tough or cool guy. Case and point http://youtu.be/RcP91tQ4ZSM (skip to 1:47). He's still a generally fun and happy guy, but he's got a tough side to him. I don't exactly like how in Smash Bros. he's almost ALWAYS silly. But yeah, I wanted to convey the way he is in DK64 with my character. ;)

 

EDIT

Almost forgot! Here is the perfect example of him getting ticked off in DKC Returns! Skip to 1:10 http://youtu.be/ltOwVX0PKzk

 

But yeah, I'll still make him fun, but with some of his attitude in tact. I hope to get him done quickly, but not too quick to make sure he still turns out as a quality character. I just don't want to spend a year on him like I did with my previous creation, Sweet Tooth. lol

[AxSeeker]

Well it's no mystery how any of the DK Crew behaves, they are a bunch of monkeys, so you know they behave like monkeys, jumping around, going crazy if they see a banana, swinging from stuff, etc. I've seen monkeys on TV dress up, it is always possible to see them put on a little act if they are anything like trained monkeys at the Circus or whatever. 

 

I wouldn't limit Diddy just to what he did in his past games but give him some new material. Heck all of mario has been doing new stuff out of character. Actually a lot of the old stuff to! Such as mario in a submarine in that one GB game. I know the entire cast has done racing, Tennis, and soccer.

 

I would try Diddy Skiing and winning a medal somewhere :P

 

Being creative is a wonderful thing in mugen. A lot of people who can't think outside the box will miss out on some fun new ideas. I say experiment a little; if it doesn't work out then just leave it out of the final product or remove it after the alpha and have it absent in the beta. I've seen some new stuff folks did in mugen characters that really fit well and were fun to the character. It pays off sometimes.

[PlasmoidThunder]

But sometimes the idea is so far from the original character that it comes across as tacked-on.

The reason a lot of people work with what they've got may not be down to them simply being unable to 'think outside the box', but perhaps because they know what's available works.

 

In essence, there's 'creative liberties' and then there's 'completely out of character'.

[Varia31]

Oh, I tried creative liberties with Sweet Tooth, that's for sure. I made him a mixture of humor, over-the-top, and brutal. I think I made him more of an embodiment of Twisted Metal itself, which has been each of what I just listed. Really, that character was basically my Twisted Metal tribute, not just a tribute to Sweet Tooth himself.

 

So that example aside, I'll probably take a few liberties with Diddy, but mostly leave him faithful to the source material. For instance, he'll have a bit of that DKC feel with being able to toss barrels. Or he'll have a small touch of Smash Bros. and have a banana peel tripping hazard. And if I can get my hands on an orange model, then I'll probably give him the orange grenade from DK64, too!

[thebestmlTBM]

BANANA SLAMA!

[Trinitronity]

Actually, seeing a MUGEN version of Diddy Kong's Side Special from Smash Bros that is extremely source accurate would be a nice proof-of-concept of what MUGEN is truly capable off.

[Varia31]

All of his basic standing attacks are done! Remember, he is a 4-button character, so there aren't too many moves. Diddy actually moves forward a little bit with a couple attacks as he struggles a little with reach due to his short size. Some of these GIFs may appear slower than the animations actually are.

Light Punch

Light Punch Follow-up

Heavy Punch

Light Kick

Heavy Kick

[Mʀ. Sтᴇαl-Yoᴜя-Wαεfυ]

Diddy's bitch ass. He and Donkey are going to stay fucking with Rayden.

[Varia31]

@Mʀ. Stᴇal-Yoᴜʀ-Waifu

Um... okay? Not a fan of Diddy? lol

[Moltar]

It's nice to see an awesome looking Diddy Kong. Those are some very impressive sprites ;).

Good luck on your project,  Varia31!

[Varia31]

On 3/26/2016 at 7:27 PM, Sheriff Woody said:

It's nice to see an awesome looking Diddy Kong. Those are some very impressive sprites ;).

Good luck on your project,  Varia31!

Thanks! I'm trying to work quickly (but efficiently) on this one. :)