Edit: I recorded the blasted thing again, it looks much better now.

Been a long time since I was active here.

I'm not a GrafX2 wizard but I've been using it for a long time already, and actually only now I noticed that:

-Apparently there are no tutorials, much less video tutorials.
-The interface is a huge "what" for people that come in contact with it
-Online documentation is dying.

So I slapped together this introductory tutorial with the idea of making more as long as I actually know what I'm talking about. Time didn't allow to explain right button use on the interface itself even though it's alluded to, I'll guess that's the next thing I'll have to cover.

Any thoughts on how useful / helpful it'd be to make more?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4I1oPxNpDI

Yes, that thumb thing is the kind of error one somehow manages to not notice, but that once seen cannot be unseen. Like doble elbows and other shit. Happens to everyone of us, I think

Grafx2 is incredibly efficient to work with once you get used to all of the keybindings.  http://code.google.com/p/grafx2/

Or if you just reassign them to whatever you want. I use WASD instead of the arrows.

My vote is for GrafX2 too. I wouldn't even be into pixel-art if it wasn't for that program. I can't stop saying that, sorry.

Wheeeeew.

Good quagmire you've managed to set up here, earthlings. 

I've read through the entire thread and most of the links. The parodies of absurd female posing are highly amusing, and enlightening too.

Can I get a little on-topic? Or at least try? I think I'll fail miserably.

First and foremost: I consider the over-abundance and over-flaunting of biological airbags stupid. The contortionist poses are also pretty stupid, and most of them don't even look sexy to me. The occasional well-endowed woman is alright (just as in real life) but making all female characters an army of cookie-cutter automotive safety devices is just plain monotonous, shallow and boring (that is, objectionable from an artistic standpoint without even getting into the sexual objectification component...)


An egregious example of stupid airbag designs:
Taki from the Soul Calibur franchise: http://www.videogamegirlsdb.com/Images/Soul_Calibur/Taki/Taki_SC_Legends_01.jpg
Form-fitting overalls? Ok, fine, alright. Independent envelopes for each of the boobs?! What the f*ck?! And how the hell does the suit go INTO HER BELLY BUTTON?! I must assume such an outfit comes with a little vaccuum device to fit it "properly" 

Drive safely. Drive with Taki. 

Some mixed examples from manga:

Kiasca from Berserk, by Kentaro Miura: http://yuki-chat.org/shimmie/_images/d4f78ff9ae45c2b9860c4b14a4f7af54/2001%20-%20armor%20berserk%20casca%20monochrome.jpg

Kiasca is a very capable badass girl with some scars (none in the face, though). She's the most dangerous mercenary in her troupe besides the protagonist and said troupe's leader. Little to no emphasis is usually placed on her boobs, or other typically feminine qualities, except in some sporadic scenes. Unfortunately, the character is ultimately objectified when she becomes mad and aphasic after a harrowing experience where oceans of blood were shed. In her defense, I have to say that all other characters involved in the event that turned her into an "object" qualify for at least one element of this list, either prior to or as a result of that event:
a) killed
b) maimed
c) demons

Gally/Alita from Gunnm (aka Battle Angel Alita) http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m889l0Zy4r1qbewsko1_1280.jpg

I think this character is a particularly interesting example as it shows both objectification and actification of the same female character at different points and levels of the story.
Objectification:
1) She's a complete cyborg. That fits a literal interpretation of the word "objectification", and a close metaphor for the kind of objectification we're talking about here.
2) From the design (this one IS big-boobed, qualifying for "boobs of steel" too, both literally and as the trope) it's clear that it's designed as an "object of desire".
3) she is subject to several very clear objectification attempts by other characters in the plot:
-The first story arc revolves about a cyber-doc rebuilding her from a derelict cyborg torso+head. She starts the story as, literally, an object: a piece of scrap. Then said cyberdoc reactivates "her", and tries to make her into some sort of daughter/wife husbandry hobby project. HE FAILS MISERABLY. Throughout the plot there are a myriad other attempts to objectify her, both by antagonists and "good guys". Some of them fail heroically, some of them succeed horribly, but she is always strong enough to break through the objectification, sooner or later, in one way or another.
4) She is actified to a high degree as she is the main driving force in the story, and what she does is much more important than what or how she is.

I'd go into a detailed analysis of the objectification attempts on the main character in this comic, but the post is already long enough.

Whoops, we were supposed to be talking about vidya gaems rite?

Quote from: Psiweapon on January 31, 2013, 09:58:48 am

Honestly, I was wondering where the hell the idle animation was, before clicking on it two or three times for zoom. I couldn't see it.

Turn it up a notch or five, subtlety is a good ideal, but useless if it flies over the public's heads.

It depends on the scale the game is played at. I doubt it's going to be played at a 1x scale, so it'll probably be a lot more obvious when zoomed in. Games like Metroid had very subtle animations as well and they tend to be well-liked.

Of course dude, but if some sprite is meant to be seen at a fat pixel size, I expect to be shown here like that, if it's shown in 1x1 pixels only I assume that's how it's meant to be displayed.