AuthorTopic: MTD Sprites  (Read 8831 times)

Offline Zintendo

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MTD Sprites

on: September 04, 2013, 01:12:33 am
Edit: MTD = mentally transmitted disease, codename for the project sprites in this thread belong to.

[img=http://imageshack.us/a/img96/9326/mkwg.png]http://








I guess what I'm asking for is critique, help shading (if you can do one and set it as an example to do for the rest of the swords or axes, that'd be great)

Thanks!!!!!!!





The weapons from the other thread are what goes in the inventory screen.  These creatures are far more important, they are actually in-game!!!

No reference, just kinda winged it.  Started scribbling, cleaned up lines, then figured 'Oh it looks like a tentacle' or, 'oh, I should put a big eyeball in the middle,'

I can't shade, it always comes out as either noise, or it hurts the detail of the image.  When I see sprites from games like Final Fantasy, or Black Tiger, I s*** bricks.  I wonder if there is any inspiring artwork from people who don't use reference to unleash their creativity, because it seems like everyone is all over techniques like art class to paper to pixel, fakemon, or even the lame-o splicing.

Critique please.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2013, 12:00:30 am by Zintendo »

Offline Decroded

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Re: Weapons and Creatures!

Reply #1 on: September 04, 2013, 02:14:26 am
You can make some great little monsters from these.

No offense thought but your colours are really horrible.
I don't know if you're going for that style intentionally but you should try editing the colours in your color picker.
Try to move away from straight greys - blend in some other hues by subtly increasing the saturation.
And don't just use all primary colours, try playing around with the spectrum.

And black outlines look pretty nasty.
Once you have some better colours, try just using a darker version of the fill colour for outlines (there are other options but this is the simplest).

I wish I had time to do some edits but please have a go taking the the advice.
I'd really like to see these improved and then there's some other things we can look at to improve further.

Offline Pix3M

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Re: Weapons and Creatures!

Reply #2 on: September 04, 2013, 04:53:33 am
Many of the weapons feel generic, not sure if you intend to have a lot of generic weapons. We could at least have weapons that goes with the general style of a game. As for creativity, I think it helps to think about what kind of feel you're trying to convey with a weapon. A weapon could be designed to look quiet and unassuming, loud and bold, evil and menancing, crude and simple, and the possibilities goes on.

Look at what a game like Maplestory has with their variety of bows: http://www.basilmarket.com/MapleStory-Bowman-Bow-items.html
Swords are interesting as well: http://www.basilmarket.com/MapleStory-Warrior-1H-Sword-items.html


As for your issue with crossbows, I am not sure sure where you're stuck. I manage to draw a functional arbalest in 16x16.

« Last Edit: September 04, 2013, 04:57:47 am by Pix3M »

Offline Zintendo

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Re: Weapons and Creatures!

Reply #3 on: September 04, 2013, 10:08:59 pm
You can make some great little monsters from these.

No offense thought but your colours are really horrible.
Lol thanks
I don't know if you're going for that style intentionally but you should try editing the colours in your color picker.
Try to move away from straight greys - blend in some other hues by subtly increasing the saturation.
Saturation, got it
And don't just use all primary colours, try playing around with the spectrum.
I'll have to play in my spectral field of vision, regarding the fact that I'm legally colorblind
And black outlines look pretty nasty.
Once you have some better colours, try just using a darker version of the fill colour for outlines (there are other options but this is the simplest).
Again, thanks for the input.  After seeing the examples, I noticed they go with black outlines.  I'm guessing when you say darker, you mean a dark dark purple/black color?  I'm happy it is a solid example without aliasing, I think alaising takes away from pixel art (is also much harder to do) and makes people second guess the fact that one did every pixel by hand.
I wish I had time to do some edits but please have a go taking the advice.
I'd really like to see these improved and then there's some other things we can look at to improve further.
Awesome, hopefully you have time after I apply your critique.  I admire your work!

Offline Zintendo

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Re: Weapons and Creatures!

Reply #4 on: September 04, 2013, 10:32:57 pm
Pix3m, I kinda mean to go with the general feel of weapons.  My game is intended to have a more natural feel, like no HUD as in Call of Duty, and even go so far as no statistics, or numbers, like Zelda.  The HUD will be a pull up like in World of Warcraft with hotkeys.

Now, because of this, It is important, to me anyways, to have the weapons convey a clear message with their type.  Daggers are for chainmails, Estocs are for Calvalry, Flanged Maces are for Platemail.  I'm kinda going for a type trump, game, where you can be the jack of all trades, or specialize in certian types.  I'm kinda hoping players will apply what they learn from, idk, let's say Pokemon, and figure out a good balance, to invest in areas they feel will match up to what they read reviews on are important, hard bosses (or not, lol, they can just play it without google).



Enough game theory.  Yes, I am going for that simplistic, realism feel.  I'm not a big fan of crazy designs atm.  That being said, I feel as though the bows don't vary enough irl.  I appreciate the links you sent me, I really dig those bow designs, never would've thought of stuff like that.  I feel as though the other weapons vary enough for visual recognition, that the gamer can differentiate them without having to do the mouse over for information, unlike the bows.  Thanks for your input as well dude!
« Last Edit: September 04, 2013, 11:58:09 pm by Zintendo »

Offline Decroded

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Re: Weapons and Creatures!

Reply #5 on: September 05, 2013, 07:03:51 am
Pix3m, I kinda mean to go with the general feel of weapons....Yes, I am going for that simplistic, realism feel.  I'm not a big fan of crazy designs atm.  That being said, I feel as though the bows don't vary enough irl.  I appreciate the links you sent me, I really dig those bow designs, never would've thought of stuff like that.  I feel as though the other weapons vary enough for visual recognition, that the gamer can differentiate them without having to do the mouse over for information, unlike the bows.
I actually like to hear these comments.
I think its fine if you're into over-the-top WOW style, brightly coloured weapons and cuddly toy looking characters.
Personally I'm feeling a bit saturated with alot of designs I'm seeing these days, seems like everyone is trying to out-do each other which is understandable from a marketing perspective.
For example I loved Diablo 1&2's balance of earthy hues with selective use of primaries.
The same could not be said for Diablo 3's art style. Most people like it, I however do not.
Just a warning (not directly aimed at you) this reasoning should never be used as an excuse to be lazy though, you should still strive to improve your designs and your art style.

Here's something simple I did a while ago as a style test.

This was intended to be very simple with a subtly stylised realism.
I was happy with it then though now I can clearly see how I could use better technique to make it visually more interesting without sacrificing the simplistic theme.
The idea was to start with something basic and then work my way up to more higher advanced and fancier designs made from rarer materials etc. as you progress through the game, but still trending to avoid overuse of bright colours.

Bow designs is an interesting topic I'd like to come back to later.
I'm no expert on that but I've been wanting to have a go at it myself for my own projects.
Perhaps check out a bunch of different RPG's and find examples of what you like the look of and try to combine some designs.

Enough game theory.
Feel free to PM on game theory if you don't want to blab on about it here, I'm always up for a chat on the topic.

Saturation, got it.
Not quite I don't think. I was saying to work from grey in the Color Picker and play around with increasing Saturation with various Hues.
Here's a screenshot of Photoshop's Color Picker.

Note the H,S,B radio buttons. I personally like working in H mode most of the time as is selected here.
In this way I have clicked on the left to pick pure grey, then clicked inside the S box (not the radio button!) used my mouse wheel to scroll up the value and see the effect is has.
In this way I've been able to give a subtle decent blue-metal tint.

...I'm legally colorblind
Ah crap...well that could make things diffiult  :lol:
What colours do you have a problem with?

After seeing the examples, I noticed they go with black outlines.  I'm guessing when you say darker, you mean a dark dark purple/black color?  I'm happy it is a solid example without aliasing, I think alaising takes away from pixel art (is also much harder to do) and makes people second guess the fact that one did every pixel by hand.
OVER-antialising, along with too many gradients and fear of contrasting clusters (re: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=15566.0) definitely ruins pixel art.
But I find it hard to see any justification in the statement that anti-aliasing done selectively takes away from pixel art.
Regarding outlining, maybe check out my very simple example here:
http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=15733.0
I also touch briefly (since my knowledge is extremely limited) on clusters, low colour count and selective anti-alising there.
Its not necessary to stick to the same method but its definitely a good place to start.

There's more we can talk about in your designs but my advice at this stage is just to edit what you have here based on all this information and post again.
Don't be afraid to experiment!!

Offline Decroded

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Re: Weapons and Creatures!

Reply #6 on: September 06, 2013, 06:56:49 am
Ok, I really need to practice sprites and I had some time to kill (at work  :P) so decided to have a tinker.
Don't know what colours are appropriate for a "Star" Demon so went with hot scheme with just 4 colours.

Drew without arms for something different and I did away with the little spikey things from his hips because I thought they took away from his silhouette.

I forgot to progress the start which was pretty rushed anyway.
But at least here you can see I'm messing around trying to learn how using clusters can help emphasize the forms:


He might benefit from some clusters of other colours instead of being all one colour but keeping it simple for now.

These colours might be too bold for your tastes and there is endless other ways to colour him, but from an action gameplay point of view at least this little guy will stand out to the player's eye.
If you fill a screen with bland, washed out colours and everything has black outlines it will:
A) Look shit.
B) Be hard for the player to keep track of everything that is happening on screen, causing frustraion that can lead to a deep sense of hatred for your game.

Offline Zintendo

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Re: Weapons and Creatures!

Reply #7 on: September 09, 2013, 03:10:03 am
Is that my star demon  :D z0mg dude it looks industry standard, you werent kidding when you say the creatures have potential!

I wish I could see it like you do.

Offline Zintendo

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Some Rock Tiles

Reply #8 on: September 18, 2013, 09:11:24 pm


It's two tiles side by side.  I really need to get this looking nice, I don't know which way to shade it though.  Is it going to start to matter, whether I shade it from left or right?  I plan on using the swords as icons in the HUD, so they won't be in-game, but the little star demon creature that received a nice hellish shading, will these rocks have to be shaded just like him? 

For simplicities sake, I'd like to think the Sun is pretty much overhead at all times, and a cutscene will be displayed saying 12 hours have passed, for the only other time in-game, nighttime.


Do the rocks need to be more consistently sized?  The guide I was following said to black out a bunch of areas between the rocks, because rocks are not evenly spaced, but I chose not to for whatever reason.  I'm afraid to add the dithering in the bottom left, because like I said, I'm on the fence about where to go with color pallette (I'm opting for as few colors as possible, although not sticking to 16 or 256)
« Last Edit: September 18, 2013, 10:27:12 pm by PixelPiledriver »

Offline Lilyo

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Re: Some Rock Tiles

Reply #9 on: September 19, 2013, 04:19:20 am
Why are they green? I would help you buy idk whats going on here lol