[C+C] Witch Sprite

[Azuyre]

Hey all! I started working on a small platformer project and was wondering if I could get some tips on how to improve the sprite of my main character:


I'm still a bit unsure about the arm/hands, they feel off somehow. The orb is also a bit simple right now, I just drew it as a placeholder to use in the game but I'm trying to make one that looks a bit like a crystal ball but I'm having a little trouble keeping it from looking too noisy at such a small size.

The main thing I was hoping for advice about is more ways I can use suggested lines like on the top of the hat's rim. If anyone has any comments or suggestions I'd appreciate it!

Also, I'm currently using the 64 color palette Arne was working on a while back, I may make my own later though.

[YellowLime]

The arm closer to the viewer is showing less skin than the one behind, and that results in scale issues. 

I don't like the highlight you're giving to the hat-- it makes it look glossy instead of matte, as most fabric tends to be.

I also don't know if the hat is supposed to have a flat brim (like usual) or it's like some solid donut that goes around the hat (like some cartoon hats, I think)

Cute lil' sprite tho! The dark lines do fit nicely as well

[Azuyre]

I made some quick changes based on what you mentioned, thanks for the tips!


I was trying to make the hat look kinda cartoony but it was a bit too round and donuty , I tried to change the shadows a bit so it looks like you're seeing just a bit of the bottom of the rim. There's a little banding on the left edge of the rim now though, I've tried a few things to get rid of it but it always seems to mess up the curve of the highlight on the rim.

[Ambivorous]

I couldn't help but notice some inconsistencies with the light source on this one, so I shifted around some colours to get that more inline. Most notably was the hair which just seemed to have the sun coming from a totally different angle. I also highlighted both legs and hands the same way just to see what would happen really. Think it decreases readability, but hey now I know.
You also had a lot going on on that ball, so I cleaned that up.

Also for the rim, given it's a flat surface and not curved (unless it is curved upwards, as your shading suggests), you can just make it one solid colour.
I've noticed people tend to shy away from having a large area a single colour, but sometimes it's what has to happen. The rim does look a little dark to me now, but it was just for illustration's sake.

I haven't made any glass in pixel art yet, surprisingly, so I don't know how you'll make it look like a glass orb, but I attempted it any way.



Those are all the ideas I have. Very cute witch, good work, carry on.

EDIT: Well I got carried away. Quite an inspiring little piece, and having a closer look you really have chosen a lot of your lines really well. I tried to rectify some of the issues I had and then I just ended up doing more and now it looks like this.



Added a belt buckle on the hat, tried using an over saturated colour on the bottom of the crystal ball to make it look glassy, removed a lot of the black lines and started work on a palette.
I tried not to lose any of the original appeal, but that's virtually impossible.

Hopefully you find something useful out of this.

[Azuyre]

Thanks for the tips Glad you like it!

The lighting was definitely a bit off, I started off with a different light source and changed it halfway through when I decided to flip the sprite horizontally instead of making unique sprites for both directions. I think there may be some spots that are still off when it's flipped, but the change to the hair helps.

As for the rim it does look interesting with a solid color but something feels a little off about it still. I updated the sprite with some changes based on what you mentioned and included a version with the old rim and one with the one you suggested with a highlight at the very top, it doesn't feel like it matches the rest of the sprite though so I'll probably try some other stuff and see what works.


I had thought about a buckle on the hat too, but I wasn't sure if it would look too busy to have the belt buckle and hat buckle. I did try adding a small highlight to hat's band though, which I think looks nice.

Also, I've been thinking about something and was wondering if I could get some opinions on it, I was thinking that her two equipped spells could determine her colors. So her basic attack, which can be a fire-ball, ice-ball, or wind-ball would determine her secondary color (headband, hair, etc) while her special attack would determine the primary color of her clothes. This way the player can tell at a glance what they have equipped, similar to Mega Man.

I was wondering if it seems like it might be too complicated in action though? I'm in the process of programming it so I haven't been able to test it out yet. I have a quick example showing what some of the color combinations might look like though:


The main issue that comes to mind, besides it potentially being confusing to the player, is coming up with clothing colors that match the 3 element colors. Though as long as the secondary colors still represent the element I could potentially tweak them slightly to match each of the primary color options.

[Ambivorous]

Yep that extra highlight works because the band makes sense to be shiny. Just seemed like an empty bit of space. A buckle hat would be hell to animate though, so I'd also rather avoid it.

The idea of having visual cues is definitely good. Really let's the player know immediately what's happening without having to remove their eyes from the character.
I think you already have the solution to this though, and it's that floating crystal ball there. When I see floating crystal ball I think "witch, spell, magic" and all those wonderful things, so if you just theme your crystal ball then people should immediately know it means their magic has changed.



(I just used my last edit so I didn't have to redownload yours, laziness yay!)
So that's an idea, unless you had better plans for your crystal ball.

If you implement that then you're also free to use your clothes to define your basic attack rather and you don't need to change the hair/bands.

If you're feeling way adventurous you could add more detail to the clothes depending on their type even, for example here:



Here we have a witch using ice for magic and auto attacks. Note the fluffy warmth around her collar and longer dress! Because she's cold! Because ice!
More hell to animate, but ya know, if you're feeling up to the hours I think it would add a more complete feel.

(Mmm, more tasty inspiration. Keep up the awesome work, please!)

[Azuyre]

I really like that snowy witch! I made my own right after seeing it, which actually led to a small change to the bottom of the dress on the normal sprite.


That idea does sound really interesting, though the extra work could add up like you mentioned. Definitely something to think about though!

As for changing the orb I'm not sure which spell I should change it for, during the game you'd have the basic attack spell and one of a couple different special spells. The special spells can be used on the character or as an attack for different effects:

The gif shows the Time spell, or what I have programmed so far Basically you'd launch it forward and it would land and create a field that slows down objects, like enemies, projectiles or the player. When you cast it on yourself it fast forwards the character, so you move faster, attack faster, and your energy recharges faster, though right now it's just using jumping as a placeholder effect while I get everything working just right.

I'm sure both spells will be shown on the HUD, but I thought it'd be nice to show it on the character. I figured the orb would show your current special spell, it'd be cool to do something like the fire ball or ice crystal for the special spells but I'm not sure what they'd look like since they're stuff like Time, Gravity, Teleport, etc.

[Fizzick]

some ideas you might like to do

[Ambivorous]

Your snow witch is awesome! Really nice way to get it across while sticking to your style.

So I tried to make orbs for gravity, time and teleport... then I stopped. It's possible, but didn't really make anything more readable, so probably not worth the effort.
I also had the idea of using a wand/staff in one of her hands to show which auto attack she would be using, so give that a try if you feel like it.

BUT!
Given all that, you should probably only pixel things you really need at this point, so maybe start on enemies/the background/a familiar/random pretties for now. Just so that you don't lose that inspiration. And yeah carry on coding in between so that your game can be an interesting level of playable each time you add something. Possibly make some animations like jumping, walking and running.


In the mean time I made a cat for no reason (more like a panther). Yay!




Btw Fizzick, nice style. A little dark (as in evil/menacing) I feel, but definitely a good use of pixels.

[Azuyre]

some ideas you might like to do

I like the energy falling off the orb, it kinda makes me think of the gravity spell.

Your snow witch is awesome! Really nice way to get it across while sticking to your style.

So I tried to make orbs for gravity, time and teleport... then I stopped. It's possible, but didn't really make anything more readable, so probably not worth the effort.
I also had the idea of using a wand/staff in one of her hands to show which auto attack she would be using, so give that a try if you feel like it.

Thanks, glad you like it. I actually tried to do the same thing you did and make some orbs for the other spells, I had something for the teleport spell but it was too distracting. A wand sounds like it could be a good idea though! I originally planned to use a staff with the orb at the end but I hadn't thought about using both, I'll have to try it out.

I did happen to get some more work done programming-wise, I got the teleport spell working:


When you cast it normally it launches a ball which will either teleport you to it's location or lock onto an enemy/object and switch places with you, and when you cast it on yourself by charging it up you flash step forward a bit. My next step is to try and add some anticipation for the teleporting, plus some way to lead the player from their old location to the new one, like a line of energy or something. I also added a cool trail effect for the orb, I'm still tweaking it a bit but it seems good so far.

BUT!
Given all that, you should probably only pixel things you really need at this point, so maybe start on enemies/the background/a familiar/random pretties for now. Just so that you don't lose that inspiration. And yeah carry on coding in between so that your game can be an interesting level of playable each time you add something. Possibly make some animations like jumping, walking and running.


In the mean time I made a cat for no reason (more like a panther). Yay!

I was actually about to start working on some basic animations for walking and jumping, I figured if I get something rough done early then I'll be seeing it all the time while testing and it'll help me notice mistakes and improve it. Though right now I'm just having a little trouble starting off the walk cycle, her limbs are all a bit small so it's a bit strange to work with.

I like the cat by the way! I had been thinking a bit about using a a black cat or raven for something but I wasn't sure what. Having familiars sounds like it could be cool though, it'd be fun to summon animals to help you out. Plus, having a raven resting on your orb when you're not moving would be pretty cool.