[WIP] 16-color mockups!

[Arachne]

Taking a short break from the big stuff to make some more of these. They're fairly simple, just two tiles for ground per mockup, plus one destructible ground tile and one that crumbles under pressure. Also two tiles for water and three for ladders (bones, cactuses, vines, etc), plus two tiles that just serve to add a bit more variation.



Those white bird-like things in the swamp seem a bit out of place, I guess. I meant for them to be more ghost-like.



I haven't yet figured out how much I should brighten those darkest colors.

The last one is missing monsters. Any ideas? I only have some pointy icicles, and I don't think my polar bear is very interesting, so I haven't finished it.


The last two still need a bit of work. The rocky tiles are giving me a bit of trouble in the first one, since I don't want it to look too busy. Just haven't gotten around to the desert mockup yet.



I'm also making some minibosses, which are 32 x 32 pixels in size.


What do you think?

Edit: The levels so far...

[Zero]

Wow, so simple and yet so beautiful. Really nice work here! Great color choice. 

My only crits are that the black background doesn't suit some of them, like the last two. Also, some of the enemies don't read too well.

You should make a game with these tiles, looks fun to play.

[Ryumaru]

they are pretty much beautiful. why are all the bg's black though? ive always had an appreciation for this look, the restricted tiling but the individual tiles being well done technically. keeps a retro feel without looking ugly.

its good to see art from the arachne who has become so famous from the beautiful lines that people have been coloring for ages. :]

[AdamAtomic]

aweosme!  i'd fade out the tips of your icicles with a pixel or two, they look a bit roundish at least on my monitor.  great stuff!

[rabidbaboy]

My, these are awesome.

Those spiders look like some 16x16 spiders I've made recently, save for the legs (which gives me a good idea, composition-wise).

My favorite parts are those bones, just so much style with the orange ambient lighting.
The icicles look sharp enough to me.

Just great stuff.

[Arachne]

Thanks for all the kind words

Well, the rocky desert was the first I made. It started out as a doodle against a black background (I think my lamp was out). When I tried to give it a blue sky, it came out looking more like an underwater scene, so I kept the black. I thought a more gloomy atmosphere would be interesting, but a sunset/sunrise could be interesting, too. I'll play around with it and see what I can come up with.

i'd fade out the tips of your icicles with a pixel or two, they look a bit roundish at least on my monitor.

Will do.

Also, some of the enemies don't read too well.

Which ones? I'm open to suggestions if you can think of enemies that would suit the levels better.

[Zero]

Also, some of the enemies don't read too well.

Which ones? I'm open to suggestions if you can think of enemies that would suit the levels better.

Mainly the white bird things and the circle thing in the middle of the first one. Although they're probably easier to read with in-game animation...
The miniboss having the same color head and shield might also be a slight problem.

[Arachne]

Would something like this work? I think it looks odd with a strong light source like that in the background. A more gray, cloudy sky might work better. I hope I'm on the right track, at least.

Mainly the white bird things and the circle thing in the middle of the first one. Although they're probably easier to read with in-game animation...

Yeah, I got rid of the birds and made some swamp ghosts instead. Trying to avoid the ghost cliché, but I'm not sure how well that works.

The round thing there is an egg sac

The miniboss having the same color head and shield might also be a slight problem.

How so?

[AdamAtomic]

That moon and clouds bit is gorgeous!!  It should really be in the upper left though, not the upper right   that way it will match the shading on all of your sprites and tiles...

[PypeBros]

i found them stunning from the start ... and the moon add another gorgeous (that's the word) dimension ... Make sure your character still read well on it, if you plan to have a fullscreen game ...

Maybe one little comment would be that the swamp and ice levels might benefit from an additional tile for "wall edges" to avoid such sharp transition ...