[WIP] First try on a 16x16 tileset, need some help

[Mystery]

Well, this is my first try in creating a tileset for a sidescrolling game (jump'n'run like). It's not finished yet, as more decorative objects are still missing (bigger objects in the background etc.).

I'd like to know how to improve this thing, maybe add a little more depth, maybe I could/should change some colors (the general look is supposed to be dark, there's some room for improevement).

I also need some tips on creating more complex re-usable structures for the tileset and how to add more detail and atmosphere to the scene.

How many "variations" of a single tile should exist to avoid a repetitive look (or what else can I do to avoid that)? Right now, I've got only two versions of the most commonly used tiles.

Just remember, this is my first try, so a lot of the basics that possibly exist, are unknown to me

[dreamisle]

Pretty good so far. I'm really digging the shape and texture of everything. As for the dark look you want, I'd leave the back wall alone for now and focus on darkening the pillars and the foreground wall. With the gold pillars, I think the current color would be fine for right next to the torches, but it should fade out and get darker farther from the torch. I also may consider possibly adding a bit of darkness to the back wall in a while so that you can have some light coming from the torches and windows and have some contrast. Overall it's very good but I'm tired and confused and rambling so take my advice with a grain of salt (that's an actual expression and not a rambling, right?) but good job.

[Atrophy]

I'v got a crazy idea, how about.. pixeling it?
and if you Did pixel it.. then your crazy because these are the color counts on 6 different tiles then i also put the total count of the whole image



Try making the 16x16 tiles with under 20 colors you could make them look even better then they do now with under 6-8

[Schu]

Hey there! Nice first attempt Something I'd suggest would be to make your stars in the windows not so apparent. They kind of stick out too much. Being a beginner, I suggest taking a look at the Castlevania tiles for some inspiration and ideas. They did a fine job at creating atmosphere within the constraints they had to work with. Or perhaps something like this might help you inspire you:

A while ago I was playing around with making some dark platforming castle area, a la Bubble Bobble but never got anywhere. However I tried similar things you were going for, with the torchlights and the predominantly brick wall. For a "mood" setting, I made the bricks darker towards the top overhangs. Perhaps doing something similar to your wall and pillar will give you the mood you were aiming for. And it can be done with a low colour count as well. Actually your tiles shouldn't be more than 16, but you can even do it with less.
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Schu

[Mystery]

Yeah, the color count is through the roof. I'll have to work on that as soon as possible. Thanks for pointing that out, Atrophy, I knew there were lots of colors, but I didn't really pay attention just how insanely many there were. No, it's not 100% hand-pixeled, just partially and then I used some tools that also increased the color count.

First thing I'll work on, is reducing the color count to 10-20 per tile. Seriously, what was I thinking? ^^
Maybe I'll re-pixel the whole tileset.
What's a good tool? I'm using GIMP (windows) currently, but switching between colors seems quite painful. I also tried pixelstudio, which is nice, but keeps creating errors on my computer, so it's not very useful.



Schu:
Ah yes, Castlevania. In fact, I'm playing the three GBA titles a lot, because they've got such beautiful 2D graphics. I'll definitely play them again and take a closer look at the visuals.

The darker bricks help a lot in your sample picture...I'll try that and also add highlights for the torches/candles.
The windows are really hard for me to do, as there's not much space to work with (probably more than enough for an experienced person, but I'm just beginning to learn), so I've got trouble to add more detail to them.




dreamisle:
Thanks for the pointers. I'll try darkening some elements and put in highlights for the light sources.




Thanks to everyone for the comments and hints. I'll do my best to make good use of them and post here again when I've made some progress

[Turbo]

Practically, i think you should lower the saturation of the background pillars, to a much more muted orange. Saturation is one of the things you can play with to show perspective, along with value, juxtaposition and element size. More saturation makes the object jump to the front of the picture.
I like the texture for the background bricks very much (not the blurry ones near the floor, but the wall ones).

[candiru]

Yes, the background could be darker and less contrasting to make the sprite stand out. Also I like how they used hue variation in the old games, for example making the bricks blue or some such thing. Like in what Schu posted, you can see the bottom brick floor has different tint from the background. Add torchlight spots and you can have nice varied pallette. It's a good start, post if you update it.

[Gil]

You can easily get the colour count down by colour reducing it. I don't know how GIMP handles this, but it'll save you the hassle of repixeling everything. There's no harm in using certain tools, but it means you need to go over the end result to get it back into pixel form. I find this necessary for colour management, and it comes in handy when reusing palettes.

Some contrast issues in there, tiles shouldn't have too much contrast, it hurts the eyes too much after playing a while...

[Atrophy]

Maybe I'll re-pixel the whole tileset.
What's a good tool? I'm using GIMP (windows) currently, but switching between colors seems quite painful. I also tried pixelstudio, which is nice, but keeps creating errors on my computer, so it's not very useful.

Eh sorry if I sounded mean in any way, but yeah I use Graphics Gale I find it to be a great tool. I find gimp to confusing.