Criticize my Style

[Tetiro]

Come one and all! It's time to let your complaining sides out! And in the good way because I need you help.

I have been away from here for a long time because of university and work. But more important, I'm working on a BRPG series (British Role Playing Game. It's a joke on the whole JRPG and WRPG...)

And the sad truth of RPGs and most games is that people want something pretty. Now I have produced a style which looks nice. But I want it to look so good that people are shouting "Shut up and take my money!".

Unlike my previous work, the rules of the graphic style aren't limited. But the colours are limited to the palette shown in the image below.
Now the criticism I want is only on the shading, highlights, etc etc. Not the shape and size of the sprite as that is something I have come to realize I'll get better over time with. It's more the prettiness of the graphics I'm looking at today and not the shape



I hope you guys can help me improve my skills! I am open ears to all feedback! (There's only one sprite shown as it gives the idea of the graphic style for the whole game)

[Mathias]

SHUDDUP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!

No. No, don't. I need it. Sorry, nevermind.

ok . . .



This isn't much to go off of. I'm hoping you've created more assets than just this tiny sprite. Are you the only artist working on this RPG? If so, you have a daunting road ahead, sir. Sure you're up for it? Hopefully you are.


This char reads fairly well, though I can't tell what exactly he/she is. A turtle dude?

Nice colors. But the light grey on his arms gets lost in the blue - no contrast. Seems an odd choice.

Those dark blue dots on top of his head - why?

Very mirrored. The double-thick line down the middle feels cheap.

Keep going.

[Tetiro]

This isn't much to go off of. I'm hoping you've created more assets than just this tiny sprite. Are you the only artist working on this RPG? If so, you have a daunting road ahead, sir. Sure you're up for it? Hopefully you are.

This char reads fairly well, though I can't tell what exactly he/she is. A turtle dude?

Nice colors. But the light grey on his arms gets lost in the blue - no contrast. Seems an odd choice.

Those dark blue dots on top of his head - why?

Very mirrored. The double-thick line down the middle feels cheap.

Keep going.

Oh I do have more if you wish me to show off more of the sprite style. If that would be helpful? And yes I am the only artist but I am determined to do all the art!

It's a cren. A species I made up! I should definitely produce some artwork for it!

The light grey! I will try to fix that up!

The dark blue dots are to show the fin on the top of the head. Is it a bit too much?

As for the line in the middle of the torso. I was trying to make a shirt line, but more deeper than a usual shirt line. Any ideas how to fix it?

[Decroded]

Maybe try doubling the res of ur sprites and tiles to give yourself some more freedom.
Then do a bunch of sprites and tiles in a kind of quick pass, then go back over and keep tweaking a few at a time.
this way u should have a fairly consistent look.
dont be afraid to let sprites overhang their bounding boxes where necessary, this makes for more interesting variation.

[r4c7]

Maybe some concept art for your new race? If it was something like an orc, we would get the general idea because we've seen them before, but we haven't seen this before. After that, i'm sure it will help us (atleast me) see what you're trying to represent.

[Tetiro]

@r4c7 -  I shall produce some concept art ASAP! But until then, think of a blue humanoid dolphin but with bird traits

@Decroded - Because the series is heading for Android, there is the ordeal of texture pages. So I want to keep the sprite sizes to a minimum so there is far less texture page swapping. Believe me that takes alot of damage for the game. Plus, my sprite skills lessen as you increase in size :/

As for the bounding boxes, I don't worry about them if I can keep the sprite looking good.

EDIT: I will put up more sprites tonight!

[Tetiro]

I've updated the image in the topic to show more of the work

[PypeBros]

the colours you're using for your grass create quite some noise by being so saturated and using high contrast compared to the characters and monsters.

I suppose the pink thing in the bottom-right corner is some "translucent" color to let some other layer show up. I don't know why I'm seeing a miniature boat over there, nor what those pinkish things (blades and worms ?) actually are, but I'd avoid contact if I was to play the game.

All I can tell about the brownish part in the upper-left corner is that it doesn't look like I could walk there. It doesn't suggest any precise volume or texture, imho.

[Tetiro]

the colours you're using for your grass create quite some noise by being so saturated and using high contrast compared to the characters and monsters.

I suppose the pink thing in the bottom-right corner is some "translucent" color to let some other layer show up. I don't know why I'm seeing a miniature boat over there, nor what those pinkish things (blades and worms ?) actually are, but I'd avoid contact if I was to play the game.

All I can tell about the brownish part in the upper-left corner is that it doesn't look like I could walk there. It doesn't suggest any precise volume or texture, imho.

Ah brilliant, some crits! How would you fix the problem? (Imagine I know very little on art terms. Because I don't XD)

EDIT: Btw, the graphics you're seeing in the scenario are overworld tiles and characters. So be sure to take that in mind!

EDIT 2: Ok I really see what you mean about the grass and I fear that it will be the case for all the floor tiles. How can I tone down floor tiles?

[PypeBros]

just used Gimp to explore contrast and saturation with the "color ..." menu. I'd suggest you pick some sample game screenshot (no JPG) that you find aesthetically pleasing and compare the saturation and values for the colours used on the floor, block and interactive tiles, too. You're likely to see wider range of values (higher contrast) for interactive things and close values with mid-saturation on the floor.

Greens, especially, tend to burn the eye when used raw on screen. Our eyes are very sensitive to shades of green much more than shades of blue or red.

[Tetiro]

just used Gimp to explore contrast and saturation with the "color ..." menu. I'd suggest you pick some sample game screenshot (no JPG) that you find aesthetically pleasing and compare the saturation and values for the colours used on the floor, block and interactive tiles, too. You're likely to see wider range of values (higher contrast) for interactive things and close values with mid-saturation on the floor.

Greens, especially, tend to burn the eye when used raw on screen. Our eyes are very sensitive to shades of green much more than shades of blue or red.

Taken everyone's advice and I've had another crack it! I fully converted my palette to 9-bit and made a ruling that only the characters and foreground-tiles can use the limited palette whilst the background-tiles must use the full palette - Changed my mind. Everything can use the full palette!