Fire Emblem

[mzn528]

OMG the countless hours I spent on GBA fire emblem....

Great Job man, I really love your work so far and I can't wait to see more.

[Seiseki]

These are amazing.
They look quite pale though.

[Helm]

For me the biggest problem with your tileset at the moment is that at a glance walls and floors share too much of the same value/texture. It flattens the thing out. I'd take a step back from pixelling textures in your tiles for the moment and make certain that flat planes with simple values read as walls and floors and half-tile ridges and water and so on.



Is this less confusing to look at? If so, why?

[Ryumaru]

Hmm it is odd, as the tiles in general are very good. Besides the contrast issues, they aren't inspiring. I think going from the old snes era like influence to the modern informed pixel aesthetic you've lost a bit too much. Everything looks brand spanking new. I think there is a place for dither, a place for noise, and this is probably it. Perhaps you can find some unique ways to suggest it while still fitting withing pixel cluster theory.

When I think of Fire Emblem tiles I remember weathered brick walls and kicked up dust. But that's just me. I also think that they're more impressive stuff happens with the landscapes. Specifically the freaking mountains. Some of the best tiling I've seen. Don't know if you'll be tackling that in your map.

[Vagrant]

An excellent reminder Helm.. I don't know why I didn't think of this before.

Hmm it is odd, as the tiles in general are very good. Besides the contrast issues, they aren't inspiring. I think going from the old snes era like influence to the modern informed pixel aesthetic you've lost a bit too much. Everything looks brand spanking new. I think there is a place for dither, a place for noise, and this is probably it. Perhaps you can find some unique ways to suggest it while still fitting withing pixel cluster theory.

When I think of Fire Emblem tiles I remember weathered brick walls and kicked up dust. But that's just me. I also think that they're more impressive stuff happens with the landscapes. Specifically the freaking mountains. Some of the best tiling I've seen. Don't know if you'll be tackling that in your map.

I don't know why this is, or what's causing it, but I feel exactly how you feel.
It's just a bit dull. Although I often times like to use sober colours, this just isn't working for this one. 

It could be the cleanliness. But my suspicion instead pins the blame on the current palette... Maybe I just need better hue shifts than just monotone-looking blue?
I'm not certain yet, but I shall experiment.

Dqmn. This piece has me stumped like I haven't been in years.
Maybe this is meant to be exciting.

[Ryumaru]

The palette is definitely part of it. Is this supposed to be night? If so it can work, otherwise it needs a major brightness and hue check. If you don't mind me getting a bit romantic, I think more detail can be more love. Of course there is the tight and clean pixel pushing which has it's own sort of affection, but some of the best worlds are created with detail oriented obsession. Cracks in walls with ivy growing out, steps that have seen the history of thousands of travelers, bricks replaced with one's of different origin. Sometimes simplicity, simply can't grab you in the same way.

In painting, the Alla Prima ( one session) painters are usually known for bravura brushwork, distilling information into the most essential brush strokes, often capturing the effects of light with stunning confidence; yet somehow, many never amount to the best indirect paintings. Ones with many layers, catching the artist at different times of day, different mindsets and moods. Where the artist has searched and replaced, with hints of indecision peeking through the final thoughts. Encasing within them a history that simply can't be held in a 2 or 4 hour effort.

I struggle with this a lot in my fine art stuff. Sometimes simple statements and striking compositions seem like the "truth". Sometimes labors of love and fervent searching or obsession seem the same.

This is to say in my opinion, a good bit of cleanliness will have to go for the sake of history, grit, and textural identity- which I think are some qualities that make FE tiles so good. Right now I can't tell what everything is made of. I'm sure some of that is the WIP status, but as you have it presented now, all of the wall has a mostly matte feel. You are describing different forms, but they may as well be all spray-painted flat gray and lost any identity. The cobblestone?esque tiles that create a dock probably break through this the most, and stand out currently as the most rendered. A revamp is always a good time to abolish the few pitfalls a game with good graphics has; you could stand to break the grid a bit more in this area.

Sorry if this has been useless, heh. I just know what you're feeling and remember being lost, wishing for some outside help. Of course with stuff like this most of the problem solving will have to come from within. Can epiphanies occur at faster rates if we race towards them head on, or will they always stay out of reach until they deem us lucky and worthy? If not exciting it will be humbling.

[||||]

I think it's looking really good since you separated the values more between the wall and ground tiles.
The sprites look kinda cramped into the spaces.. maybe only because their isometric angle with the straight and narrow layout of the top-down tiles?

[Vagrant]

I actually like that edit, Ryumaru. The whole detail-oriented viewpoint is key when it comes to Fire Emblem. Though it seems to be more grainy, where it concerns the GBA games... I'm looking for a nice mid-point.

But to clarify, this is wip of course.



Interior flooring and blue carpet planning. Not still sure what to think. I'm keeping the torchlight glow limited to one tile and one colour for now, until I get my GBA restrictions properly clarified by experienced FE hackers.
Confirmed. Fire Emblem tiles uses 5 rows of 16 colours... Feels generous enough to me.

Interior walls should look different also. Current is just placeholder.
This is Castle Altea, btw.

[Cyangmou]

I don't know why this is, or what's causing it, but I feel exactly how you feel.
It's just a bit dull. Although I often times like to use sober colours, this just isn't working for this one. 

For the GBA the color scheme most probably won't work at all.
Since there was no backlight build in the first versions of the GBA and the glass mirrored most games needed really bright and light palettes (FFTA; Fire Emblem, Sword of Mana,... to name a few examples) -
just check out how light even their darkest areas are.

If your aim is to go for a working hack you could consider this technical aspect/restriction as well.

[Vagrant]

For as long as it displays well in my monitor/Pixeljoint, it's fine. It's no hack, but an exercise capable of being hacked.


Palette changes, plus interior work begins...



I am keeping a night blue for the atmosphere, with fire blaze to balance things. But I may do another scene of an outside sunny day-plains map, typical of Fire Emblem... To taste both flavours.