I am the sun: game tileset WIP

[Chis]

Hey guys, I'm back  Right now I'm just attempting something small to get a better grasp on programming, so I'm trying to keep it simple.



Screenshots:





The backgrounds are extreme WIP. In the second screenshot he's standing over water; I'll add a reflection when I finally get my hands on Flash 5. I used a partially transparent yellow rectangle over the bg in the third one to convey what the atmosphere should be like.

So I'm frustrated with the palettes and style. They look okay for each individual tile, I think, but collectively the game doesn't have a defining look to it.
Also, I want to stray away from the Cave Story look but I'm not sure how to give the player sprite more character.

[Tourist]

I think you've got some lovely colors.

As far as coherent theme, some ideas:
the path of the sun across the sky per Egyptian myth (they were big on this, I think), or
changing of seasons / weather.  Have plants that turn to face the hero, snow that melts as he walks by, that sort of thing

The character as is looks too much like the umbrella girl of the Morton Salt company.  This one:


I tinkered with the character a bit.  None of these are very good for a game, but maybe they will prompt you to think of something you like.


Tourist

[Elk]

Woah...cool stuff!

Just a question, is this games character representing the sun and enlighting the world somehow?

[NaCl]

AND WHATS WRONG WITH THE MORTON SALT GIRL??

I really like the backgrounds, but the block tiles are not doing it for me, they look too gaudy and repetitive. The red tiles look kinda cool but I've no idea what theyre supposed to be. Roots?

As for giving the sprite more character, bust up the pose some. Right now he is a cube with a ball on top, not conducive to character. Bend him, twist him, give him a personality through his body. Also, his outfit is vague. Looks kind of like a yellow hoodie, kind of like a rain coat. If youre going for a raincoat then try and get the classic shape of the poncho.

[Cicadas]

Hello, Chis!
I love the way these scenes look, they're full of lots of great colors and fine moods. I especially like the character, he (I think it's a he?) has a lot of charm.
However, he looks a little stiff. I think maybe you should try to relax his pose and attitude a little, make him look a little less tense.
I made an edit to try to show what I mean:

I kept the design the same, and he's the same size, but I made a bunch of cosmetic/pose tweaks.
 -Dropped the shoulders down and brought the arms out some
 -Unzipped the raincoat a little ('cause nobody goes around with it all the way up unless it's pouring) and made his neck visible
 -Flared the raincoat out at the bottom and gave it a pocket, gave the kid a pair of shorts
 -Rounded out the face and gave him a nose and ear
 -Brought out the hood and gave it a bit more swoosh and shadow

I really love this character, it's simple, yet effective. I don't think you need to add many extra details to his design, keep it kind of plain and let the bright color and simplicity speak for themselves. I have a few minor issues with some of the terrain (like what NaCl said about the blocks), but it's in a WIP state and you'll probably iron them out on your own. I really hope you follow through with this, because explore-em-ups are my favorite kind of game.

(Edit:) Bonus edit on what I meant about the blocks.

[Chis]

Wow, the Morton salt girl didn't occur to me until you guys mentioned it
Thanks for the ideas, Tourist! I had tunnel vision until I saw those. Also, I really like the idea of plants turning; I was actually going to have the roses in the second tileset blossom as he gets near them.
Yeah, the character is supposed to be a representation of the sun. Originally I thought he could just run around and light up stuff, but I just thought of this possible interesting game mechanic involving a moon, so I'll implement that and see how it works out.
You're right, I did make him too stiff. I have a better design in mind for him, but I'll keep it simple.
This is the first time I've attempted tiles, so I'm not sure how to make the tiling less obvious. Well actually I can fix the third set, but in general, how would you go about constructing a tileset?
Thanks for the edit Cicadas I wanted to make him less square but wasn't sure how. I'll post a new character design and some updated tiles soon.

[PypeBros]

There's one thing that puzzle me with those tiles -- let me number them left-to-right

tileset 1 uses "crafted" blocks, but you erode them as if they were an organic structure.
tileset 3 represents organic grass on something, and here you have blocky edges.

I'm really fond of tileset2 ... this one really has has strong potential.

[Chis]

I realize the left one still looks like morton salt girl but I think yellow raincoats in general are a popular enough symbol that I won't get yelled at for copyright or something.
I thought the hood in Cicada's edit was brilliant so I tried to incorporate that. Also rounded him a bit.
I'm not sure the other design is a viable one but I thought it was cool o:

I thought it would be interesting for tileset 1 to be contrasting like that, but the blockiness of tileset 3 seems really obvious now time to edit some moar.
Oh holy crap Cicadas, you're a genius ;__;

EDIT: I completely redid the tileset 3.



It should be a lot better now. Inspired by sea grass 

[Cicadas]

Chis, that's fantastic, a million times better than your initial sprite!
I love the new, more realistic proportions, and you really nailed the oversized, cumbersome look of a raincoat. The hood is great, just a touch oversized and it's even got that sort of triangular peak like it's supposed to. The only thing I'm curious about is the lighter green pixel to the right of his eye.

As for the second design, it looks like a good literal representation of the sun, but it gives off more of a femenine vibe to me. The shoulders are also a bit low in comparison to the head, perhaps bring the head and cloudscarf down some?

The new tiles are much improved, giving off a much more believable look. It's got a nice stringy feeling to it, too, but you might want to give it a bit greener hue, so people don't mistake it for sand flowing through cracks in the rock. Also, if it's going to be organically messy and disorganized, I think you ought to keep the idea of secondary tiles to go on top of them like you did with the original grass, as it looks a bit flat on top as it is.

Keep up the good work!

[Chis]

The green pixel is supposed to be part of his eye ... 
I'm partial to the new version too, so I'm going to stick with it. I'll tinker with tileset 3 later.

Running animation:


Annd here's a new screenshot:


Do the tiles look better now?
I think the background is too saturated. I'm aware that the ladder is hard to read; I'll add a shadow under it (and all of the other objects) in realtime.