The holidays are almost upon us, which means it's time to get ready for the annual Secret Santa!

For anyone new to Secret Santa, the idea is that everyone involved gives and receives a gift. For added suspense, the person who has you (your santa) is randomly assigned and remains a secret until December 24th. Here at Pixelation, we create pixel art for one another. Check out the past two years of presents here and here. Exciting stuff! If you are interested in participating, keep reading!

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IMPORTANT THINGS:

• To join this year's Secret Santa, post in this thread. Post something along the lines of "I sign up"/"I'm in" so I know you want to participate. Please only sign up if you know you're going to able to complete your gift. There are grave consequences for making your partner sad on Christmas! Specifically, being temporarily banned and not being able to participate in next year's Secret Santa.
• Make sure you haven't missed anything in this thread before you sign up, specifically the important dates, so you know to plan in advance if you'll be unable to submit before the deadline.
• To give your Santa an idea of what to make you, give a short list of likes and dislikes. You can be very specific or broad, but be aware this is all your Santa has to go by if they don't know you!
• eldiabolito, alkaline, Jakten, and SolidIdea may NOT participate this year because they failed to submit a gift last year. Do not let this be you!

IMPORTANT DATES:

• November 11th~23th - Sign ups!
• November 24th - a PM with your partner's name will be sent out to you, start early, and plan even earlier!
• November 25th~December 22nd - Try to finish your gift sometime in here so you don't have to rush anything. You've got close to a month, so make it something really special!
• December 23rd - Very last day to send in your gift!
• December 24th - PRESENTS!!!!

PM me if you're confused about anything or have any questions to ask after consulting the next section.

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santA's Help Desk

I got my partner, what do I do now?
-Make them a pixel gift! If they didn't specify what kind of format they want, feel free to make them any incarnation of pixel art. It's up to you, and what you think they'd like. You can make them a mockup, animations, sprites, you name it! If you have time and are capable, you could even make them a short little game instead of a mockup. If you're worried about time, don't complicate things, do what you do best for your partner.

But I'm going to visit family right around the deadline... What do!
-Send it in before you leave. The 23rd is the deadline, but submissions will be accepted from the time you get your partner's name in a PM until the 23rd. It's never nice to have to cram that close to Christmas! (believe me, I almost got banned for pulling that last year. )

So I worked on the present, but it's not done! Will I still be banned?
-WIPs will be temporarily ok, but don't let it come to that, or you will get a strike! It's better they have your WIP under the tree than nothing, however please finish it shortly after or there will be repercussions. After all, I'm backwards santA and I have no qualms about adding your name to my naughty list!

I think making a present for so-and-so would be really fun, I wish I was their Santa!
-If you finish your present early, you are welcome to make gifts for multiple people. It's totally okay, spread the holiday cheer! Just please concentrate on your partner first. C:

There's a low spec forum, can I make a lowpoly piece for my present instead of pixel art?
-if you wish to do a lowpoly piece, it is allowed as long as there is a focus on pixel art, such as in the texture. This was the ruling from another year as well. Please remember we're primarily a pixel art forum, and while it's allowed to do lowpoly, that's not the focus of this activity, the pixel art is. Spend as much time on your model as you would if you were painstakingly AAing a pixel piece or whatever...

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Gift Wrap!


(possibly subject to change in the coming weeks - patterns? patterns!)

When you send in your gift, designate one of these wraps. A1, B5, etc. If you don't care or forget, I'll pick a random one for you. This gift wrap will be displayed on the 25th linking directly to the gift you made. You can have fun and hint at the shape or color of your image by selecting an appropriate wrap if you care to. Just a thought!

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Read everything? Great! start the sign up below and I will add you to this list! After the 24th, this list will become a checklist of who has submitted their gift. c:

Participants:

• adcrusher524
• Alberto S.R.
• alex pang
• Argyle
• a3um
• Basketcase
• blue
• Batlorder
• Calx
• chimico
• Chris2balls
• Clovvach
• darchangel
• darkgamer
• Demon11777
• Dex
• Don risotto
• Doppleganger
• Ego
• eliris
• Elk
• EvilEye
• FierceDeity
• FRAWG
• Frowntown
• Gamecid
• Gecimen
• Geti
• Gogglecrab
• hapiel
• hamrwolf
• ilkke
• Indigo
• IvanM
• jams0988
• Jeremy
• Jim16
• JiiChan
• Joe
• Juninho
• KaiserFate
• Kcilc
• kendi64
• KittenMaster
• Kren
• Lackey
• LandsharkRAWR
• Lizzrd
• lolyogurt
• Maru
• milleja46
• miascugh
• mjau
• Mr. Beast
• NaiiChai
• Niss
• Nicko
• offwhite
• Opacus
• Partack
• Photocopier
• pistachio
• Reo
• Red_Mist
• rikfuzz
• Riva
• Rydin
• setz
• Sherman Gill
• skamocore
• SlowXM
• slym
• Terley
• TheInquisitor
• threesided
• tomic
• ui
• varis
• Wes
• Xamllew
• xhunterko
• xxmantisxx
• Zccc

Hello!

I'm working with a few other people on an exploration platformer. So far I've done some tiles. If anyone's curious, these are made in photoshop with the pencil tool on various levels of opacity, adhering to a 32x32 grid. It's in the realm of pixel art, but not quite enough to post on the pixel art board.



I'm aware of the more blatant tiling issues, those are due to the WIP nature of this. I'm uncertain about how many levels of dirt there should be before it fades to a solid color. Fading away to a solid color means it's quicker to produce tiles, as well as to tile the game itself. I'd like to know how I could optimize and consolidate the tiles to cover more instances for the sake of economy.

Metroid tends to fade away their rock tiles instantly, and not bother with the dirt underneath. I kind of like some dirt, as I think it helps immerse the player into the environment more, as opposed to, OH HELLO I AM A WALL, AND I AM A FLOOR. It's also possible to hide things in the dirt like fossils which will further hint that the environment isn't just an obstacle course. We also have a tiny eco system going on, which further solidifies the reason to avoid the sterility of insta-black.