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Pixel Art / Get Back High -- A Fighting Game
« on: March 17, 2008, 10:42:31 pm »
Hello, everyone! This site was recommended to me a while back, and I've finally found the time to join. You're all incredibly talented, and, to be honest, I'm a little intimidated (and envious). Hopefully, with enough practice, I'll be able to make something that doesn't look horribly amateur compared to you guys' stuff. 
Anyway, on with the topic!
I'm about to graduate high school, and am getting serious about getting involved in the game industry. To that end, I've been teaching myself everything I can about game development. I'm also working on my very own video game (using the Allegro game library) called Get Back High. It's an extremely unique fighting game with outrageous characters and gameplay that takes place in a crazy high school with even crazier students (and teachers). I've got the programming thing down, but I don't really know where to begin with the artwork.
Let's see, where do I begin...
Well, first, I wanted to see if I was even competent at pixel artwork, so I attempted making one of the standing sprites of the main character. I didn't have a drawing tablet (more on that later), and quickly found the mouse was an inadequate tool for my needs (at least, for the general layout of the sprite, not the details). So, I started using my fairly decent hand-sketching skills to draw poses and models (usually while at school), and scanned them onto my computer. Using Pixen, which was the first free Mac-compatible pixel software I could find (more on that later), I scanned in my first sketch, estimated the size my sprite would be and proportions of the sketch (since Pixen stretches background images to fit the dimensions, which could potentially distort my sketches), and traced it with a mouse. Afterwords, I filled in the details, and got a pretty decent (or, at least, I think so) end product.
Oh, and before you look at them, I should probably tell you the style I'm going for. First, I want to intentionally use a low-resolution. I'm going for a pixelly, old-school, SNES-esque look. Because of the game's gameplay style, I also don't need the sprites to look perfect -- I'm going for personality, and stray pixels here or there won't hurt it. I'm doing this for several reasons: 1) Fits the game's style, obviously, which needs to be ridiculous when you have, say, a maniacal midget genius commanding physically deformed robots (hunchbacks, beer-bellies, and thunder-thighs) through the use of a mechanical diaper she wears. 2) Allows the artwork to be not-so-perfect, which is nice, since this whole game is going to be a lesson for me in both programming and pixel artwork and would otherwise look amateurish. 3) Since I'm making this game all by myself, creating and animating the artwork in this game is going to be a bitch, and I want to get to the point where I can create sprites in under an hour (...is that reasonable/possible?) and animate them without much difficulty.
With that all said, here are some examples of a typical page of sketches I make:
And so, for my first sprite, I took the following sketch (cropped and blown up as a background in Pixen):
Which eventually resulted in:
(...Which isn't too bad for a first sprite I think. ...Right?)
Now, that took me, like, three hours total. I've tried repeating the process with other sprites, but it's turning out horribly. Pixen has a lot of bugs, and I was screwed on the outset with this next sprite due to distortion, program hiccups, and some silly mistakes on my part (like, proportion, point of view, and a bazillion other mistakes that I would normally not make).
Sketch:
Ugly result (which I'm probably going to trash and start over on instead of trying to fix):
(BTW, the head was a stand-in, so at least that bit of ugliness wasn't an accident.)
So anyway, I need some professional assistance. XP
First, I think a big problem for me is that I'm a sketchy type person, who needs to really sketch and mess around with an image before detailing it. I can't do that with just a mouse, and I think I'm going to need to get a tablet. That way, I can just sketch directly on the sprite, instead of having to hand-draw paper ones, scan 'em in, and go through all that crap.
Right? Shouldn't I get a tablet?
If so, can I get any recommendations? Anything from $100 to $250 would be my price range.
Second, I need a new sprite program. Pixen just ain't cutting it. Any recommendations on that front? I have had people tell me Graphics Gale (I think that's it, the Japanese one) is fantastic. Is that the direction I should go in?
Third, how should I go about making these sprites? What's the most efficient, professional way of going about it? What do I need to know in regards to spritesheets and color palettes and all that jazz?
Finally... thank you for slogging through all of this! I know this is an epic post, I talk too much, ask too many questions, etc., but I'm really lost here. I feel I'm a good enough artist (XP) that I can pick up the ropes if I can just establish a good foundation for myself. I would be eternally grateful to anyone that can help me in that regard.
Cheers!
Anyway, on with the topic!
I'm about to graduate high school, and am getting serious about getting involved in the game industry. To that end, I've been teaching myself everything I can about game development. I'm also working on my very own video game (using the Allegro game library) called Get Back High. It's an extremely unique fighting game with outrageous characters and gameplay that takes place in a crazy high school with even crazier students (and teachers). I've got the programming thing down, but I don't really know where to begin with the artwork.
Let's see, where do I begin...
Well, first, I wanted to see if I was even competent at pixel artwork, so I attempted making one of the standing sprites of the main character. I didn't have a drawing tablet (more on that later), and quickly found the mouse was an inadequate tool for my needs (at least, for the general layout of the sprite, not the details). So, I started using my fairly decent hand-sketching skills to draw poses and models (usually while at school), and scanned them onto my computer. Using Pixen, which was the first free Mac-compatible pixel software I could find (more on that later), I scanned in my first sketch, estimated the size my sprite would be and proportions of the sketch (since Pixen stretches background images to fit the dimensions, which could potentially distort my sketches), and traced it with a mouse. Afterwords, I filled in the details, and got a pretty decent (or, at least, I think so) end product.
Oh, and before you look at them, I should probably tell you the style I'm going for. First, I want to intentionally use a low-resolution. I'm going for a pixelly, old-school, SNES-esque look. Because of the game's gameplay style, I also don't need the sprites to look perfect -- I'm going for personality, and stray pixels here or there won't hurt it. I'm doing this for several reasons: 1) Fits the game's style, obviously, which needs to be ridiculous when you have, say, a maniacal midget genius commanding physically deformed robots (hunchbacks, beer-bellies, and thunder-thighs) through the use of a mechanical diaper she wears. 2) Allows the artwork to be not-so-perfect, which is nice, since this whole game is going to be a lesson for me in both programming and pixel artwork and would otherwise look amateurish. 3) Since I'm making this game all by myself, creating and animating the artwork in this game is going to be a bitch, and I want to get to the point where I can create sprites in under an hour (...is that reasonable/possible?) and animate them without much difficulty.
With that all said, here are some examples of a typical page of sketches I make:
And so, for my first sprite, I took the following sketch (cropped and blown up as a background in Pixen):
Which eventually resulted in:
(...Which isn't too bad for a first sprite I think. ...Right?)
Now, that took me, like, three hours total. I've tried repeating the process with other sprites, but it's turning out horribly. Pixen has a lot of bugs, and I was screwed on the outset with this next sprite due to distortion, program hiccups, and some silly mistakes on my part (like, proportion, point of view, and a bazillion other mistakes that I would normally not make).
Sketch:
Ugly result (which I'm probably going to trash and start over on instead of trying to fix):
(BTW, the head was a stand-in, so at least that bit of ugliness wasn't an accident.)
So anyway, I need some professional assistance. XP
First, I think a big problem for me is that I'm a sketchy type person, who needs to really sketch and mess around with an image before detailing it. I can't do that with just a mouse, and I think I'm going to need to get a tablet. That way, I can just sketch directly on the sprite, instead of having to hand-draw paper ones, scan 'em in, and go through all that crap.
Right? Shouldn't I get a tablet?
If so, can I get any recommendations? Anything from $100 to $250 would be my price range.
Second, I need a new sprite program. Pixen just ain't cutting it. Any recommendations on that front? I have had people tell me Graphics Gale (I think that's it, the Japanese one) is fantastic. Is that the direction I should go in?
Third, how should I go about making these sprites? What's the most efficient, professional way of going about it? What do I need to know in regards to spritesheets and color palettes and all that jazz?
Finally... thank you for slogging through all of this! I know this is an epic post, I talk too much, ask too many questions, etc., but I'm really lost here. I feel I'm a good enough artist (XP) that I can pick up the ropes if I can just establish a good foundation for myself. I would be eternally grateful to anyone that can help me in that regard.
Cheers!