GR#124 - Action Adventure - RPG Projection, Gameart

[tehwexxl0rz]

Latest:


Hey, remember that platform game I was working on?

Well long story short, it's now an overhead action/adventure game.
Here's a WIP running animation for the main character:


I'll post more stuff as it's created....

PS: Thanks a ton for all the feedback you guys gave me in the old thread. Just because the game has transformed into something else, I don't feel any of it's gone to waste. I hope to use the platformer sprites in their own game eventually, but right now, this is the game I'd like to focus on.

New smaller sprite:


WIP Tiles:

[TheMonsterAtlas]

I do indeed remember your platform game ;P

I'm not expert by any means, but that walk cycle looks relatively well. The shoulders look like they are moving slower than the legs and arms, or at least that's how it looks to me .___.

[Ryumaru]

Great readability! You squeezed some nice hips into a small amount of pixels. Don't know if that pixel separating the breasts is necessary even as costume design but it might just be preference.

Good luck with your game project :] Can't wait to see more!

[Mike]

Sweet anim!  I don't think I've ever seen a sprite that renders the planes of the face as well as per pixel lighting. Sets a new bar for me :p

Anyway I have an edit for you and some teeny bits of advice

So after agonizing over exactly what could possibly be made better I came up with a few subtle points and one not so subtle.

1. When her arms swing back from the max position the spacing for them is very even.  In this edit I've made it take a bit longer for her to pull her arm back in front of her.  What that does is adds that pendulum effect.  You actually have it working quite well when she has her arms at the max distance in front of her and as she begins to pull away.  It's very smooth and not jarring.  I just took that effect and use it on the back swing.

2. I very subtley made her chest move just a bit.  Just to add that extra bit of movement flare.  I added a slight bounce as well as her armor dragging a bit behind the main movement.

3. I have her head seemingly dragging behind her body as she falls to the ground and when she rises.

4.I added some highlights to her pants, and boots. (not necessary by any means but it's something that could be done)

5. I have the bottom of her shirt following through with the movement of her body.  Once again subtlety is key here.  When she falls it drags behind her and when she hits the ground it follows.

I think that's all I edit

Here's a side by side (hope this helps out in anyway possible)

[tehwexxl0rz]

Thanks guys!

Buuuuuuuhhhhh I hate doing environments:


I have to make the scale of the world bigger or the character smaller... I'll probably make the character smaller because holy crap so much work ahead of me.

BY THE WAY! Before anyone comments on the "perspective" of the walls, I should note, I'm not using perspective at all. The projection is orthographic. The walls don't just appear slanted because the top is closer to the viewer than the bottom, the walls are actually slanted. Thus, it's appropriate for the seams between bricks to run vertically on the back wall and NOT line up with the creases in the corners of the room.

Chibi baby:

[PypeBros]

neat. Too bad you can't keep her full-adult size.
anyway, i felt like doing an edit to try out some ideas:

1. tried to apply perspective on sprite rather than chibbiness -> change boot scales, moved shoulders backwards, and eyes downwards + showed more of her cute cyan hair.
2. just sheared wall, mirrored, and kept "straight" bricks only around the doors, although I had read your text about walls being slanted. That might be a completely bad idea, but I had to see it to figure out.

[Facet]

BY THE WAY!...

A good pre-emptive call The projection looks good although the character's gonna clip through those sheared doors if she's above the centre line; the alternative being to foreshorten her like Pype mentioned or lessen the shearing.

The Zelda walls cheaty one-point perspective where you mirror the far wall vertically & scale same as the sides (link link ) does look a bit odd at first but it does also allay the issue of height in the foreground obscuring what looks like traversable floorspace that a lot of top-down games have.

[Grimsane]

I actually messed with this awhile ago too, after you posted the room. figured I'd share

updated just now with an extension of Pype's wall edit, those door funnels and your chibi update for comparison next to the downsize I did earlier. because no matter how you spin it you have a perspective effect going

was curious how sloped the walls were and what wouldn't look jarring, so your tile grid is 24x24 with an 8 pixel intersecting wall border(cyan)?

looks interesting to say the least , and thought of the sheering thing too, I'm sure in zelda, definitely in LTTP they had obtrusions that were used for funneling to the doors, could do that  



might be worth compromising and doing it zelda style (like what Facet linked), save you alot of effort, and it does work

[rikfuzz]

I recently tried the Zelda one-point approach:



One on the right's obviously just scaled quickly in photoshop, but it's kinda half way between the one point view and your projection.  Makes the objects in the middle look slightly less weird, with the edges being 'influenced' by the same perspective.  

[Grimsane]

great suggestion Rik, essentially what I was attempting in my edit. nice pixel-work did you do any character's to go with that?
those doors are A LOT less problematic, again I'd strongly recommend tehwexxl0rz considers such a compromise.