GR#126 - Desert Rumble - Tile Structure, Sideview

[Peyton]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here on Pixelation.
Some of you may have seen me on PixelJoint as peytonisgreat.

Well, I created this today using some basic 16x16 tiles and a medium sized palette that I made as I went, and I would like any critiques and tips you could give me on how to improve.

This piece was mainly to test out a tip given by CraftyPixel, where I needed to make my piece less dull and empty.
So, without further ado, here it is.

All in all, I think it is one of my best pieces, even with it's little issues.



Version on PixelJoint can be viewed here: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/77439.htm

Criticisms I have given myself:
Characters do not match rest of the piece with their outlined style
Light source on gold/bronze/something tiles does not match rest of piece

[Pix3M]

It is extremely obvious that this world is made of tiles. That would not be a bad thing if the tile grid is part of the game, but otherwise I don't see much benefit from showing the tile grid. Is the tile grid part of the game, like push block puzzles that snap to a grid? 

Screen size may also be innapropriately large. As far as I have observed, 320x240 with a 16x16 character is already pushing it too large unless our character moves fast or can shoot.

I feel knowing how this (hypothetical?) game works can help give more info to critique with. Game graphics are supposed to compliment the game play.

[AteOneZero]

You could use some extra tiles to round off the edges because right now it looks super blocky. Even the clouds! Unless the clouds can be stood on (in which case you would need to make it more prominent), you should probably just sprite it without worrying too much about tiling as part of the background layer.

As for the HUD at the top left, I would say try to add some more spacing between the elements from the edges of the canvas. Like, don't have the bar or the dude touching the edge.

[Peyton]

Thank you both for the critiques.
I am really used to keeping my tiles blocky and in a grid, blame it on Minecraft. I will try to break up the grid and round things out.
The idea for this hypothetical game was to be sort of like Mario, but where you had to get to the golden idol in the center to move on to the next area. There is not too much concept there, as this was just done for fun :p
I have to agree with the character being too small, perhaps if I remade it to be taller and more noticeable, perhaps with some sort of fireball mechanism.
I have to agree 100% about the HUD. To be honest, it was rushed and I didn't put my best efforts into it, so I will have to tweak it so it looks better.
Once again, thank you both for your critiques, I will do my best to follow them

[Pizza Tom]

I actually don't think the character's height is an issue, but he definitely doesn't stand out from the rest. Everything is very brown and neutral. For the environment that's fine, I think you did a pretty good job making it neutral without being boring! But the player, enemies, and any other interactive objects need some color lovin'. Not that everything has to be super bright and shiny, either.

Quick example:
--->

See how the player is immediately more noticeable? My slime wasn't much better, but you get the idea. Outlines also help to highlight the difference between "active" objects and background objects, so you don't necessarily hafta get rid of those. That said, you may want to eliminate the outlines anyway, to get more detail at this resolution.

My only other crit is the clouds. Instead of blob-things, try blocking out some cloud-shape-things, then breaking them into tiles. Right now the flat-ness and round-ness of them is very distracting from the rest of the piece!

[Peyton]

I really like that idea of making the colors stand out more.
It would require me to add more to the palette, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue
And I will get to work on those clouds soon.

[PypeBros]

Detail, contrast, chroma. these are the three ways you can help make characters outstand the background. It's really worth investing more saturated tones in the palette for things that should bring out player's attention. Also check out Arne's "Macaroni Ted" mock up:

Not having checked a single line of tutorial, you can immediately tell what is interactive and what isn't.