[Feedback] [CC] Bolero: Fantasy Tactics, pixel art

[Curly]

Yeah I think it looks better now.
I can't avoid focusing my attention on the broken hair outlines but maybe I'm weird.

[falz]

I've begun trying to spruce up the UI. It isn't something I have any experience with, really. I wonder how this is for a start? Any feedback would be immensely helpful.

edit: further mockup in photoshop

Still need to design the command menus. So far I've been borrowing ideas liberally from Tactics Ogre on PSP (screen shot) but I think my commands may need much more attention because of the different characters using different menus.
edit:
hm, maybe something like this? I'm not 100 on these icons yet, I spent the most time on the brawl one.

[falz]

I've made some enemy AI and the game is playable! But I guess this means I should try to make some enemies to fight. This is a ghostly figure which guards the tower.

This is the start, I'm hoping the elements are reading clearly. There a re a few things which aren't finished, like I want the cloths to be flowing in the wind, and the sword isn't quite cleaned up.
Edit: For the idle animation, I want it to be a little more subtle, so no bandages waving in wind. I'm wondering if the hand is too much?

[daramon]

I massively prefer the hand in the second animation. It really looks like it's opening up, rather than being a static unit moving up and down a few pixels, like in the first version.

Maybe make it bounce up and down on its knees a bit?

[falz]

Cool, I kept the hand motion, but made the movement ore subtle. I also altered the head to get closer to the bandage/wrapping look I wanted from beginning. I'm debating about whether to add more detail to the robe, but really not sure.

edit: actually, I should simplify the colors for a standard enemy, Maybe like this
-> (edit)
edit: An attempt at an attack, maybe? I found that I wanted to flip the orientation to make the attack animation work, and I like the way it looks, still
,, animating ->
edit:
I made the bandages consistent between frames and they become more unraveled for the keyframe. Also, I made an inbetween and a lil shake for how it'll be in game
,,

[falz]

Currently working on a new floor tile. There's 4 variations and no edge cases done yet and the wall portion is not finished. Wondering what people think.



The outlining is done with a shader I wrote

[Curly]

Looks a lot clearer now!
I think the floor tiles are a bit too noisy.

[Vinik]

Currently working on a new floor tile. There's 4 variations and no edge cases done yet and the wall portion is not finished. Wondering what people think. The outlining is done with a shader I wrote

Its been a while since I checked on this, and it is looking cool! The 2:1 ratio tiles are exactly what I imagined that would work well for your view to accommodate all the different height levels. The textures are lot less noisy, and the colors working together. I agree with Curly that you could reduce contrast just a bit between the two main colors of the flat floor surfaces. Mixing the darker color used in the floor details with the lighter background by 30% or even less might do the trick. Maybe you might want to tint the front facing and the shadowed areas to give it some ambiance? The outlining is pretty readable. Keep up with the improvements

[falz]

Hello everyone! I'm in a bit of a pickle. I am not sure what direction I should go with the portraits in my game. The game's style is pixel art but I have never really done larger pixel art works. I was attempting to transfer my drawing into a pixel art version but I'm quite unsure how worthwhile this endeavor is. I think it needs a lot more work (I've only redone the head/hair portion of the drawing btw, the body is just drawing scaled down with nearest neighbor in photoshop) and I am not sure my talent level is up to par. Any tips? Should I even be attempting to change the style? See something obvious that I should be doing different? Thanks for the feedback.

[Chonky Pixel]

Firstly, there are plenty of games that use a mix of pixel art and high res art. Even Celeste, which uses the biggest pixels I've seen this side of a ZX81 in-game, uses high res and even 3D for the character dialogues, menu systems and intro.

So if you want to use your original art, there's no reason why not. Try to keep a consistent feel across the two styles though. You'll have to take off your artist's hat and put on your art director's hat. This is not the easiest thing to do.

If you want to convert to pixel art, you could try to minimise banding. For example, the chest-plate has an even grad across it and this makes for obvious banding in pixel art. You could try bunching up the bands over smaller distances, reducing the colour count and making it more of a glint across the top with shadow nearer the bottom.

Similarly with the hair. I don't think you need the long mid-tone tufts down the left so much when you have the lovely thin bright wiggly sheen nearer the top.

But this is all my personal preference. YMMV.

Something to remember. "Pixel art" isn't really a style, it's a medium. There are as many styles of pixel art as there are artists. Moving to another medium doesn't NECESSARILY mean you're shifting style, but it's more likely I guess?