Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: MagiMaster on October 15, 2012, 06:00:04 pm
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I'm working on a GameBoy style puzzle game, and I need some comments on the art style. (The characters are definitely a work in progress, but I'm not sure what to do with them yet.)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBPuzzle_Mockup2.png)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBPuzzle_Chars.png)
Also, do the walls look better in the above picture, or more would it work better with more detail:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBWalls.png)
Thanks.
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I could be wrong I feel like you're trying to squeeze too much into one screen and it would hurt my eyes trying to play that.
Have you considered larger tiles?
e.g. (http://www.nintendogal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ZeldaLinksAwakening1.png)
regarding wall textures, the top one has vertical lines which go against the horizontal wall.
this distracts my eye and breaks up rhythm which i think is a back thing in this case.
im not saying dont use any vertical lines in the texture but make the horizontal more dominant.
i also think you should generally try not to use all 4 shades on a single background tile but i have never done gameboy art so i couldn't really say.
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For readability purpose, it would be better to focus contrast on the path/wall transition and tone down the in-wall and in-path contrasts.
Newer walls, for instance, help in that they present a continuous space to the player (as opposed to a chain of poles in the mock-up), but they would (imho) even work better if you drop those "highlight bricks".
But yeah, some larger scale would definitely help giving more substantial visual clues at "what things are and what role they have in the gameplay". You don't want your player to be confused about whether they're walking into spikes or an opened door, do you?
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Fortunately, there are no spikes, but yeah, I guess I'll have to start over with bigger tiles. :blind: Didn't most GB games use 16x16 tiles anyway (even though the GameBoy itself uses 8x8, IIRC). Also, I think I can get rid of the single width wall issue with bigger tiles.
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ya for the character sprite on the left, The ones facing left look like they have a larger eye then they do when facing right. but i am just totally new to pixel art (been doing it for a week) so mabe you did that on purpose.
I honestly like the art style, your doing great! :y:
looking forward to your revised level ;D
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Nope, that's an oversight. They were both originally big, but I liked it better smaller. I just forgot to change the left-facing one to match.
Anyway, here's a template/rough-draft of some larger tiles.
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBPuzzle_Mockup3.png)
Given how big the GameBoy screen is, I'm not sure this will work. (That picture is the size of the screen.) I want the whole level to fit on one screen and that only fits 10 by 9, 16x16 tiles, which is a bit small for this kind of puzzle game. (Also, this doesn't quite fix the one-wide issue completely, but it does make it a lot less trouble.) :-\
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Ahh no scrolling then, well in that case I wouldn't know maybe smaller tiles is fine since its such a lo-res screen.
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Yeah, I think I want to stick with the 8x8 tiles, but I might need a less detailed wall to keep everything distinct. I like the dark border around the bigger wall tiles, but that might be too much for smaller walls.
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Have a look at Kwirk. First generation GB puzzler with 8x8 tiles. I suggest to go for a top down view. Any kind of angled stuff can get confusing a bit.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy/kwirk/screenshots (http://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy/kwirk/screenshots)
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Thanks for the link. I haven't had a lot of luck finding relevant GB games to compare to.
I've been working on the walls a bit more. I think a nearly-but-not-quite-overhead perspective (showing just a couple of pixels of the wall face) might work. There's only the buttons, doors and stairs and one enemy, so I'm (currently) hopeful that I can make everything stand out. Here's what I've got so far:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBPuzzle_Mockup4.png)
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A first attempt at animation. The side views don't look quite as stylishly bad as the other two angles. Also, I should probably redraw the character to match the perspective of the walls.
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBPuzzle%20Player.gif)
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I can't figure out how to draw a figure in an almost overhead perspective. Does anyone know of any good references?
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cyangmou's tutorial (http://cyangmou.deviantart.com/gallery/37668128) could be really good reference. Also, I think your character could use some head bop to make the walk animations more readable and interesting.
edit: link fixed.
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I think that's the wrong link, but I think I found them with Google. Thanks.
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I finally got back to work on this. I like how this turned out, even if it's nowhere near the same perspective as the walls.
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBPuzzle%20Player%202.gif)
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A tiny bit more. Any suggestions on improvements for either character?
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29146569/GBPuzzle%20Enemy.gif)