The noisy texture of the sand feels out of place with the style of all the other assets, which uses more solid colours and textures made out of larger shapes.

Here's some potential sand inspiration from Sword of Mana (I've edited the colours in this image to help with clarity, the original colours are washed out because the game was made for the original, non-backlit GBA).

That's a GREAT reference. I have never played Sword of Mana I should probably take a look at more art from that game.

About using different styles, be careful. If you use a consistent style throughout your game will seem tighter, more consistent and more professional. If you use different styles you run the risk of looking like a game assembled from asset packs.

The only game I've seen work with different styles well was one where each level was a different era in computer game graphics.

You're acting as de facto art director for this project, and as far as I can tell, one of the jobs of an art director is to maintain a consistent art style throughout the project...

Yeah I'm aware of that. I'm not talking about mixing styles, I'm talking about exploring styles and then deciding which one to further develop. Considering the game is this early in development a switch in art direction is still possible.

The other option is to keep chugging along, iterating/polishing and see where it goes!

And to post some art updates, here are the new graphics I made today, some more beach stuff, but this is still heavy WIP and will definitely be improved with help of your feedback. Thanks so much for your input, it's very appreciated.





See you around. Ribs out!

Hello everyone

I'm looking for some C&C for this piece:



To me it looks pretty sketchy and I'd still consider it a WIP, although the client was well satisfied with it as it is. The size specifics were big so it was all I managed to create with the client's budget. I know there's plenty of room for improvement and I'd love to put more work into this piece to improve my skills and make it look finished, so I'm proud of putting this at my portfolio pages. But I'm kinda stuck and everytime I open the image it feels like I've reached my utmost. How could I make this better? Please feel free to sketch over it if it proves necessary. Thank you!

Looking for new Projects:
info@deathstalkerentertainment.com
Skype: deathstalkerarts

This is a 3 minute edit to remove shadows and increase spume opacity over the underwater shells.



Not my best work but I think they look more underwater now.

Especially the leftmost shell.

Oh yeah I think I see what you mean, thanks for the edit!

And yes! The foam will be animated indeed, someway, somehow I don't know how I will be doing it but I will learn or find someone who can aid me.

***

You know, I've been pondering a lot about the game and its art direction. Right now it's like this Stardew Valley inspired 16-bit esque pixel art with biggish sprites (using Suikoden scale) and I know I have already some work done, but I've been thinking about exploring other styles too. I feel a bit overwhelmed, because 1) I like how it looks, even if its a bit generic or common and 2) the game is already massive as is, I figured that if I work steadily on it it'll probably take at least 3 or 4 years, maybe more since I'm by no means an expert and I have to figure stuff out as I go, same for my brother who is helping me with implementation.

I will probably do some studies and end up sticking with something closely resembling what I have but polished a ton. It might be the best choice for this project.

Oh well, let's see how it goes. It is definitely going to be an exciting journey. Thanks so much for the input, I appreciate it dearly.

Ribs out!

Cool stuff man keep it up