AuthorTopic: Platformer  (Read 6158 times)

Offline Ürch

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Platformer

on: May 30, 2012, 05:10:12 am
A while ago, (Almost a year ago, in fact) I posted a mockup of a small platformer. I would like to revisit this project now that I'm on summer break, since it never took off the last time. I've started on spriting some tiles.


I'm kind of stuck on where to go from here. I know I need some more variation in the tiles to make them transition better & look less repetitive, but I don't know what the tiles should really look like. I need to make a character sprite, but i don't really know how to fit a character sprite into a 16x16 box.

I'd like criticism on what I currently have, and suggestions on where to go from here.

Offline Grimsane

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Re: Platformer

Reply #1 on: May 30, 2012, 05:56:43 am
reminds me of chakan the forever man for some reason ;D
hope you don't mind:



if you weren't familiar, might give you some ideas of what you could try too i guess. looks interesting so far like the overall direction. one question though, are the darker tiles solid? like the lighter ones? at first glance it's not entirely clear, for a moment I thought it was the rear wall ie. behind where the player would walk. otherwise they don't blend in too well.

well keep pushing that dark gritty atmosphere/vibe you got going :y:

Offline Ürch

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Re: Platformer

Reply #2 on: May 30, 2012, 06:10:56 am
Yeah, I didn't realize how much of a readability issue that would cause. I will work on placing tiles more appropriately. The darker tiles are indeed solid ground.

Offline Corinthian Baby

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Re: Platformer

Reply #3 on: May 30, 2012, 06:19:57 pm
If you're unsure about what type of tiles to make, just look at some graphics of other platformers to get some ideas. If you know the type of environment you want to create, you can look up ref pics of the separate elements and graphically synthesize them.

What you have is a good start, some basic tiles, but almost every platformer has some kind of brick patterned tile, do something to make yours visually stand out so it doesn't fade into the realm of the generic. Colors play a role in this, and right now you're colors are good but could be amped up a bit for dramatic effect. If you create a strong contrasty balance between the background and the foreground, then you'll clarify some readability issues. I read the dark brick tiles as solid as well, but they seem randomly placed. Are you doing like a fade to black under the platform or are they just shadowy variation tiles? I like the little skull tiles, I think it adds character, and would love to see a 2x2 tile version of it.

And does the player sprite have to be 16x16? Ideally it would be bigger than the tiles themselves, but if it has to be constrained there are certain tricks you can do to make the player readable in a number of environments, mainly by using bright colors. (think mario or cave story).

Offline Ürch

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Re: Platformer

Reply #4 on: June 01, 2012, 06:05:03 pm
Well, I've added a non-skull full block tile, and I've added a sort of dirt tile. I think it looks better overall.
I also added the first hazard, spikes. I wanted the spikes to look unusual, but I think I've made them unusual to the point where they aren't really readable as spikes. I'll try making different spikes later.

Offline PypeBros

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Re: Platformer

Reply #5 on: June 01, 2012, 07:53:29 pm
great tiles, and I also love the suggested, low-contrast background you use.
However, not having any transition tile make them sometimes looking a bit artificial, esp. when you use them as a "stair" of light blocks.

Offline Facet

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Re: Platformer

Reply #6 on: June 02, 2012, 07:13:24 pm
Hullo

There's a lot of fun to be had with tiles if you only experiment a little, some ideas:

  • There's no need to stick to your 16px box with tiled elements; variations in scale is one of your best weapons against repetition.
  • Simple ledges and columns as modelled by Cave Story and imitated by everything thereafter can work wonders.
  • Try bashing out a ton of small variations, have a play with abstraction and simply skim off the interesting ones.
  • You have a lot of highlights and few tonal blocks; with overuse highlights lose their power and become pattern or noise.
  • Good ref: Helm makes a block based tileset look great here.

I'm thinking you might like to head in a Gothic direction. It so happens that I really like platformers set in decrepit high Gothic ruins so I spammed your background with improbable amounts of columns and pointed arches in my paint-over ;D.

Your spikes kinda look like the Hitman logo, but they do read well as dangerous (the blood helps :P)



Edit: reformatted
« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 10:34:51 pm by Facet »

Offline Ürch

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Re: Platformer

Reply #7 on: June 02, 2012, 07:31:36 pm
That looks great! I'd been trying to think of what I should do to fill some of the empty space in the background. I like the little variations in the brick tiles, but I always have trouble getting that sort of thing to look decent when I try to do it.

I'll get another update on here soon, and maybe I'll have an enemy or something else as well.

Offline PypeBros

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Re: Platformer

Reply #8 on: June 02, 2012, 08:40:41 pm
I think the trick behind the kind of edit Facet made is that you stop drawing everything and only draw what pops out of a scene. It's one step towards cartoony rendering, and it fits pixel art quite well.

Imho, the art of Minish Cap and Shantae DS relies a lot on that. I haven't mastered it myself, though.

Offline Ürch

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Re: Platformer

Reply #9 on: June 03, 2012, 07:10:05 am


I've added what I think is a reasonable amount of tile variation. Haven't started too much work on background elements yet. The first couple of enemies have been sprited.
The enemies in this game are going to be based on various board-game pieces, these enemies are based on the pawn and bishop of chess. I realize that the 'pawns' don't look much like pawns. they'll most likely be re-done.