Thanks for the replies !

Yeah, I might need a little bit more contrast, specially when I restrict myself to only tow shades for most of the colours.
For the blond hair / beards, I just didn't bother making other colours, I restricted myself with this to compare the different characters shapes more efficiently. Not everybody is going to be blond :p
I'm also thinking of a way to adjust the hue of the sprites within the engine, to save time and space. No multiple sprites, just multiple colour code.
Note that the "engine" I speak of is actually zero line of code long, so far. I'm that deep in that project.

Tweaked the running animation, legs adjusted to depth and lateral shift. Also added shadow, because why not?



Working on some snowy landscape, makes me realize that character with good looking colours on a green background looks really really dark on a light background...

To give you some advices on achieving background / foreground distinction, you can use atmospheric perspective. In a nutshell, the further, the less saturated, the lighter.


Or go the other way, light foreground, dark background. The only thing that matters is contrast. Never should you fail to tell if something is on the same plan than the character, or if it is in the back.

As far as walking on top of trees is concerned, a good way to show the player where he could walk is, again, contrast. Look at this DK country screen shot, it summarize the dark background / light foreground, as well as showing a clear path. Ground is very light, trees you can walk on are also lighter. It's all about contrast. Close your eyes barely entirely until you only see the lighter part of the image. What did you notice ? then do the same on your tile set. What stands out ?

Hi!

So, I'm starting to think of a new project and tried a few things. Currently looking for a strong direction in style. For those how remember my other project (a platformer, which collapsed on itself, due to my lack of experience with game maker, coding, and making game in general) it's quite close. Few colours, small sprites. I prefer small additions here and there over complex and heavy textures. Which leads me to question those trees, maybe to complex in shape. Anyway, I post it to get feedback, ideally constructive one Edits welcome.


It's mostly researches. No, Link won't be in my game. Neither will be Gordon Freeman. It was a test to see if I can make recognizable stuff at such a small scale. also, lots of beard styles :p


A runcycle, I made it to see how long it will take, to make realistic time estimations. FYI, it took me 20min/frame, it's 8 frames long. So 2h40. What's your average speed?

That's all for now!

Contrast! you have 4 shades of green (if I counted right) and they ALL are very close. Give way more contrast to your palette. And don't hesitate to shift the colour hue across the palette. For example, go for a more "blue" green for dark places, and a yellowish one for light. As for the outlining, I don't use it myself so I'm not the best to give advices.
Last step of the animation (stepping forward, left foot) is a bit hard. An additional frame would be nice.

Thanks for the advice !

Actually, I'm not a good reference when it comes to colours. You've already guessed it, it's not really something I'm comfortable with. And you are completely right, it's really too flashy as it is, but I couldn't figure out how to fix that.
So, I used some very blond lady photos, and tried to make a way more realistic palette with that. Something I'm having a hard time with is that colours only work together, and by tweaking them one by one I'm always in doubt. Another problem is, with blond hair, it's really the gradients and subtle brilliance that do the trick. And I'm having only tow colours... So, yellow was a lazy solution, but did what I wanted... Anyway, your advices taken into account, here is an attempt to fix that flashy stuff !

 

I think its WAYYY better, but as stated above, I'm not the colours guy. Any advice or edit is welcome. Despite the fact I use really low resolution sprites, I want the game to feel somewhat realistic in its atmosphere. To feel a little moody, as it will take place underground in an old, dusty abandoned place. So obviously, saturated colours should be eliminated without pity.