Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: kcbanner on May 29, 2013, 09:29:58 pm
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Hi everyone, here is my WIP tileset for a space platformer I've been working on. I'd like critiques on my palette, as well as my character animation if possible.
(http://i.imgur.com/fWVmeWW.png)
Player: (http://i.imgur.com/LOVyf2r.gif)
I know that everything seems a bit flat, but the engine I'm building allows for many dynamic lights, see these screenshots:
(http://i.imgur.com/R8SKh7F.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/dylUJ7G.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/fYxjHZ9.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/5MtEUH1.png)
Gameplay video: http://caseybanner.ca/dropbox/Gameplay1.mp4
If you'd like to play the game to see the animation in action checkout my TIGSource post: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=35304.msg929589#msg929589
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I've updated my post with progress and shots of the tiles in-game. I'm still looking for critiques on this...I feel like the environment doesn't really pop yet.
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I really like your dynamic lights. Gameplay have really nice mood. :) If you create interesting enemies and game goal I would really like to play this game. ;D
I think that you should work more on your character to better fit this dark atmosphere. About tilesets, you should add some tubes, vents, scratches, open wall boards with some cables, because this way it's not very space like. Feel free to experiment. Space game should have futuristic feel. Maybe some monitors on walls that flicker etc.
You can view Dead Space gameplay and observe environment to get some references.
Also you can get some guides in this tread -> http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=14669.msg135602#msg135602
I hope that this was helpful. ;)
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What you have isn't wrong. Your in game lighting system makes it so you do not need to bake shadows into your sprites. Keeping everything how it is lets you know what is safe traversable terrain. There is room for expanding the pallet for interactive objects such as death traps, power ups, NPCs, etc. Having these types of things be different colors will give you a clear visual hierarchy that will improve how your game plays.
I do agree with HarveyDentMustDie that your player character is not fitting in with his/her surroundings. Try desaturating the colors a little bit, but not enough where there is no visual pop for the player character.
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I see one drawback of your approach: since light is stopped at the first block is encountered, the background blocks looks brighter than the floor you can walk on.
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I see one drawback of your approach: since light is stopped at the first block is encountered, the background blocks looks brighter than the floor you can walk on.
How is that a problem at all? Looking at the screenshots, it seems like the topmost pixels of the blocks you can walk on are lit. That should be more than enough, and it also looks a lot better than lighting up the whole tile.
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I really like your dynamic lights. Gameplay have really nice mood. :) If you create interesting enemies and game goal I would really like to play this game. ;D
I think that you should work more on your character to better fit this dark atmosphere. About tilesets, you should add some tubes, vents, scratches, open wall boards with some cables, because this way it's not very space like. Feel free to experiment. Space game should have futuristic feel. Maybe some monitors on walls that flicker etc.
You can view Dead Space gameplay and observe environment to get some references.
Also you can get some guides in this tread -> http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=14669.msg135602#msg135602
I hope that this was helpful. ;)
Hey thanks a lot! Dead space was one of my main inspirations for this. That thread is a great resource, do you think I should move to 32x32 to get the detail I need?
What you have isn't wrong. Your in game lighting system makes it so you do not need to bake shadows into your sprites. Keeping everything how it is lets you know what is safe traversable terrain. There is room for expanding the pallet for interactive objects such as death traps, power ups, NPCs, etc. Having these types of things be different colors will give you a clear visual hierarchy that will improve how your game plays.
I do agree with HarveyDentMustDie that your player character is not fitting in with his/her surroundings. Try desaturating the colors a little bit, but not enough where there is no visual pop for the player character.
Yea, not having to bake shadows is nice, but it makes my workflow tricky because I kinda have to try stuff in game before I can see how it will actually look. I agree, I do need to expand my palete. I like the idea of the visual hierarchy.
Thanks guys! Time to practice drawing :)
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do you think I should move to 32x32 to get the detail I need?
Why not? :) You'll have more work to do, but game will look way better. You should take your time and create wide variety of tiles, that will enable you to create more interesting visual impact. :)
Again, I suggest you to improve your main character, and to think good about enemies, cause that's the thing that can make your game stand out. You have the good foundation, you just need to continue your "building" process. Good luck. ;D
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Why not? :) You'll have more work to do, but game will look way better. You should take your time and create wide variety of tiles, that will enable you to create more interesting visual impact. :)
Again, I suggest you to improve your main character, and to think good about enemies, cause that's the thing that can make your game stand out. You have the good foundation, you just need to continue your "building" process. Good luck. ;D
I personally think that his character sprite is fine as is now. It's cute and simple and easy to look at without getting distracted with it's details. If he's going for a more Cave Story approach then I think he'd be in the clear and call that particular piece of it finished. Granted, I've only looked at your screenshots and not your video so I can't really say anything about the animations :P
Looks really cool so far though, I love your lights!
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I haven't read all this but I don't see why you need to use higher resolution to add "detail".
+1 to keep cleanly scaled 16x tiles and continue your progress instead of stopping and changing everything to 32px.
Drawing at 32px also takes exponentially longer.
What I think you need most is some design, and here's some suggestions on how to proceed.
I like the dark areas but think you should break them up so they have more effect.
Scatter small "safe zones" (save/checkpoint?) around the place with brighter lighting, perhaps a consistent colour and background to make them instantly recognizable.
In a slightly different setting you might open a door to a small outside area with some environmental lighting (downlights etc) and different ambient sound (weird alien jungle??), then straight back into different ominously dark area.
What would help is to roughly block out ideas for areas in a larger document or on paper.
Rather than getting caught up in detail or obsessing on how they join together at this point, its more about what each area is.
E.g. Horticultural Area with plants and stuff, Reseach Labs, Warehouse, Water Control Room, underground cave area etc.
Once you have a few ideas for areas, you can start to design backgrounds and area transitions.
Even just recycling existing artwork and adding a few details here and there can really do the trick (e.g. the vines have grown over the walls in Horticultural area).
Up to and including this point I'd advise you to start loose, rough things in, don't bogged down in detail that you could potentially trash and regret wasting time on.
These designs can naturally lead into script, puzzles and enemy designs.
And ultimately you could have an explorable map that defines the overall design of the ship/station you can use in the background of the title screen.
Small cutscenes can be gun(not generally a fan of long and boring ones), not forgeting the power of your dynamic lighting.
Sure its been done plenty of times but lests say your briefly trapped in a small room, and the unreachable (for now) corridor below you has a flickering light in which you see a large black beast run through causing a screen shake, after which you're allowed to continue your search for some fresh pants.
If your posting progress following some kind of plan like this you'll get loads of really great input from this forum.
Post your sketches, show us your prerenders and in-game renders etc. Its all relevant.
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I've been hard at work on my game engine itself but have finally found time to redo my character:
(http://i.imgur.com/pOGTvXL.gif)
(can anyone tell me how to export/preview a range of frames in Pro Motion?)
In the game (this gif seems to be choppy, see the mp4 link below):
(http://i.imgur.com/evRjkWA.gif)
I went for a more minimal style, like in Risk of Rain, which is a game that I started drawing some inspiration from. I also wanted my character to feel smaller in comparison to the environment, which is supposed to be the player's main enemy in the game. I don't think I've nailed the palette or animation though.
A full 60fps mp4 here: http://caseybanner.ca/dropbox/caracal_enemy.mp4
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I've done another edit, trying to make the character look like he is wearing a suit with a helmet.
Animated:
(http://i.imgur.com/6x0lWsx.gif)
Ingame:
(http://i.imgur.com/7JnPvtm.png)
Something still doesn't sit right about it with me. I can't seem to make the arms stand out at all. I messed around with palette swaps for hours but I can't seem to find a color combo that works.
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Personally I liked more your previous edit. Here is a quick edit, as a suggestion for your helmet problem. I think that you need to add few more pixels to your character. It's not very original edit, but ... :)
(http://i.imgur.com/ITGkYkc.png)