[WIP] Wolfenstein 3D HQ Sprites

[CeeJay]

I assume the colour oddities are a result of palette limitations and aesthetic choices, the cartoony style and trying to make the enemies distinct in low-res. The blue = black thing is seen in many places in the game and is probably much as DenisBelmondo says. I think the doberman dogs (from Spear?) were also blue where you would expect them to be black.

I always assumed this was the case too. The Wolf3D palette is really lacking in the black/gray range.

SS does not mean "black shirts" though. SS is short for Schutzstaffel with translates to protection squadron (according to both Wikipedia and google translate).

You are right, of course. Looking at it I don't where I got that crazy notion from. I might have read it somewhere but I know enough German now to know that the word for black is schwarz. Though it is very similar to schutz, so that might be where the misconception comes from.

[Reactor]

The dobermans were from the Spear expansion pack "Return to Danger". That expansion pack was well-known of overusing the blue color. Blue guns, blue clips, blue dogs, blue this, blue that. Dag-nabbit, FormGen must have some obsession with the colour blue.
The blue-black thing doesn't really make sense to me. I mean, look at Spear Resurrection and Spear: End of Destiny, where SS troopers were also present. They all wear authentic black uniforms, unlike in the original Wolf3D-saga. I checked them palettes, but found no difference in the grayscale. Yuh, EoD palette has a set of dull green colours, but those are only used for the Guards, a few static objects, and a few wall textures, not on the SS troopers. So why didn't the boys at ID used the accurate black uniform for these guys is a mystery.
The blue stone walls make little sense. Since there was no ambient lighting back then, the blue stone walls were meant to signify that it's dark on that level, it's cold down there, and the walls are probably moist as well. The blue brick walls, however, made no sense (you know...the one with either the skull or the swastika decoration). It always seemed that those walls are made of plastic.

[DenisBelmondo]

I always thought that the SS from Spear Resurrection and EoD were dressed more like they were reflective of the Feldgrau uniforms whereas the ostensibly black clad SS in the original Wolfenstein 3D were reminiscent of the Allgemeine SS whose uniforms are as dark as the stone walls of the dungeon. The palettes of both games, like you said, are not all that different but neither are equipped to express a deep Allgemeine black without detail loss of course. I feel that the full range of blue expresses this darkness much better than the light-grey that the Spear Res/EoD SS sprites use. If I were to speculate right now, I would say that Adrian was half going for that maybe but then went "if it doesn't get the idea across that they're supposed to be dressed in black I don't really care. Blue, black, it's a uniform nonetheless." and a lot of the graphics and art direction in Wolfenstein 3D, I feel, was taking this approach to expressing shades that were outside of its own palette but it ended up looking way, way more like those are what these objects look like fully-lit.

[Reactor]

Heh, maybe you're right funny as it is, the scrapped EGAWolf sprites show the SS indeed wearing black (okay...it's dark gray) uniforms, only the outlines are drawn with blue. I think I saw them somewhere on these wild pages.The Guards' uniforms were also mis-coloured, it more resembles desert-campaign Afrika-korps uniforms. The officer's white dress is more or less accurate IMHO.
The Spear Resurrection/Spear: End of Destiny bosses also has fine dress. Grau Adler, Baron von Schmitt and Heinrich Hauffman.

[Enjay]

The dobermans were from the Spear expansion pack "Return to Danger".

Good information, thanks. I hope they get done at some point too. The hi-res German shepherd/Alsation looks great and it would be nice to see its doberman counterpart as well. All in all, these are very nicely done sprite upgrades.

[Alex238]

Hello again.
After a while, I finally got repaired my computer
I made a little change in the boots.


what do you think ?

[Fox666]

Just noticed this thread. Some really cool stuff here. The 8-sided enemies are awesome.

[Enjay]

New boots look better to me.

[Alex238]

New boots look better to me.

Thanks!

I made a second version, but i think i exaggerated a little bit, i don't know....

[Enjay]

They're maybe a slightly better height but they are starting to make the trousers/pants of the uniform look a bit ballooned-out. I think the earlier attempt is a better compromise. That effect might work well for an officer though.

Looking at the general appearance of the sprite, I think his legs maybe slightly short proportionally which would make getting the boots perfect difficult, if not impossible.

[Alex238]

That effect might work well for an officer though.

I put the boots in the officer, and i think it looks right


also i made a little modification to the hat.

[Enjay]

Yup, that works.

[osjclatchford]

just an fyi, pretty sure I made those chaingun and machinegun paickups...

[Ringman]

Yeah, I know its been AGES since I posted on this, but I actually got around to finishing the bj running sprites.

[Ringman]

and the missing schabbs death frame

I also added his pocket back in