AuthorTopic: RPG graphics for an long time project  (Read 3499 times)

Offline Super17

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RPG graphics for an long time project

on: March 18, 2016, 06:43:05 pm
I know there is a sub forum for games, but I don't want to talk about the game itself, just the graphics. Hope it's fine that way.

Short info about what this is for, skip this block if you just want to see the graphics:
I started with this more then 6 years ago with a simple program called "RPG Maker 2003". It's easy to use, but also very restricted, allowing just a limited size for tilesets and limited frames for animation. They are a lot of workarounds and third party programs which I use, but the size restriction still remains.
At first, I just copied graphics from existing games from the SNES era, but after some practice with our beloved pixels, I wasn't satisfied anymore and wanted to do all the graphics by myself. So I began to replace the copied files one by another, which was and still is problematic sometimes due to the restrictions.
Well, I wouldn't start a game project with this engine anymore, but I can't give up of this project because it has over 5 hours of playtime and it would be to much work to redo everything.


So here are some screens from the oldest assets which I started in 2011. There are many more, but I just want your opinion on these for now, because I think there are some problems here and there. I worked with a limited palette to give a certain look to every area, but maybe it's to limited or not that good. I think I can do this better today, but I wanted to hear some opinions before I look over them and move on. Please ignore the characters.

The set with palette etc:




In game screens:
   

   

There is a transparent picture above the scenes to give some sort of fog/light effect.

Offline 0xDB

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Re: RPG graphics for an long time project

Reply #1 on: March 18, 2016, 08:17:08 pm
I like those color schemes, they remind me of FinalFantasyVI.

One minor thing that kind of popped out at first glance:

Offline rocifier

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Re: RPG graphics for an long time project

Reply #2 on: March 19, 2016, 10:55:40 am
Looking awesome. So much work put into this! It must be finished!

Personally I would love to see a shadow layer put down which just details the primary blocks of shadow. I also boosted the contrast slightly of the entire town:



It still feels pretty dull and gritty though, maybe it's what you are going for, but you may want to add some flower beds or flowers on window sills etc. to liven it up and broaden the appeal. Your other screenshots are pretty cool. Keep pushing!

Offline trough

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Re: RPG graphics for an long time project

Reply #3 on: March 19, 2016, 04:20:57 pm
One minor thing that kind of popped out at first glance:

I think they are supposed to be half-hipped like this:

Offline 0xDB

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Re: RPG graphics for an long time project

Reply #4 on: March 23, 2016, 11:48:29 pm
One minor thing that kind of popped out at first glance:

I think they are supposed to be half-hipped like this:

Oh I see. I think that could be made more obvious with a little drop shadow or ambient occlusion below the shingles there as it currently looks like it's just the wall continuing upwards. A slight change of the colors in the roof might help as well so that they are not as gray as the wall in that particular section.

Offline Super17

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Re: RPG graphics for an long time project

Reply #5 on: April 06, 2016, 04:01:04 pm
Looking awesome. So much work put into this! It must be finished!

Personally I would love to see a shadow layer put down which just details the primary blocks of shadow. I also boosted the contrast slightly of the entire town:



It still feels pretty dull and gritty though, maybe it's what you are going for, but you may want to add some flower beds or flowers on window sills etc. to liven it up and broaden the appeal. Your other screenshots are pretty cool. Keep pushing!
Thanks. Ye, shadows a nice, but not possible to implement, to much work unfortunately. And yes, the city is supposed to look dull and unfriendly.

To 0xDB and trough: trough is right. Shadows are, as I said, not easy possible, just within the tile. But I will look into it.

Offline rocifier

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Re: RPG graphics for an long time project

Reply #6 on: April 07, 2016, 12:22:50 am
If it were me I'd just make a range of generic shadow tiles and then put them on a new layer in the game with 50% opacity. Then I can manually place them over the city in the editor. The layer would basically blend over the top of everything except UI (you may want players on top of it, up to you). Ok so it's not like it's traditional pixel art 100% but hey what works works and we aren't limited by hardware in this kind of thing anymore. The coders of old would have loved to have done something like that in the SNES - now in modern engines it's basic settings. Shadows could even have a cold tint to them.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2016, 12:24:48 am by rocifier »

Offline washk

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Re: RPG graphics for an long time project

Reply #7 on: April 07, 2016, 09:09:46 am
I agree with the rocifier comments, especially on the contrasts. His edit add depth to your otherwise amazing work.
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