AuthorTopic: [C+C] [WIP] Game character  (Read 5356 times)

Offline Lodrick

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[C+C] [WIP] Game character

on: May 16, 2017, 03:14:22 pm
I've been working on this character for my game and, for now, it's serving well for the job. I like the path i'm going but i think there's something wrong with the style or something like this. My goal was to achieve something like Hyper Light Drifter, with no borders and only one additional color for volume shading, but i don't know where i lost myself. Can someone give some advices for this beginner and tell what can i do to make this better?

Here is the character evolution:


This are some animations i've been testing:


Walk animation (too fast and not pixel perfect because of GifCam):


*sorry for any possible english errors*
« Last Edit: May 30, 2017, 11:22:24 am by Lodrick »

Offline questseeker

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #1 on: May 17, 2017, 08:24:50 am
The floating book animation is good (but it might be enhanced by having the character move a little, to show he's reading from the book).
In the walking animation the front view looks unnatural: the character seems to move only his toes, with heels sticking together on the ground.
Maybe spreading apart the legs while walking would enable bending the knees in the front view too, with enough difference with the standing frame.

The tree and the fence have very good shapes and proportions, but they are shaded very flat. Can you adopt an oblique light source from the front?

Offline Lodrick

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #2 on: May 17, 2017, 12:41:03 pm
The floating book animation is good (but it might be enhanced by having the character move a little, to show he's reading from the book).
In the walking animation the front view looks unnatural: the character seems to move only his toes, with heels sticking together on the ground.
Maybe spreading apart the legs while walking would enable bending the knees in the front view too, with enough difference with the standing frame.

The tree and the fence have very good shapes and proportions, but they are shaded very flat. Can you adopt an oblique light source from the front?

I made this simple ground and tree so that the player does not float on the screen in the gif. They are just placeholders, because i'm going to create everything from 0 after making my Unity TileMap system. I like the tree style and will improve it.. I will be using something diferent to make grass.

The book is not for the player to read. I will implement a summon system and add some effects (glyphs or something) indicating magic when the pages are in movement while the player is summoning.

About the shades, as you can see, all items in the scene have different shades. The player has contour, the tree don't, the fence has, the book don't. I can't manage to make everything flat and based in the same light source without it becoming odd. My objective with the player was to do something like this (not with all those effects):



And this (with less effects too):



I like this style because it's so simple, can be more free in movements and has only one shading color, that makes it more beautiful. Can you give me tips in how to achieve that from where i'm now?
 

« Last Edit: May 17, 2017, 02:16:35 pm by Lodrick »

Offline eishiya

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #3 on: May 17, 2017, 03:55:01 pm
I think an important part of this look is to not rely on outlines. Outlines take up pixels that could be put to better use creating detail, shadow, and motion. Avoiding outlines means designing your characters in a way that allows important parts (e.g. arms and the torso) to be separated by value and/or hue, without need for outlines. With your character's hoodie, that might mean either colouring the sleeves another colour, or posing the character so that their torso is more in shadow (i.e. with light only on their shoulders and arms), so that the arms can be lit against it.

Having interesting poses and bright, contrasting lighting is also important. Dull lighting and a plank-like pose are not conducive to the style you're aiming for. Moreover, such posing doesn't communicate anything interesting about the character. What is the character like? How would they stand? How would they summon up their powers? How would they strike? Think about this. It might seem easier to do a dull standing/walking pose, but it's actually harder in some ways, precisely because it doesn't give you opportunities for interesting overlaps and playing with light/shadow. If a character's arms are stuck to their sides, then of course they're going to be lit about the same way and are going to blend into the torso. If you can pose them in another way, then light/shadow will create the contrast you need.

Offline Lodrick

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #4 on: May 18, 2017, 02:00:07 am
I think an important part of this look is to not rely on outlines. Outlines take up pixels that could be put to better use creating detail, shadow, and motion. Avoiding outlines means designing your characters in a way that allows important parts (e.g. arms and the torso) to be separated by value and/or hue, without need for outlines. With your character's hoodie, that might mean either colouring the sleeves another colour, or posing the character so that their torso is more in shadow (i.e. with light only on their shoulders and arms), so that the arms can be lit against it.

Having interesting poses and bright, contrasting lighting is also important. Dull lighting and a plank-like pose are not conducive to the style you're aiming for. Moreover, such posing doesn't communicate anything interesting about the character. What is the character like? How would they stand? How would they summon up their powers? How would they strike? Think about this. It might seem easier to do a dull standing/walking pose, but it's actually harder in some ways, precisely because it doesn't give you opportunities for interesting overlaps and playing with light/shadow. If a character's arms are stuck to their sides, then of course they're going to be lit about the same way and are going to blend into the torso. If you can pose them in another way, then light/shadow will create the contrast you need.

Thank you for the tips. I've been trying to make something new and this came in my mind:


I never tried to make a character without outline, this one looks better for what i want and i kinda like the result, it seems to be more charismatic, but i know that is not good enough to replace the old one yet. What i can do to make it better?
« Last Edit: May 18, 2017, 02:07:34 am by Lodrick »

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #5 on: May 18, 2017, 05:52:03 am
Perhaps a logo or pocket on his sweater?
Hyper light drifter might make a good style study for this route, lots of exceptional minimalism work in those pixels!
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
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Offline Lodrick

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #6 on: May 18, 2017, 04:22:36 pm
I wanted to use cloth to make a cool effect, but the hood of the old character was not exactly what i imagined. Now i made changes and gave this scarf to the new and i think he's becoming what i wanted the first time.

The problem is that i don't know what to do for the shade. I've tried these 3 and the last one is ok to me. Am i missing something?



 

« Last Edit: May 18, 2017, 04:48:01 pm by Lodrick »

Offline eishiya

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #7 on: May 18, 2017, 06:03:14 pm
Create larger-scale forms with your shadows, don't worry so much about detials. All of these scarves have nice details, but the sprite still feels very flat because there are no form shadows. All of your shadows are detail shadows and small cast shadows, you have no form shadows. The contrast is also very low.

Offline Lodrick

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #8 on: May 18, 2017, 07:34:31 pm
Create larger-scale forms with your shadows, don't worry so much about detials. All of these scarves have nice details, but the sprite still feels very flat because there are no form shadows. All of your shadows are detail shadows and small cast shadows, you have no form shadows. The contrast is also very low.

Do you mean shadows like this?


About the colors, i'm testing some different options, do not be surprised with the scarf.

Offline eishiya

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #9 on: May 18, 2017, 07:43:08 pm
That's still a cast shadow rather than a form shadow, but it does help.
Take a look at the first of the examples you posted. That's also mostly cast shadows, but look at how much more contrast there is compared to yours. It's super-clear what's in shadow and what's in light. That helps a lot.

The new scarf colour has the same value as the shirt, so it blends in. Make sure important things have different values (darkness/lightness), to avoid this blending together. Always preview your work at 1x (or 2x if that's as small as it'll be in game). What's clear zoomed in might not be visible at all zoomed out.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2017, 07:44:53 pm by eishiya »

Offline Lodrick

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #10 on: May 18, 2017, 09:33:46 pm
That's still a cast shadow rather than a form shadow, but it does help.
Take a look at the first of the examples you posted. That's also mostly cast shadows, but look at how much more contrast there is compared to yours. It's super-clear what's in shadow and what's in light. That helps a lot.

The new scarf colour has the same value as the shirt, so it blends in. Make sure important things have different values (darkness/lightness), to avoid this blending together. Always preview your work at 1x (or 2x if that's as small as it'll be in game). What's clear zoomed in might not be visible at all zoomed out.

I was confused about what type of shadow you were talking about. I did some research and found this http://www.kingslan.com/newsletters/shadows.pdf. Now i understand.

Although i dont know how to do form shadow, my plan is to merge the two styles in the spritesheet and move the shadow when the player do a movement (like walk or attack) that require depth, but i don't know how it will work yet, i haven't tested. What shadow type you think is better in my case?
« Last Edit: May 18, 2017, 09:36:55 pm by Lodrick »

Offline Lodrick

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Game character

Reply #11 on: May 30, 2017, 11:53:39 am
I'm here again. Last week I didn't have time to work in this, but I'm back now. This time i left the character flat again and decided to do the animation first, and then put the details, change colors, and see how it gets better.

Got this idle anim for when the player is outside and get affected by wind.



Is this good or too symmetrical? In this low res characters, how is the better way to do the idle? What body parts to move?
« Last Edit: May 30, 2017, 12:28:15 pm by Lodrick »