[WIP] Run-n-gun game sprites UPDATED 8/18

[Rybar]

pointy elbow plus shading.. it needs a lot of work I know. 


When you are at the point where you are finishing an animation, how do you avoid the noise/jitter that occurs from the shading not being exactly the same from one frame to the next?  The obvious answer being, make sure the shading is the same from frame to frame ofcourse, just wondering if anyone had any advice on how to go about doing that as efficiently as possible.

[zez]

I generally cheat and use a rotation tool on the previous frame (just the bit that's moving, to rotate it towards the new position) and then base my shading loosely off of that, with some variation for where the light would be hitting it (like if a leg is no longer getting shadow from something above it) by using a semi transparent layer with the rotated bit ontop. Obviously I dont use the rotated bit in the final sprite, as that would look horrible, but it helps keep my pixel clusters in fairly consistent spots.
That being said, your shading pretty much blows mine out of the water, so Im not sure how applicable that method is with all the subpixel stuff you have going on.
I think the two jumpiest bits you have on the legs, btw are right above the crotch, where the torso gains and looses a pixel, and the fairly intense jump from frame to frame on his butt. The butt seems to be constantly gaining and loosing 3 or 4 pixels. You also may want to ditch the sellout on his front leg and just use shading. I think those issues would pretty much fix it.
Also, welcome to pixelation! Nice to see more migration.

[Rybar]

Thanks zez!  Its cool to see fellow flixelers over here.  I've touched up the run cycle again; I didn't even notice all the extra pixels on his butt till you mentioned it.  It's much more consistent now, thanks. 
Also have a first draft of a pop-up turret:

     

Next up will be to do a disarmed run-cycle, where he isn't aiming, and thus much much harder due to the torso twisting, arm movement, etc.  Does anyone know where I could find some good reference for running while holding something?

[ErekT]

Next up will be to do a disarmed run-cycle, where he isn't aiming, and thus much much harder due to the torso twisting, arm movement, etc.  Does anyone know where I could find some good reference for running while holding something?

You mean with a lowered gun like in the idle position, rite? In that case I think you can just use the same timing for bobbing up and down as in your current run-cycle. When the left foot touches ground and the arms go down to indicate the impact, simply move the whole right arm back one pixel for that frame to give the impression the whole torso is twisting. And forward one pixel for the right foot. Might be enough.

Cool motion on the turret btw  

[Rybar]

7/5 gun-run unarmed cycle complete



ErekT, that worked just fine for the most part! I added a bit of back and forth on the guns front and back end as well.. not nearly as painful as I thought. 

Let me know how I can improve this.

[crab2selout.png]

Did an edit on your turret animation.
Tried adding some stretch/squash to give it a more clunky, mechanical feel. Right now yours feels too smooth, too perfect. Lots of frames showing a smoothly tweened action does not equal good animation. Just means you have a smoothly tweened action with a bunch of frames.

I find that lots of quick starts and stops work really well to descibe mechanical movement. It looks efficient that way.

I changed the frame rate. Beofre you were animating at 60 fps. Now it's more like 20. At this size, it's kinda overkill imo to be working at 60 fps.


EDIT: made a couple more edits.

[Rybar]

@crab2selout:  Yes, your 2nd edit looks much better.  The first one looked too rubbery, too much springy action and deformation of parts that should be rigid.  Mechanical animations are supposed to look perfect; its not organic motion, so squash/stretch doesn't really apply.  That being said, I like how the motion in your edit "pops" better and is more linear instead of everything sliding into place at once like my first one.  Thanks!

EDIT: To be fair, you should keep your first one on here as well so others can see what the hell I'm talking about!

[crab2selout.png]

@crab2selout:  Yes, your 2nd edit looks much better.  The first one looked too rubbery, too much springy action and deformation of parts that should be rigid.  Mechanical animations are supposed to look perfect; its not organic motion, so squash/stretch doesn't really apply.  That being said, I like how the motion in your edit "pops" better and is more linear instead of everything sliding into place at once like my first one.  Thanks!

EDIT: To be fair, you should keep your first one on here as well so others can see what the hell I'm talking about!

Sorry. I overwrote hte original file and since I didn't log into imageshack when I uploaded I can't see my history of image uploads. I agree there was some weird stuff happening there.

I think the animation is mostly the same, except for that little black thing at the back. It was really floppy in my original edit, although I don't know why I did that... Amazing the difference it can make getting rid of something like that.

[Rybar]

Ok, so we've decided to nearly double the size of the sprites for this game.  I've got a start on it, but now that he's bigger, something doesn't seem quite right proportion-wise.  Funny how incorrect anatomy is amplified by higher resolution.  Anyone care to give me some pointers? I think I just need another set of eyes on it.

[bengo]

I really don't think you should up the game's resolution, its gonna be tough doing all the graphics as is.