Art Friday : Magna Carta II

Wallpapers and character concepts from Magna Carta II (the RPG series, not the historical legal document) featuring the unmistakably distinctive style of Korean artist Hyung Tae Kim – note the extremely detailed costumes and shoes and of course, his trademark female character designs, all with excessively well-proportioned figures.


© Softmax Co, Ltd

Wallpapers are now out at the official Korean and Japanese sites for Magna Carta II with Hyung Tae Kim’s characters superimposed on environmental concepts for the game.


© Softmax Co, Ltd

Three styles of Juto & Zephie

The separate character (2D, 3D and SD) and environmental concepts can be found in the fansite kit at the official Japanese site and more artwork can be seen at an unofficial Hyung Tae Kim fansite @ www.hyung-taekim.org or at Chae Ji Yun’s blog where there’s several high-resolution versions of the same character concepts from the fan site kit. BTW, www.hyung-taekim.org and Chae Ji Yun’s blog are two of the many recommendations from artist Leonid Kozienko’s personal web site (well worth a visit if you’re into glorious eye candy :) )


© Softmax Co, Ltd

Download the wallpapers from the Korean and Japanese sites for Magna Carta. The fan site kit is only available at the Japanese site though (scroll to the bottom and click on the button that says 規約に同意してダウンロードする ).

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Endless Saga Concept Art & Wallpaper
Magna Carta (Korean RPG) Wallpapers
White Wolf Publishing’s Exalted Wallpapers
Rumble Roses Fan Art @ Ryu’s Form Site
My Favourite Pepper Project Entries

Tags:

Military Tuesday : Battleship WW2 Gold Edition

An enhanced shareware version of Battleship, the classic turn-based game for two in which each player attempts to be the first to sink all his/her opponent’s ships, Strategy Lights Series’ Battleship WW2 Gold Edition is an innovative PC-based version that adds substantial depth to the original game with a selection of well-thought out features.

Don’t judge Battleship WW2 by the archaic in-game graphics because under those utilitarian visuals lies a solid, engaging naval strategy game – or a wargame-lite if you will. Definitely more realistic than pencil-and-paper Battleship, Battleship WW2 is no hardcore naval stimulation by any means though – lightly-armed corvettes aren’t likely to sink a battleship, not in this modern age and definitely not back then in WWII, but they do in this game.

Loads of stuff to play with … if you buy the full version, of course :P

If you can overlook this slight lapse in realism, you’ll find Battleship WW2 perfect as a simple introductory naval strategy/wargame. With 50 types of ships, submarines, planes and coastal artillery and a larger fleet that can move around on a significantly larger playing area, you can simulate historical scenarios with ease – something you definitely cannot do with the original Battleship game.

Since ships have different radar ranges to detect enemy ships and planes and in addition, only select classes have sonar to detect those nasty submarines, there’s loads of strategy involved in tailoring your battle fleet before starting each mission and when manuevering during the actual mission – a battlefleet comprising only the mightiest battleships may look good on paper but will quickly succumb to enemy submarines which can approach undetected and then make quick work of the entire fleet of behemoths without any fear of retaliation.

Sure, you’ll still need battleships, heavy cruisers and their heavy firepower to destroy enemy capital ships and/or aircraft carriers with fighters to defend against marauding torpedo-bombers and bombers to attack coastal fortifications but a combined fleet with corvettes/destroyers steaming farther ahead to screen these larger ships from prowling enemy submarines stands a much better chance of completing the mission successfully. Other essential ships to reinforce your fleet include unarmed auxiliary ships to repair damaged warships and of course, submarines to hunt for unwary targets.

Battleship WW2 uses attributes like movement range, firing range, radar/sight range, number of shots per turn (simulating the number of guns/torpedoes on each ship) and armour (hitpoints) to represent the different classes of ships available. It does a very good job differentiating the various ships, but the fact that hits from a cruiser and a corvette both cause exactly the same amount of damage does jar the realism somewhat.


Hunting the Bismarck

Different mission objectives call for different fleet configurations and range from the direct annihilation of enemy shipping to liberation of enemy ports or the defense of friendly ports in the area of operations.


More missions! … if you buy, buy, buy :P

The full version of Battleship WW2 contains a total of 110 missions, 4 campaigns of 10 to 15 missions each and allows the construction of all 50 types of units to equip your forces. The shareware version lacks the campaigns and most of the missions and ships. Still, there’s a lot of fun to be had experimenting with the optimum fleet build and testing them out in battle :)

Download Battleship WW2 Gold Edition.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Renders of WWII Battleships from Navyfield : Resurrection of the Steel Fleet
Sea Victory Tugboats
WWII Anti-Submarine Warfare Tactical Lessons from BBC
Visby Class Stealth Corvette
Turning Point – Fall of Liberty Trailer

Tags:

Art Friday : Atlantica Online

There’s a lot of free-to-play MMORPGs nowadays – so many that I always see at least one ad for these games everytime I visit any games-related site (a good example is The Download Munkey, at least on Thursdays that is :) ) and that’s exactly how I found Atlantica Online :)


© Ndoors Interactive Inc

While the concepts and wallpapers aren’t distinctive enough to scream Altantica Online when you look at them, unlike how the art for major players such as Lineage II or Guild Wars do, the artworks here are of a consistently high quality (and high-res to boot). On top of that, there’s a generous selection of concepts and wallpapers available (24 wallpapers in total) at the official site with more in the fansite kit.


© Ndoors Interactive Inc

Now on to the concepts for Atlantica Online. The one below is my absolute favourite – a warrior monk wearing lamellar armour. This must be the coolest monk character concept for any game that I’ve ever seen :)


© Ndoors Interactive Inc

Download the Atlantica Online concepts, wallpapers and fansite kit.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Warrior Epic Concepts and Wallpapers
Warhammer Online : Age of Reckoning Illustrations & Concept Art
Korean MMORPG Wallpapers (X) – Tera Online
Exclusive Hero Saga Laevatein Wallpapers @ GA Graphic
The Art Of Prince of Persia Screensaver

Tags:

Games Thursday : Federation Wrestling

Federation Wrestling is just one of Mat Dickie‘s many games from a prolific game development career spanning nine years from 2000 to the present day. Essentially an one-man development team, you gotta respect someone like Mat who took it upon himself to code and create the accompanying graphics and sounds to implement his own gameplay ideas into real, playable games.


Mat Dickie, da Man!

Federation Wrestling is a freeware release of one of the older games in Mat Dickie’s portfolio. While the 2D sprites may turn off gamers used to the photorealistic 3D graphics in today’s games, I find these old-skool graphics nostalgic as they remind me of a time when pro-wrestling was more entertainment than bloody violence that the current WWE has become.

While there are no licensed wrestlers in Federation Wrestling, any wrestling aficionado will surely appreciate the sheer customization options offered by this game. It’s pretty obvious at this point that Federation Wrestling was developed by a big wrestling fan :)

After tweaking your wrestler’s appearance, fighting animations and moves (and even the entry theme music) to your heart’s content, lead him (sorry, there’s no option to create a female wrestler) to fame and glory though a 12 month contract to prove himself as the best in the game. Thankfully, the story in the 48 match Contract mode isn’t half bad either (for a wrestling game, that is :) )


action

Standard moves like punching, kicking and grappling are available to everyone together with loads of different bodyslams, suplexes and submission holds and other special moves for each wrestler. While climbing up the turnbuckle for more risky aerial moves is possible, there’s unfortunately no way for running clotheslines and the like since the ropes are static (and your wrestler can’t run).

Aku Rinne staring intently at a stick of dynamite as he enters the arena. It’s gonna be one explosive match tonight :D

As you make your entrance into the ring with your custom theme music blaring in the background, note the bewildering array of handy tools like microphones, baseball bats (and wait, dynamite??) lying around conveniently outside the ring for the dirty players. Some of the largerprops like glass panels and crates are interactive too – try tossing your opponent through the glass and see what happens next :evil:


Aku Rinne just busted Benjo onto a long table

Watch out when you use your dirty tricks though since not every match allows the referee to turn a blind eye to your wrestler bonking his opponent over the head repeatedly with a microphone. Different rules, scoring systems and optional gimmicks like steelcage matches will ensure that the matches in Contract mode never end up being overly repetitive.

Download Mat Dickie’s Federation Wrestling (scroll, scroll, scroll).

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Kungfu Action with Dragon Fist 3 : Age of the Warrior
Zeno Clash Concepts & Screenshots
Mini Ninjas Demo Impressions
Legion of Man Demo Impressions
Dark Horse Comics Goodies (I) – 300 Wallpapers

Tags:

Art Friday : The Weird and Wonderful World of Afu Chan aka aznmextofu

Afu Chan or aznmextofu @ deviantART has a knack for conjuring up some of the most wildly fantastic artwork that I’ve ever laid my eyes on – quite reminds me of several of my dreams in the past, only much weirder, more violent and most definitely much more fascinating and intriguing :)


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

One of my favourites is Fishbones Attack – a tie wearing horseman lets loose a blast from his shotgun on the rolling gunmen-infested deck of a ship with giant fish (tuna?) leaping into the air in the background. Also notice the nice little detail where the rear hoof of our horseman’s black charger has stomped on the left hand of one of the fallen gunmen. And that unfortunate guy’s probably isn’t dead yet because his face has just turned very red :shock: All very odd which makes Afu’s stuff so interesting.


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

Something’s about to turn real ugly soon as these two girls stand by patiently with weapons loaded and ready to ROCK!


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

Street Fight 07 – a martial arts movie-like scene set in the streets with the ragdoll-like agility of Matrix.


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

A day out in Zombie City


© Afu Chan(aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

Street Fighter II done in Afu’s distinctive style.


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

The Lugaidh Brothers and Sisters – a band of unconventional pugilists with totally unkungfu-ish sounding names :) From left to right : Frank, Stephanie, Cindy, Paul, Monica, David and the guy up front is Lugaidh himself. The word Nepenthes is also the genus name for the carnivorous pitcher plants.


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

Swordfights in the sky – City of Violence – ever seen a punch so powerful that it breaks a passing airliner into two :shock: – Bruce Lee’s famous one inch punch doesn’t even come close :)


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

More chaos in Fight Back to School,


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

… in a forest with Daruma dolls hanging from the trees (Heaven & Earth),


© Afu Chan (aznmextofu.deviantART.com)

… and in a church with walls pockmarked with bullet holes (Battle Royal 08). The funny thing is no one seems to have managed to hit and shatter any of the stained glass windows yet :P

Check out more of Afu Chan’s fantastic artwork at deviantART.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:

Warrior Epic Concept Art and Wallpapers
Kai (Ukitakumuki) – Concept Art for Nuclear Dawn and More!
Zeno Clash Concepts & Screenshots
Kal Online Wallpapers
My Favourite Dominance War III Wallpapers

Tags:

Next Page »

Blog Widget by LinkWithin