Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: miascugh on January 06, 2011, 08:27:57 am
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So my brother and I have been working on a personal game project again for the last two months and while we're progressing nicely, I figured I should get a few opinions from you guys and gals as I'm not always entirely happy. For now I'm just posting some of the character animations and will leave you guessing as to what the game's actually about. Background's all just placeholders for now and won't be exclusively pixel art, so I'll leave that out for the time being as well.
I'll be glad to answer any questions if you don't know what to make of them :) Here's a first few, I'll keep them coming as I go along finishing them up
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/redd_run.gif)(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/blou_run.gif)
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/redd_finsih_idle.gif)(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/blou_finish_idle.gif)
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/both_finish.gif)
So long,
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/redd_rotate_full.gif)
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Well to start with I love the character design, it's quirky and you can see enough similarity in the characters to see them as brothers. I love how they wobble when they run, although it seems a little false, maybe the top of them would lean a bit further and delay slightly before wobbling back. I really like how you made them dance too, it reminds me a little of Spore.
Are they going to remain flat colour or will there be some additional shading at a later stage?
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:) awesome. Very simple and effective look, I like how things being painted on them look the same as shading....the kinda stuff that makes 2d worth it.
I appened to be listening to this while looking at this...seems to match, very....machinaruim :p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmKGLV3zEaM&feature=player_embedded#!
Do you have any character traits that differentiate them? I'd guess the red one is more energetic just from the color but that's about it.
I feel like I only got nitpicks right now...one would be how the red one's arms bounce while he runs...I feel like their action line should draw a circle or an arc, and not go down that far cause it really marks the loop
The other thing...maybe the red one should be a just a pixel more tilted in his ilde...I'm not really sure if the torso's supposed to bend at his waist or he can only twist it...also can his head-disk thing tilt independently from the torso?
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knight: thanks. the wobble synchs with the outro music of each level (they remain visible, running on to the next stage) as it is, but I'm not sure it's the motion itself that puts you off or something about range of the motion?
they're pretty much final as they are, in terms of detail and shading.
conceit: redd is more energetic in also being simple minded but cheerful. blou is sluggish, brighter and in a way he looks after redd while himself being a bit gloomy, maybe affected by his unfavorable physique - stubby arms, small operating range. There's one feature to each bot that especially draws a difference between the two of them that I'm not going to give away yet.
There are a few animations that mostly define redds personality a little, like the difference here between them when struggling under great weight:
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/blou_struggle.gif)(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/redd_struggle.gif)
I'll have a look at a more circular movement for redds arms, but as stated above, the current version goes together very well with the audio so far. and i'm already lying in bed, so I'll make and post changes tomorrow after work :)
Here's a little explanatory-ish something for the dance too:
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/redd_finish.gif)
Here's to
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/robot.gif)
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My first impressions - very original, clever use of pixels to make such small chars and so unique. They're totally robotic. With such odd bodies, I'm made to wonder what they're capable of, what their powers are. They alone set the bar pretty high for a creative game design, especially the environments I look forward to seeing. I expect them to be on par with the clever char designs. And finally, since they're basically vertical mirrors of each other, as far as shape, I wonder if they have collaborative and complimentary powers, like fire and ice for instance; Do they use each other's traits/abilities to overcome problems/enemies together?
Love the "robot dance".
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Dear god these are amazing.
The characters are so full of LIFE!
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i didn't forget about this and actually already got the different runcycle basically catching dust on my harddrive, sorry! Though i still don't entirely understand your suggestions on the wobble, knight.
Mathias: thanks, very encouraging, yet a bit intimidating :)
yes, they both have in a way complimentary powers, and yes, the term collaboration may have been droppen once or twice in the game design process :)
lizzrd: thanks
i'll get back to you asap, but for now i can only offer what i had uploaded earlier already.
Cheers,
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/finishhim.gif)(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/flatterhim.gif)
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i'm loving how this is going, but the jumpiness when Blou changes direction and his eyes switch sides is a little offputting. I know it'd need twice the sprites to keep the asymmetry, but it's a little niggle I saw. Can't wait to see this done!
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I agree about the asymmetry thing. In fact I would say you should make separate versions for walking left and right and what not to properly have the stripy stuff on redd and the eyes on blou. It's not like the sprites are super complicated. It would be a matter of a few minutes and it would add quite a bit. DO IT.
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What kind of game will this be? I imagine it's a sidescroller, but what will it have to make it different from others, besides the charming characters, colorful designs, and fluid animations?
This game HAS to be finished :D
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(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/redd_run.gif)
Funny design and nice rendition. The synchronised arms movement on redd's running cycles may need to be broken, though.
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Jumpiness will have to stay until we change something about the max sprite sheet size, same goes for the arm synch, that would double the framecount.
Not in the mood for words much, here's a more circular version of the bounce:
(http://miascugh.ptoing.net/x/rnb/redd_runn_cirrcular.gif)
And here's three sillies I made yesterday in an attempt to think of a proper way of doing it eventually:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBUv_cMeK6Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRFzSgkcfCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwpJqwaW3CI
Stratto: I'm afraid I'll have to disappear first for a while to be able to answer that as soon as we have adequate material to properly give an impression
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damn damn damn, just wanted to say that these are amazing man. you have such a great aesthetic
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THEY'RE SO ADORABLE :3
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Jumpiness will have to stay until we change something about the max sprite sheet size, same goes for the arm synch, that would double the framecount.
Now I remember why I love multi-layers sprite animation so much :P
And here's three sillies I made yesterday in an attempt to think of a proper way of doing it eventually:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBUv_cMeK6Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRFzSgkcfCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwpJqwaW3CI
I'd point out a thing I've learn reading KirbyKid's Critical gaming blog (http://critical-gaming.squarespace.com/blog-archives/): the death of Mario and Megaman is related to the game's core dynamic. In Mario, you mostly fight against gravity, so the gravity is your ultimate defeat even when you're just out of time or get burnt by a fireball. In Megaman, shooting is the primary mechanic, and so you disapear in shots. The primary mechanic of your game should dictate how your character is defeated.
I note that your characters look quite like a bolt (or is it nut ?), somehow, and I could easily see it "unscrewing itself" to death ...
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This isnt the usual response people get on this here board, but depending on what platform you are coding for, you could use two sprites, one for facing left, one for right and thus double your sprite sheet size (toggle visibility and have the x,y cords of them be the same,) or just use two sheets and load them as they are needed... The first option is sometimes better because the second can lead to happy funtime memory leaks and garbage collection issues depending on your platform and language, but has the downside of meaning you need too keep track of another object and use ever so slightly more system resources all the time. If you can just pre-catch both of them and choose the sheet/frame on render the latter is better, but that isnt always an option.
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thanks pypebros and zez, two great pieces of advice :y:
i suppose my brother is probably aware of a few ways of bypassing dimesional restrictions, it just wasn't much of a priority in getting the test-playable build done yet. I think i remember one main character sheet taking up 17 odd mb at its current maxed out (and almost used up) size. So we'd have to check and see how much graphics card memory is used in a relatively loaded level and after some first dabbling in post-processing thingamabobs without neglecting weaker platforms like netbooks all too much.
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Augh, i know we're not supposed to be posting replies with just praise, but god these animations are awesome ::). The day i can animate like this is the day my life's goals are fufilled :lol: