Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Jedemy on December 14, 2018, 06:35:35 pm

Title: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 14, 2018, 06:35:35 pm
It is my first time working on a huge sprite like this and tried my best but i am sure there are lot of places which can be improved.

While i try to create something nice, i wouldn't like to spend a lot of time on sprites, because there are lot of sprites i need to make for my game.

However, please tell me what do you think and if do you know any tips&tricks to make it look nicer.

Thanks for your time!

(https://i.imgur.com/VOhmZdy.png)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 14, 2018, 08:03:45 pm
Here is an update , i added a bit texture and detail to it

(https://i.imgur.com/I7udzcY.png)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Vinik on December 14, 2018, 11:08:23 pm
I believe that if the green rounded piece at the tip is supposed to be circular from a front view, it would look more horizontaly squashed from the current side view.

Some of the rivets on the fin have their lightened parts reversed, I am not sure if it fits the direction of the light.

Maybe the three lighter shades of the wood surface shouldn't be so warm? It is a deep underwater scene, and the water would suck up almost all the red component of the light down there, the wood would get a sickly olive or some other non-red hue. However, that is open to artistic choice I think :)

Also, someone will probably give you better advice than me regarding the wood grain/texture that might be improved, but regarding the shape of the planks, I think they could show the curvature of the oval body instead of being rectangular all the way. I think I liked the brightness values of the wood in the first pass before the texturing.

Glass, glass is hard, take a look on what eishiya and Pistachio helped me with on another thread, perhaps it will help you:
https://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=26545.msg198345#msg198345

Overall I like it, specially the palette, the parallax idea for the underwater background (it will be parallaxed right?) and the fact it is that it is already very readable and non ambiguous, leaning more on symbolism then realism as is proper for a game-y sideview piece.
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: MysteryMeat on December 15, 2018, 01:03:43 am
the lack of perspective bending on the wood makes it look flat. Use pictures of barrels for reference, there shouldn't be straight lines on this!

(https://www.azinspiredenvironments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wood-barrel.jpg)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 16, 2018, 04:55:15 pm
Thanks a lot for the feedback guys! I am working on it :D
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 17, 2018, 02:45:31 pm
Okay here is an update , how this one looks?

(https://i.imgur.com/1xE6JWN.png)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: MysteryMeat on December 17, 2018, 05:05:31 pm
looking better, I think you just need to fix the curvature of the Ring holding the glass dome in place
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 19, 2018, 09:15:47 pm
So it is the latest update, i generate also some dynamic godrays which aren't really pixel art but adds some nice underwater effect. What do you guys think?

(https://i.imgur.com/Ea2chAd.png)

Here you can see in action: http://i.imgur.com/I2ZyDrO.gifv (https://imgur.com/I2ZyDrO)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: DTE462 on December 20, 2018, 05:56:25 am
It's looking really good.

The main hull looks great. But because it's so well textured it makes the fin in back stand out a little more to me. Whether it should be overall more midtone? Or add some shadow to the bottom of each plank to give it depth? Not sure exactly. It just seems like it's a little brighter than the main hull. But the wood texturing and rivets look great to me. 

I like the shading you have on the 3 windows at the side, but I think you could take it a step further to show the curvature of the windows with the highlights. I did a rough attempt that hopefully gets the idea across.

(https://i.imgur.com/rLmqyST.png)

As for the animation, I know it's not strictly pixel art, but I like the water affect on the plants in the animation you have. Looks really natural. I'm making an underwater game myself, and it's tempting to throw filters on things and it's hard to balance what looks natural with the pixel art and what seems like a cheap affect to give movement to still pixel art.

The godrays are more up to personal preference, but I had good luck using a solid transparent color and having them overlap. They don't look as "real", but they seem to blend better with the pixel art. You might also move them behind the sub. When they are in front and the lighting on the sub doesn't account for the depth and "form" of the sub it's easier to tell it's just a layer in front of the sub. It may also make the sub contrast more with the background? Then again it may compete more with the background.

Looks great overall though.

Side note: the menu options look nice. I always struggle with UI stuff and it looks really natural here.
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 20, 2018, 02:59:49 pm
Thanks for your detailed feedback DTE462, i will definitely do something about that highlights on windows and tweak some stuff on the Fin.

Animations on grass was done with a shader, it was quite a challenge to get it look right. Glad you like it!

I am still working on that Godrays, using sprites instead of a shader might suit the game better as you said. Do you mind showing your work on that one?







Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Vinik on December 20, 2018, 05:16:00 pm
I also like the UI

Godrays, yeah, fells a bit weird that they overlap with the "ceiling"(?) Of the underwater cave. I was under the impression this was a section of a level and that the ceiling might be gameplay relevant, but since it is a menu screen, them maybe you could drop the ceiling? Let the god rays come indistinctly from above, and that ends the layer fight between the ceiling and the rays.

As for pixel friendly water effects, why not have a fullscreen shader that horizontaly displaces a few horizontal lines of the screen by one pixel, and have try too vertically? Eh, hard to explain but o remember seeing something like that in snes games for pixel based water distortion.
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: DTE462 on December 21, 2018, 04:52:44 am
Yeah, I'll PM you so I don't hijack your thread.
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: MysteryMeat on December 22, 2018, 12:38:46 pm
Yeah, I'll PM you so I don't hijack your thread.

I think it's handy to have edits in public threads, a lot of the time people are following along on these for new techniques.
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: DTE462 on December 22, 2018, 09:31:06 pm
That's a fair point. Here is how I'm handling god rays in my game.

(https://i.imgur.com/9DdmubR.gif)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 22, 2018, 11:49:28 pm
I really like the eerie atmosphere in that one, just the text appears to be blurry and hardly readable.
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Ma3vis on December 23, 2018, 04:11:00 am
(https://i.imgur.com/7DRH15m.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/q8G0tW9.png)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Vinik on December 23, 2018, 04:53:20 am
Ma3vis is on a killing spree, beware, he will mercilessly GBC your things ::)
Title: Re: [Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine
Post by: Jedemy on December 24, 2018, 11:59:39 pm
Looking great though :D