Designing vikings means a lot of work and so if you want to do it, you should know some basic facts before you start - it wouldn't be pleasant to make all the graphics and then find out that they are different from the standard and can't be used.
Standard size is 80 x 100 px. The viking should fill his image as much as possible (it is strange when he flies 2cm over the ground or is killed by a shot which seemed to fly high over his head).
I've scratched a series of pictures mainly for those who haven't ever played lost vikings to show different states of the vikings. There are three of them:
Erik, who runs quicker than his friends, jumps high and can destroy some obstacles with his magical helmet
Baleog, archer and swordsman
Olaf, whose shield stops every enemy. Moreover, Olaf can use it to glide through open space and occasionally also to help Erik get higher (he jumps on Olaf's shield and from there to some higher platform)
Table 12.1. States of vikings
| Common states of all vikings |
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Normal state. Includes animation of walk-cycle, image (or animation - e.g. breathing) of standing viking and possibly some simple animation when the viking is left somewhere standing (in Lost Vikings e.g. Baleog started to show his muscles after some time of inactivity) |
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When the viking is hurt and loses some health point, it should be shown also on his character (e.g. face with an expression of pain). (Not implemented yet.) |
 |
Image or animation showing the viking as he is falling down. |
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Another phase of falling - it shows that the viking will be hurt as soon as he touches the floor. |
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If a viking falls badly, he loses one health point and is knocked-out for a while (he's sitting on the floor, cannot do anything, stars before his eyes...) |
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Climbing on the ladder. Ladder mustn't be part of animation - in different levels different images for ladder can be used. (Ladders not implemented yet.) |
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Viking pulls some object or the player wants him to go against wall. (Pullable objects not implemented yet.) |
| Erik only |
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Instead of a regular walk-cycle, Erik should have a "run-cycle". |
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Jumping. |
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Erik can run against the wall and try to destroy it using his magical helmet (I think this is also called "bull head feature"). |
| Baleog only |
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Attacking some monster with sword. |
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Releasing an arrow. Don't forget to add a separate image of released arrow. In Lost Vikings arrow which doesn't hit any monster and collides with wall breaks and disappears after a short while (this is currently not implemented in freeVikings). |
| Olaf only |
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For Olaf both the standing image and walkcycle has to be done twice - once with his shield in front of him and once with shield over his head. |
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This way Olaf glides on his shield. But he also needs images for those falling states - he only glides if he has shield over his head. |