AuthorTopic: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game  (Read 3404 times)

Offline Norr 18

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Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster.

Been working on art for a game and I'm trying to revise and improve it! Some feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm not the most practiced pixel artist though. I'm currently working to upres everything twice the size so I'll show the originals too.

The game is about Space Marines that must infiltrate alien hives to extract resources (and blow up a buncha aliens). Along the way upgrading and discovering new power ups to help you do your job better. It'll have multiplayer so you'll be able to kit your loadout to suit your group. Trying to have a kinda Contra and Starship Troopers feel.

I'm hoping for general critique on anything really. Colors, animation, readability

[EDIT currently updated visuals from reply#4]



[Run cycle]
and the original half res
Upressing will definitely open up more options for customization for the player. I'm excited to have animated guns too!

[Environment tiles] no terrain features yet (plants, rocks, stalagmites)

and the original

Intending to make the Marines cooler colors and the environment/enemies to warmer tones. But I'm not entirely satisfied in the color palette. Though it will get livelier with plants, enemies, and interface. So maybe I should worry about that once I have more mocked up...

[Dynamic lighting example] [EDIT - added]
Using a program called Spite Lamp on an older sprite


[Approximate viewing size in game]
but with less antenna bounce

I'll try to keep posting more here
« Last Edit: March 13, 2014, 10:30:42 pm by Norr 18 »

Offline Johasu

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game

Reply #1 on: March 07, 2014, 03:23:40 am
I think you can do a lot by pushing the contrast between the colors you have and applying AA and shadows in more optimal ways on your clusters.  I played with it some.


You    Edit    Toggle

Mostly what I did was deepen the contrast on your palette.  I added a darker shade to the blue armor and the helmet glass for AA purposes and it allowed better definition and shading.  Your gray armor had so many VERY close colors, I deepened the contrast across the board on them to bring out the angles some more.

I deepened the shading on the glass by adding that extra shade, as I felt that the color you were using as your standard was too high in value.  This way it doesn't eat up the darker colors around it and feels more inside the helmet than on top of it.
Gave the legs some shape lighting as well.
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Offline cels

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game

Reply #2 on: March 07, 2014, 03:46:47 am
- Are you determined to keep those legs so tiny compared to the rest of the body? Because I think it would look totally kickass if you bulked up the legs a bit.
- I really like the way you've rendered the rocky terrain, making it so sharp and crisp. But it might be nice to vary the size of the rocks a bit, to make them less uniform. And their angle shouldn't really change depending on the terrain. Right now, the rocks read very much like clams in their uniformity and way their angle depends on the angle of the terrain. If you wanted to make the rocks some sort of alien clams, then I guess it's cool.
- You could safely add more reflection from the red light. Right now, it's almost invisible at 1X.
- I'm not a huge fan of the moving part on the gun. It makes it look like a Super Soaker 3000 watergun.
- The blue helmet texture looks a bit noisy. Try to use bigger clusters of pixels.

Offline YellowLime

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game

Reply #3 on: March 07, 2014, 10:09:33 am
As (I think) you said, the antenna is moving way too much, basically whiplashing right now.
EDIT: I didn't see your new version of the running cycle, since you kept the old one on the lower screens :blind:
The new version's antenna seems to be changing length, becoming a bit longer when pulled to the back.
And the lower part of the antenna is too rigid in comparison, almost as if the antenna had two parts to it.
I suggest making the upper part move less, and make sure it keeps its perceived length.

I don't know what the wiggly worm at the front of the weapon is. :-X (readabilty problem?)
It's pretty distracting to me, if it's supposed to be an inconspicuous detail :crazy:

Also, I'm not a big fan of the "moving gradient" you have on the blue energy part of the weapon.
To me, it makes it seem as if the weapon is charging up a shot that is about to be fired.
Maybe what's bothering me is that it looks choppy right now... if you want to keep it, I suggest making the gradient "move" more fluidly, or more slowly (obviously, taking into account that it has to be in sync with the character's running.)
« Last Edit: March 07, 2014, 10:13:31 am by YellowLime »

Offline Norr 18

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game

Reply #4 on: March 07, 2014, 04:47:53 pm
Thanks for all the feedback!

@Johasu That's an awesome edit! Thanks for the feedback. Pushing the visor back into the helmet seriously helps it.
Same with rounding out and really pushing the detail on the legs. Helps readability a ton.

As for the lighting itself we plan on using a program called Sprite Lamp that can do dynamic lighting on sprites in a pixelated way. I need to experiment more with it. Though think adding more shape lighting like you have would help push it even more.
(this is an exaggeration, it likely wouldn't be this intense in game)

But again, I do think adding the shape lighting that you did will really help.

@cels
-I was mostly trying to stay true to the original character. I agree though! And we'll be wanting things like armor upgrades to bulk up the boots. It's something I certainly need to try out.

-Good point, I hadn't really noticed how the rocks really turn with the terrain, they definitely need to look more random.

-The idea I was trying to get at was that the terrain is a reddish color, like red clay dirt. The majority of the actual lighting will be coming from the marines themselves kind of like this:

I need to get more mocked up to show this better.
-You're right about the helmet, for sure.

@YellowLime
Yeah the gun needs work. Some of the animation might need to go I'll see what I can do with it.
The "worm" is meant to be like an oscillating ring spinning at the end of the gun.... but yeah readability. That might be too specific.

Thanks a bunch for the feedback! I'll try to get back with some edits later
« Last Edit: March 07, 2014, 09:38:53 pm by Norr 18 »

Offline dustinaux

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game

Reply #5 on: March 08, 2014, 01:07:03 am
I like the look of it so far, here's a few things I noticed:

- The tiling on large sections of rock is very noticeable.  It stands out a lot in your last image of the lighting mockup particularly.

- There doesn't seem to be a light source for the tiles, but rather ambient light from all of the empty areas directed at the walls.  I've kind of seen this done in games like this before though, so maybe that's what works best.  :-\

- I know the rocks have been mentioned, but in addition to their orientation, I think you need to vary their sizes a lot more.  Overall I like your higher-res graphics more but your rock sizes were actually varied more in your original low-res image.
Currently making The Enchanted Cave 2

Offline Norr 18

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game

Reply #6 on: March 13, 2014, 10:25:21 pm
ok, with the feedback in mind I've kinda redid most things

I revamped the color scheme. Went more extreme and alien, a little cartoony.
Reworked the enviroment with the new colors and added some life and glow to the background

Reworked the marine, beefier legs for badassery!

everything is 200x size to match the in game look.
[Environment]
I haven't made the foreground tileable yet but this is generally the direction I'm trying to push it


[Idle Animation]
Two I'm working from. The legs were looking a bit dwarfed. So I tried making his head a little smaller to fit his proportions.
I'm not completely sold, but I think the smaller head is generally better. Though i'd want to test how what I could do without their helmets on. Bigger head would be easier .


« Last Edit: March 16, 2014, 02:40:19 am by Norr 18 »

Offline Kosvid

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] Anim and Environment art for Alien Hive game

Reply #7 on: March 16, 2014, 07:06:31 am
This background is awesome. I can`t remember any mobile game backgrounds to be that good.
The idle animation, however, seems a bit strange to me. Not the pose, but how his body moves. I think you overdid it. :) The movements should not be not so.. mm.. big, also you should remember that he is wearing a suit. That means the movements must be less visible. But here even legs are moving due to just breathing.  ;)