[Feedback] [C+C] Steampunk Submarine

[Jedemy]

It is my first time working on a huge sprite like this and tried my best but i am sure there are lot of places which can be improved.

While i try to create something nice, i wouldn't like to spend a lot of time on sprites, because there are lot of sprites i need to make for my game.

However, please tell me what do you think and if do you know any tips&tricks to make it look nicer.

Thanks for your time!

[Jedemy]

Here is an update , i added a bit texture and detail to it

[Vinik]

I believe that if the green rounded piece at the tip is supposed to be circular from a front view, it would look more horizontaly squashed from the current side view.

Some of the rivets on the fin have their lightened parts reversed, I am not sure if it fits the direction of the light.

Maybe the three lighter shades of the wood surface shouldn't be so warm? It is a deep underwater scene, and the water would suck up almost all the red component of the light down there, the wood would get a sickly olive or some other non-red hue. However, that is open to artistic choice I think

Also, someone will probably give you better advice than me regarding the wood grain/texture that might be improved, but regarding the shape of the planks, I think they could show the curvature of the oval body instead of being rectangular all the way. I think I liked the brightness values of the wood in the first pass before the texturing.

Glass, glass is hard, take a look on what eishiya and Pistachio helped me with on another thread, perhaps it will help you:
https://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=26545.msg198345#msg198345

Overall I like it, specially the palette, the parallax idea for the underwater background (it will be parallaxed right?) and the fact it is that it is already very readable and non ambiguous, leaning more on symbolism then realism as is proper for a game-y sideview piece.

[MysteryMeat]

the lack of perspective bending on the wood makes it look flat. Use pictures of barrels for reference, there shouldn't be straight lines on this!

[Jedemy]

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys! I am working on it

[Jedemy]

Okay here is an update , how this one looks?

[MysteryMeat]

looking better, I think you just need to fix the curvature of the Ring holding the glass dome in place

[Jedemy]

So it is the latest update, i generate also some dynamic godrays which aren't really pixel art but adds some nice underwater effect. What do you guys think?



Here you can see in action: http://i.imgur.com/I2ZyDrO.gifv

[DTE462]

It's looking really good.

The main hull looks great. But because it's so well textured it makes the fin in back stand out a little more to me. Whether it should be overall more midtone? Or add some shadow to the bottom of each plank to give it depth? Not sure exactly. It just seems like it's a little brighter than the main hull. But the wood texturing and rivets look great to me. 

I like the shading you have on the 3 windows at the side, but I think you could take it a step further to show the curvature of the windows with the highlights. I did a rough attempt that hopefully gets the idea across.



As for the animation, I know it's not strictly pixel art, but I like the water affect on the plants in the animation you have. Looks really natural. I'm making an underwater game myself, and it's tempting to throw filters on things and it's hard to balance what looks natural with the pixel art and what seems like a cheap affect to give movement to still pixel art.

The godrays are more up to personal preference, but I had good luck using a solid transparent color and having them overlap. They don't look as "real", but they seem to blend better with the pixel art. You might also move them behind the sub. When they are in front and the lighting on the sub doesn't account for the depth and "form" of the sub it's easier to tell it's just a layer in front of the sub. It may also make the sub contrast more with the background? Then again it may compete more with the background.

Looks great overall though.

Side note: the menu options look nice. I always struggle with UI stuff and it looks really natural here.

[Jedemy]

Thanks for your detailed feedback DTE462, i will definitely do something about that highlights on windows and tweak some stuff on the Fin.

Animations on grass was done with a shader, it was quite a challenge to get it look right. Glad you like it!

I am still working on that Godrays, using sprites instead of a shader might suit the game better as you said. Do you mind showing your work on that one?