Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: StelloHexis2 on November 08, 2017, 12:49:47 am

Title: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis2 on November 08, 2017, 12:49:47 am
I need some critique and tips on how to improve and expand this tileset.
(https://i.imgur.com/Mxie95d.png)
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: PypeBros on November 09, 2017, 08:24:53 pm
nice pixels, good palette choice (wouldn't be surprised to learn that it has roots in the GBC Zelda Oo* series). What is a bt perplexing me is the perspective of the trees. They look quite side viewed while I'd expect a mostly top-down angle. May I ask you to add a tile with a cubic crate/object to see what is your intended perspective ?
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 09, 2017, 11:55:57 pm
@PypeBros Thanks. Yeah the tree and other things like the houses look flat. I haven't been paying attention to perspective  ???
(https://i.imgur.com/6cASwxt.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/K31bAX6.png)
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: PypeBros on November 10, 2017, 08:43:31 pm
the house's perspective (exterior) looks okay to me. If anything, I'd suggest you work on giving it more contrast against the ground, esp. on the sides.

With your perspective, we shouldn't be able to see the details of the pillars when they're covered with a roof, but we should see some round top if they're indoor (just like with cupboards). Using your cubic-crate, you can also fix the "chairs" in the house: they should be able to fit a crate, and thus the height of their top surface should be ~ half of the width of the same surface.

pay attention to the contrast on the ground tiles (keep it low). This is no longer the case in the third interior picture, so we don't know if we're looking at some ground or some roof tiles anymore.

Finally, for the trees, try to sketch their overall shape first, with perspective-fixed "circles" centered and put at increasing heights.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 12, 2017, 05:12:45 pm
Fixed many things on this one. I don't know if I missed anything also added animation to some sprites and made some other things.  :)
(https://i.imgur.com/T85NQ1U.gif)
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: Sharm on November 13, 2017, 04:41:09 pm
Aw, why'd you have to start over?  The original trees were very nice, just an incorrect perspective, now they're just a squashed zelda tree clone.  :(  Fixing the problem could be done with a little editing.  I've edited all the trees and bushes from your last screen as an example.  It's quick and dirty but it's enough to make it look like it belongs while still keeping the original style.

(https://s8.postimg.org/zai1nvp11/trees.png)
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 13, 2017, 09:27:15 pm
 :blind: I redid the tree because I felt I didn't know how to fix it. The Zelda appearance is coincidental (I resized the smaller one I made and it came out with that shape).

(https://i.imgur.com/roeNPEv.gif)

Note: I missed a tree.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: Sharm on November 14, 2017, 05:03:24 pm
Don't get me wrong, I love Zelda, but the trees are very distinctive.  They're also not very realistic so it's pretty hard to do anything like it and not have people immediately think of Zelda.  The bushes are great, there's something I really like about the shading that I can't quite put my finger on.  I mostly like the new tree, but the new shading makes it look a little furry.  I like the original tree's more rounded shapes better.  I only just now realized that those barrels weren't some kind of bug statue or something.  Making the top brighter than the sides will help with that.  I'm not sure what that middle line is meant to represent.  If it's supposed to be the metal ring it should be more defined than the plank seams.  Now that I'm noticing it, you've got a lot of inconsistency there, where sometimes the top of an object is much brighter than the sides and sometimes it's the same or darker.  You should pick one and stick with it (preferably lighter top, it makes things look less flat).
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 15, 2017, 05:36:30 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/JkvRGg2.png)

I'll try to come up with a swamp environment.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: Sharm on November 16, 2017, 05:59:44 pm
Much improved and very nice!
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: PypeBros on November 19, 2017, 10:10:44 am
Indeed. Imho, there's one thing that deserves more attention, though: the rocks. They work well as a horizontal tiled stripe, but I find transitions perplexing. the top-to-wall transition don't look solid at all, and the sides look mostly like a few more pebbles on the ground.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 24, 2017, 02:24:13 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/viqExF4.png)  ::)
- Swamp area.
- Tried fixing the rocky walls what do you guys think?
- Fixed the boulder.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: SlimEddie on November 24, 2017, 02:37:04 pm
Going back to those animated mushrooms, am I the only one annoyed by the moving grass above the mushroom? other than that I love damn mushrooms, I mean in a artsy way  :)
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 24, 2017, 03:27:17 pm
@SlimEddie Yeah I noticed that and fixed it right after the post.  :lol: Thanks for the input  :).
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 28, 2017, 07:56:21 pm
(https://i.imgur.com/uejmyuU.png)
 ::) I added a bit more stuff here. I am happy with what I got so far. Just wanted to show you guys.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: eishiya on November 28, 2017, 08:27:06 pm
Have you tried putting characters in this world? I worry the contrast might be too harsh and make the character difficult to see.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 28, 2017, 09:38:08 pm
No, I haven't. I will make some in a bit.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 29, 2017, 01:22:52 am
(https://i.imgur.com/LjwtBSr.png)

It's true. The characters look out of place and don't look well with the colors on the tileset.
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on November 30, 2017, 08:01:57 pm
I gave everything a lighter shade and this was the result.
(https://i.imgur.com/rBch1IS.png)

This is the same as before but using a different palette.
(https://i.imgur.com/HoPHDJJ.png)

What do you guys think?
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: yrizoud on December 01, 2017, 10:18:27 am
It probably looks better as a natural background, but you're getting away from NES aesthetics since the console couldn't render such unsaturated colors. I think it's possible on the GBC, though.

Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: eishiya on December 01, 2017, 05:00:50 pm
I think both of the last edits look good, and the lower-saturation colours of the bottom one are lovely, but I feel there were some contrast issues, and you may have gone a bit too desaturated. Here's an edit that tries to blend the two of them:
(https://i.imgur.com/ZHTyS5X.png)
(As a bonus, in my editing I somehow managed to get it down from 48+ colours to 31.)
I decreased the contrast on flat surfaces (walls, ground, etc), so that they look more solid. This had the bonus effect of making the characters stand out better. The most important areas where this makes a difference are the stairs outside, the grey dungeon tiles, and the grass, though I think it helps everywhere at least a little.
I changed the black from pure black to dark red because that feels a bit less dull, but it'll work fine if you change it back to pure black.

The NES palette can't handle this sort of thing, as it lacks this much variety in midtones. The same is true for your other colour mock-ups though. Here's what a NES version of my edit might look like (23 colours!):
(https://i.imgur.com/qZqPs4I.png)
(Note that some tiles don't quite meet NES specs.)
Title: Re: Tileset for RPG
Post by: StelloHexis on December 01, 2017, 08:17:12 pm
I used the original pallete and changed the colors of many tiles trying to make it as close as possible to the blended image. I think I will keep this one. (Also I made some edits to some ground tiles and other things).
(https://i.imgur.com/m31SFWk.png)