Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Pixel Art Feature Chest => Topic started by: PixelPiledriver on April 13, 2012, 10:40:17 am

Title: GR#120 - Princess Piledriver - Sideview Characters & Animation
Post by: PixelPiledriver on April 13, 2012, 10:40:17 am
Kind of a silly character:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNj2RAPOU7Y/T4f8RFshYzI/AAAAAAAABCc/NQnx3DLwOLs/s1600/princessPiledriver_2.png)

The grayscale reveals that she is VERY mid key.
I was tricked into thinking she had wider range by leaving in the black outlines for so long.
Once I swapped them for colored line all of the lows disappeared.

Also on my laptop monitor her colors are terribly blown out in blue.
But my 2nd monitor she is completely readable.
I'll have to find some compromise.

After some more passes if I get the time I'll do some animations.
Of what?
Piledriving robots into the ground of course.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Chris2balls on April 13, 2012, 12:10:36 pm
Looking far better so far! I'm a bit bothered by the lack of volume of the hair on the side with the secondary light source: with a couple more pixel clusters like on the opposite side, and it'll look great.
I'm impatient to see the piledrive animation. I saw the great edit in The KKM's thread. :D
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: numlock on April 13, 2012, 04:43:22 pm
looks pretty good, only thing thats bugging me is her chest, I think old robotic one looks better also crown looks very cool but it seems somehow sideways to me, it could look better if you put on top of her head not like vertical princess peach crown but it could be a bit less diagonal, also idk what youre going for with this character so if shirt like chest gear/diagonal crown pleases you my suggestions are not that different I guess
also can't wait to see your animations with this one :)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on April 17, 2012, 11:47:42 am
put some more time into this:

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--FaL4ImtAW0/T41ShaEY5-I/AAAAAAAABFk/3m-dK2J_yuQ/s1600/princessPiledriver_3.png)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3D6jfQhWQlU/T41OX2mGCWI/AAAAAAAABFU/lTxfa5FAs94/s1600/pileDrive.gif)

A simple single image animation pass.
I'll end up doing a few more to figure out what I want to animate.

Quote
I'm a bit bothered by the lack of volume of the hair on the side with the secondary light source
For sure.
Not completely satisfied with the final hair update.
Some of the shapes are kind of blah.
A few of the older ones, like the one below the last, are more appealing to me.
Adding 1 darker color balanced the grayscale closer to what I want.
But dropping the lighter bounce color also took something out of it.
Will mess with more next time.

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only thing thats bugging me is her chest, I think old robotic one looks better
Yes I also have strong interest in boobies.
No joke.
There are many different ways to draw them.
The robot style isn't too bad and with some refinement could work.
Playing around with different forms i decided to go with something softer.

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also crown looks very cool but it seems somehow sideways to me
Agreed its a bit anti-gravity.
I like the cartoony feel of it being unrealistically tilted.
But I don't disregard the fact that something else could look better.
Tried some other stuff but haven't made a decision yet.

Thanks for crits!
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: st0ven on April 17, 2012, 05:56:06 pm
(http://spriteart.com/edit/piledrive_compare1.png)

hope you dont mind, i tried an edit of your character to see what shed look like with a few things i had in mind that i would have cleaned up some if it were my character.

I just kindof feel that shes looking a little chunky - i can see youre going with a stylized route, and having some 'thickness' isnt bad or wrong or anything. but perhaps thinning up the legs some and shrinking the feet would do the character's proportions a lot of good. (i left one shoe unedited, i ran out of time to finish it).

what i really dont understand is why the eyes are black. giving her some proper eye whites really improved the overall look of the face i found.

i really enjoy the overall color scheme she has, though i made some very minor palette adjustments on my version ( not very noticeable ones. just some values here and there that made for better transition values for AA and such).

awesome animation mockup, should look slick once its fully animated :)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Helm on April 17, 2012, 07:33:52 pm
Hi. First of all, congratulations for understanding pixel art (in my opinion). These are good clusters, so little banding, and the little there is I can understand why you'd let it in there. You're paying attention to the right things, the rest will be easy for you.

However this is 24 colours, for some reason. I edited down to 17 without much hassle or information loss. You can take or leave this step, I generally think controlled palettes are a good idea.

Then I went the opposite way of St0ven on the forms issue, I gave her *more* curves and definition. She seems like that sort of princess.

(http://locustleaves.com/123124125.gif)

Hope this is helpful.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Facet on April 17, 2012, 09:33:41 pm
Delectable ;D. Personally, I love the chunky/cartoony sensibility and would perhaps outline the hair also.

Some kind of anticipatory war cry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHWbsvgQUE) or psych-up as well as complimentary reaction from the red guy before the charge might lend a better sense of pent up energy & explosion.   

OT, I'm very interested in your animation process if you wouldn't mind hashing it out sometime, I don't think there's a dedicated (animation) thread here but a good one would surely help a lot of people.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: jams0988 on April 18, 2012, 02:28:25 am
Quote
OT, I'm very interested in your animation process if you wouldn't mind hashing it out sometime, I don't think there's a dedicated (animation) thread here but a good one would surely help a lot of people.
Seconded. I'm interested in PPP's work in general, though. Very impressive stuff. =)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on April 18, 2012, 11:46:01 am
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F0AjI86afos/T46gHkG-o9I/AAAAAAAABF0/hgNRwtHJhg8/s1600/princessPiledriver_4.png)

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hope you dont mind, i tried an edit of your character
Not at all!
I encourage it actually.
Otherwise i wouldn't be posting here.

I really appreciate you guys taking the time to edit.
There are tons of things that I like about both.
Really helpful stuff.
I have not yet taken into account all of them on my sprite.
I like to do things manually which takes some time, as opposed to just ripping, so don't feel like I am ignoring some of the better qualities that I am missing in your edits.

These colors are appealing to me so I'm interested in what else they can do.
The new characters are very early, all sorts of messy, and could change quite a bit.
But they are still open to crits and edits if anyone feels compelled to do so.

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Personally, I love the chunky
Yes I want them to be thick.
They could withstand even more chunkiness.

Quote
OT, I'm very interested in your animation process if you wouldn't mind hashing it out sometime, I don't think there's a dedicated (animation) thread here but a good one would surely help a lot of people.
I've been wanting to draw out a good animation guide for sometime now.
But I am still unsure of the best way to go about it.
Recently I've been doing edits around here on animations, but that only helps so much.
Fundamentals, principles, and techniques will help people much more than me just editing their work and sending it back to them.
A lot of the links I throw people aren't all that great either.
It's just been faster than trying to write everything about animation ever in a single post.
I'm willing to put work into it and make it nice and helpful, but if it falls off the front page and is considered necro-posting I'll be a bit sad.
Perhaps a blog is the best place then?

Also thanks for nice compliments everyone.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: numlock on April 18, 2012, 10:31:39 pm
Nice, I definitely love the new lady better.
High heels,long boots, chubby body with nice boobies and pink hair, I guess you can't go wrong with these :)
Also seeing this made me work on my pixel project too, so thanks.
And also I didn't try it but heres my idea; idk if you like long socks but you could try making the new ladys boots just a pair of blue high heel shoes and make her purple long boot lines a very long sock, maybe lighter color though. I think she is great as it is but seeing your first character with socks made me think "What if new one had longer socks?"
Take care.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Mathias on April 19, 2012, 02:17:03 am
I just wanted to say I find it so odd that you work right to left. I've never even thought about, just always did wip progressions like that left to right.

Oh, and . . . new chick is nice. Thank goodness she has elbows. Piledriver's stubby little arms bug me - just don't feel right. I get the whole chibi-esque anatomy thing, but still.


How do you do your greyscale conversions?  We've had discussions on it, before. Just curious what you do.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: infinitegames on April 19, 2012, 04:41:46 pm
boobies

Are you twelve? Can we call them breasts? That's what they are.


(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F0AjI86afos/T46gHkG-o9I/AAAAAAAABF0/hgNRwtHJhg8/s1600/princessPiledriver_4.png)

In the crowns section: I think the tiny little dainty crown sitting on her head is a fun idea, but I also like the main crown you have. The other things, like the earmuffs and tiara don't look good to me at all.

Also, I think her hair looks much better now, but it did have an interesting look before, because it looked like it was made out of crystal or something.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on April 20, 2012, 12:20:38 am
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lOSPZnoNBg4/T5Ce01AB4_I/AAAAAAAABGI/pfYtPIuPN6s/s1600/princessPiledriver_6.png)

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Are you twelve? Can we call them breasts? That's what they are.
Hey woah.
I take full responsibility for this.
It was me that used the word first in reference to my own art, making the term comfortable to others.

I'm actually quite fond of words and how they interact with each other.
Alliteration is one of my favorite things, hence my handle (P)ixel(P)iledriver.
Palindromes and rhymes are cool too.

While "boobies" is not alliteration it has repeating b's and o's.
So I'm comfortable with and actually entertained by such words.

I was even considering naming the new character Booby Bandit (alliteration yay!).
But felt that Bootie had a little more pun to it in terms or being a bandit.

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What if new one had longer socks?
Variations are cool so I'll give it a try.

Quote
Piledriver's stubby little arms bug me - just don't feel right.
I enjoy a good rubber hose character.
But agreed they make even less sense now that I've slightly toned her legs.
A few variations from now I'll see if something else looks better.


Quote
How do you do your greyscale conversions?
Nothing too special really.
The luminance value of a color can be found by averaging the rgb components.
If we test what Graphics gale does with pure grayscale values in 24bpp we can see there is a slight shift:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VsUXbnhxoGo/T5CokwOsSUI/AAAAAAAABGY/MnU8Dwf3dkQ/s1600/grayScale24bppOriginal.png) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5lqVs9CzzNY/T5CoknZwhFI/AAAAAAAABGQ/7IQm0lqjOh8/s1600/grayScale24bppAverage.png)

This seems strange to me because 128*3/3 =128.
Not 126.
It's a slight loss but I'm willing to live with it.

I wrote a grayscale shader for last years project but didn't really think to check if it shifts the luminance or not.
I might dig that up later just to see.

Also just re-reading this I realized I might sound a bit harsh:
Quote
Recently I've been doing edits around here on animations, but that only helps so much.
Fundamentals, principles, and techniques will help people much more than me just editing their work and sending it back to them.
Not my intention.
Edits do a lot of good and I'm still happy to do them when I have time.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: numlock on April 23, 2012, 03:53:09 am
seeing little action drawings couldn't help doing this, so I made this for fun basically, scaled up just a tiny bit.
(http://i.imgur.com/cGaoj.png)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: infinitegames on April 24, 2012, 10:18:25 pm
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lOSPZnoNBg4/T5Ce01AB4_I/AAAAAAAABGI/pfYtPIuPN6s/s1600/princessPiledriver_6.png)

Quote
Are you twelve? Can we call them breasts? That's what they are.
Hey woah.
I take full responsibility for this.
It was me that used the word first in reference to my own art, making the term comfortable to others.

I'm actually quite fond of words and how they interact with each other.
Alliteration is one of my favorite things, hence my handle (P)ixel(P)iledriver.
Palindromes and rhymes are cool too.

While "boobies" is not alliteration it has repeating b's and o's.
So I'm comfortable with and actually entertained by such words.

I was even considering naming the new character Booby Bandit (alliteration yay!).
But felt that Bootie had a little more pun to it in terms or being a bandit.

I think that would be kinda funny, actually. I just found it annoying and gross to hear it used repeatedly throughout a conversation of adults, that's all. :)


Also, I noticed the Stoven edit has striped socks, and I really like them.

Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Sohei on April 25, 2012, 01:14:17 am
A princess inspired me to make an edit. I did proportions more to my liking. I hope you like it.

(http://i37.fastpic.ru/big/2012/0425/8c/ff56943aa936935ac54242a619f86e8c.gif)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Mike on April 25, 2012, 05:27:25 am
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/vashers/princess_hip_zoom.gif)

I don't know what it is but this specific area...is amazingly attractive to me.  Who knew lighting could be so hot?

Nothing to contribute (yet) other than you somehow made blue and purple work nicely together  :)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Ryumaru on April 25, 2012, 05:46:43 am
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/vashers/princess_hip_zoom.gif)

I don't know what it is but this specific area...is amazingly attractive to me.  Who knew lighting could be so hot?

Nothing to contribute (yet) other than you somehow made blue and purple work nicely together  :)

Hips my friend, beautiful hips.

Nothing constructive from me; only wishing for MOAR. Bootie Bandit is awesome.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: jinza on April 25, 2012, 03:42:42 pm
theres a part in the animation where her hip disappears wasn't sure if that was your intention or not looks pretty good so far.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on April 26, 2012, 08:53:23 am
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--v82YvqA7FY/T5kI-KqWXcI/AAAAAAAABLg/Ux9MVsmmw2o/s1600/princessPiledriver_8.png)

Quote
theres a part in the animation where her hip disappears wasn't sure if that was your intention
The entire animation is constructed from a single frame.
I like to do the first few passes using only the select tool to get motion.
The missing piece is from me making a box around her arm and just ripping it off for rotation.
It might seem crazy but I find it to be much easier to clean up, and more relevant than animating a skeleton.
Perhaps later I'll detail my process on that a bit more.
At this point it was more of a draft to make sure I liked the character and what she could do.

Quote
A princess inspired me to make an edit. I did proportions more to my liking. I hope you like it.
Yes I like edits!
There's some good stuff in there.
Especially the hip bone and the more angular jaw.
I'll try adding a couple inches to her height as well.
I didn't work on Bootie this pass, so I'll integrate later.
I've been wondering for a while if the pokey hairstyle and the horns is cooler.
The fact that you've edited that one makes me think I should revisit it.
It makes her look a little more scruffy and I like that.
It'll also be more fun to animate.
I like the current hair shape too, so maybe ill throw it on a different character.
Thanks for taking the time!

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I don't know what it is but this specific area...is amazingly attractive to me.  Who knew lighting could be so hot?
Quote
Hips my friend, beautiful hips.
Agreed.
Very sexy.
I've covered that area with the hand.
But when she's animated I'll be sure to expose it.

Quote
seeing little action drawings couldn't help doing this
:lol: awesome

I'll still be revisiting the other characters, even princess piledriver, for some more passes.
I like to get a collection of characters going so that I can compare and work on them simultaneously.

Thanks for compliments!
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: jams0988 on April 26, 2012, 06:22:24 pm
Quote
I don't know what it is but this specific area...is amazingly attractive to me.  Who knew lighting could be so hot?
Gonna agree with you and Ryu. Those hips are genius. :3~
Nice work, Sohei and PPP. Very cute character.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Mathias on April 26, 2012, 10:28:44 pm
About the Sohei hips edit, I'd like to point out that it's also the orientation of the feet contributing to the overall effect - you get the cutesy-ish "innocent little girl" vibe when the toes are pointed inward like dat.

Yep.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: rikfuzz on April 28, 2012, 11:36:06 pm
Love the character so did a bit of an edit, just for fun! 

(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1534394/princess_piledriver_edit.png)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: blumunkee on April 28, 2012, 11:39:27 pm
Wow everybody is doing edits...

rikfuzz's edit address the main issue I have with all the sprites: a lack of contrast and saturation. Having a unified blue shadow is fine, but you still need some warm highlights to keep the palette interesting.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Mike on April 30, 2012, 02:22:20 am
I wanted to join on this editing bonanza but I think I went a little overboard.  I had fun with it anyway  :P

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/vashers/PrincessPileDriver_mike_edit.gif)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Sohei on April 30, 2012, 06:50:28 pm
Okaaay, so lets start making random edits.
(http://i35.fastpic.ru/big/2012/0430/0a/6aec77f216a93bac3d9345e17fe6710a.png)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on May 13, 2012, 07:57:15 am
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DtEt2cYY4EE/T6-5xaCgwwI/AAAAAAAABW4/jXeLcClh1gY/s1600/ppdCharacters_1.png)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aSjpMIUFNVQ/T6-5uQjxGRI/AAAAAAAABWo/4Q2GSSdnQlc/s1600/ppdCharactersGrayscale_1.png)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETHhPR4sbKA/T6-72GJQ6jI/AAAAAAAABXI/24PaiX0RlIs/s1600/ppdCharactersProcess_1.gif)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l2CWmzg_VfE/T6-4wKTgakI/AAAAAAAABWg/iaAvWfeKUME/s1600/edits_1.png)

rikfuzz! Mike! Sohei!
Thanks for a wide variety of great edits!

Quote
rikfuzz's edit address the main issue I have with all the sprites: a lack of contrast and saturation.
I agree the palette could use some tweaking.
Soon!
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: API-Beast on May 13, 2012, 02:23:28 pm
The new characters are all really great! However I feel PP herself is quite lacking in comparison. I have a really hard time imaging what she is supposed to be and the genericness doesn't help it much either.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Tourist on May 14, 2012, 02:41:05 am
Quote
I have a really hard time imaging what she is supposed to be and the genericness doesn't help it much either.

So maybe Princess Luchadora ?  ;D

(http://www.4freeimagehost.com/uploads/7ea5329c42dd.png)

Quick hack, didn't clean up the crown.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on May 14, 2012, 11:49:59 pm
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_garR17Lw5w/T7GYDWzvjEI/AAAAAAAABXk/BCQ7VWzoR_c/s1600/ppdCharacters_2.png)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1mOvvzi6ATA/T7GYAErG1uI/AAAAAAAABXU/S2uQsGtRf30/s1600/ppdCharactersGrayscale_2.png)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GedyDtRh7mk/T7GYC6yRMII/AAAAAAAABXc/_fZ-DIFUI2E/s1600/ppdCharactersProcess_2.gif)

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I feel PP herself is quite lacking in comparison.
Thanks for pointing this out so directly.
I totally agree.
Decided to play with her design a bit.
Bootie Bandit could use a 2nd draft as well.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Mike on May 15, 2012, 01:59:32 am
Do you really duplicate for every revision?  Or is there some way you can keep track of this stuff so you can post animated progress gifs.  I'd love the countless revisions I make to characters as gifs!  Is there some software you are using that takes a screenshot every "x" seconds?

Btw loving the new PPD, her head might be a bit large but other than that she's pretty spunky looking.  Although I did prefer her cool flippy do hair more.  It's cuter and I think more in line with an aggressive type character.  Aaaand you should keep her a robot...like Marina from Mischief Makers.  Pile DRIVE DRIVE!

Also quick question.

Your characters are quite large.  Aren't you worried that at this size it's going to be very difficult to maintain quality and consistency?

Can't wait for the next update!
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Daimoth on May 15, 2012, 01:45:04 pm
I love your style. Only thing I can find is readability issues on the serpent lady's outstretched hand.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PypeBros on May 15, 2012, 08:21:18 pm
the new princess is very princess-ish, well rendered and all.
but from a player standpoint, the previous one looks more engaged into the action while the new one is more kawaii-schoolgirl style. I'm not sure I'd take her for the part of a fighter that piles down opponents.

I love the idea of the hi-tech girl that uses her plasma controls to get a sword and a shield, btw. Just brilliant :)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on May 16, 2012, 01:49:40 pm
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wyd23lCR8S4/T7OXEU1x2dI/AAAAAAAABY4/WOYyz1iqJQI/s1600/ppdCharacters_3.png)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q_nkAU7cCoU/T7OXDVrMjxI/AAAAAAAABYo/FE5zQ3wH0bA/s1600/ppdCharactersGrayscale_3.png)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mvn6e4SjJNI/T7OXD1gguNI/AAAAAAAABYw/wup3haQws9s/s1600/ppdCharactersProcess_3_bootie.gif)

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Do you really duplicate for every revision?  Or is there some way you can keep track of this stuff so you can post animated progress gifs.
All I'm doing here is copy pasting the current frame.
This lets me revert and create the process animation easily.
When I'm ready I duplicate the window and reverse the frames. (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=13546.msg131283#msg131283)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VdkyHi-Ye40/T7OgYMp5HyI/AAAAAAAABZE/9wFY36TRT8w/s1600/frameProgression.png)

Also I pause the preview window to use as a %100 size guide:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2UAyMwaTlI8/T7OkQI6wxSI/AAAAAAAABZQ/FVTIAaSHSD0/s1600/pausePreview.png)

When I move onto something else I save a new version of the file and remove the older frames.

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Your characters are quite large.  Aren't you worried that at this size it's going to be very difficult to maintain quality and consistency?
While I'm not actually worried about it I'll admit it could burn me later in terms of time.
I'm intentionally pushing the scale here to see if I like it or not.
The new scale is rather large, and I would need to scale up the other characters to match.
It might be easier just to scale down Princess Piledriver and Bootie Bandit.
I've done a few larger scale animations before and was happy with the process and result, so I know that it's at least possible.

Whether this will be an actual game or not is still to be determined.
For right now they are just drawings to have fun with.

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the new princess is very princess-ish
Quote
the new one is more kawaii-schoolgirl style
As cheesy as it seems that's exactly what I want.
I still want to play around with her design to see if there is an interesting compromise between the two, but I'm fine with this sort of extremely girly look.

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Only thing I can find is readability issues on the serpent lady's outstretched hand.
Good point thanks.
Will get around to it.
I bounce between characters a lot so some things go untouched for a while.

Thanks for compliments guys!
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: tehwexxl0rz on May 16, 2012, 08:26:08 pm
Love the update on Princess! The pose is so much more dynamic and expressive. The changes made to the outfit and accessories help tie the whole thing together. I'm impressed you've managed to make such attractive sprites with almost no anti-aliasing. Considering you plan to animate these characters, I think that was a wise choice. :y:

Can't wait to see them in motion - especially PPD! :)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Ryumaru on May 16, 2012, 09:15:08 pm
For whatever reason I prefer the earlier sprites. Princess piledriver had that cute stocky appearance and her expression was more ready to kick some ass. This might sound odd but your newest renditions seem to be more traditional character design ex: giving bootie bandit a prop to go with her name, which on a fundamental level is good, but your earlier designs seemed to break some rules and I liked them for it. Also I'm sure it's a matter of finish level but I enjoy your pixel clusters more in the smaller size.

Bah either way it's all great! I'm just rambling.

On BB I'd steer away from the frontal face, I think you can have more movement to the pose ( and have it be more practical) if she's more 3/4ths or closer to profile.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: API-Beast on May 17, 2012, 12:06:40 am
The new version of PP is great! :y:

Well, about the new version of BB... she might be a bit over stylized, I liked the previous version more, it was simpler, but still carried some character. (Unlike PP who was basically character-less.)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Arne on May 17, 2012, 05:41:33 pm
The design reminds me of something from Cosmic Soldier, Psychic War.
http://hardcoregaming101.net/psychicwar/psychicwar.htm

Also relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuS1ngU9jlc#t=2m16s
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: blumunkee on May 17, 2012, 09:06:26 pm
Okay, I'm jumping on the edit train too. Choo choo!

(http://www.pkmays.com/ppd_edit.png)(http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/825/ppdeditcompare.gif)

I'm going with Bootie Bandit 2.0 because she's got a solid sprite but she needs some love and refinement. (Realizing of course PPD is posting WIP sprites.)


Having done this, I agree the sprites are too large to animate. Something more Capcom proportioned seems feasable.

P. S. This was hugely fun to edit. Great sprite, great proportions, great character...
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: numlock on May 17, 2012, 10:19:20 pm
Wow great edit blumunkee, her face looks just right and overall that iconic style PPD going for looks much more classy, I definitely agree with sprites being too large tough idk if these are for just animation or for game oriented, either way scales just seems getting bigger with each step but I'm not a pixel pro so I might be wrong since I don't know the purpose of these characters.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on May 18, 2012, 08:33:26 pm
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IqXQAZ0EndU/T7ZAfxXD2mI/AAAAAAAABbE/wExWUtKSsIs/s1600/ppdCharacters_4.png)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S1-e1aXQxaU/T7ZAe7ZtQoI/AAAAAAAABa0/juc_i5x3ewE/s1600/ppdCharactersGrayscale_4_bootie.png)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AvHdIWHk9UY/T7ZAfc9yyJI/AAAAAAAABa8/k7JhY5ii72A/s1600/ppdCharactersProcess_4.gif)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1DcXN-VKe7g/T7aKJhfH0rI/AAAAAAAABb0/vE4el-jMTNQ/s1600/edits_2.png)

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Okay, I'm jumping on the edit train too. Choo choo!
Thanks!
You've made a lot of good points and changes.
Unfortunately I worked on my edit before you posted.
The directional outline is cool.
But I'm considering popping them all off and just adding lines with Shaders so they can be colorized, thickened, stippled and react to lights and such.
The bounce light will actually act as a color property for a shader and can be shown in any color or removed completely.
I need to make it a unique color value tho as I've used it in other places.
Or I may bump it to a new layer.
Not sure yet.
Other cool effects can be done like color interpolation, glowing stuff, and palette indexing.
Getting stuff like that working is actually not too much code using basic HLSL and some helper functions.

PixelShader
// Current pixel is color to shade?
if(IsColor(color, PrincessPink()))                             
{
  // Shade pixel
  return float4(Green().rgb + (wave *0.5), 1);
}


HelperFunctions
// checks if colors match
bool IsColor(float4 color1, float4 color2)
{
   float3 c1 = float3(color1.rgb);
   float3 c2 = float3(color2.rgb);
   
   if(FloatEquals(c1, c2))
      return true;   

   return false;
}

// checks if float3s are equal
bool FloatEquals(float3 n1, float3 n2)
{
   if(n1.r == n2.r)
      if(n1.g == n2.g)
         if(n1.b == n2.b)   
            return true;
         
   return false;
}

// special color for shader I can call by name
float4 PrincessPink(void)
{
   return ColorFromRGB(242, 154, 222);   
}

// color[0-1] from color[0-255]
float4 ColorFromRGB(float r, float g, float b)
{
   return float4(r/255, g/255, b/255, 0);
}


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Having done this, I agree the sprites are too large to animate. Something more Capcom proportioned seems feasable.
Quote
I definitely agree with sprites being too large tough idk if these are for just animation or for game oriented
Quote
Also I'm sure it's a matter of finish level but I enjoy your pixel clusters more in the smaller size.
Agreed the sprites are large and a lot more work to deal with.
However they are more to my liking and feel more like how I draw on paper.
There are different processes for animation.
They balance quality, speed, feeling, order of steps etc.
My animation training is actually in film style which is drawn extremely large.
In the film environment it is acceptable to take 2+ weeks on a single animation for a character saying a sentence or two.
It's made me very patient but also realize how wasteful old style animation techniques are.
I don't want to spend so long on a single animation or use so many steps to the final render.
It's surprising how much motion you can pull out of a single key, and how messy fast inbetweens can be.
Many parts of an animation can remain rigid and reused, while only the main areas of focus, or effect, change.
This let's you get away with less unique drawings and more time spent polishing motion, which will sell the animation better than really nice drawings with bad motion.
Of course this has its own result and feel.
Traditional process and techniques have a great feel, but are much more expensive.

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Well, about the new version of BB... she might be a bit over stylized, I liked the previous version more, it was simpler, but still carried some character.
I think both have and interesting personality.
The 1st design is more like someone you would add to your party after meeting her twice in a cave and she unlocked some doors for you.
The 2nd design was intended to make her more brutal, like a caveman almost, someone you wouldn't want to bump into.
The 3rd  design pushes more towards the 1st while still twisting it a little.
If this were 3D I'd just ship all 3 as costumes.
Much easier to change props and details.

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your newest renditions seem to be more traditional character design ex: giving bootie bandit a prop to go with her name, which on a fundamental level is good, but your earlier designs seemed to break some rules and I liked them for it.
Its true that giving them props that fit their name or class very closely make them more archetypal and generic.
The trade off is basically Visual Recognition vs Original Concept.

The game idea is based on 3 items like Rock-Paper-Scissors:
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pF5g7dYJWXI/T7aihfKL__I/AAAAAAAABcE/SusIucoUac4/s1600/highConcept.png)
This can be thought of as Actions instead of items.
Attack-Defend-Shoot.

Even the defense item should be unique in some way.
In Booties case I want her to be able to steal/grab stuff with her shield.
A bag seemed like a classic choice.
But a summon shield is a little more interesting to me.
And magic boots!
But of course!

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The design reminds me of something from Cosmic Soldier, Psychic War.
http://hardcoregaming101.net/psychicwar/psychicwar.htm
Also relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuS1ngU9jlc#t=2m16s
Thanks for these great links arne!
I love this sort of old style.
Slamming a brain into the ground is highly entertaining.
It's exactly the kind of stuff I want to animate.
Over the top violence with unrealistic characters.
And lots of particle effects!
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on May 21, 2012, 01:13:00 am
Decided to move this post to its own thread (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=14063.0).
It clutters the focus of this one.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Grimsane on May 22, 2012, 01:57:28 pm
this is amazingly shweet, interesting colour scheme, what colour scheme will the environments be?
and the talk about 2D shaders etc are quite interesting :D

the only game i can think of in recent memory that has pulled off such high quality sprites with fluid animations and fluent gameplay at the same time was the 2nd demo release of iconoclasts, if there are others I'd love to see, but I'm hoping if your concepts get realized they'll be as amazing, they imply they will be already ;D

have you thought much about the format of presentation? camera angle, degrees of movement etc.

real exciting stuff, gonna keep my eyes on it. :)

and am i the only one who noticed the suggestively located heart in rikfuzz's edit? :lol:
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: Sohei on May 29, 2012, 07:49:59 am
Your girls are so lovely. I so want to add more lovely to them.
(http://i25.fastpic.ru/big/2012/0529/45/94414ce72e29171675e7753fc8b6ea45.png)
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on August 17, 2012, 11:28:23 am
Continuing with the scale ups and design mods:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b5sL6RJCVBY/UC4hLPjuN-I/AAAAAAAAC4M/81IhFkFzvEc/s1600/robotDude.png)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlagbxfmMg4/UC4xFyODuLI/AAAAAAAAC5Y/lMlXyBQEGvk/s1600/robotProcess.gif)

Start of a few more characters:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8cwpcCDFgis/UDCPN0p9lQI/AAAAAAAAC7g/6PvoTt-L5dE/s1600/someNewChars.png)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LUhoqGoXiQA/UDCPGLf278I/AAAAAAAAC7Y/BSqpT-mK0jM/s1600/someNewCharsProcess.gif)

Crits and edits are always welcome.

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Your girls are so lovely. I so want to add more lovely to them.
Thanks Sohei!
I'll add your edit to the collection and learn what I can from it.

Quote
what colour scheme will the environments be?
No clue!  :lol:
I'm going to cap the character count at about 2-3 more, and might boot a few.
After that I want to do a few animations and eventually play around with backdrops.

Quote
have you thought much about the format of presentation? camera angle, degrees of movement etc.
Really I started out drawing these just for fun.
Then I figured it could work well with an old game design I had laying around.
But I got involved in a project that takes precedence over this for many reasons.
If I ever get the time this stuff will become a vs fighter with simple controls and a Rock, Paper, Scissors battle system.
When?
Dunno, I'm fully booked for quite a while.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: nivek on August 21, 2012, 04:08:39 am
You have a very nice collection of sprites here.  :y:

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I'm going to cap the character count at about 2-3 more, and might boot a few.

I hope you keep the princess sprite.

I tried to animate an attack for the princess here:
(http://i.imgur.com/mtbs5.gif)

Very cool sprite to work with. Can't wait for their animations. :crazy:
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: PixelPiledriver on January 19, 2013, 11:02:15 am
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uKumqATz0RU/UOz5okYqYYI/AAAAAAAAFgk/vOACkNJcoE0/s1600/newCharacters_1.png)

Still messing with this just for fun.
Suggestions welcome.
Title: Re: Princess Piledriver
Post by: coffee on January 20, 2013, 12:04:47 am
I'm going to try not to be a fanboy!

I've always had issues with drawing hands for some reason, both on paper and on the computer. The hand of the giant type of Frankensteins monster look really neat. I'll study them for further hand drawing on my part!

If I would compare these to the other characters in this thread, they might be a bit less edgy. Perhaps you could make the "hiphop balerina sloths" hands even more clawlike or something.

fine work!