Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: darryl.revok on October 10, 2015, 06:38:30 pm
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Hello!
I am in the process of developing an NES game and was hoping to post some of my character animations. I'll just start out with one, but I've got several more. This is my first attempt at low-res pixel art, or animation in general, so some guidance would definitely be appreciated. There's going to be a lot of work to do for this project.
I am working within the limits of the console, but trying to do something graphically impressive nonetheless. I won't go into all of the details of NES graphic limitations right now, but I'll describe some things for those who have not worked with this console. My sprites are divided into 8x8 pixel tiles. Graphic space for all backgrounds and sprites will be limited to 256 KB, and from my calculations, it's going to be tough to fit everything in there. As such, any time that I can reuse a frame, part of a frame, or even an 8x8 tile, it will save space. Also, each tile is limited to 3 colors plus transparency. This means that I can use different colors in different 8x8 pixel sections, although for my player character I'm just sticking to 3 colors, so that my other 3 palettes are still available for enemies.
Anyway, that doesn't matter too much because what I'm really looking for is help in getting good at animating. It will be easier to cut things down to good dimensions for my medium if I start out with an ideal animation.
So, this animation includes 3 different attacks, forward, forward up, and straight up. I think I may make the forward up animation strike a little higher so it's hitbox doesn't overlap as much with the regular attack, but beyond that, I'm about to the point that I don't know how else to improve these.
Thanks in advance!
(http://polycarbon.byethost10.com/Game/3attacks.gif)
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Did you attach some images? I don't see any.
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You might have to manually load the image via the url first.
The sprite looks fine to me, not much to change imo.
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I'm on my phone browsing wayofthepixel. That might be the problem. Too bad, I love NES style art :( Guess I'll just have to wait till I get home to look at it!
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edit :ouch:
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Naa, I think it wasn't embed properly, did it for him. Its a good sprite.
(http://polycarbon.byethost10.com/Game/3attacks.gif?ckattempt=1)
Clear your cache and cookies and refresh this post, the image won't load.
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It's showing up now for me but it wasn't before. It might have something to do with the free hosting.
Is there no way to submit an attachment directly to a post?
If nothing else, you can see the image by going to this link:
http://polycarbon.byethost10.com/Game/3attacks.gif (http://polycarbon.byethost10.com/Game/3attacks.gif)
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Just upload it to imgur and copy the image url from there.
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Very nice sprite. Don't have much to say in terms of how to improve it. I love NES sprites animating smoothly! The hair details are very nice. So are you going to make more animations for this character?
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So, I posted my animation to Imgur in hopes of getting some feedback. Let's see if this works...
(http://i.imgur.com/ptIWxlL.gif)
Nope. That doesn't work either. I was just hoping to get some assistance with my animation. Why is this such a pain?
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(http://i.imgur.com/ptIWxlL.gif)
Don't use the URL in the address bar. Right click image, select "copy image URL" from the context menu, then paste between the image tags.
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Yea the src on your image is a .gifv. Foolproof way, I do it every time: once uploaded, to the right is a "share this image", I just click the button to copy the bbcode for forums, paste it, boom.
Anyway on the animation, I think there needs to be more follow-through. Too quick, not enough impact.
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:)Pretty cool man!, i love retro style sprites, good luck with your project and nothing else to say.
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Very nice, very nice. You got a bright future if this is your first anim attempt :)
Anyway, that doesn't matter too much because what I'm really looking for is help in getting good at animating. It will be easier to cut things down to good dimensions for my medium if I start out with an ideal animation.
So, this animation includes 3 different attacks, forward, forward up, and straight up. I think I may make the forward up animation strike a little higher so it's hitbox doesn't overlap as much with the regular attack, but beyond that, I'm about to the point that I don't know how else to improve these.
(http://polycarbon.byethost10.com/Game/3attacks.gif)
Yeh, I think it's a good idea to heighten the hit range more, both for forward and forward-up. She could lean more into the attacks for more sense of dynamics and power. And shouldn't she be facing whatever it is she's hitting while hitting it?
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And shouldn't she be facing whatever it is she's hitting while hitting it?
This has been something I've been struggling with for a while. On one hand, yes, it would make a lot more sense if she was looking forward while attacking forward. On the other hand, if her head doesn't turn, the animation feels a lot less active. So far I've stuck with what I've got now because it looked the best in motion, but there's probably some middle ground that I haven't figured out yet.
Additionally, I've found myself limited in how many positions I can draw her head and it look okay. If I try to tilt it or turn it the wrong way it turns into an alien looking head...
She could lean more into the attacks for more sense of dynamics and power.
Are you sure? I could try it, but I've done the same motion and my hips don't really even move as much as hers. Plus if she moved more, she'd be beyond the position of her hitbox, which I suppose could be addressed but I don't intend for her actual in game position to move during this attack.
I think there needs to be more follow-through. Too quick, not enough impact.
How so? If her point of contact is dead ahead, she actually swings about 90 degrees past that, but she also turns her head to look in the direction of the player, which throws it off. There may be something I could do with the animation to make it more impactful but I also have to balance it for gameplay. Currently, if she doesn't strike again immediately before sheathing, there's a pretty long cooldown after the attack. I'm afraid that any longer may frustrate gamers.
So are you going to make more animations for this character?
Yes, I am. I'm not sure what the full moveset will be for each character, but I have currently planned 20 characters. With all of the animations and background tiles, it's going to be a challenge to pack everything I intend to into the 256 KB CHR space of an MMC3 cartridge.
I also decided to post a couple animations I've been messing with for other characters. These may be a bit more rough but as before any feedback would be appreciated.
Thank you all very much for your suggestions thus far.
(http://i.imgur.com/T97AitR.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/aCcxR6e.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/D2BmN87.gif)
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And shouldn't she be facing whatever it is she's hitting while hitting it?
This has been something I've been struggling with for a while. On one hand, yes, it would make a lot more sense if she was looking forward while attacking forward. On the other hand, if her head doesn't turn, the animation feels a lot less active.
Maybe you should try switching the head frames around, and see if that helps.
(http://i.imgur.com/T97AitR.gif)
The part at the end moving the arm back into it's original position looks weird. The same goes for the original animations; There seems to be some effort getting from the end of a slash to the idle pose, whereas I would expect a fighter to maintain a pose that attacks easily flow back into. You might want to find a way to smoothen that out.