Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: imonk on June 28, 2018, 04:35:33 am
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Okay so I was always really inspired by classic fighting games so I drew this guy. (http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/cyborgninja_001.gif)
Originally I just wanted to see if I can draw a fighting game styled character and I always liked heavy weaponry so I drew this cyborg guy. I was pretty satisfied with his shooting and fireball toss animations so I decided that add a giant fire hammer attack to add some more variety to his moves. Eventually I realized there is no way I am going to make a fighting game with a bunch of different characters by myself, so the game idea changed to a metroidvania. Anyway I always liked hack & slash games so I wanted to somehow give him a chainsaw but have him still be able to have a hand for opening doors, chests, whatnot. The result is somewhat strange how the gun just shrinks into his arm stub,
(http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/cyborgninja_chainsawshowcase.gif)
but it works gameplay-wise in Unity. Any suggestions on how the character can have both a minigun and a chainsaw implemented for his left arm? Or how to improve the current concept? It would be great to have both weapons but I might have to scrap one.
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I wouldn't stress too much over it, it looks fine in motion and people will gloss over things like that usually. Anything more realistic (like having it fold over his bicep, for example) would add a lot of struggles to the animation process.
feedback though, the hammer is kinda floaty. Give it more of a SLAM to it by reducing the framecount a bit. If you want a good hefty-weaponsmash animation to study, here's a few good axe attack animations from fire emblem:
(http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140205003551/fireemblem/images/archive/3/38/20140207032928!FE6_Hero_Critical.gif)
(https://fireemblemblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/dart_berserker.gif)
(https://img.fireden.net/v/image/1447/13/1447136522255.gif)
Fire emblem is a fantastic series to study for stylin' attack animations, they're not ALWAYS ideal but they always have enough to 'em to sell the feelings of their various attacks. For a hammer that size, you want it to feel a bit unweildly and weighty. They accomplish that here by having the weight of the axe offset the animations a bit, like you see a bit of hangtime on blue guy there because the weight of the axe has so much momentum. and the other attack is basically him popping it off his shoulder and adding a bit of power to an already-hefty weight advantage.
Good luck!
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Oh yeah, you're right. It looks like that axe just can't wait to slam as it's in mid-air lol. Thanks for the detailed feedback, man Fire Emblem looks great at such a small pixel resolution.
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I completely redesigned the guy. He's not even a cyborg anymore lol, it seemed like an interesting idea at startup, but as I kept imagining what the game would soon become, my brain just kept telling me he wouldn't work gameplay-wise only having one functional hand. He seemed too limited. After the change, I could kinda see that the character is less limited. I also gave him the - oh god no - the "blackhole" inventory back pack that he uses to switch out his weapons! Yep, you better believe it, that's where all the oversized inventory goes lol. But it's better than that useless cape he was always wearing. Here are some sketches of the redesign. I also sketched out some prototype enemies and some of the setting I had in mind for a while. (https://orig00.deviantart.net/056c/f/2018/189/1/d/cyborgninja_redesign_by_imonk562-dcgmab6.png)
I have been doing a lot of back and forth brainstorming whether this would be a metroidvania game or a beat em up game. Depending on which, I might have to angle all my assets about 30 degrees.
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(http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/jason_redesign.gif)
I thought this animation was going nowhere but it turned out better than I expected!
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Just two cents here, the animation timing beats the hell out of the drawing actually, it's pretty slick. And to a lesser extent, the shading, biggest problem here.
More contrast on the skin tone and redoing the brightest level of shading on the pants (to reflect shadows, planes dtc., look at some beat-em-up sprites) seems like a good quick fix. Stil early on so cost < benefit IMO.
...
He's not even a cyborg anymore lol
:(
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Oh yeah, so I gave him a running anim with the chainsaw. Something about it seems a little sloppy, probably proportion isn't matching his original drawing, but I tried to adjust the tones a little.
(http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/jason_chainsaw_run1.gif)
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i think the arms could look better, if you want some good references take a look at axel and shiva sprite sheets from streets of rage 3
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I agree. Axel's style arms are what I was originally aiming for. Right now my characters arms look kinda fat, like my arms in real life lol... subconscious mistake, I'll get that fixed. :y:
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If you want my tip, you need to do some bone and muscle studies asap before you continue this.
It really does help a lot to understand the underlying structures of the things you draw!
Pick up some google results for real-ass arm skelebones and draw those as 1:1 as you can, then look up some muscle group references to work on next.
Immediate improvement for a day or two's work, my promise.
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I swear a posted this the other day... anyway I had an old drawing of pyramid head but updated it. Here was an attempt to draw a real ass muscle but I think I messed up his shoulder muscle and I wasn't sure how to draw under his left arm.
(http://pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/pyramidhead.png)
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attack the problem from another angle. Draw more pyramid heads doing different things so you get a better feel for hte muscles and shapes.
hit a wall? Stop, start again, this time STARTING with that muscle group if possible.
Repeat until you pass out or you do it good
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Repeat until you pass out
Haha, pixel art takes long sometimes.
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Hm, I agree about the bone studies, but would like to add that fabric and other material studies would help you improve by leaps and bounds. As for smears, I live and die by The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams, and would suggest checking that out at your local library after getting a bunch of life studies out of the way. :y: :) You're doing well already, so keep it up and tackle those fundamentals!