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Pixel Art / Re: Forest Tiles
« on: October 16, 2013, 06:57:16 am »
The overall style looks good, but that middle leaf clump needs to be bigger than the others, so it pops forward rather than looking indented.
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Pixel Art Feature Chest / Re: Forest tileset [wip]
« on: September 22, 2013, 05:53:44 pm »
Very nice! Honestly I don't think you need to change anything. Just make some trees and stuff to go with it 
If it was me, I'd probably add more texture to the path. But that's more a matter of style, and with the grass base being flat green, too much texture would look worse than flat color with occasional fractures like you have now.
Love the color palette. Very soothing, and the low contrast will make characters stand out very well.
Technical-wise, the taller plants will probably need to be sprites rather than part of the background so they can be Y-sorted with characters. If you want to get really fancy, add some animations so they fluff when you walk through them
If it was me, I'd probably add more texture to the path. But that's more a matter of style, and with the grass base being flat green, too much texture would look worse than flat color with occasional fractures like you have now.
Love the color palette. Very soothing, and the low contrast will make characters stand out very well.
Technical-wise, the taller plants will probably need to be sprites rather than part of the background so they can be Y-sorted with characters. If you want to get really fancy, add some animations so they fluff when you walk through them
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General Discussion / Re: 2D-RPG Development Observations
« on: September 09, 2013, 03:58:04 am »
Excellent guide! Pretty much matches my views on the matter, other than the overall tone of "newbies shouldn't make RPGs". I say if it's your dream, go for it. Just don't involve money, and don't feel bad when you fail 
You'll still learn stuff in the process... hopefully.
Another point needed is monster graphics. If you do anything other than single image, "flash when attacking" monsters, you're looking at a massive workload increase.
And you make a quick mention of battle effects, but to expand on that, Chrono Trigger is an example of "nightmare" difficulty level. Not only would the spell animations take a lot of time, but they require a programmer-artist to create, because most of them make heavy use of HBlank effects and other tricks of the SNES graphics chip. Hard for a non-programmer to design those, so you need an experienced programmer who can make them, with artistic sense to come up with cool stuff. Not to mention the combo system causing exponential growth of work needed for each additional character, and more testing to see how the game plays with different party selections.
And lastly, making Final Fantasy 1 is actually pretty easy. It's like a reference guide for the absolute bare minimum work to create the feel of a classic RPG. When designing your game, think "in what way is this more complex than FF1?"
You'll still learn stuff in the process... hopefully.Another point needed is monster graphics. If you do anything other than single image, "flash when attacking" monsters, you're looking at a massive workload increase.
And you make a quick mention of battle effects, but to expand on that, Chrono Trigger is an example of "nightmare" difficulty level. Not only would the spell animations take a lot of time, but they require a programmer-artist to create, because most of them make heavy use of HBlank effects and other tricks of the SNES graphics chip. Hard for a non-programmer to design those, so you need an experienced programmer who can make them, with artistic sense to come up with cool stuff. Not to mention the combo system causing exponential growth of work needed for each additional character, and more testing to see how the game plays with different party selections.
And lastly, making Final Fantasy 1 is actually pretty easy. It's like a reference guide for the absolute bare minimum work to create the feel of a classic RPG. When designing your game, think "in what way is this more complex than FF1?"
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Pixel Art Feature Chest / Re: [WIP] The Yeti project
« on: August 13, 2009, 05:53:20 pm »
I decided to give this a shot. That's a pretty cool looking yeti, and I was curious how good I could do in an hour/how long it would take me to beat the resize, and I could use the practice anyway. Ended up spending 2.5 hours on it total, but I think the result is pretty good. Not as good as Evil's, but then I am still a semi-noob
Probably could do with a couple more shades for anti-aliasing, but meh, it was just for fun (although I would appreciate any C&C on it).
Anyway, here's my progression to one hour (5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 50 min, 60 min)
Still looking incomplete, and I forgot to color the eyes black :p
This was done just referencing the original sketch, I didn't bother resizing it. At first I was going to make mine more brown but with blueish highlights, but I ended up just working in a few shades and adjusted the palette to be similar to the reference.
Next progression (90 min, 120 min)
Looking much better now, but haven't done the back lighting yet.
Then the finished version, with 2 versions of the palette because I couldn't decide which I like better:
So in the end, I agree it would be hard to beat the resize in an hour, but 2 hours is plenty, and 2.5 hours you can do some real refinement.
EDIT: Haha, I just now realized there are only supposed to be 4 knuckles on that hand Well, one more finger to crush your skull with.
Probably could do with a couple more shades for anti-aliasing, but meh, it was just for fun (although I would appreciate any C&C on it).
Anyway, here's my progression to one hour (5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 50 min, 60 min)
Still looking incomplete, and I forgot to color the eyes black :p
This was done just referencing the original sketch, I didn't bother resizing it. At first I was going to make mine more brown but with blueish highlights, but I ended up just working in a few shades and adjusted the palette to be similar to the reference.
Next progression (90 min, 120 min)
Looking much better now, but haven't done the back lighting yet.
Then the finished version, with 2 versions of the palette because I couldn't decide which I like better:
So in the end, I agree it would be hard to beat the resize in an hour, but 2 hours is plenty, and 2.5 hours you can do some real refinement.
EDIT: Haha, I just now realized there are only supposed to be 4 knuckles on that hand
Well, one more finger to crush your skull with.
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Pixel Art / Re: Portrait style dilemma
« on: February 05, 2009, 07:42:57 pm »
WOW. That is amazing. The run cycle is one of the best I've seen, and all the screenshots are gorgeous. I think the red one (top center) is my favorite, but the forests are in close competition.
I kind of prefer the old portrait at the moment, but I think the new one could beat it with a few more tweaks. It doesn't look like the style of the game generally thrives on the anime look, and some people might be put off by it, so a more original style would probably be better (I personally like anime style though).
The new new one is better than the old new one (), but the eyes/eyebrows definitely need to be less sad (at least you lost the unibrow look). Also maybe switch back to the old body style. The new one is maybe a little more anatomically correct (old one her rib cage looks rather narrow), but she looks more like an ordinary office lady rather than the ass-kicking teenager type. And the difference in shading around the shoulder makes her arm look farther back, which doesn't seem to fit the personality for whatever reason.
Another thing, is that the skirt looks much tighter in the portrait than in the sprites. And that also makes her look older.
In any case, it's looking great already, so any changes will only be to further perfect
I dearly hope to play this game someday. One of the best looking I've seen in a long time. Are you doing the programming yourself too, or do you have a team, or are those just mockups so far?
I kind of prefer the old portrait at the moment, but I think the new one could beat it with a few more tweaks. It doesn't look like the style of the game generally thrives on the anime look, and some people might be put off by it, so a more original style would probably be better (I personally like anime style though).
The new new one is better than the old new one (
), but the eyes/eyebrows definitely need to be less sad (at least you lost the unibrow look). Also maybe switch back to the old body style. The new one is maybe a little more anatomically correct (old one her rib cage looks rather narrow), but she looks more like an ordinary office lady rather than the ass-kicking teenager type. And the difference in shading around the shoulder makes her arm look farther back, which doesn't seem to fit the personality for whatever reason.Another thing, is that the skirt looks much tighter in the portrait than in the sprites. And that also makes her look older.
In any case, it's looking great already, so any changes will only be to further perfect
I dearly hope to play this game someday. One of the best looking I've seen in a long time. Are you doing the programming yourself too, or do you have a team, or are those just mockups so far?
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Pixel Art / Vampire game
« on: February 05, 2009, 10:28:18 am »
Howdy there pixelers and pixelerettes. I've been working on this game for the past couple months, and I think I've got enough stuff done to post for opinions/C&C. The basic story so far is that you are a vampire, who has given up her evil ways and goes on a journey of killing bad things. Gameplay/art style is much like Super Castlevania 4, because I love it and there is not enough like it in the world.
First, we have our heroine, Mist, in 15 colors+transparent, 48 pixels tall:
I'm pretty happy with this one. That shading takes a long time to do though, so everything else is still in rough animation style.
Next is walking and crawling:
These I'm not entirely happy with. I like the shoulder/cape movement on the walk, but the unmoving head and slightly stiff legs could use some work. But a full pixel bounce up and down is a bit much, I think. The crawl is a little scrunched up, but that's more for gameplay reasons, so I don't have to widen the collision box. Might be ok as is.
Next we have shooting. There was a nice bow and arrow thread recently and I haven't made any adjustments based on the posts there, but I might as well include it anyway:
And finally, a couple screenshots. The backdrop layers are more index painting style, but the ground could use pixel critiques. The gray platforms are unfinished, so don't mind them for now.
So there you have it. I'm trying to keep frame counts to a bare minimum so as not to take 10 years to make. I won't have much time to work on this game for a couple weeks, and I may be switching over to a different game after that, but hopefully I can get back to it and make at least a few full levels eventually. In any case it has at least served one purpose of giving me something to practice pixels on.
First, we have our heroine, Mist, in 15 colors+transparent, 48 pixels tall:
I'm pretty happy with this one. That shading takes a long time to do though, so everything else is still in rough animation style.
Next is walking and crawling:
These I'm not entirely happy with. I like the shoulder/cape movement on the walk, but the unmoving head and slightly stiff legs could use some work. But a full pixel bounce up and down is a bit much, I think. The crawl is a little scrunched up, but that's more for gameplay reasons, so I don't have to widen the collision box. Might be ok as is.
Next we have shooting. There was a nice bow and arrow thread recently and I haven't made any adjustments based on the posts there, but I might as well include it anyway:
And finally, a couple screenshots. The backdrop layers are more index painting style, but the ground could use pixel critiques. The gray platforms are unfinished, so don't mind them for now.
So there you have it. I'm trying to keep frame counts to a bare minimum so as not to take 10 years to make. I won't have much time to work on this game for a couple weeks, and I may be switching over to a different game after that, but hopefully I can get back to it and make at least a few full levels eventually. In any case it has at least served one purpose of giving me something to practice pixels on.
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General Discussion / Re: A question about 'Selout'
« on: February 03, 2009, 12:14:01 am »
I don't see what the big deal is... it's nice to have a term like selout to search for references on something as specific as varying outline color on sprites to get a bit more definition to the edges than a solid black line.
I do agree with the OP that what (I think) is commonly referred to as selout is basically a type of anti-aliasing. But not against a dark background, so much as simulating using a dark outline with varying thickness, along with shading of the inner color. It's more like trying to take the underlying shape, with shading up to the outline, and the outline itself (however wide it is at that point), and squeezing it all into a single pixel.
But if it's generally agreed that selout means "trying to copy what Capcom does on some edges of sprites, even when not appropriate", then that is a problem and usage of the term should be discouraged
I do agree with the OP that what (I think) is commonly referred to as selout is basically a type of anti-aliasing. But not against a dark background, so much as simulating using a dark outline with varying thickness, along with shading of the inner color. It's more like trying to take the underlying shape, with shading up to the outline, and the outline itself (however wide it is at that point), and squeezing it all into a single pixel.
But if it's generally agreed that selout means "trying to copy what Capcom does on some edges of sprites, even when not appropriate", then that is a problem and usage of the term should be discouraged
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General Discussion / Re: The Ongoing War
« on: January 26, 2009, 08:03:20 pm »
I've worked with Promotion some, but haven't really gotten to know it well enough to judge it on features. But that fact alone gives Graphics Gale a big boost in my opinion. There was basically no learning process needed, beyond discovering what shift and ctrl do in the palette editor.
The main gripe I have with Gale is the limited number of brush sizes. It would be much better if you could just set the diameter in pixels, ala oekaki. Maybe select shape too, but I rarely if ever find myself wanting to plot giant squares anyway. Also, oekaki-style mask/remask would be nice.
What I love most are the drag-and-drop palette editor (not perfect, but better than anything else I've tried), easy setting of different grid dimensions, easy working with layers and frames.
Gil, what do you mean by pixel snapping? I thought you just meant that when zoomed in, it shows you where the pixel will be drawn if you click. But I just opened PM and it does that too.
Oh, and another thing that would be nice is automatic conversion between frames and sprite strips. Although I suppose special-case tool like that are what lead to a cluttered interface like PM in the first place... Actually it looks like PM does have frames to strip at least. I really should spend more time with it. It probably is the better tool, but GG has an amazing balance of power and simplicity that keeps the battle going.
The main gripe I have with Gale is the limited number of brush sizes. It would be much better if you could just set the diameter in pixels, ala oekaki. Maybe select shape too, but I rarely if ever find myself wanting to plot giant squares anyway. Also, oekaki-style mask/remask would be nice.
What I love most are the drag-and-drop palette editor (not perfect, but better than anything else I've tried), easy setting of different grid dimensions, easy working with layers and frames.
Gil, what do you mean by pixel snapping? I thought you just meant that when zoomed in, it shows you where the pixel will be drawn if you click. But I just opened PM and it does that too.
Oh, and another thing that would be nice is automatic conversion between frames and sprite strips. Although I suppose special-case tool like that are what lead to a cluttered interface like PM in the first place... Actually it looks like PM does have frames to strip at least. I really should spend more time with it. It probably is the better tool, but GG has an amazing balance of power and simplicity that keeps the battle going.
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Pixel Art / Re: Atalanta Animations
« on: January 24, 2009, 12:02:45 pm »I haven't researched barefoot or running in sandals but the evidence you provide is good enough for me.I run barefoot/in sandals much faster than with shoes. And yes, always land on the front of the foot first. At full speed my heels never touch the ground at all. At slower speed more like this animation, I go toes first but then the heel settles during the step, so that looks about right. Knees are still maybe going a little far forward. Not that you can't run like that, it's just s little more tiring. I do like the reduced bounce height in your edit, but I think there's something weird going on with her head. It looks like it's delayed one frame compared to her body, although I'm not sure if it really is or if it's just an illusion from the shoulder movement. Generally your head shouldn't move much. I think just getting the hair moving will be enough to make it not look stiff, and maybe a little subpixel variation on her face for skin ripple from the impact of the step and any slight bobbing type motion originating at the neck.
But don't the athletic runners land on the front cushion of the foot.
In that case a proper animation should catch that moment not when the whole foot is in the ground.
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Pixel Art / Re: Sprite
« on: January 22, 2009, 05:50:55 am »
This is a pretty good sel-out tutorial: http://pixel-zone.rpgdx.net/shtml/tut-selout.shtml
I'm not too experienced with it myself, but I decided to try doing an edit anyway, if nothing else to make sure I know what I'm talking about
I think it does look better:
I also tried adding a shadow color for her pupils... not sure I like it though, it kind of changes the overall personality/impression of the character. But I thought I'd leave it in for comparison anyway.
It looks like you've actually done some sel-out already around her chin area. Basically just letting the shading continue to the outlines. It makes sense why it would look better, since a single outline color will look darker next to bright areas, and brighter next to dark areas. It helps define the shape of the object a lot better too, since the surface near edges is generally angled more away from you, so the light hits differently than in the center. And with so few pixels to work with, that one extra line at the edge can give a lot of information.
There seems to be a bit of a black art to it too, like dealing with the steps in curved/angled lines. Sometimes it seems to look better with the lighter shade going to the "inner" corners and dark on the "outer" corners, and sometimes the other way around.
Any sel-out masters around here want to give us both some better tips?
I'm not too experienced with it myself, but I decided to try doing an edit anyway, if nothing else to make sure I know what I'm talking about
I think it does look better:
I also tried adding a shadow color for her pupils... not sure I like it though, it kind of changes the overall personality/impression of the character. But I thought I'd leave it in for comparison anyway.
It looks like you've actually done some sel-out already around her chin area. Basically just letting the shading continue to the outlines. It makes sense why it would look better, since a single outline color will look darker next to bright areas, and brighter next to dark areas. It helps define the shape of the object a lot better too, since the surface near edges is generally angled more away from you, so the light hits differently than in the center. And with so few pixels to work with, that one extra line at the edge can give a lot of information.
There seems to be a bit of a black art to it too, like dealing with the steps in curved/angled lines. Sometimes it seems to look better with the lighter shade going to the "inner" corners and dark on the "outer" corners, and sometimes the other way around.
Any sel-out masters around here want to give us both some better tips
?
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