Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: .TakaM on October 11, 2005, 03:20:43 am

Title: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 11, 2005, 03:20:43 am
I've been working on some animal crossing tiles and sprites for a couple weeks, and theyve been coming along nicely with the exception of my trees.
(http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/4250/animaltiles5qo.gif)
as you can see they dont stand out enough infront of the grass and it looks like theyre paints on the ground.
There arent any outlines in animal crossing and I didnt want to use them whilst transferring them to 2d, so that option is out.
I was wondering if there was some way to make it stand out better without darkening the leaves or adding an outline  ???
small mockup example:
(http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/425/roofd5pf.gif)
the trees just merge with the ground too much :-\



also, character anims so far:
(http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9186/donemaybe4po.gif) (http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3498/runrightisaid6qk.gif)

edit-
oh btw Im a new guy here  :P
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Faceless on October 11, 2005, 03:27:03 am
You move quick.

I've already told you what I think of these, and have you considered using shadows to seperate the trees and the ground?
Only just occured to me, but it would add more depth between layers.

I don't think the trees are that problematic to begin with though.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 11, 2005, 03:36:07 am
I tried adding shadows, but it gets very complicated. since animal crossings shadows chnge every half hour or so I think, that means I'd have to make 48 different angles of each shadow, it isnt that complicated of a job but I doubt anyone looking to make an animal crossing game would bother coding in alternating shadows..

i suppose I could just draw one angle of each shadow tho..
or maybe have darker leaves around the edges of the tree.. that could work actually  :)
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: FaeryShivers on October 11, 2005, 05:46:23 pm
Shadows that move that much are often best left to programming.
You did a really wonderful job on these. Is there a size restriction?
I honestly think some of your problem with the trees is that they
are not proportionate the same way they are in animal crossing,even  if only slightly.


(Edit: Another thing that made the trees stand out in AC was the fruit that grew on them,
so you may want to try making some of the fruit objects seperately so you can also place them on the tree.
If you're making an actual fan game out of them you may want to do it this way so you can use it as an item drop as well)
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Kennethfejer on October 11, 2005, 07:19:41 pm
looks really nice
didn't they make a GBA version of the game though ?

EDIT:
found a image http://pocketmedia.ign.com/pocket/image/animalcrossing_081602_island5.jpg
your graphics looks much better then this though. not sure if the gba game, was a game you automatically
got when connecting you gba to your gc, but meh anyways..
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Mercury Rising on October 11, 2005, 10:45:22 pm
They made a DS version and I am still awaiting its arival...

About the tiles,
In the mountain side things... the tan circulars... I see many similar tiles yet different by a few pixels.  I know this probably wont mean anything right now I just wanted to point it out.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 13, 2005, 02:31:32 am
thanks for the comments.
the GBA screens are just the linkup with GCN, although there are some wierd rock paper scissors screens that I never saw in the game myself  :-\

anyways, I think Ive fixed the problem:
(http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/9082/treecompare8mt.gif)
what do you guys think (new version on the left)
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Sawtooth on October 13, 2005, 02:58:59 am
Wow, this stuff is really complete, and very polished.  A very accurate emulation of the animal crossing style, too.  I love it.

The tree revision looks great, the darker leaves really help separate it from the grass.

One crit on your animation, though:  the side view doesn't have the head bob the back view has.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 13, 2005, 03:04:21 am
yeh the head moves forward and back rather than up and down. it actually barely moves in the gcn game but with no movement in 2d it just doesnt look right  :-\

and thanks :)
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: FatalFetus on October 14, 2005, 01:36:50 am
Damn sexy. Looks to me like every pixel was utilized to its fullest potential, it's practically identical to the '3d'? version on Cube, style and graphicwise. Sorry for the lack of crits but I don't see much "wrong" with these, they're just awesome.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 14, 2005, 07:39:00 am
I just finished the post office, and it doesnt fit:
(http://img431.imageshack.us/img431/9696/post1yr.gif)
its partly coz its too small. but it doesnt seem to fit in too well with all the natural tiles
if anyone wants to have a go at resizing and making it fit in better:
(http://img449.imageshack.us/img449/2979/fixplz8pa.gif)
(original on left, I need it roughly the size of the right)
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 14, 2005, 09:53:53 am
(http://img430.imageshack.us/img430/6991/problemsolved9ve.gif)
problem solved  :)
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Naso on October 15, 2005, 06:24:31 pm
Very nice Taka this looks just like the game cube version, cant wait to play it. good job
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: mysticaurora on October 17, 2005, 12:05:17 pm
Holy shit. I think this is the first time I've been thoroughly wowed by a piece of pixel art. You have an excellent grasp of the style and seem to have pretty good control over your colors.

Outside of the building(which you're already working on), I have no crits at all. It looks like a GBA game I'd LOVE to play.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Conzeit on October 18, 2005, 11:52:52 pm
holy crap. that stuff looks so so much better tiled, looking at it in a tileset I thought you had completly missed the style(didnt suggest how to achieve it because I only know it from screencaps), but I gotta accept it looks much better when applied in a mockup.

I know the problem with your trees, when you removed some of their outer, darker leaves you didnt fix the problem, you just made them less varied and deep.

The reason they look painted on the floor is because they are angled like they are; they would work perfectly for a sidescroller, so with this topdown view they simply look like they are painted over the floor! you need to difference the top of the trees from the side of the trees, like you have done with all the other objects that stick out of the ground (AKA buildings and sprites)

I think the sprite might be a wee bit too much in sidescroller view, not sure...show us some more mocks with the character in various poses.

I think your buildings would also benefit from a bit less yelowish hues (specially the highlights on the house's roof), and a bit more saturation generally, the buildings separate themselves from the background well enough just by the sheer shift of hues.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Zach on October 19, 2005, 01:49:36 am
about those trees, if you were to edit them and make them more top down view really easily, i think you could just add some more leaves and bushyness(?) to the front and just put the focal point to the middle and it would probly work really good! :D
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Sawtooth on October 19, 2005, 02:46:04 am
I know the problem with your trees, when you removed some of their outer, darker leaves you didnt fix the problem, you just made them less varied and deep.

the newer one is on the left, just so you know.  It's the darker one.

I think what makes these so impressive is the degree of completeness here.  Rarely do I see such an entire, comprehensive tileset in one place.  It's good.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 19, 2005, 07:54:02 am
like sawtooth said i think u got the trees mixed up, and Im quite happy with the final product
the thing with animal crossing is it has quite a wierd perspective on the trees and other objects that arent truely 3d, so when I make each sprite object I stand right next to it so its as little warped as possible.

and the colours, I know theyre pretty bright, but I decided it would work best this way because when the lighting overlays are applied it will dull the colours down to their intended level  ;)

and thanks for all the compliments guys, the problem is that since Ive been playing animal crossing again to make graphics, its got me sucked back into the game and is eating my time :P
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Conzeit on October 19, 2005, 09:04:53 pm
heh, you got what I said about the brigtness completly wrong, I think you should change the buildings to be as saturated as the rest of the stuff, so that the building are as bright and colorful as the rest.

I actually gave an idea of how to make the cielings be as colorful as the rest of the tileset, please re-read that again.

and about the trees.....I'm kind of used to the logical occidental idea of progression from left to right, but I guess you read a lot of mangas or something :p

about the trees being flat because you're imitating the original, I think that's a poor decision, I really love the way the trees look, and they do look a lot like the originals, but as I said they do not work for topdown, although they'd be marvellous for sidescrollers.

I made a google hunt for Animal Crossing screenshots just to make this point, GC and DS versions can afford to use a style where it's not very clear what's the top and what isnt, because although in a screenshot of either the trees may look painted on, they are both 3d, so with every player movement the perspective is redefined, just that fixes the problem and makes them clearly 3d.

also there's the shrinking of the bg that perspective provides, and the fact things darken as they move away, point in case http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/562/562473/animal-crossing-ds-20041101033926508.jpg

The DS or GC version is not at all defined by what a screenshot looks like

your version is precisely defined by any screenshot(mockshot in this case) made of it, so you simply cant afford to have the trees look painted on at any moment.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 20, 2005, 03:53:31 am
the thing is, theyre tall trees, I think I recreated them very well, I stood next to it so it was at the right angle and started spriting :-\

and for the record, Im sure you probably already know this, but the DS version sports a very different camera angle and has the cool cylindrical thing to it, whereas the gc version is pretty much what Ive tiled.. and the trees arent 3d in either game, theyre four sprites put together :P
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Faceless on October 20, 2005, 07:22:38 am
Well, I think saying you copied them at the "right" angle is a bit of a cop out as a few people have noted that they look odd...
Maybe slightly redesigning the roots will help the perspective some.
Eg.   _.|  |._ as opposed to _ |  | _
         /     \                        /     \
Where the .s are roots going backwards from the tree...
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 20, 2005, 08:42:57 am
not to sound like I dont appreaciate the advice faceless but I just finished doing this and noticed you posted the same thing :P
(http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/7199/trees2pl.gif) (new version on right)
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Conzeit on October 26, 2005, 06:00:56 pm
you know, I could keep on ranting on how you just HAVE to do it the way I say, but I already think my last post was too much :p

no need to keep it up if you're really happy with these painted on looking trees, and I think these slightly more topdown roots are clear enough for the player to understand they're objects, and that's enough to not cripple the gameplay.
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 29, 2005, 10:22:56 am
ok guys, I really have lost the inspiration and motivation to continue working on these (progress has been incredibly slow)
so Im asking you guys if theres anyone here who would want to try and complete what I havent done (or improve what I have :P )

heres the latest tileset:
(http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/3028/giveup2ol.gif)
and these tiles were in demand by three seperate people for their projects and I dont really want to let them down :-[ ( i dont mean I want to take credit for your work either tho )
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: Conzeit on October 29, 2005, 09:42:50 pm
uhm...you might want to explain what's been left out, since some like me might not have played Animal Crossing

also.....it might be easier for some to edit the tileset if it doesnt have that grid overlayed, GraphicsGale can automatically draw one any size you want anyway, and I suppose other pixel programs do that too.

it's a shame you wont continue, I really liked this stuff belive it or not, the color choices on it, specially the trees were top notch....hope I dont have anything to do with your frustration =X
Title: Re: animal crossing graphics
Post by: .TakaM on October 29, 2005, 10:41:41 pm
oh certainly, first heres the untiled tileset:
(http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/6932/untiled8zo.gif)
what needs completion is all angles of the river tiles, (15 more angles)
bridges to fit over the river:
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2002/gamecube/ac/animal_screen011.jpg
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2002/vgnews/082202/animal_screen002.jpg <-- Im aware thats a wharf but the bridge looks exactly the same, the bridges will need to be at right angles and diagonals

the able sisters sewing house:
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2002/gamecube/animalcrossing/animal_screen012.jpg

palm trees:
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/gamecube/animalxing/ac_screen010.jpg

blossum trees:
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/gamecube/animalxing/ac_screen009.jpg

water fall(s)
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2002/gamecube/ac/ac_screen006.jpg
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gamecube/animalfo/animalforest_screen002.jpg
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2002/gamecube/ac/animal_screen011.jpg <-- theres a small water fall to make the river water tiles merge into the sea water tile also, these water fall tiles will either need to be facing down and 45 degrees both ways