Sprites for new game

[mitDebo]

Hey guys:

Haven't posted in a long time because I haven't had a chance to work on any projects in a while, sadly. But I finally decided to clear our my calendar and make some time to do some work.

Last night, sat down and tried to pixel out a character for a new game I'm working on. Took a bit to get back in the groove, but eventually here's what came out.



(shown at 2x, as that's how he'll be in game)

I'd love any critique or feedback on what I can improve! Thanks!

[mitDebo]

Sorry for the bump of such an old thread, but it's the same game/project so thought it was still relevant.

After letting the little guy simmer in the first post, and letting the project sort of fall to the wayside, I decided that I didn't like the look that previous version was conveying. Didn't match the slightly more serious tone of this project. Going back to the drawing board, I now have something more like this:



Here's the main character's animations, thus far:



I'm a lot more satisfied with how this is looking, but if anyone sees anything that is glaringly sticking out to them, please do let me know! And I'll try to not let this fall by the wayside this time!

[Parkerbaby]

I think the breathing animation is much too exaggerated to be an idle animation. And it is odd that in the walk cycle, his head does not change its vertical placement, ie his body does not go down as his legs splay out and back up as they straighten. That his head goes up in the idle but not in the walk is odd.

EDIT
Here's an example to further clarify.

[Jim16]

Really liking the newer yet still simple/clean style, it definitely conveys a more serious tone in comparison.

Now onto critique. You have one light source, the window, and yet every thing uses a universal if not confusing light source from above. The chair and door in particular bother me with how the dark colour segments everything, it just doesn't look right or keep to the style.

[mitDebo]

I think the breathing animation is much too exaggerated to be an idle animation. And it is odd that in the walk cycle, his head does not change its vertical placement, ie his body does not go down as his legs splay out and back up as they straighten. That his head goes up in the idle but not in the walk is odd.

I'm actually totally with you on the idle animation. I agree it's a bit much, and have been rethinking how to bring it down a notch and make it more subtle (sadly, I think I'm not very good with subpixel stuff, so maybe this'll be good practice).

I'm very confused by your walking animation critique, but I know I'm probably just not understanding exactly what it is you are saying.

The way I'm understanding it is that you are saying there is no bob in his walk. Ie: when his legs are fully extended, his body should be lower than it is when his legs are crossing each other. However, I did animate that in:



Are you maybe saying that his head should bob at a different rate than the rest of his body?

Really liking the newer yet still simple/clean style, it definitely conveys a more serious tone in comparison.

Now onto critique. You have one light source, the window, and yet every thing uses a universal if not confusing light source from above. The chair and door in particular bother me with how the dark colour segments everything, it just doesn't look right or keep to the style.

You are 100% right about the light source. I did the couch/door first with the intention of having a light in the ceiling, before I got carried away with the window/sunbeam. I'm certainly going to need to go back over them. I still plan on having a light source at the top of the scene; also, during the progress of the game, the light outside will shift from day to night, so I need to figure out a good clean way to make all these changes happen in the scene as the light sources change. But it definitely needs to be gone over and re-examined.

[Parkerbaby]

Wow, I don't know how I didn't see that. Maybe since it was in the same image as the idle, the contrast between the two made it seem like the walking animation was not bobbing at all.

Sorry about that. My mistake.

[mitDebo]

Spent my evening trying to pixel a cubicle background for the job area that our Duder will be working at during the game:



I can't help but feel that it's really off. I wanted to make it look pretty drab, hence why I chose to use a lot of desaturated color, but I don't know if it's really working. It has a lot of very monochromatic ramps (and A LOT of gray, but again, intentionally). Originally, I had it just filled in with local color and it looked incredibly boring; after I spent a little bit of time trying to think about light and shadow and form, it became more interesting, but I still feel like it can be pushed to the next level. Unfortunately, right now, I'm just not seeing it I think.

Any suggestions? Anyone have any sort of input on doing a drab office scene?

[Ymedron]

Hm, firstly I'd point out there is a lot of banding all over the place, especially noticeable on the shadows cast by the closets(?).

I worry that making a place look super-drab with gray might bore the player and make it unpleasant to play in those areas. Boredom rarely works in a game's advantage.
Things that could help evoke the drabness? of an office: Piles of paper, old-style beige computer supplies (if the game is set in a time before computers, you could try typewriters etc.) post-it notes... Brown paper-racks (like this one: http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00SvcTbdJGfukr/Biodegradable-Paper-Rack-FR-003-.jpg ) and such. Perhaps one of those dumb snowglobes for added effect.

I tried messing around with the colors, but I'm not sure what would be the appropriate approach. I think a pure gray wouldn't look too good, however. A more yellowish gray could work better, but then I'm not at all sure about the ceiling.

I predict a comment about the image not being done yet, however I think adding items in the environment will do a lot more for the feel of the scene than pushing around which shade of gray is the best.
I'm not sure if I agree with myself here from the thumbnail-artist point of view (color schemes! Light conditions!) but nn... Take it for what it's worth, I've stayed up too long and probably won't make sense.

[Decroded]

Spent my evening trying to pixel a cubicle background for the job area that our Duder will be working at during the game:



I can't help but feel that it's really off. I wanted to make it look pretty drab, hence why I chose to use a lot of desaturated color, but I don't know if it's really working. It has a lot of very monochromatic ramps (and A LOT of gray, but again, intentionally). Originally, I had it just filled in with local color and it looked incredibly boring; after I spent a little bit of time trying to think about light and shadow and form, it became more interesting, but I still feel like it can be pushed to the next level. Unfortunately, right now, I'm just not seeing it I think.

Any suggestions? Anyone have any sort of input on doing a drab office scene?

Yellow lights?

Without changing/adding too much...

Not sure about the whole shadow falloff thing I was going for the effect of multiple shadows for all the different lights in the room.

Also can you please post at 1:1 pixel scale thanks (don't need blown up).

[Tourist]

Anyone have any sort of input on doing a drab office scene?

Unfortunately, yes.  I spent too many years working in one of those.  In general, vary up the shapes and sizes a bit.



Change the distribution of drawer shapes on the thing under the desk.

• A thin drawer on top for pencils, pens, and small junk like post-it pads.  Since it is wide and deep the various bits slide around in an unorganized fashion and it is a hassle to get that one thing you need.
• Underneath is a larger drawer, usually with file holders. 

At my work, the overhead shelves would open upwards, not outwards.  Like a roll-top desk, only square.  One of them should be open, one should be closed, for visual variety.  Generally filled with useless and outdated corporate procedure manuals.

Most of handles are recessed into the furniture rather than protruding.  To prevent people from whacking their hands or knees on the handle.  What you have looks like kitchen cabinets.

Three walls is extravagant.  That meant the cube could be classified as an office, and peons don't get offices.  So you could remove the small wall on the right hand side.  It makes the worker more 'accessible' to the boss, and coincidentally costs less money.   I doubt the audience would care, so it can stay in if it makes for a better composition.

Obviously needs some other tings on the desk.  A computer, with the monitor sitting under the open space and subject to strong glare conditions.  A few comic strips pinned to the walls.  A small picture frame on the desk with an image of a happier place / family member / pet.  Waste basket under the desk, an office chair, that sort of thing.  Possibly a tiny office plant, or miniature zen garden thing.  Power cables for the computer running under the desk.  The actual outlets are inside the wall dividers, but you still need cables.

Overhead should have a ceiling vent or two in addition to the lights.

In our office, the color was on the divider walls (the lower half, usually) and the furniture was all shades of gray.  The desk was the lightest, the overhead shelves were a mid-tone, and the under-desk things were darker.  But I imagine that's not universal.

Hope this helps,
Tourist

[mitDebo]

So after the abject failure of my last attempt, the next morning when I went to work I took a number of reference photos, as well as looking up several photos from the movie Office Space. I agree with Ymedron that conveying the boring office quality had more to do with environment dressing than color scheme. I tried to alter that in my edits below.

@Tourist:
I liked your thin drawer/larger drawer idea, and incorporated it. My own cubicle has the same (though it's a thin drawer, then two larger drawers, but I didn't want to take up that much room). My cubicle also has the inlet handles, but I after toying with them, I decided that visually I liked Decroded's edits with the extending handles more. Going along with Ymedron's suggestions, I added some office artifacts, though I'll likely add more (a picture, particularly, and eventually a chair, though it'll need to be animated, since I'll show the main character standing/sitting in it). Your vent suggestion is also accurate, looking at my reference pictures, and I'll try to add those in.

@Decroded:
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for your edits. I feel like I really was able to see where I was going wrong with my look, especially with my usage of light and shadow. I don't feel like my own edits are quite as good as yours, but I cannot express just how incredibly much looking at your stuff helped me understand where I was lacking and where I could improve.

Also, my deepest apologies for making the submissions enlarged. I was inserting them at 3x size, as that's the size the game will be displayed at (and thus, the size I would always zoom out to to check how it looked overall), but I'll be sure to not do that anymore.

Anyway, here's my latest rendition. It still needs some work, but I feel like it's a great improvement over what I had initially. As always though, if you want to point out something wrong or something that can be improved, I'm all ears! (also, to note, that monitors are just a matte color because they'll also need to be animated when the main character is working)

[Decroded]

nice changes.
i think you could attempt some tiny amounts of aa in many places like monitor and text on paper, basicaly wherever u have a spare colour to aa with.
not sure why u got yellow fluro lights, maybe thats a thing i dont know about. maybe some white and some dank stained yellow like u have now could make for variation.

what i did with my ceiling was reduce the contrast of the beams amd fade it overall so it didnt compete with the foreground.
i think ur ceiling could benefit from a bit more fading.

if u wanna go for that overworked look then how about some huge stacks of paper/files on both sides of his monitor, waste paper bin with 1 or 2 schrunched bits on the floor near it, coffee cup.
but yeah i dunno what ur going for i havent read it all tbh