rondar's HyperSpin 2 HD Game Themes - Arcade PC/Teknoparrot WIP

[rondar]

With Hyperspin 2 in development, I've been working with the new HyperTheme a lot, and it is quite impressive to see what can be done. So I wanted to start this thread to show what I'm working on; to explain some of my process, and to demonstrate some of the capabilities of HT's new tools. Back when we used to announce our themes, I found it inspiring, motivating, and even educational at times. Hopefully this thread will do the same for others and help to spark the HS theme building community again.

Please feel free to ask questions about any processes or techniques I use. I'm not a pro, but I kinda know what I'm doing.

Here are the first two ArcadePC themes that I did: Storm Racer G (SRG) and Storm Rider (StormRider). For Storm Rider, I used a lot of screen captures for the bikes and details. Then I upscaled them with an online tool (https://www.iloveimg.com/) and cleaned up any details in Photoshop. For clean edges on cut out artwork, I use the pen tool to create vector masks.

Side note: I am not a fast theme builder like some of the greats from the past, but I do strive to make high-quality themes every time. 

[rondar]

[rondar]

Next up is Crazy Ride by UNIS. This one had a nice wallpaper/background readily available, but I needed to cut out the cars to animate it.

I used Photoshop's "generative fill" as the first step to replace the gaps. I had to try multiple variations to get close to the desired outcome, and then I cut and pasted several sections together. It's not perfect, but if you don't study it too much, it looks pretty good.

I wanted the yellow car to move in from off screen and hover, so I had to rebuild the front corner that was cut off in the wallpaper. Generative fill got me the approximate shape that I wanted (again, it took several variations). Then I copied and pasted the headlights and fog lights to finish it off.

I got the best title that I could find, upsized it, and cut it out cleanly with the pen tool. Then I zoomed in and made additional touchups by hand. To make it a more dynamic and integral part of the theme, I changed the perspective too.

 

[baddeolv]

Still amazes me how you are using the toolset to make all that happen. I have a few more for you to play with and break my brain again if you want lol @rondar

[rondar]

8 minutes ago, baddeolv said:

Still amazes me how you are using the toolset to make all that happen. I have a few more for you to play with and break my brain again if you want lol @rondar

Anytime, man!

[rondar]

Night Hunter - After Dark, Chapter 2

This is one of my favorite themes so far. And I spent a ridiculous amount of time on it, so this post may be a little lengthy.

I started off with a title screen snapshot and filled in the gaps with generative fill. I used multiple variations and then cut-and-pasted the best bits together.

I initially wanted the main hunter character in the theme. I tried multiple characters from screenshots, flyers, and arcade machine photos, but I couldn't get the results as good as I wanted. And that's when I decided the werewolf from the title screen would be the star. I upscaled it, recolored it and enhanced the hair texture.

To animate it, I needed parts for the movement. First, I cut out the hand and rebuilt the right fingers. I used a mixture of generative fill, copy/paste and manual retouching with a brush to repair the hand and arm stub. Then I copied/pasted the lower jaw and "beard" so it would cover the original jaw when the mouth partially closed. I then copied the eye and surrounding area so I could make the eyes glow. (I just painted a brighter yellow over the eyes on the new layer.)

The logo from the title screen was cool, but the simpler, bolder one looked more "arcade" to me and it's the one that I saw on most arcade photos. So I found the best source I could, upscaled it and cut it out with the pen tool. Btw, I always use the path to create a vector mask. Then I can adjust the edge later if needed. Another tip is to use the layer style(s) inside stroke and/or an inner glow to even out any jaggies or color variations on the edges of your cut.

And finally, I made a video frame to match the title. I used a gradient overlay for the blue stroke and applied a mirrored variation of the lightning from the title.

Put that all together with some HyperTheme magic and you get this:

 

 

 

 

[rondar]

Elevator Action Invasion

See it in action:

 

How to do it?

The two main features of this theme are the muzzle blast/glow and the elevator door. For the blast/glow, I cut out the characters and then duplicated that layer. For the layer where the gun was not firing, I rebuilt the front of the gun using a reference image. I then changed the levels so that layer appeared a little darker. In HyperTheme (HT), I looped an opacity change for the blast layer (which is placed on top) so it looks like the characters are lit up when the gun fires.

For the elevator doors, I just duplicated the background layer with a door cutout. This layer then fades in to hide the doors.

 

 

[rondar]

Raccoon Rampage

 

 (Sorry for the low quality video)

For the animation, I separated the arm cannon from the body and extended the gray stub/joint so the cut would not be visible when the arm rotated. The ball of light is 3 layers. The separate shadow layer comes in from the bottom when the raccoon mech drops from the top.

 

[rondar]

The House of the Dead III

 

I separated the woman's arm at the shoulder so I could make it rotate a little (the lower hand is off-screen, so it doesn't matter that it doesn't line up correctly).

The lightning effect is created by adjusting the brightness and opacity of different layers.

And then lastly, I drew the video frame by hand to match the look of the logo.