AuthorTopic: [C+C] [WIP] Baddie for game critique thread. Thoughts?  (Read 7669 times)

Offline RedSuinit

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I am having a terribly hard time grasping the concept of proper AA and dithering. I am very new to pixel art (this is only my second piece) and would love a critique/advice. I am trying to make characters for a video game I am working on, and the artwork is the largest hurdle by far. I am a broke 1 man studio, so I can't afford an artist and am attempting to do it on my own. Let me know what you think of the piece. It's supposed to have an ape-like form. If anyone has advice for the color palette I would love to hear that as well.



Thanks everyone!
« Last Edit: August 19, 2015, 12:53:34 am by RedSuinit »

Offline Pusty

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Help with AA.

Reply #1 on: August 18, 2015, 03:26:11 am
I don't think AA is the problem here lol
I would recommend you study (does this word make sense here?) anatomy
Just a random hobby gamedev passing by O:
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Offline RedSuinit

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Help with AA.

Reply #2 on: August 18, 2015, 03:36:25 am
It's supposed to have an apelike appearance. Similar to that of a gorilla, and yes, the head is supposed to be exaggerated in size.

Offline dpixel

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Help with AA.

Reply #3 on: August 18, 2015, 12:42:56 pm
AA is supposed to smooth out curved lines basically.  Are you going further with this?  Adding a face, etc?  Would like to see more.
Over all it looks correct.  Maybe the head would cast a shadow on its chest though. 

Offline RedSuinit

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Help with AA.

Reply #4 on: August 18, 2015, 01:01:14 pm
AA is supposed to smooth out curved lines basically.  Are you going further with this?  Adding a face, etc?  Would like to see more.
Over all it looks correct.  Maybe the head would cast a shadow on its chest though.

I guess I should be more specific, the outside edge of the face. I know that inherently, pixel art will look blocky, but I feel like the outside curve of the head just looks a little too jagged, and I am at a complete loss on how to improve that for a piece that is going to be used in a game, with numerous backgrounds behind it. Yes, it will be getting a face, I just haven't started on it yet. I wanted to get the basic form down before continuing onto facial structure, and other smaller details.

Offline dpixel

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Help with AA.

Reply #5 on: August 18, 2015, 02:11:45 pm
If it's on the outside of the sprite and on different backgrounds there's not much you can do unless you build an AA algorithm into your game(not worth it imo).   A lot of sprites are outlined in black or a dark color so it will pop on different backgrounds. 
AA is done with an intermediate color to soften jaggies.  Say your sprite outline was black and your background was white, you would use a gray(sparingly) to AA.  Too much and it'll look blurry.
I would just focus on a nice looking sprite.   :)

Offline RedSuinit

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Baddie for game, comments?

Reply #6 on: August 19, 2015, 12:53:12 am
EDIT:


So I guess I will just turn this into a critique thread. I am contemplating not giving him a face, but instead having his head split open and some form of attack comes from the open head. Not sure yet. Thoughts on the latest revision?

Offline Decroded

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Baddie for game critique thread. Thoughts?

Reply #7 on: August 19, 2015, 01:27:01 am
what software packages do u have?
u can AA to transparent but it doesn't seem stylistically suitable here.

Some things u can do in terms of outlining:
- fill ur canvas with 50% grey when developing sprites. display them like this too when u post.
- increase contrast inside the sprite so the outline isn't so harsh.
- avoid pure black outlines.
- I often lean towards a dark redish hue for outlines as this warmer colour tends to separate the sprite from coolor backgrounds. Typically somewhere around 50% saturation is strikes a good balance between a range of backgrounds.
- use the outline colour selectively in the most shadowy areas or where u really need a dark line to separate forms inside the sprite because u can't use colour/value separation.
where the light is hitting eg top of head, switch up to the darkest shade up from the outline.  this is where the ramp ur using is important as mentioned above re contrast.

u can even go a shade lighter in the brightest areas.
the concept here is that bright parts of the sprite already pop against dark to mid-bright backgrounds, so u only need a mid-bright outline to separate it from bright backgrounds.
finding the balance helps make the lines less harsh while still serving their purpose.

Offline RedSuinit

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Baddie for game critique thread. Thoughts?

Reply #8 on: August 19, 2015, 01:53:26 am
what software packages do u have?
u can AA to transparent but it doesn't seem stylistically suitable here.

Some things u can do in terms of outlining:
- fill ur canvas with 50% grey when developing sprites. display them like this too when u post.
- increase contrast inside the sprite so the outline isn't so harsh.
- avoid pure black outlines.
- I often lean towards a dark redish hue for outlines as this warmer colour tends to separate the sprite from coolor backgrounds. Typically somewhere around 50% saturation is strikes a good balance between a range of backgrounds.
- use the outline colour selectively in the most shadowy areas or where u really need a dark line to separate forms inside the sprite because u can't use colour/value separation.
where the light is hitting eg top of head, switch up to the darkest shade up from the outline.  this is where the ramp ur using is important as mentioned above re contrast.

u can even go a shade lighter in the brightest areas.
the concept here is that bright parts of the sprite already pop against dark to mid-bright backgrounds, so u only need a mid-bright outline to separate it from bright backgrounds.
finding the balance helps make the lines less harsh while still serving their purpose.

Thank you for all of those tips! I appreciate the feedback. I will try and play around with all of that. I just wish I could dedicate more time to this. I have a 50-60 hour a week job, wife and kids. So I only get maybe an hour a day to develop and create. I would love to do this full time, but I have a family to support, so I can't just focus on this, no matter how badly I want to. Oh well, maybe after 2-3 years of development the game will do well enough I can support my family this way. Doubt it, but who knows.

Offline RedSuinit

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Re: [C+C] [WIP] Baddie for game critique thread. Thoughts?

Reply #9 on: August 19, 2015, 02:06:54 am
EDIT:



One last edit for the night. The mouth will spread open until the top half of the head will be nearly gone, and then some sort of attack will come out.