Platformer Character + Enemies

[Medevenx]

Alright thanks. 



Trying to make enemies. Not sure how to fix the 2nd enemy's outline though. I also think the first one looks out of style.

[ndchristie]

I find the guns difficult to identify visually. I can see the whole machine, it just doesn't resemble a firearm to me.  It seems to taper towards the back and end in the front of the hand - there's no place for us to identify the actual mechanism, just a barrel.
I'm also not sure the stance iw roking, it looks like they were pasted onto an idle animation.  He'd have more life if his arms were at least party raised.


As far as gunfire, definitely wouldn't fire the two pistols at the same time, but the one on the right is still pretty strange.  It's like it doesn't know how to handle recoil and sets up a big reaction in things like the hair without hardly moving the guns.  Extending the arms should help with this, but more implortantly I think you should consider gameplay first and then redesign the character as need be.  Even automatic pistols, which have large (should be visible I think) magazines should get off around 20 (40) rounds before you should really show a quick click-up-reload animation.  I'd say that you should do this earlier even.  If you're not going to have him reload, I think you need a slower firing rate and make the gun more laser-blaster-y.  That or just give him a machine gun.  This isn't necessary of course, but if your designs don't inform function... well, the confusing animation that you've ended up with is one of the expected symptoms.

[Medevenx]

How's this then?

[WM]

Is he wearing gloves? And are those gloves the same color as his pants? If so, I think that is what's causing the readability issue.

[ndchristie]

How's this then?

I don't think you solved anything.  The arms are still straight down which is making the hand hard to distinguish as well as making the wrist look broken.  They still taper the wrong way (towards the back) and do nothing to communicate "I am a pistol."

In general the character's impression is "i'm bored and uncomfortable."  It could be trying to communicate coolness, but it falls a bit flat - namely because there's no direction to the action and the pose is not 'slick' in any way.  I think he at least needs to point his arms at 45 forward or more.  The eye is also getting invaded by that extra piece of hair which gives him a pretty serious "I'm half-stoned on my anti-depressants" look.

Here's an edit trying to keep some of the character i see in this guy but starting to make him a character that you could see actually having a game about him worth playing :

[Mathias]

Ooh great edit. Way more compelled to action, the body language now says 'It's business time! Thine antagonists best flee', instead of 'Eh . . . yeah how do I work these things again . . ?'

I like the addition of the green clothing. You got fashion choices now.

[Medevenx]

The arms aren't actually straight, the elbows are actually showin in the sprite. But I noticed that the stance is actually very unattractive.

How's a stance like this then?

[Tourist]

I'll offer a different suggestion.  What's important for the figure?

The head needs to be just big enough to display an expression, and have room for hair.  Does it need to be that large?  The torso is probably not that important, so maybe shrink it. 

The arms and guns are important.  You've made the guns nice and large, but the 1 pixel arms are too thin.  I can't quite tell what is going on with the arm on our left in your latest pose, but that may be fine once the figure is skinned.

If the character is going to be jumping a lot, the legs are somewhat important.  I think they need more emphasis (larger) than what you have.  If the game is more of a side-scrolling shooter then the legs would be ok.  Larger legs would also make it easier to include a crouch move/animation if you wanted one.

Just some thoughts,
Tourist

[Medevenx]

It is designed to be a side-scrolling shooter. I am actually enjoying the style, but I made another rendition of him.

[PypeBros]

beside the realism of the character, proportions of the hero of a sidescrolling-platforming-shooter are tightly coupled with his exposure to hazard and the "blind zones" of his fire power. Quote in Cave Story is the very illustration of that. If you have a squarish hero like him, everything that can shoot at you can also be shot. In comparison, Megaman's arm is higher from the ground and some ennemies (Meta-things ?) could be sufficiently low so that he can't shoot them unless crouching, which impacts (but also enrich) gameplay.