Some side-view structure graphics for new RTS

[Bryce]

Hello.
I'm working on a game, a four point summary of which (from a technical
point of view, rather than a story one) is:

Genera: Real-time strategy game, side view.
Scale: Emphasis on engagments of smaller numbers of units (5-20) rather
than large groups. Individual control mode (in a conventional platformer manner)
over single units is allowed - lead your troops into battle.
Factions: Four factions, very diverse in unit selection and tech tree. Also,
each faction has a different resource cycle.
Expandability: User-made factions, maps, scenarios; Engine source avaible.
Multiplayer: Multiplayer network play support planned.

I can pixel decently myself, but not nearly as well as many of you can. Also,
while I can manage buildings, terrain, simple non-organic vehicles, and the
occasional monster, I am quite horrible at drawing humanoids. Here's a sample
of my work (made for this game) -


Bazaar, Market. (Trade) The Market (right) was the first one I made in this batch of pixel art... I'm afraid it shows.



Gold Mine, Iron Mine (Resource gathering obviously). The chimney was a pain to do but I like how it turned out. Any advice on
doing that kind of thing faster? Also the lines on both headframes look rather poor. Should I anti-alias them rather than
making them blocky in such a way that it looks like there "should" be jaggies?


Aviary Spire (for recruiting flying units.)
I actually like how this turned out, although the base does seem a little strange. I think I should
change the wooden areas on the first story to stone, perhaps? Also, the dithering on the top dome
seems a bit off to me looking at it now, but I'm not sure how. I cheated a bit on the wood texture,
it is HSV noise. I think it turned out better than the wood texture I did by hand on the other structures,
but it is not as good as it could be.

As a general question - do you think I should change the brass (yellow) trim to gray?




It's in the "eh, workable" category, but nothing outstanding. It will do for
testing the game, anyway. I'd appreciate any advice you can give on improving
it, of course. That's why I posted this in -this- forum.

Anyway, though, I'm a primarily a programmer rather than a pixel artist, and
I need to focus my attention in programming and design. Plus, it is a fairly
large (but not huge and unfinishable) project, and one person isn't enough to
do all the graphics.

No doubt lots of people come in here with "the next great game idea" asking
you to do all the graphics so they can start programming it. It probably
doesn't take too many failed projects with a lot of -your- time sunk in them
to put you off of helping people with vauge (or overt) stories of glory and
possibly fortune. So, I'm not asking that of anyone - why should someone sink
hours of their life into a project  on my bare word alone?
(Having done quite a bit of both programming and some pixel
art, I respect the amount of time it takes to do either task well.) However,
a game can't really proceed without any graphics to test the engine.
I would appreciate if someone could do a side-view sprite with the following
properties -

* Looks like an anthropomorphic wolf (or other canine, I'm not especially
  picky at this point. That said, I'm sure that we'd rather avoid the game's
  eventual web forums containing fifty "Is the AL soldier a dingo or a dog"
  debate threads.)
* Has a sword.
* Scaled to the buildings above.
* Light comes from the upper-left and a bit towards the camera.

So far so good. This is the tricky part, at least from my animation-impaired
point of view:
* Left and right walk cycle animations.
* Jumping animation.
* Sword attacking animation.
* Dying animation.
* Falling off an edge animation.

I realize that there is some tedious work here, and if you can't stand to do
two walk cycle animations with different shading, I don't think I can afford
to be picky at this stage. (If you don't want to do that, of course, I would
appreciate getting the pixel line-art as well as the finished product, to
reduce the amount of work needed later.)

Thanks for any help you can give me with this project, either advice for
my own pixel art or a direct contribution. All I can offer in return is a
mention in the credits and possibly a resume item if the game is successful.

[Checkworth]

this probably goes in the employment section 

[Bryce]

this probably goes in the employment section 

I wasn't sure; do you think I should have split it into two posts?
Asking for one sprite seems a bit trivial for an entire topic, and the images provide needed intuitive context for the request
in terms of scale, style, perspective, etc. Plus, the primary topic (as you can tell from the title) is "Some side-view structure graphics for new RTS" not "Anthropomorphic wolf sprite wanted". Certainly I'd post there when the game is playable enough to request
help for the final graphics.

[Akzidenz]

You should probably split your post into two parts - the buildings can go here if you'd like criticism or help with them, but the sprite should go in the employment section under [UNPAID]. If you'd had a sprite to work with, and you were looking for advice on how to improve it, the Pixel Art board would be the place - but in general, if you're asking someone to create something out of nothing, that's considered an Employment section post.

One sprite may not seem like a lot, but it's a pretty big undertaking. Animation is a lengthy process, especially if you're looking to have multiple animations for the main character. It may be small, but that doesn't necessarily make it less difficult, and you're looking at least 15 frames of animation.

[Bryce]

You should probably split your post into two parts - the buildings can go here if you'd like criticism or help with them, but the sprite should go in the employment section under [UNPAID]. If you'd had a sprite to work with, and you were looking for advice on how to improve it, the Pixel Art board would be the place - but in general, if you're asking someone to create something out of nothing, that's considered an Employment section post.

One sprite may not seem like a lot, but it's a pretty big undertaking. Animation is a lengthy process, especially if you're looking to have multiple animations for the main character. It may be small, but that doesn't necessarily make it less difficult, and you're looking at least 15 frames of animation.

I in no way intended to trivialize the effort needed. I understand that it takes effort! I have about (on average) 0.25 seconds per pixel into the images above, and I didn't find out that I'm bad at animation by not spending some time trying... But compared to most of the things on that board, this seemed like a minor item; secondary to the primary topic.

Secondly, I would like "criticism or help" (preferably both!) on the buildings! That's why I posted them here, after all. That's why I asked specific questions about improving them. They aren't there for decoration...

Sorry if I seem a bit cross. I obviously don't fully understand your customs here, and I'll try to remember what you've said in the future. That said, I'd like some actual critique or comments on the art now, please?

[MoD]

Criticism or help? Can do.

First off, you can help us critique them by either making the white transparent or by making it a more neutral color. Currently the white makes all the detail you drew too dark, relatively, to see.

I notice a very unpatterned dither in the roofs of the market/bazaar and other buildings. I think shading as shingles or tent fabric would give a more realistic feeling.

You have several hues in the bazaar/market's wood, but they aren't arranged well in the palette and just jump around. Try fixing that.

A stylistic issue I notice is the presence of black lines inside the sprite. They divide it a lot and tend to draw the eye to themselves. Try using a different, but still dark tone or antialiasing them.

I like the use of gold accents, but they look perfectly yellow. Gold is a slightly more orangish color, and you could decrease the saturation there.

In the rounded sections of buildings, you do a good job of showing the lightsource but it looks like you used the noise tool there. If you didn't you used WAY too many colors. Either way, make them single-color boards and then add one or two shades with which to draw in wood texture.

I like the palette you've chosen for the stone parts and the little golden spire on the bazaar is great.

Keep working on these and your game is sure to look fantastic!

[Bryce]

First off, you can help us critique them by either making the white transparent or by making it a more neutral color. Currently the white makes all the detail you drew too dark, relatively, to see.

It is transparent, actually, but some (all?) versions of Internet Explorer have a png rendering bug that causes transparency to not work properly.
Here's an image with a non-transparent background. (Don't bother analyzing the background, it's just temporary, for mockups.)

I notice a very unpatterned dither in the roofs of the market/bazaar and other buildings. I think shading as shingles or tent fabric would give a more realistic feeling.

The dithering is rather chaotic, isn't it? I agree that it does look funky; I'll look into coming up with something better.
I'll probably go with tiles, once I figure out a good tile pattern.

You have several hues in the bazaar/market's wood, but they aren't arranged well in the palette and just jump around. Try fixing that.

Yeah, I think I'll redo the wood texture in a more sensical manner. Know  any good texturing tutorials?

A stylistic issue I notice is the presence of black lines inside the sprite. They divide it a lot and tend to draw the eye to themselves. Try using a different, but still dark tone or antialiasing them.

I stopped doing that partway through the Aviary Spire, as you may note. I agree totally it looks better without black lines interior to the sprite, and I will
revise them.

I like the use of gold accents, but they look perfectly yellow. Gold is a slightly more orangish color, and you could decrease the saturation there.

You're right, it looks much better desaturated some. It was supposed to be brass but your point still holds.

In the rounded sections of buildings, you do a good job of showing the lightsource but it looks like you used the noise tool there. If you didn't you used WAY too many colors.

As I admitted, it is HSV noise (only very slight noise in the hue channel, more in the value and saturation channels, IIRC). I'll replace it with real wood
texture when I figure out how to make wood (as above).

Thanks for the constructive criticism and pointers!