AuthorTopic: Boss Sprite WIP  (Read 20879 times)

Offline eqko

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #10 on: January 10, 2007, 08:22:08 pm
this looks good, but I keep expecting the tail to do an up-down whiplike motion.
 I would add that if possible

also, the color of the liquid could use some more blue if it's supposed to be water
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Offline Conzeit

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #11 on: January 10, 2007, 09:04:53 pm
hahaha, that is a very catchy design, it's very cool but somehow silly and humurous. The style you used for animating this is JUST right for the type of animation it is

just...a question, do you have much experience animating, I imagine this would be a beast (BA DA BUM PSSHHH!) to animate...from the animation skills displayed in this one I think you be putting the detail standards way too high standard for animation skills.
...I hope your other animated pieces don't just involve moving/sliding groups of pixels up and down, or left and right, to create animated effects. Looks good on this, but if done repeatedly, it tends to look cheap to the pixel veteran's eyes.
Listen to the man El si que sabe de animar cosas complejas...no tengo nidea de como va a hacer con sus fighter sprites XDD

from the way you animated here it looks like you're just gonna slide things around....if that's the main aproach you plan to take I suggest you figure out a way to simplify the sprite whitout taking it's appeal away, so you can try some actual redrawing in the animation.

dont think I'm a redrawing animation Natzi or anything I KNOW sliding stuff around is a perfectly good technique,  it can turn this (Castlevania X sprite)-> into this-> I belive an artist should never be afraid of using a tool, but anyone who relies too much on a tool ends up doing cheap material.

at the beggining you should make a few good re-drawn animations, so that when you know WHY sliding stuff around tends to look so bad you can try doing it in a way that avoids everything that makes it look bad.

I think a good way to make him shoot the rocket launcher sequence would be to have the top of his skull dis-assemble and retract, then have the rocket blast right out of his mouth....and if you're in the mood for even MORE extra effects have smoke come out of every one of it's tail rings

ALL of his bones could use a lot more contrast in the pallete, but The spine...Plates (spikey thingys that stick out of the thickiest part of his tail :p) are specially in need, they look so flat to me they seem petals. Re-shade them, add some shadows to them so they have a thick volume.

summing up, glad to have you aboard, you obviously have some skills so please keep posting your stuff...and if posible post more about other aspects of the project (tiles, other sprites, gameplay) seeing that kind of stuff will help us know your art direction and be EVEN MORE (OMG it is posible? XDD) accurate in our crits =)
« Last Edit: January 12, 2007, 10:13:38 am by Conceit »

Offline Ben2theEdge

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #12 on: January 10, 2007, 09:56:56 pm
Thanks for your responses everybody!

He is based off a stegasaurus. Good job to the two who got it. High fives! All the boss-creatures in the game are based off dinosaurs... no particular reason, they're just fun to draw.

Conceit and B.O.B., I try to use a combination of sliding and redrawing; usually with idling/standing animations I slide stuff and then touch it up afterwards. I've never tried to animate something this big before, though, so large amounts of redrawing are a bit intimidating to me. I am making it really hard on myself with the design but I really want him to have a sort of Metal Slug-esque vibe. I'm just not as good an artist as those guys ;^p I'm hoping this will force me to develope my animation skills more.



Here's a small update: The water animation is crap - I'm gonna fix it; I just wanted to get it in there. I also intend to make his hand movements more subtle (some people suggested claws but they are a little out of place for the character - he's not really supposed to be a warrior, more of a mastermind. If you guys really think he needs claws though, I'm gonna have to redraw the fingers anyway so it wouldn't be out of my way. I liked the idea about the thrashing tail - I'm not sure if his tail will actually be that visible during gameplay (it may be offscreen) so I'm a little hesitant to spend the time and sweat making it fully animated. Though it would look very cool and it would be good practice for me. The more I think about the game design the more I think the rockets should probably be fired upwards... which means shoulders I guess. I love Conceit's idea about his skull opening up and firing something though so maybe I'll give him another attack like a laser or something... I just really wanna try animating that ;^)

A couple other sprites from the game (feel free to critique these, too!) No backgrounds yet - I'm going to be getting some help with those as I am very amateur when it comes to scenery.



The game is called Skeletroids, btw (which is the reason for the recurring skull/bones motif) As far as gameplay goes, the two biggest inspirations are Castlevania and Gunstar Heroes. Basically like Castlevania or Metroid in that it will be free-roaming and exploratory, but faster-paced with smaller worlds/areas and more agressive enemies. It'll also have some shmup parts as you can tell by the spacecraft ;^)
« Last Edit: January 10, 2007, 10:10:23 pm by Ben2theEdge »
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Offline pixelsforhire

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #13 on: January 10, 2007, 10:59:35 pm
Are those cola cans on the space ship!? Probably not, but if so, brilliant idea! It could leave a fizzy trail in the air!

Offline Xion

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #14 on: January 12, 2007, 05:17:49 am
Holy crap, I don't think I've ever loved character designs as much as these before. I 'specially like the small skulldude.  ;D
The hero is awesome. I love the snap in his legs.
My only problem is that, on the fat one, the fingers seem to go behind the fur in a few frames, making the perspective kind of wierd. And I think that just the minorest rotation of his head in a nodding fashion would improve the interest in him. I could be wrong, though.
The ship is great. I think the shadow on the lower fin should move as the ship tilts back (moving upwards, I presume?). But yeah, it's great. I've always sucked at making ships.
The braintank's shine made a big difference.

Are those cola cans on the space ship!? Probably not, but if so, brilliant idea! It could leave a fizzy trail in the air!
I agree.  ;)

Offline junkboy

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #15 on: January 12, 2007, 07:28:31 am
Oh man, I love this. Free-roaming Gunstar Heroes with shmup-segments? I'm sold!

The sprites are lovely and well-animated, even if there's a some obvious "cut 'n pasting" going on. One thing I'd like to mention is that the shadows and high-lights on the small space-ship should move around more as the ship rolls. Look at the shadow from the wing that falls over the lower engine/cola can for example. The shadow should fall over the highlights as the ship rolls right and vice versa.

Offline hawken

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #16 on: January 12, 2007, 07:40:54 am
nice stuff

my only concern is that if its a platform game, wouldn't it look a little odd with the characters angled towards the camera?
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Offline AdamAtomic

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #17 on: January 12, 2007, 07:55:04 am
nice stuff

my only concern is that if its a platform game, wouldn't it look a little odd with the characters angled towards the camera?

See every megaman game ever made ;)

EDIT - yeah taka i agree, it didn't occur to me til just after I hit post...I'm actually having a hard time thinking of ANY platformer bossfights that are fully side-on...Super Mario Bros for the NES maybe?  That's about all I can come up with...
« Last Edit: January 12, 2007, 08:03:02 am by AdamAtomic »

Offline .TakaM

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #18 on: January 12, 2007, 07:58:46 am
nice stuff

my only concern is that if its a platform game, wouldn't it look a little odd with the characters angled towards the camera?

See every megaman game ever made ;)
I'd say the majority of platformers too
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Offline Conzeit

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Re: Boss Sprite WIP

Reply #19 on: January 12, 2007, 08:34:48 am
those other sprites are very very nice. everything has just as much character as you'd expect from the boss char.

Main guy looks a bit too much like your average Gunstar clone for my taste though, considering how captivating the enemies are....I'm afraid this could be a game where the enemies are far more charming than the protagonist.

hm....I have more issues with the big guy's contrast now that I've seen the rest, quite honestly as charming as his design is he looks like from a lower quality game than the rest.

He looks a little off-key between the little guys, his whole shading has a more gradient feel to it because you applied so many shades on him, I imagine you did it because he's big and you knew you needed more "detail" and make his shading smoother.

Dont think that a lot of shades applied like a gradient all over help create detail....they are a tell sign of ignorance on lighting. Obviously in your case it must be lack of experience with big sprites, tiny ones are superb.

Almost feels like you're aproaching the big guy as a bunch of small sprites mashed together, why dont you try sizing hs outline down, quickly reshading him completly, then resize back to this scale and compare what you get? I'm pretty sure you could get the basic way light goes right if you did it in tiny first.

Another reason I think this isnt working out, is you're not sure of how to do the metal texture.
Check
-Megaman X4 sprites (bosses mostly) for refference on how to do his sci-fi robot parts http://www.sprites-inc.co.uk/files/X/
-Metal Slug for the tank-like parts http://www.mslugdb.com/main/gallery/sprites/


Shoulderpads
-why are the higlihts on the top? put them at the botton to emphasize the / angle of the plate they're on.

Balls.
-Ok, balls.Balls with stuff on them, and balls cut in half are all shaded the same way as any other ball.You have a lot of ball parts that you shade incorrectly because they have stuff on them or they are cut in half. Balls disperse light equally from the spot in which lights hit them; if you looked at a ball from the lightsource it should look pillow shaded, but as we're not doing that here it should be from an angle. Look at MegamanX4 sprites, they have lots of examples of how to do this.
-You on the other hand change the way light disperses if there's something on top of the ball...if it's only the botton of the ball, all sorts of things are distracting you.

Neck/tail
-Up that contrast, make the lower parts darkened (like the starship! it has a similar cone/cyliner shape)
-dont do small highlights on fur, that makes them look like speculars! if you have highlights make them abundant and dont contrast them with the midtone.
-why are there shadows right below the column? the fur is fully being hit by light there, and there arent any casted shadows!

Bone Plates
-still looking like Petals! those dark cracks look like veins for petals! plates wouldnt have cracks trough the middle. make them a little round so they cast shadows, and if you NEED to put some detail give them dents, like a stegosaurus should have!.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ba%C5%82t%C3%B3w_Park_Jurajski_001.jpg

Arms
-they pretty much just lack contrast! dont get shy because you're doing big sprites! also, move the speculars just a little to the left and up.

Brain.
-The lowered water level isnt working, it is a distraction! you must HAVE the sensation that it is in the water before you can have a underwater/out of water contrast!
-do it with shading, make the color of the liquid match the color of the brain very closely, maybe even use the same pallete. DARE to take away detail, give a LOT more room to the middle tone,  use all the shades to very clearly show the volume of a brain, then IMPLY some brain texture (noodle like thingyies :p). that helps give the unerwater effect by making the liquid look thick.
- if posible, make some speculars (NOT WHITE BLOTCHES, better do nothing than doing that hahaha) or scratch effects to emphasize the glass containing it.
- if you want bubbles you'd have to make them far more abundant, but since they are always moving I think they'd be a hassle.

Legs
-the balance concerns me, the right leg looks like it's too far at the back to support him, as if he would fall down...but I ALMOST feel like this is justfied by style....think about it.
-dont highlight his right kneepad, it is in full shadow. put some highlights on the lit area of the left tigh...

Personal preference.
-I dont care for outlines, they are a big headache when animating specially if they have AntiAlias/Selout and I dont think they're worth the trouble at all, I would avoid them.

Finally, Linkage:
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm I have a feeling this might be of great use to you.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2007, 10:01:29 am by Conceit »