[FILLED!] [PAID] Seeking pixel artist for 2D platformer well under development

[Fordesoft]

POSITION FILLED!  Thank you all who applied!

Hi all,

I'm seeking a pixel artist for a 2D platformer I'm working on.  It's a fairly small/short game that's already in a playable state, but feedback on my programmer art has been pretty negative, so I'm looking for an artist to come onboard and reenvision things.

The game shoots for a weird cartoony/silly/wacky/surreal vibe, so if you like drawing in that mood and can maybe even take the animations to new levels of ridiculousness, this is for you.

My own preference is toward 16-bit-style pixel art (the game is aimed toward people who grew up with Super Mario World and the like), but I'm open.  Even non-pixel art might work if the style fits.

About the game

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bTflHEf7lc

Screenshots and information: http://www.fordesoft.com/blog/posts/announcing-emerald-shores-for-ps4-ps-vita-and-pstv

How much work is involved

- ~6 level tilesets (grassland, cave, desert, snow, swamp, city).  32x32 tiles.  Each currently has ~30 tiles, but many are just simple modifications of the others.

- 2 world map tilesets, 32x32 tiles.  Take a look at the trailer/screenshots to see the first, bigger world: a bunch of terrain in various biomes, plus a few props for decoration in each, and then a few single-tile buildings.  Rough estimate of 60-80 tiles on the first world map, and 30-40 on the second world map.

- ~30 monsters to draw and animate.  Usually small, in ranges around 48x48-96x96.  Each usually only has one animation.

- 5 bosses.  A little larger and more complex than the regular monsters, possibly having a couple of animations.

- 5-10 small single-animation objects: the level goal/exit, coins, orbs, powerups

- 1 main character with these animations: idle, run, jump, climbing ladders, throwing fireballs.  32x48 currently, but open to changing it.

- ~5 NPCs.  Mostly idle animations, but at least one has a walking animation, too.

- world map sprite for main character (single animation of a few frames)

- there's also some digital painting for things like backgrounds, character portraits in cutscenes, etc. (see the trailer).  If you can do those too, that's a plus, but since it's not pixel art like the rest of the stuff above, don't sweat it - I can hire a different artist later for those.

Timeline and workflow

My goal is to have the game out sometime this summer, so ~3 months?  But there are no hard deadlines, so this is flexible.

The workflow to start would just be to start redrawing the things that are already there (~25% of the total game).  If you're working on Windows, I'll give you access to the game so you can easily drop in your changes and test them out.

Experience with Git is a plus, but not necessary.

Creative freedom

When I say "redraw", for most things, the art doesn't have to just be revamped versions of what's already there.  You can completely reenvision things like the main character design if you like.

I'm not married to most of the existing designs; there are only a few that need to be (somewhat) conceptually similar to how they already are for technical reasons or storyline reasons.

You'll especially have a lot of freedom to come up with monster designs.  If you're doodling and come up with a funny monster idea, throw it in there.  Imagine you were designing your own Pokemon: weird is good.

Payment schedule

I'm quick with payments and can send via Venmo, PayPal, or likely others if you prefer.

I'd lean toward a "payment per asset delivered" approach, but I'm open to hourly rates if you prefer and are able to estimate hours involved per asset.

Contact info

Please e-mail me with your portfolio (platformer art preferred) and an estimate.  To prevent spambots: my e-mail address domain is fordesoft.com , and the first part is josh