AuthorTopic: Character Sprite Review  (Read 5016 times)

Offline stevenblanc

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Character Sprite Review

on: February 26, 2015, 04:31:40 pm
Hi folks,

Just discovered this site and I've seen some amazing pieces and some amazing C&C. Hope I can learn a lot from you guys.

I've started building a game mostly because I enjoy the art side of it. I think I've got a handle on pixelated sprites but I'm hopeless at balancing palettes for backgrounds.

I'd appreciate any feedback on my first sprite though, and I'll work my way up from there.

Running

(Ignore the disappearing bracelet)

Standing


Cheers,

Steven

Offline dpixel

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #1 on: February 26, 2015, 06:08:51 pm
Looks pretty good, but a bit busy with a lot of colors...77 was my count, which can be a pain to animate and a bit hard to read.

Edit with colors reduced to 8: 

Offline StarRaven

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #2 on: February 26, 2015, 07:08:55 pm
The run looks really wobbly. 10 frames is a lot for a sprite this size.

He looks... like Chuck Norris.

Offline PsylentKnight

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #3 on: February 26, 2015, 10:11:41 pm
In a run cycle, both feet will leave the ground at some point. Also one might expect his long hair to flow behind him. Not necessary I suppose, but it would be a nice touch.

 If you're going to make his head twist like that, he should twist away at some point in a cycle. It looks weird that his head is just twisting towards the camera once per cycle.
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Offline stevenblanc

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #4 on: February 27, 2015, 01:09:21 pm
I see what you mean about the head.

The hair, I've tried once or twice and I am absolutely terrible at getting it to flow. I'll see if I can dig up some animations to see how it should look and try again.

Ill try to make some adjustments over the weekend and get back to you guys.

Offline stevenblanc

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #5 on: February 27, 2015, 01:14:19 pm
He looks... like Chuck Norris.

I was going for Rollo from Vikings.

Offline stevenblanc

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #6 on: February 28, 2015, 09:01:37 pm
Hey folks,

Thanks again for the feedback. I made all of the changes except for the palette optimization as I'm not terribly good at rationalizing colours.



- Shortened to 8 frames
- Hair Movement added (an attempt... I think it may be a touch too long but I still like it)
- Face turns away for one frame on the corresponding position as the turn toward.

Should I add this post to the first post?

Looking for further feedback and perhaps some advice on how to go about reducing colours and the need for it.

Cheers,


Steven

Offline Kazuya Mochu

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #7 on: February 28, 2015, 10:15:31 pm
He's still very shaky. There's something off about his head position.

People want to include all the motion on an animation, but in this case, the offset of the head in a run animation can be so little, that in such a small sprite, it would be less than a pixel.
that's why it can come out looking "shaky".
Image size doesn't matter! It's what you do with your pixels that counts!

Offline stevenblanc

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #8 on: February 28, 2015, 10:27:08 pm
Hmm. You are talking about the vertical bounce or the horizontal bounce?

I quite like the slight bounce which to me seems natural but I suppose it is a touch extreme. What would you recommend? a stable head position for the whole movement?

Offline Kazuya Mochu

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Re: Character Sprite Review

Reply #9 on: February 28, 2015, 10:42:18 pm
I edited your animation. All I did was look at the characters eye from one frame to another, and made sure he didn't move too much.
there was one frame I editeded (frame 6 I think) because the face was slightly 3/4 view, and it was the only frame so it looked odd.

Image size doesn't matter! It's what you do with your pixels that counts!