Cyclops (WIP)

[Skulkraken]

Hi.

I'm trying to help out with an open-source game called Gearhead.



I took the above portrait, which was one of the default portraits, and made the following one in Paint.



The colors are funky on purpose.  The game makes use of SDL to do pallette swapping.  Red, green, and yellow (with blue as transparency) are the only hues that can be used for sprites and portraits. 

The images below show what colors the engine is able to recognize as different.



Is there any advice on what I should do?

[Andy Tran]

 Nice start out. Most of the colors are too neon or all of the colors are. Desaturate them a bit. Make sure you use good contrast and vary those hues. The shading areas are too big. Resize the image or just add more detail to break it up.

[Wayuki]

The colors are funky on purpose.  The game makes use of SDL to do pallette swapping.  Red, green, and yellow (with blue as transparency) are the only hues that can be used for sprites and portraits. 

The images below show what colors the engine is able to recognize as different.

With colors like these, there isn't much you can do to make nice-looking art. 

And this is why programmers should not make the color choices for a game. *Shields eyes*

[vierbit]

Well..
I dont really know waht that is(one eyed alien with
two strange shaped swords?).
But you should work on your line art,
they look to rushed.
And they colors are eye burning.
I dont know what your programmer had in mind with that.
Oh and btw. You should use other software than Paint
likehttp://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/
for example

[sonic_reaper]

Heh ... you know the colors actually remind me of the Marvel Super Heroes versus Street Fighter game.  It used a lot of vibrant reds and yellows and blues and other basic colors.  The colors themselves aren't so bad but you need to work on your contrast and shading.

[Skulkraken]

I apologize for the neon.  I didn't know what colors the creature is supposed to use at the time I posted it (I've since learned that the skin of it is a sandy brown color, with an emerald-colored eye), so I went with the colors used by the game's templates.  Nothing in the game actually appears as those colors.  They're used in the game as placeholders for the real colors.  The engine gets kinda unpredictable when it encounters other inputted shades, like purples or oranges.  Not even the chief programmer knows what it'll do sometimes, since the function that does the pallette-swapping is actually one that comes with the SDL library.    The revision of it that I'll post up in a couple days will use different colors.

The cyclops, from the text description I was given, is supposed to be part of a line of mobile bioweapons.  The particular cyclops posted is actually a second-generation one.  I was hoping to bring out the idea that it's an artificial being created by other artificial beings.  Their limbs are supposed to be quite long, with their body posture resembling a gorilla.  I was trying to make the cyclops in the portrait look like it's hunched over in order to make eye-contact with the player.  The two swords it's wielding are living swords.  The game lists them as "armor-piercing", so I was trying to make it look like they might literally chew through armor.  Another variant has living rifles attached to mounting points on its back.  They have no hands nor feet.  Instead, their arms and legs end in bundles of manipulative tentacles, with another set of tendrils positioned with their mouths underneath their lidless eyes.  To the sides of the eye are speaker-like membranes, which give its speech a tinny stereo sound.

The game is found at http://gearhead.roguelikedevelopment.org/, if that helps any.

Edit:  I'm still working on revising the portrait, but here's what I've got at the moment. 

I've switched from Paint to GraphicsGale, and I'm planning on redrawing the arms to not take up as much space.  I'm also trying to make the shading more consistent, with a light source above the character.

[Skulkraken]

I've attempted to revise the art that I made.



I'm still trying to decide what to do about the bundle of tendrils at the ends of its arms and legs before I finalize the line art.

[Rox]

Fool! That's supposed to be ONE sentence, not two!

Er, anyway... I don't really know what to say about this guy. He looks pretty bland, if you ask me. Both in design, and the shading and all. Shading is something you should work harder on. Look at other art, and objects around you, and observe how ... shadows and stuff... work...

I feel so worthless. My brain's at a complete stand-still today. Anyway, keep it up..

[Xion]

Interesting...
Well, in addition to what Rox said about shading and all, I'd say you should work on the design of this creature in general. Know what aspects to keep, revise, and eliminate. In those aspects, I think that the original drawing (the one off which you based your revision) had something good going on with its mouth. Tendrily = good monstermouth. You seem to have lost that in your versions in favor of...spikes? I actually like the idea of keeping the fingers kinda wormy. Just make sure that they don't look like an afterthought...For the feet, I picture some oldskool megaman-type legs...all flarey-outey at the bottom. The "waist," just below his big ball...head...thing, is offset towards the right. Move it to the left a bit. It looks like that spot is a bit too weak, IMO. The upper-half is all big and heavy-looking...it hardly looks like that waist would be able to support it without snapping in two. You might wanna consider giving his torso a (fairly) consistent width.
Oh, and you should really take into consideration a strong pose before you start getting detailed and stuff. He looks like he's just standing there all...standyly. Try giving him some menace to his stance, or some action, or something. Also, try not to mirror.

Q: Is this thing alive or robotic?

[Skulkraken]

I'll work on the pose.  I was considering having the cyclops in an attack posture, prepared to slash at the player if he/she makes a hostile move, but I was a bit unsure of whether I could successfully pull it off using the space and viewpoint I was provided.  Now that I've decided to simply use a larger picture then crop, I'll have a go at making a "don't try anything" pose.

I was actually hoping that the size difference between the head and waist would be interpreted as perspective.  Its head, body, and waist are relatively thin, though it is a bit top-heavy, with a bit of a gorilla's body.  Here's what I was trying to go for from profile view (albeit with a slightly off scale):

d-''''''-...
   P      ''p
  1       /
 M        1
          A

Yeah, it's a living creature, but it also happens to be one that was created artificially through genetic engineering, like a robot made out of organic material.  Basically, imagine Frankenstein's monster making another monster in its likeness.  I'll try to redraw it so that it doesn't look too mirrored.  It'll take me a little while, though, since I have a 12-page paper to write for my Intro to Networking class that's due in about three days.  I'll also reread the sections of pixel art tutorials that cover shading.