Platform sprites

[junkboy]

Final edit:

Re-did the background once again and this is where I ended up. It's kinda repetitive since I've re-used the same tile all over the place, but at least it looks cosier than the previous ones.




Edit:

Okay, here are some updated stuff.

I had an idea for the original BG, but I wasn't able to create what I had envisioned, so I'll just leave it be and give it another shot later on. I started making a more traditional (boring?) BG instead, still a WIP.
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3939/mephtikland02gb8.png

Here's the updated slash with some added critter carnage, and the walk cycle, etc. without sparks.
           


Original post:

I'm making some graphics for a music game song in the style of a platform game (the music game is called Click Beat, check it out!).

Here's the main character, a.. uh... bearmonkeyrabbit? 

    Walk          Slash          Mixed


A background that I'm gonna redo (you can probably see why).

(Yes, grass produces sparks, didn't you know?)


Anyway, I'd love to get some feedback, especially on the animations!

[AdamAtomic]

hey awesome!  I don't really like the diagonal lines headed inward on the slopes, but the animations look great to me - i love the little bob/pause in the middle of the slash, that's great, so much rhythm to it!

[Takai Soyokaze]

I love the clouds. It seems like single pixels blown up to 16x16, and then rounded out. Awesome idea, perfect execution, all be it doesn't nessacarily fit in with the rest of the game image.

[Sherman Gill]

(Sorry, I don't like private messages)
Junkboy, you have an excellent image in your sig/on your site.
Hot woman with a Mauser pistol .

On topic: Love the clouds and sky. Main character is well done (Besides grass sparks.) The background  looks a little wierd... Can't figure out why.

[AlexHW]

just like to mention, that the sparks could be done with some particle code, so you could have dirt particles for when you're on grass, and sparks for when hes on metal.. having effects in the sprite's animation doesnt make sense in this case, if these are being used in a game.
the graphics look nice and vibrant though..

[snake]

First off, I love the warm colours you've used here. Really works with the simplistic objects.

As for crits, what struck me is that I found the character sprite to be messy. After a bit of searching, I am guessing that there are two things that give me that impression.

First, it's the sparks. The black grain in the middle and jagged animation seems to drag down what could be an even better impression of a well executed walkcycle.

Second, the speedlines in the cutting animation. As there's a limit to how much you can AA lines that end in transparency, it looks pretty jagged compared to the character sprite.

I did some tests to see if I could fix it:



yours - mine - mine.

For the sparks, I used only "clean" angles that need no AA. I found that it could also look interesting having the sparks further back than dead on.

On the cutting, I usually find it better to use a full shape, stretching the colours and lines from the furthest point in the animation. (something Capcom uses a lot.) The first has emphasis on the metal, while the other on the blade. It can also be narrowed down, but I didn't feel like making a horde of edits.  I feel a solid shape (just shown for that one frame of course) would unify it with the style on the Bearmonbit... bonit... Hero character.

And just to add to what the other's been saying. Great idea on the clouds. 

[rabidbaboy]

Hmm, maybe you could use tiles that don't look like blocks for the platforms? I don't really like the block-ness and how the slanting platforms look.

But I think the animations are great. I think prolonging the last frame of the slash animation would make it seem like the sword is heavier, since the idea has already been enforced by the sparks. Also, maybe you could show his eyes like this: >_< when slashing, to show that he had to exert much to lift that sword.

Good luck on this project of yours.

[Schu]

Neat background and cute sprite. Actually the background reminds me of Spica, that weird Taito arcade game.
------
Schu

[junkboy]

AdamAtomic: Thanks! Not too fond of the slopes myself (or anything in fact, besides the clouds).

Takai Soyokaze: Yeah. My idea was to have the game world look like it was made out of blocks, put together like pixel art, shaded and all (so that the mountains would have darker pixels on one side, and brighter on the other, etc). It proved to be a bit more then I could handle though.

Sherman Gill: Haha, thank you. Eyepatch/Mauser girl is called Lacey. One of these days I'll make a game with her.. 

Alex Hanson-White: It's not really a game, it's just background graphics that are shown during a song in Click Beat. The sparks were a bit over the top though, so I have removed them now.

snake: Thank you for those excellent edits! I ditched the sparks, but the slash-effect you made is clearly superior, so I gave it a try myself.

rabidbaboy: Thanks! Good call on the animation delay, I made it a bit longer. I did experiment a bit with facial expressions when I was making the animation. I found however that the character lost a bit of his morbid innocence if I made him look strained.

Schu: Ah yes, I remember seeing that game a while ago. Maybe I was inspired by it subconsciously? 

[rabidbaboy]

I like the penguin-like enemies.
And it's good that you took Snake's edit into consideration, it looks much better, imo.
The bg also looks better, imo.