@Helm - I know there was a debate or two about contour lighting (selout vs other approaches) at some point on the forum, is that thread still floating around? Zoggle's tutorial gives no context about the method, just how it's done. I'm not really attached to anything, just whatever would end up looking better. In fact what I think is mind blowing is metal slug's use of flat near black contours all around, the eye candy was all in the animation I guess.

@Souly - Yeah, I see what you're getting at now, that is a really busy corner in fact seeing some bad modeling on the cheek too.

@ptoing - Are you getting the bid red x? Maybe I need to jump to a better image host.

@vellan - Yeh, I agree, the whole leg seems a bit off now that I've let the pic sit for a day.

Thanks for the input, Gonna fix it up a bit more before reposting.

Wow, that's amazing looking. 

I think the only thing that seems off is the tree. I'm not sure if it's a matter of texture or values but it doesn't seem to pop enough to feel like it's a separate mass from the ground behind it.

Nothing serious, keep up the good work!

Again, agree with Helm, linear walks = wrong in all cases, liberties can be taken, as he stated, for cartoony stuff, but never 100% linear.

I started making this before I saw Helm's, but it's more complex and I will write a bit about it.



The top one is moved linear (as linear as Promotion wanted to make it) according to the center of the sprite (shown by the dots at the top, 2 pixels wide because it's an even number of pixels wide)

The bottom one is moved according to where the feet are on the ground.

If you look at the top one it looks like he is moving his legs but suspended from an invisible metal bar stuck in his head which moves at a constant speed = unnatural.

At the bottom I have the footsteps seperate so you can see how the top one slides around like mad.

It never occured to me that walking wasn't a linear motion until I saw this. Most video game guys you see sliding around but I played capcom's alien vs predator today and Schaefer has a really neat stompy walk cycle. How would you go about maintaining that sort've thing in a game? I figure you'd have to store displacement with each frame instead of some fixed iteration on the x axis.

I really like these low poly guys you've been making lately. Reminds me in a good way of playstation 1 games.
Someone may have asked already but how do you approach making these? I'd imagine the texture mapping is the most involved part.

BOB - Hey Bob, small world. :p Thanks for the edit, I was worrying over the tone of the contour but i think getting rid of it looks nice. The sword is in a separate sprite because it spins and floats around the character in the game prototype right now. It has a neat polygonal soul calibur swoosh.

vellan - I agree completely about striving for a middle ground. I have so much respect for Helm's illustrative command of the medium but my personal taste has tended toward the graphical.

Helm - Hey Helm! hehe, bad habits die hard. I glossed over pixel academics before but I want to become more rounded out now. I've heard the phrase color ramping before but could you explain it or point out a webpage?

im9today - About the skull, i thought it made the tiny sprite look too busy. I"m thinking of iterating on the design a few more times because it's still fuzzy in my head and honestly i don't know what he's wearing under the cape yet.

Grindle - Yeah, it's hard to say what looks best really. I've found that with platformer type games, I  like the idea of little paper dolls running around than something more solid and realistic.

pkmays - Thanks for the edit. I'm not sure about the thing sticking out either. I had it in my head that maybe he was wearing a scarf but again it's an issue of vague design. I'm gonna play with it more with paper and pencil.