Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: BrightBit on July 10, 2013, 03:41:13 pm

Title: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: BrightBit on July 10, 2013, 03:41:13 pm
Hello Pixelation community,

I would like to know what you think about the following sprites:

(http://s1.directupload.net/images/130710/8tzk63c4.gif)

My main interests regarding C&C are aiming at:

* Do the silhouettes and animations read well?
* Do the views fit to each other?

Edit: I was inspired by the sprites of Serious Sam: Random Encounter (http://www.vlambeer.com/?p=462).


Greetings
BrightBit
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: BrightBit on July 10, 2013, 06:10:47 pm
There are some additional information I would like to share:

1. I already posted an entry on the forums of pixeljoint.com (http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16495). Pixeljoint is great but by what I've seen so far this forum here seems to be more active (i.e. more frequently visited by skilled pixel artists), so I just had to look for C&C here, too.

2. I made a small gameplay prototype with Stencyl (http://s14.directupload.net/images/130710/i3ulite4.swf) that is inspired by the mechanics of Zelda - A Link to the past (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i-x5708aCs). That way you can analyse the animations even better. You can walk with the arrow keys and the bushes can be picked up and thrown by pressing 'A'.

Edit: By downloading the flash file to your computer and running it from there, the game will start in a better looking fullscreen mode without pixel distortion.
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: PypeBros on July 10, 2013, 08:26:51 pm
funny and well-crafted dude. There may be something to tweak in the side view. The legs seem to go too close to the horizontal
(http://i.imgur.com/eJeeJkk.gif)
I have the feeling that he could use less homogeneous timing (although a delta frame instead of doubling the exposition for one frame would do a better job) and that this muscular dude could use some feet.

Gameplay-wise, he seems to move slightly too slow on the playfield.
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: YellowLime on July 11, 2013, 03:09:30 pm
Seems OK with me, actually... Pype, I think he hovers too much in your edit
I don't know about the feet, I guess he should have some, but don't mind that he doesn't have them either

I agree that he moves too slowly in the example.
(And downloading it didn't remove the pixel distortion for me :-\)
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: BrightBit on July 11, 2013, 04:02:42 pm
@YellowLime: Did you open it with the flash player: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlugin_<???>.exe or in the browser? It just works when you use the flash player directly.

@both: Thank you so far for your C&C. To be honest I don't like the feet version since it breaks the Serisous Sam style and I really like this style but I agree that the player is walking to slow and I am already trying to fix it. Last but not least I somehow like PypeBros' edit of the animation. I am also experimenting with it but right now it seems to feel a bit akward in my gameplay prototype but you'll be able to see it for yourself. I will upload an update soon.

@PypeBros: What do you mean by delta frame? An extra frame that shows the inbetween of the first and second frame?
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: PypeBros on July 11, 2013, 04:46:08 pm
@PypeBros: What do you mean by delta frame? An extra frame that shows the inbetween of the first and second frame?
Well 'delta frame' is a term I made up, where instead of making one frame last twice as long (like I did in my edit), you copy the frame and change just a slight delta to keep the pendulum effect, but also a smooth animation, and avoid annoying effects like the bandana stopping its move while the dude keeps the legs up.

edit: here's the edit with a delta frame.
delta frame --> (http://i.imgur.com/CJDROtP.gif) -- (delta on arms) (http://i.imgur.com/cor3itd.gif) - vs - (http://i.imgur.com/eJeeJkk.gif) <-- slowed-down frame.

Quote
I think he hovers too much in your edit
It might be too much for a walk, but the hovering is intentional. The trick is that you can't make a character walk faster than its feet contact time. So to speed the move up, you also need to speed the animation, but that doesn't stretch well. I found it to work better with a hovering frame so that you can keep a coherent run cycle frequency and increase the character be faster because the leaps are longer.
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: rikfuzz on July 12, 2013, 11:27:56 am
The arms look great - the feet don't quite look as good, but I think a small edit of the duplicated frame will fix all as PypeBros says. (Usually I have the 'contact' frame with the foot up, and then again pulled in only very slightly with the foot down). 

edit:  That obviously only applies to PypeBros rework, rather than the original.  Original looks okay already, tbh, but I think would benefit a little from the direction PypeBros was taking once the extra frame's in.
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: BrightBit on July 14, 2013, 11:52:57 am
Okay, I guess the improvements for the walk animation will take some time. I made a separate gif file to analyse the movement more acurately (I am concentrating on the legs first):

(http://s14.directupload.net/images/130714/ha74nqk4.gif)

I also updated the flash prototype (http://brightbit.square7.ch/flash.htm). Now you can test for yourself how PypeBros' suggestions feel, although I have to emphasize that it's just a rough update since I really need to tweek the animation more.

@PypeBros: Now I understand what you mean by delta frame. Nice edit! I like your version of the bandana movement even more than my one.

Note: You no longer need to download the flash file on you computer. The app should run without distortions in the browser now.
Title: Re: [WIP] 3/4 Top Down View Sprites
Post by: Mush on July 14, 2013, 09:01:17 pm
The prototype looks pretty good  :y:

The way each frame is timed adds a feeling of weight to the character. Though, on the side view animations, I wonder if the legs goes too far back?