Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Sharm on August 06, 2013, 07:54:59 pm

Title: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Sharm on August 06, 2013, 07:54:59 pm
So a friend of mine and I are working on a RPG project made in Ace and I'm replacing all the art that comes with the program with my own stuff.  I think I'm to the point where I can start getting some feedback and make it even better.

(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/SharmClucas/preview1_zps3342ed36.png)

I'm trying for a perspective that doesn't show the back of the roof.  I tried to make it look less flat with shading but something is competing for attention and flattening it out and I've looked at it too long to know what it is.  The house shadow is out of my control, other than deleting it entirely there's nothing I can do.

Feel free to be as nit-picky as you want, I'd prefer this to be really good and not just good enough.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: cirpons on August 06, 2013, 09:47:13 pm
You NEED the back of the roof, its unavoidable due to the perspective your using.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Sharm on August 06, 2013, 10:56:05 pm
Let me rephrase, I would rather change the perspective on everything else than show the back of the roof.  It works better that way with what I want to do and with the program I'm using.  I've also seen it done in many professional and beautifully pixelated RPGs so I know it can be done well.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Mr. Fahrenheit on August 07, 2013, 02:44:13 am
What makes it so important to have the flat of the roof and not the back? Do you just want to be able to use it as a tile for something to stand on? If you change everything it will basically be a side scroller and you already have so many assets in the perspective.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Sharm on August 07, 2013, 04:49:38 am
Reason 1: I'll be able to make a larger roofs and alternate roof elements with fewer tiles.
Reason 2: It works better with the way autotile is set up in Ace.  (Which, by the way, is stupid.)
Reason 3: I want to figure out how to do it correctly.  Just putting the back on is easier.  I'd like to find out why it works in games like FF6 or Breath of Fire 2, but looks flat when I do it.

It doesn't have to be at a side view to get an angle where you can only see the front half of the roof, the angle that I'm trying for is about 60 degrees.  And, as I said before, the games where I've seen it done well are all RPGs with a top down perspective.  Anyway, I'm not changing my mind about not showing the other side of the roof.

Since the well didn't look as out of perspective as the house did I figured the problem might be the slanted sides.  I did a quick attempt at a fix, it's obviously unfinished.

(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/SharmClucas/preview2_zpsacf80c2a.png)
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Dusty on August 07, 2013, 04:55:48 am
The stylistic slanted roof is compacting the perspective issue here because it's implying the front of the house is closer to the viewpoint. Along with the lack of the rear visible roof this house looks properly suited for a platformer rather than a top-down perspective.

Technically, you wouldn't be able to see the back of the roof from this perspective:
(http://i.imgur.com/h8OUBc3.png)

But I think it screws with people a bit. In your case you're either going to have to get rid of the sloped style of the roof or put a back on there to emphasize the perspective more.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Sharm on August 07, 2013, 05:12:17 am
I see your point, but I disagree that those are the only two options.  Thanks though, you made me realize that a lot of the examples I found that had the no back roof also had other things let the viewer know it what they were looking at, like gables and intersections with the roof going in the other direction.  That also explains why there would be houses with roof backs and without in the same game, I just thought it was an artifact of different artists working on the same thing but it may be on purpose.  The more complex roofs had no back while the simple roofs on small houses had backs.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Elrinth on August 07, 2013, 09:32:29 am
Absolutely lovely colours and I love all ground tiles, the flowers, the small ducklings and the trees! The bushes on the grass don't look as convincing as the same bush put in the desert/dirt part.

I think everything in your picture has great perspective to them, except the house.
As previously mentioned the house needs to stay true to the perspective.

Also I'd like you to make some big highlight around the door to show there's a frame or something. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Good luck with your RPG. Graphically it's becoming very very nice.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: PypeBros on August 07, 2013, 10:29:29 am
(http://i.imgur.com/a1GV2Gk.png)
It really has a lot of charm :)

I think it would help if you had reference perspective object (e.g. a crate or a character) to move around. Compared to the well, the house seemed surprisingly tall. I shrunk it a bit. I also added some ornment to make the door fit better: a plain straight cut line between the door and the bricks make it feel a bit like something painted over the wall.

I think the trapezoidal shapes of the roof and the window mismatch the overall perspective.
(http://i.imgur.com/Nm0Xphq.png) ... maybe.

Btw, the bushes currently mismatch the contrast of the other things.
... and that little roof should put most of the well into the darkness, shouldn't it ?
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Sharm on August 07, 2013, 04:20:08 pm
Oh, good edit, PypeBros!  Making the foundation blue is a good idea.  Unfortunately I can't make the house shorter, it'd break the tiling and doesn't work with the character height.  I didn't want to put a character into the preview because I'm not ready to work on him yet, but I'll put him in this time for scale.

(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y292/SharmClucas/preview3_zps5413f97d.png)

I'm not sure what to do with the door frame.  If I put it above the door height it'll start to compete for attention with the roof and I'll have to redraw the windows and use more tiles.  If I put it below, the character will go through it as he enters the house, something that will bug me every time I see it.  Does that sort of thing bug anyone else?  I tried to fix the shadows and the door's perspective, if that's enough to make it work I'd prefer that otherwise I'll just have to deal with the poor guy hitting his head every time he enters a house.

I added some shadows to the plants, I'll have to tone down the outline later.  Other than that is there anything else that looks off about them?  I think I also fixed the window, I think the shape gives it a lot of character and I'd rather not lose it.
Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: Seiseki on August 08, 2013, 12:17:11 pm
The character looks like he's sitting down..
The perspective is going to be a huge mess if you try to make everything too tall, because of the angle, it's supposed to be the opposite, like Pypebros edit, where everything is a bit squeezed together vertically.

Otherwise it will just look like the house/sprite it's lying on the ground rather than standing up.

Attempted an edit, but I think it looks weird.. Maybe it's too squeezed together..

(http://share.cherrytree.at/showfile-10853/rpgmaker.gif)

Title: Re: Tileset with RPG Maker VX Ace limitations
Post by: r1k on August 08, 2013, 02:13:19 pm
I like Seiseki's edit.  The largest trees been bothering me though.  Nicely pixelled as it is, the way we see more of the shadow part than the light part makes it look kind of like we're looking at it from below.  I think it needs to be more like this to fit into the perspective better:

(http://imageshack.com/a/img542/66/0pik.png)