I'm having some trouble figuring out how the underside should be lit....That should be the secondary (ambient) light source, imho, possibly slightly darker than the dark-side "wall".
It's very hard to judge tiles when not in context. Make a mockupSeconded motion :), I think writing down or mocking up a solidly thought out idea of what it is you're trying to achieve and why will help you create better, more nuanced work as much is it will aid critique from others.
There's a ton of filler tiles and no other art for context, so I don't know how helpful it is to look atGet inspired :) look at a bunch of reference; your holidays photos, an image library etc and rough out a background and other game elements in as broad strokes as you like and refine from there.
Honestly, my enthusiasm for tan rocks and green grass is dwindling fast.Don't let it! Keep working on them, these are looking really nice and you can easily play with colours later. Character is also well done and should translate well to the new perspective.
Well of course it looks weird half finished! :blind: Thanks for your input about the center part--I agree.
Did a color edit. I think it helps:
the problem that I have with it is with the way the rocks fade in towards the middle. because the rocks seem to get smaller (instead of just getting darker), it looks like the middle is further back—like the edges are coming out towards us. it makes for a weird kind of perspective that looks like there's a big hole in the middle of the rocks.
Thanks, Wes. I hadn't really considered the diminishing size of the rocks to be a problem, but you make a valid point. I'd be interested to hear what others think about it...?Yes, I see it too, and it's been bugging me. The rocks toward the middle should appear to be as big as the others, while just getting an increased amount of shade. That should fix it, right?
In that case, the character is definitely too big for the tiles. Thanks for your input!I wouldn't say so, although 24x24 tiles wouldn't hurt.
I'm debating getting rid of the skirt altogether...It doesn't read well, true. It will be interesting to animate, btw. She can puff the dust out of it when idle, it will flap when she'll fall down. Design-wise, keep the skirt. Pick a colour that doesn't blend too much into the other things (hint, her eyes&hair colour ?) and make sure that colour doesn't happen to be present a lot in the tileset (errm. It looks like gimp auto-converted the sprite into the tileset's palette ... nevermind :P).
(http://i.imgur.com/oQmnZ.gif) -- (http://i.imgur.com/9R4NF.gif)I mean either adding an extra frame before the fist change direction with very small displacement, to render the fact that the fist doesn't "bounce" against an invisible wall, but rather slows down and then accelerate in the other direction.
Update!I'd say more, but I gotta run out the door atm...
Thanks, Pype! Not sure what you meant by "one 'pendulum' frame at the end of each semi-cycle"... Could you clarify? (I changed the arms pretty dramatically, so I don't know if it's still relevant
...slows down and then accelerate in the other direction.
I don't think it's head rotation just for head rotation. It's the head being slightly dragged by the torso rotating. That's how i would look at it. But I do agree if you rotate the head just for the hell of it it's stupid. Right now it looks like too much rotation.Yes, this exactly!
A good example would be Megaman X sprite. That looks pretty good. Here! This looks natural. His head is rotating because his body is. It's a choice to do head rotation in animation but I think it looks pretty good for platformers.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/WING-X/X_normal_run.gif)
Its' because the head moves independent of the torso. It should either move at the same speed or drag a frame behind the torso rotation. That's my take on it.[/b]
maybe we should all take some running courses (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx6x2cD6Y8Q&feature=related) ...
Furthermore guys please don't model your animations after the real world. Get a copy of Animators Survival guide and look at the pages that show you how to create your own runs and walk cycles. That is far more interesting than real life.I don't think that's always true. Some of the best animation I've ever seen has been the more realistic variety. Go check out Ghost in the Shell, End of Evangelion, or any of the Ghibli movies. Incredible animation, and all very much grounded in reality. Telling other artists not to draw from life is only going to hurt them; it's definitely the fastest way to learn.
It seems like there's a style clash between the rocks and grass.Maybe not so much, your tiles just cut off abruptly in the mockup/screenshot. The first thing I noticed is how green(or blue?) the rocks are compared to before. It looks good, but maybe shifting the hue closer to yellow/orange in the highlights could help them stand out a bit more from the grass.
The engine you have running on your site feels nice so far, btw.Thank you! I'm always surprised to hear people have actually tried it. I hope to update it with the new art soon! :)
Lovely character stuff, I imagine the thing around her waist is a nightmare to animate but it looks smooth.
The new tiles have the same strange 'pillared' effect as mentioned earlier (by Wes) as oppose to simply getting darker towards the centre. Try and keep the size of the particals consistant towards the centre, have a few interior stones at a lower contrast and perhaps even eke out the transition over two tiles. There are also highlights on absolutely everything which I would lose completely; the rock shouldn't really be reflective and it's distracting.
You've got WIP in big letters there but really it's a couple of highly finished tiles and then ones you haven't started. It would be so much easier to block out everything you're going to need from the start and troubleshoot when refining.
Example with inexplicable tulip -
(http://i.imgur.com/pbK6B.png)