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Messages - Darien
Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 44

1
General Discussion / Re: Pixelation's Future
« on: September 17, 2022, 05:06:54 am »
Goodbye Pixelation!  This place was such a formative place for me and many others as budding pixel artists.  Thanks for keeping it running as long as you have.

2
Pixel Art / Re: Fire animation, thoughts?
« on: May 14, 2019, 06:28:32 am »
I don't see an animation!

3
Pixel Art / Re: Sprite bases
« on: March 03, 2018, 06:14:19 pm »
I find it's typically hard to make a convincing walk cycle without at least 6 frames.  You can sometimes get away with 4 though, when you essentially just have the two most important points of the walk cycle for each leg:  the "contact point", where the heel strikes the ground, and the point where the character's knees is higher in the air as the character is bringing their leg forward. 

You should avoid using the standing pose as a frame in walking.  Although a lot of games do this, it creates a shuffle effect rather than a real walk.

Here's a gif tutorial that might help you out: https://twitter.com/saint11/status/905098438571958272?lang=en

4
Pixel Art / Re: my first background using tiles
« on: March 03, 2018, 08:35:16 am »
Hi, this looks nice! I like it.

One thing I think is worth looking at is the difference in the amount of colors you use for the moon vs the buildings.

With such a small resolution, you are able to get the effect you want with few colors for the buildings.  But for the moon, which uses a lot of colors (comparatively), I think you are actually less successful in creating a nice effect--I would suggest trying to redo the moon with 2 or 3 colors, but with more contrast between each shade.  Don't be afraid to use a photo of the moon as a reference!.


5
Pixel Art / Re: [CC] Pixel MMO I'm working on
« on: December 27, 2017, 09:47:33 am »
Thanks for that feedback, I really appreciate it.  I'd be curious if you have any examples of character sprites that seem more appropriate for the environment.  There were definitely some design limitations since everything had to be customizable (clothes, hair, eyes, weapons).  These are some more examples of the characters and NPCs:

I think the ones you just posted look better than the ones in your first screenshot.

For cartoony pixel art sprites I tend to prefer fewer colors, and to have highlights are used sparingly.  The game Mother 3 is one of my favorites for cartoony pixel art character--I don't mean the proportions of the characters, but the way the artists used simple, flat colors to create strong shapes rather than using too many colors (which can look noisy)

The fan-game Mother 4 also has some nice art in that style: http://www.mother4game.com/ .  Eastward also has some nice cartoony artwork, although it's a little more complex: http://pixpilgames.tumblr.com/

I took a crack at editing one of your sprites.  It's not perfect, but I wanted to illustrate what I mean by when I say the sprites look cluttered.  There is an overuse of 'inner outlines' in your sprites, IMO.  When every pixel counts, using too many inner outlines (to outline an individual item of clothing, for example) can cause your sprites to feel cramped and lacking in detail.


6
Pixel Art / Re: [CC] Pixel MMO I'm working on
« on: December 26, 2017, 08:53:31 am »
The overall aesthetic is quite cute and nice, but it's not really taking advantages of the simplicity of the style.

When a style is as simple as this you can more quickly create unique set pieces to make your game more visually interesting.  Here is an example (sorry that I couldn't find a higher quality image):



The overall art style is relatively simple (though not as simple as your game), but it's much more interesting to look at because it feels more like a place in its world--while your gameplay preview looks as though it was procedurally generated.  I understand that you may just be trying to find an aesthetic right now, but you might want to keep that mind as you develop the game.

The other thing is the human characters--simpler styles tend to be easier to animate.  It's hard to tell from the land-exploration gif, but the animations seem a little lacking.  And, to be honest, the characters seem like they are not up to the quality of the environment, I think mostly because the artist is trying to draw the details rather than suggest them--the sprites seem a little cluttered.

7
Pixel Art / Re: Please Help! critique needed
« on: November 15, 2017, 06:59:22 am »
I prefer the first one, especially because it seems to fit the perspective of your other tiles better.  I also think the grass pattern is too noisy on the second one.

This is quite a touch challenge you set for yourself, I think the reason you can't find any examples of this is because its so difficult to do.  Perhaps looking at isometric tiles would give you some guidance, here's a good recent thread on showing elevation with isometric tiles: https://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=23789.0

8
Pixel Art / Re: Trouble with isometric shading
« on: October 11, 2017, 05:52:47 am »
Biggest thing is the bottom left face of the cube (and all corresponding faces) is way too light considering the light source.  I think it should be about the same shade as the top of the cube, but maybe just slightly darker to differentiate.  Overall I think it looks pretty good.

10
General Discussion / Re: Old Pixelation stuff from around 2003
« on: January 25, 2016, 08:36:34 am »
haha, fun stuff.  good to see that old banner again.  I got excited today because I found some old images on a USB drive, but then I saw that they were all mostly post this period: http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=1277.msg15463#msg15463

I don't think I have anything from the old blue boards.  I'll leave you with these, though:

A strip poker style girl by Helm (I think), heh:



EGA style pic by gustav:



I really wish I had some of that stuff from the old boards.  Or the old proto-pixeljoint webpage someone had started.  The guy with the blue robed wizard avater, I can't remember his name.

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