[WIP][C+C]Tileset for game

[Lisac Pisac]

Greetings everyone. My friend and I have started work on a simple defense game, and I've whipped up some tiles for the game, and now I'd like to hear some advice on how exactly to improve them. I'm aware that the tree is somewhat messy. The pink background is supposed to indicate that the tile will have a transparent background.

I'm not sure how to go about drawing the dwarf in a sideways view. I did some experimental tries, but hm, I removed those, as they were quite terrible.

And the slope-up-the-hill tile could be improved, I know.

Anywho, I look forward to your comments and advice.

[Glak]

This would be easier to critique if you mocked-up a scene.

[Gil]

In fact, don't make tiles at all. Usually, it's better to just draw a mockup without worrying about tiles, then try to tile it. Usually gives better results than trying to guesstimate what's going to work.

[Decroded]

yeah I've recently been using photoshop (or gimp is free) and pyxeledit.
so I paint rough mockup in PS then copy and paste to PE.
In PE I then create the tile set and repaint the image using the actual tiles (doesn't take long).
Then fix the tiling issues in PE.
Then copy the whole image back to PS to sex up the tiles, then copy and paste each tile or a chunk of tiles back to PE to update the tileset.
rinse and repeeat...

So yeah lots of c+p but mainly I just use PS for hide mask painting as well as keeping a layer history of my process.
And obviously colour corrections.

For simple low res stuff like this u can do most of it straight in PE anyway its got basic drawing tools.

[Lisac Pisac]

So I made a mock-up scene using pyxeledit and some problems became very apparent. Made an example cliff. Improved the grass.




I would greatly appreciate if you could give me some pointers on how to improve some of these sprites and tiles.

Specifically, the water tiles, the tree and how would I go about squeezing a tower sprite into a single tile, as I've had unsatisfactory results so far.
Also, I'm not sure how to draw the sprites in a sideways view with it looking good.

Every other comment is, of course, also welcome.

[Gil]

Grass isn't green, water isn't blue. You need to find colors that work together. Maybe you could try working with one of those "general palettes", like Arne's 16 color palette? I feel like being offered too many colors, your choices gravitate towards giving stuff their named color (grass is green, water is blue).

[LisandraTD]

Grass isn't green, water isn't blue. You need to find colors that work together. Maybe you could try working with one of those "general palettes", like Arne's 16 color palette? I feel like being offered too many colors, your choices gravitate towards giving stuff their named color (grass is green, water is blue).

By that you mean that some color combinations give the feeling of the color needed? I still am not good at pixel colors too.

Specifically, the water tiles, the tree and how would I go about squeezing a tower sprite into a single tile, as I've had unsatisfactory results so far.

Why would you want a tower in a single tile while your tree is in four? Have you tried aligning your elements so you can compare their heights?

[Gil]

By that you mean that some color combinations give the feeling of the color needed? I still am not good at pixel colors too.

Try using the color picker on parts of this image, you'll be surprised of all the colors you get. Sure, the tree has a lot of greens and if the sky starts reflecting, you'll find some blues in the pond. But! You'll also find a bunch of yellows, reds, purples, whatever.