[WIP] Sidescroller mockup, very work-in-progress

[Overkill]

I'm working on a sidescrolling game that utilizes beacons that broadcast abilities to the player.

These beacons are spread out across various locations in the world, and player's signal reception affects how well the player can perform its skill. Eventually, the player will be able to swap the broadcasted abilities at these beacons. Reception is affected by proximity to the beacons, or environmental signal strengthening/interference, and is measured in levels. The further away, the weaker the signal. The lower levels of skill broadcasts have larger ranges than the upper levels. The player will find upgrades to be able to extend reception range and cancel signal interference factors. The player can collect batteries that temporarily extend reception in the early points of the game.



I'm a programmer by trade, so artwork is sort of a weakness. That said, C+C away.

Also, if you're interested, I'm looking for willing artists since I'm fairly busy and doing this by myself is somewhat of a challenge. The project will be for-free, but if at some point I change my mind and think it's marketable, I'd give a fair fraction of any of profits. Not to say I don't like improving my pixel art skills! I'd still like crits, but foremost, I want to maek gamz.

[bengo]

That stance of his is very dull, try to make him more... ready to fight, give him a gun and put him into a gun stance of some type. Colors are good, keep up with that, work on the selout.

[Overkill]

Hm, I tried making the pose more fighty, but I think I failed hard. It's quite challenging for me to draw poses at such a small scale :/. I made the sprite bigger in the process, though!


Edits or useful resources to point me in the right direction would be appreciated. Rad.

[Darien]

Maybe not what you were going for, but my main point here is to pay more attention to form and anatomy.  Do figure studies and drawings from life and such.

[Overkill]

Darien, that edit is awesome. I'm going to study your edit and various games to see if I can come up something coherent. But for now I've decided I'll leave the hero guy alone for now, and have started doodling some grass tiles. The tiles are each 16x16, with pretty much no limit on how many are in the tileset.



Comments, criticism, or similar?

[Stwelin]

If the tiles are meant to be aesthetic/background shrubberies, then right on, but if the character is meant to be walking on that surface, than might i suggest dirt under that grassy shag? I guess you could pass it off as an alien planet's overly-foliaged environment, but i think some browns, or at least some sort of dither pattern, would help solidify the tiles.

Also, what does it say next to the cloud? all i can gather is: "Hay cloud hows the ____ up thar? Laff" </offtopic>

Anyway, lookin' pretty swell, hope to see some more of that interesting character.

[Overkill]

Next to the cloud, it says "Hay cloud how's the Aeris up thar? Laff."

Anyway, screwed around with it a bit more, taking your suggestion to have dirt under the grass.


Drew some water tiles and some bricks, too!


Now, the ultimate test is to actually import them into the map editor and start plotting them. I'll probably do that soon. Also, need little decor-like things, scattered throughout, so I'll work on those eventually. Maybe make some trees, or some background plants?

I'll update the mockup eventually, since I'm not quite satisfied with that much clutter for the HUD (and I want to plot those tiles in a more pretty manner!). Needs to be more simplistic, but still detailed and attention-grabbing enough.

[Zero]

The dirt seems to work better...but it really doesn't look like dirt. Fix the dirt and it'll look pretty nice.

[Overkill]

Uhm, okay. Anything specific about the dirt that makes it not look like dirt? How should I go about fixing this? You've been awfully vague as to any possible solution to this problem.

[Stefano]

First I must say I like where this is going. The water has personality with all the floating particles and pointy waves. The colors are pretty good too. Well done.

A few pointers:
1. I think there's too much grass on the most steep slope (the land tile closer to the water). Check out this image.. Show us some dirt and It'll be fixed! Another thing: I can't really picture grass growing in fringes like that. I realize they're there to create a transition between dirt and plant, but still I think it would look nicer if you'd show some halms (is that the word?) on the area closer to the ground and blades pointing up.
2. Theres a vertical line running along your dirt tiles. That's a common problem that I've managed to fix for good on my work by downloading ProMotion trial. It has an auto tile completion feature, that really helps getting things done properly. Also, the round highlights and the mid tone speckles look like individual pebbles. Maybe if you create larger areas for each "stone" (dirt blobs in this case) and shade using all 3 tones you'd achieve more dirt-looking tiles.

I hope it helps!
-Stefano

[Zero]

Uhm, okay. Anything specific about the dirt that makes it not look like dirt? How should I go about fixing this? You've been awfully vague as to any possible solution to this problem.

hehe, sorry about that. The circles don't read as being dirt, dirt doesn't contain such large particles. Smaller bits should be used. Also, only two colors are really visible in the dirt, so that third one should be more visible, make it lighter.

Here's a reference pic from Secret of Mana 3: http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~claypool/courses/frontiers-06/samples/pixel-artist/13.gif
Top-down, but that doesn't really matter for something like this. Dirt is dirt is dirt, looks the same from every angle, imo at least.

[Overkill]

Thanks Stefano, and Zero for elaborating. I'll hopefully get this corrected in the next iteration of the grass/dirt tileset. Keep the critiques coming, don't be afraid to edit, if you want!

[crab2selout.png]

Noooooo. don't make it look like dirt. I like how it is now. It reads like a weird stone/dirt hybrid. It doesn't have to be a pixel perfect replica of dirt just because you call it a dirt tile. The only things I don't like are the transition between grass and dirt/stone, and the washed out darkest shade on your dirt. The transition is sloppy/jagged, while the darkest colour is too close to the next darkest and makes your dirt look flat.

Take a really good look at your transition tiles. The flatness of your dirt is most pronounced there.

I like what you've done with the grass in the latest updates. I just love how shaggy it is.

[AdamAtomic]

Noooooo. don't make it look like dirt. I like how it is now. It reads like a weird stone/dirt hybrid. It doesn't have to be a pixel perfect replica of dirt just because you call it a dirt tile.

Um, given the fact that he's taken a relatively realistic approach to the grass, and the fact that he wants to put some dirt under the grass, I would say yes, yes the dirt tile SHOULD look like dirt.

[Overkill]

I tried making some other dirt, and making a better grass/dirt transition, but I'm not that satisfied with either. Also, Stefano, after considering shortening my grass, I realized the eccentric length and bushiness was part of the appeal to me. Not really willing part with that. :/



I really, really, hate drawing dirt. Consulting Seiken Densetsu 2 screens didn't necessarily make it much easier to draw. But I tried, nonetheless. Is it at least an improvement over the spotty pebblish brown blob stuff that was there before?

[Brian]

perhaps add a last highlight to the blades for a crisp, bold look. It will add more character and depth to your tiles