[WIP][C+C] Ships for a space shooter

[Gil]

I think you're "getting it"

Good study of my sprite, probably better than mine in terms of design. There's indeed a few subtleties that you still seem to miss, but you handled it well enough.

The palette could probably use some hue shifting, but personally, I don't think all sprites need it. My original one didn't either.

Thanks to this thread, I started overhauling those old sprites btw, thread is here: http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=16814.0

[Jason-S3Studios]

Thanks for the additional feedback. I tried a few new things based on your feedback Manupix, let me know your thoughts!

• Hue Shifting: I made a first pass at doing this, let me know your thoughts on my approach.
• Highlights: I added brighter highlights and reshaded it
• Color Pallete: General feedback on my color pallete. Purposely reduced the colors. Still have some rogue colors somehow, also included the pallete on the image. Removed neutral grays.

Gil you also mentioned not every image needs hue shifting. What is the approach I should take or logic I should use to decide when and when not to hue shift? Also awesome thread, ill be following!

[Gil]

Well, in terms of palette, there's such a thing as harmony. The palette in my edit contains little harmony (though there is a slight hue shift). Basically, by hue shifting, you push colors towards the ambient color (usually blue), by doing this, you unite the ramps more. You can do the same thing by pushing highlights towards the light source color (usually yellow). You can go even further than that though and integrate the ramps, as illustrated by Syosa in this picture:


http://www.pixeljoint.com/2009/10/03/2938/Pixel_Artist_-_Syosa.htm

The ultimate harmony is by having one palette for all your sprites in your game.

The degree of harmony you want for your game is all up to preference though. I personally like the dissonance that distinct ramps provide, which is something you'll also see a lot in Japanese anime for example. The colors contrast more and I like color contrast. A high degree of harmony can really pull your game together though, it's your choice.

[Jason-S3Studios]

As always the advice is appreciated. Tried to work on a new color pallete for the drone race. Here is the WIP I promised. It is a drone cargo ship!

I've tried to incorporate alot of all of your feedback in an entirely new work (detailing, color pallete, avoiding pure grey, lighting) so I can't heavily leverage what Gil has done. Let me know your thoughts!

[miro42]

That's quite amazing!  Just looking from your first post to this, you look like a completely different artist!

One thing I noticed is that the tubes on the back end are copy/pasted and it kind of makes them look like a different perspective that the rest of the ship, which looks entirely top down.

Also about perspective, the exhaust ports are kind of pointing upwards.  Maybe think about shortening the gap on the ends.

Otherwise, great job!

[Jason-S3Studios]

good points, i see what you mean on the perspective shift! it was copy pasted and i tried to correct the shading 

[Gil]

That looks like a million bucks already Jason

The use of outlines make it look a little flat and almost give it a "banded" look. I see you tried your best with the palette, did a pretty good job

Oh, right, banding. There's a primer here: http://pixel.schlet.net/

[Jason-S3Studios]

Been busy with work and school but got back into it with your feedback. Let me know your thoughts!

[Decroded]

Looks like fire-engine ship :-D

I think the main problem here is u have a big flat block with a bunch of forms which don't make much sense and look like they were added just to fill the space with detail.
I'd suggest to go back to gil's advice on design based building basic forms which make geometric sense and worrying abut the detail later.
it helps if u post ur steps u went through.
with a large ship like this u need to consider firstly creating large shapes and angled planes, then add sections of smaller forms but its good to leave sections of large less detailed shapes too instead of putting small bits everywhere.
Then u can still go and add the pixel level detail over all the panels to spice it up.

[Jason-S3Studios]

I think i see what you're saying. I'll see if I can post the steps of my next one