Well, since you mention it's a sanctuary, I kind of imagine two things.  One is a fortress sanctuary, and the other is a spiritual sanctuary. 
I would think a lot about the mechanical needs of the place:
air vents
engines
lights
maybe animated tubes and pipes to get rid of excess water or waste

and it's history and the people living (or used to live) on it:
statues of grandure (I mean, if you're going to shell out the cash for a floating fortress, might as well spruce up the place.)
any sort of left behind relics or modern add-ons
comforts of home

I'd also think about adding some sort of secondary color, maybe it's lights, maybe it's plants that have started to take root, and larger props just to break up all the delicate little pieces and give the eye some areas of rest.

hmm, also depending on tone of the setting, wouldn't a setting sun be pretty dramatic?  Might not work with what you need, but it might look interesting.

Anyhow, those are just some ideas.  Try looking up old factories (urban exploration sites are great for this)  Some of them might give you some neat ideas to work with.

I actually noticed that if you stare at the animation too much you can actually switch which leg is right/left. (kind of like that optical illusion with the twirling ballerina.)

Maybe just a little more shadow/definition/something will make that effect go away.  Although, I'd still buy this as a very convincing slash animation if implemented in a game, as is.  It's fun to watch, and I can see bad guys flying in it's wake.

Buh, today was pretty much all leaves.  But I think they did turn out quite nice.  Maybe not perfect, but very nice.


I need to make a couple more tiles to smooth out some edges here and there, but overall I think it's much nicer than the last one.  (I may be a little too pleased as punch about that walk animation... even though it's still not done.  It also looks a lot smoother when I shoot it into Stencyl/flash based game editor, but I don't have any way of sharing that file)



YellowLime:
I think I may have been just tired, and a little overwhelmed by the detail I had to do.  This pixeling stuff is pretty much all new to me. 

Wolfenoctis:
You're probably right that the perspective is a little bit off on the sprite.  I'm not sure if the current one really bothers me that much, but maybe with a tad more of a top down view would be more convincing. (like maybe more of the top of the head and shoulders)
I was mostly aiming for a 3/4 view though.  I'm trying for something that works much like the Legend of Zelda overworld, or even most of the Pokemon games, as far as how the environments are built.

As far as gameplay, I'm sort of borrowing a lot of elements that made me fall in love with games.  I love the exploratory nature of LoZ: Ocarina of Time and all the little side quests that enrich that world, and the same goes for Okami and Journey as well.  I also like games that combine unusual elements, like the 3D transitions in Abe's Oddysee or the live actions endings in the first Twisted Metal and live-action cut-scenes in Omega Boost as well.  I don't think i'll do anything as extravagant as those examples, but I may break out of the mold to tell this story I want to tell.
I really wanted to make a game as a kid, but kind of gave that up when I realized that they're not the type of thing that one person can make (least that's how I felt about it in the late 90's).  Anyway, a game just felt right for this idea.
And really this game is to explore and discover things, as well as being on the defensive of dangers that might be present.  This is an endless forest of sorcerers and mythic gods, and I want to encourage the player to find creative ways of getting around them, since the player character is not a fighter. (eventually I want to give the player sprite a staff to wield, but it's a defensive weapon that only pushes back enemies to give some room to flee and escape.)

I also want to thank any and all who have looked at this so far and offered their advice.  This is fast becoming a fun pet project of mine, and it wouldn't be the same without you.

I thought I'd post tonights progress, mostly because I just don't know what to do with these dead leaves.


I really just want some rather flat mushy looking leaves, but I don't know how to attack this one next.

There's about 4 tiles there that I'm using.  I dunno, I might be making this tile too complicated for it's own good. 

I dunno, possible solutions:
Make flat color texture and then accent with complicated objects on top. (texture=flat/easy to tile, leaves=object)
pray to the pixel gods
keep trying until something good happens

Can anyone find some examples of this kind of tile?  That would be awesome.


I also pixeled a Faun, one of the forest inhabitants.


aaand still working on this one.  Mostly still need to make things move (hair, folds in clothing), not to move (shading, weird jumps), and cleaning up strays.
Also her left hand... it's killing me.  It drags so much.  Doesn't look natural at all.

PypeBros, if only I had some cloth and some space... that would probably help me a lot.  I'll see what I can do.

I took a whack at it.
Glass, especially with liquid in it, is highly reflective.  Also if the liquid is also transparent you can see the bottom of the glass as well.  Also the sides of the glass should be slightly visible, because the liquid is only touching the glass, not occupying the same space. (this may or may not disappear depending on scale drawing though)
I think I lost the symmetry of the flask a little, but I was more going for the reflections and light.
You know, I just realized you wanted the sticker as a label.  In that case I'd suggest drawing an ellipsis that is smaller at the top, and wider at the bottom so it appear as if it is receeding from the viewer. (but make sure it is receeding at the same angle as the beaker.)

For reflections and such, I'd suggest having a glass of juice and setting it in front of a good light and just study how the light is interacting with it.