Should I go with 1x1 or 2x2 pixels. What do you think?

[PetSkull]

It's one of the NPC characters of a game I'm creating. He's an unfortunate guy living on the streets in the early 1970's.
I can't decide if I should go with the full size, giving me more room for details or go for the 2x2 pixels, which has it's cuteness. The game doesn't depict cuteness otherwise, so maybe the double size will be misplaced?

What do you think?

[32]

I think you should be consistent with your pixel size across all of your assets. That said the "2x2" sprite is going to be easier to animate. It really depends on what aesthetic you want the game to have.

[PetSkull]

In the early design phase I kinda had the look of Stardew in my mind. But as the ideas progressed, the game became more dark and unsettling, so I'm not sure that the double pixels will fit anymore. I'm probably going to go with the single sized pixels.

Thank you for your comment 

[PetSkull]

Ok, I went with the 1x1 pixels and have made the first raw animation. Not quite satisfied with it, so I'm asking you:

How do you do your walk animations? I'm using Aseprite for it, aiming for 8 frames per walk look, but my biggest problem is how to get the right pose for the next frame in the animation. I started by doing the right foot. And then copied it to the left foot (and offsetting it by 2 pixels to get a somewhat perspective). Then I added the right leg, but already here I'm having trouble getting the right bend etc.

How to you "attack" the animation. Which parts do you do first?

(Btw, he's meant to walk slow - A tired walk...)

[MadSheep]

I divide a leg into three parts - thigh, shin and foot, - and for each frame I just rotate every part to the correct position. First I do it for one leg (which is at the front) and then I just copy it for the second (back) leg and make it a bit darker then the front leg. (The same goes for arms).

Also I think your posture doesn't look stable enough, it looks like he is going to fall back, I would move the upper part of the body a bit to the right and tilt it a bit so he wouldn't look so straight, and if you say that he is supposed to be tired, maybe his head should look down?
I took one of the frames and made some rough changes here:


So the main point - don't be afraid to bend his knees more And don't forget to rotate foots and hands accordingly to the position of the legs and arms. Now his hands remain the same on all frames, try to rotate it

[PetSkull]

Great! Thanks. I can see what you mean, by the back and head. Funny how so little changes can make a big difference.

You say, you divide the leg (and arm) into three parts. Do you still make rotations in Aseprite or do you do it in a vector program, and then convert to pixels afterwards ?

[Hunited]

Itīs easier to just rotate in the program youīre using and then clean up the result. Doing it in a vector program and converting it to pixels would still require you to clean it up, so itīs more time consuming.

[MadSheep]

Yes, Hunited is right, it's easier to use the same program. I'm using Aseprite as well, I know it can be a bit time consuming to clean up all the things, but unfortunately I don't know any program that does rotation pixel perfectly

[PetSkull]

I found some great articles on 8 frame walk animations and I was able to adapt them to different speeds (some walks 2 pixels pr frame, some 3 and some 4) - It looks promising for now. I've made it like a template with different colors for each body part.Then I hope it will be easier to give them clothes later on.

So now I have left and right done, my next challence is walking north and souht - This is a pain in the arse, I think. Made several attempts yesterday, but none I liked.

Do you have any good pointers as to how I should start the south walk sequence?