AuthorTopic: Rpg tile graphics  (Read 11963 times)

Offline Danik

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Rpg tile graphics

on: August 20, 2007, 01:51:18 am
Hi,
I just registered at the forums. I'm pretty new to pixel art, but have done some simple work for my own games in the past and I like to draw. I'm really impressed by the work I see in this forum, it's very inspiring. I red that Pro Motion was good for pixeling so I downloaded the trial. I have some plans on games I want to make, so I want to get better.

Here is some stuff I made tonight trying out the program,

Dithering practice... does this look ok?


Some furniture.


I have some problems with the texture on the table, any help on how to make it look less random and more like wood?

Critique and pointers are very welcome.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2007, 07:10:38 pm by Danik »

Offline ejay

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #1 on: August 20, 2007, 07:37:21 am
Regarding the wood grain - look up wood textures (there are plenty of texture sites out there , http://www.cgtextures.com is one of my favorites ) , and use them as refernce. You can see that the grain tends to flow in certain ways , and you can duplicate that type of flow on your table . Depending on the style you're after, you may want to enlarge the grain to make better use of the space and to help it read better.
As for the furniture itself - Its looks very nice but I'm missing some antialiasing , for example in the chair's legs where the lit edge meets the dark one.

Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #2 on: August 20, 2007, 11:21:04 am
That looks like a great site, thanks for the link.
An update:



Tried to make the grain more like grain, but it feels too big and obvious...
Also tried to fix the legs of the chair.
« Last Edit: August 20, 2007, 11:23:28 am by Danik »

Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #3 on: August 21, 2007, 11:50:40 am
I can draw bigger pics okay I think but when it comes to pixel pushing I need lots of practice.
Smaller versions of the furniture:



Any help is appreciated.

Edit: Just realised I double posted? Sorry about that... is there a way to delete a post?

Double posting is fine when you have new artwork or major updates! :)
« Last Edit: August 21, 2007, 05:41:54 pm by AdamAtomic »

Offline ndchristie

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #4 on: August 21, 2007, 04:25:09 pm
I forget if theres a way, but I wouldn't worry about it - your posts were 24 hours apart, seems fine to bump.

The smaller versions IMO are superior to the large.  I would make a highlight across the whole top bit instead of just those two dots, but still, it's good work here.
A mistake is a mistake.
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Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #5 on: August 21, 2007, 09:48:27 pm
I made a new version of the chair, adapted to 32 x 32px. Made the highlight all along the top now, thanks Adarias.
Also made some tiles and a WIP of a funny plant. I think the chairs look too bland.


Edit: New version of the plant:


Edit: Roof wip :)

« Last Edit: August 22, 2007, 12:43:41 am by Danik »

Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #6 on: August 22, 2007, 03:50:06 pm
Sorry about the purple.  :D

Here is the latest version:
I fixed a lot of things, and changed the way they tile. I think the top of the roof was better in the last version but not it tiles much easier.

Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #7 on: August 22, 2007, 08:17:06 pm
Been working some more on the roof, and made some wall tiles. This looks really bland now, will add trees, vegetation, dirt, flowers, windows etc. etc. soon. 
I dont know if the color of the grass fits with the rest.



C&c please!

Offline lilwing

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #8 on: August 23, 2007, 07:44:55 pm
dude, no offense, before you add trees or anything, work on the graphics of the house, it looks like a cheesy rm2k graphic. according to the images you posted earlier, you can do a LOT better than that.

Offline Elrinth

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #9 on: August 23, 2007, 09:20:29 pm
dude, no offense, before you add trees or anything, work on the graphics of the house, it looks like a cheesy rm2k graphic. according to the images you posted earlier, you can do a LOT better than that.
I second this... the chair and table looks prerendered at 1x :) but you've probably pixeled them ;)
but yeah, building a fence/walls around the house with the same blocks as the house was built of o_O.. Maybe add some corners to the house. that roof looks incredibly flat tho.
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Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #10 on: August 23, 2007, 09:41:17 pm
Haha, thanks for the replies. Yes I guess your right. :) I just wanted to see my tiles in a mockup. I have very little experience with making tiles and such. The wall tiles on the house will change.
Is there anything wrong with the wall tile itself though?

Not sure if I will keep the grass either. :-\

I have some plans for the roof too, will try to make it less flat. As I said I have very little knowledge with pixel art, Im used to traditional drawing. At least glad I got some response on this, thanks.

Offline lilwing

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #11 on: August 24, 2007, 05:02:24 pm
the tile itself is pretty nice, but when used in repitition, it really lacks depth.

using it on the house makes it look like it is a floating roof above a cobblestone square if you know waht i mean.

the grass is ok to but it really lacks contrast.

Offline Jad

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #12 on: August 26, 2007, 04:10:29 pm
I suggest you try to come up with a general idea for how the house is going to look, and then make your tiles with that as a guideline.

So get a pen and a paper and try to imagine how to make the house more interesting to look at, or rather, how you want your house to look when you're done. Then try to make usable tiles of that. Then piece it together. :O It'd make for a more interesting house I believe.

Go check some reference while you're at it.

Other than that, the brick tile kicks ass, it does, though, need variation tiles. Also, changing the tile a bit according to its height (a common RPGmaker trick, I know, but it looks good) in brightness would help in creating the illusion of depth.

Good luck :D!!
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Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #13 on: August 26, 2007, 10:48:29 pm
I suggest you try to come up with a general idea for how the house is going to look, and then make your tiles with that as a guideline.

So get a pen and a paper and try to imagine how to make the house more interesting to look at, or rather, how you want your house to look when you're done. Then try to make usable tiles of that. Then piece it together. :O It'd make for a more interesting house I believe.

Go check some reference while you're at it.

Other than that, the brick tile kicks ass, it does, though, need variation tiles. Also, changing the tile a bit according to its height (a common RPGmaker trick, I know, but it looks good) in brightness would help in creating the illusion of depth.

Good luck :D!!

Thanks Jad. I will try changing the brightness accoring to the height, I know they do that in secret of mana too and it looks pretty sweet.
I checked some reference and came up with this as a first sketch for a house:



I'm thinking maybe it's a bit too realistic looking. But maybe that could work too, if I make the colors more interesting and fantasy like.


I also edited my last roof tile to make it less flat:

Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #14 on: August 27, 2007, 07:07:18 pm
Blocked in the colors and made a mockup with the grass and bush.

Offline OzBlueShoes

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #15 on: August 27, 2007, 07:13:49 pm
It's nice... but the house and the grass/bush don't "match." Also, your house is to brand-newey and generic. Look at some other rpg's (secret of mana, LoZ) and see ideas on how to give the house some style.

Offline Danik

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Re: Furniture and dithering practice

Reply #16 on: August 27, 2007, 07:20:29 pm
It's nice... but the house and the grass/bush don't "match." Also, your house is to brand-newey and generic. Look at some other rpg's (secret of mana, LoZ) and see ideas on how to give the house some style.


Thanks, and yea I agree. I have problems getting the vegetation to match, I have another thread about it.
I have just blocked in the colors on the house so far. Any input on the colors or design of the house?

Heres my reference: http://www.holidaysinloire.com/images-bakers-cottage/01Bakers-Cottage.jpg
« Last Edit: August 27, 2007, 07:25:55 pm by Danik »

Offline Stefano

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #17 on: August 31, 2007, 04:52:21 am
I was making an edit to your tiles but it started taking too much time (as always! ;D ), as I'm learning myself, by studying and editing other people's sprites.
I guess I wasn't supposed to post this since I completely modified everything. Then I thought it would still be nice to share what I've learned since I used your work as base.

Anyway, here's my partial edit:


1. I've bent a little some of your grass blades (IMHO they're too organized pointing straight up) and placed some of more highlighted clusters to add depth and variation (yeah. I'm aware of the horizontal line)
2. The walls have been completely re-done. I think piled up rocks look nicer for this sort of low fence than bricks. So, this is one of the cases I'm not helping a lot by showing you this. heh.
3. Your roof was too steep! Unless it's a snowy area (doesn't seem so!) I suggest you to consider having a smaller inclination angle even if it means spending (roughly) 4 more tiles. Well. That's what I did...
4. Still on the roof, your first roof tiles (the ones covering the house, not your sprite!) had a bit of a scaling problem so I've reduced mine. You fixed this particular problem on your new perspective.
5. As for the colors I've tried to pick less saturated hues containing more yellow and reds to give it an overall afternoon look.

I might finish it in the future, but right now I'm swamped with stuff to do.

I hope it helps even if only a little bit, otherwise I'll feel guilty for posting it.  :(

Cheers,
-Stefano

Offline BG

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #18 on: August 31, 2007, 05:37:24 am
Nice. You're edit looks way more interesting, Stefano. Really like the fence. The grass-tile must be fixed though.

You should really go for something more like this, Danik.  :)

Offline Danik

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #19 on: August 31, 2007, 01:15:54 pm
Wow, that looks great! I really like those colors. As you said, it's a whole new picture though. :)
But it's inspiring. I agree on the roof inclanation, looks better that way. I will probably change that.

Thanks!

Offline Danik

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #20 on: September 02, 2007, 09:14:42 pm
Progress is really slow on this, but Im learning a lot when doing it, trying to do it right.

I think I will leave the Vegetation thread and just put all the work of this project in this thread instead. And so here are the latest work on the grass/vegetation/nature tiles:



Crits on the rock are appreciated, is it a bit contrast less? How does the blue light work? Too bright?

Offline Arachne

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #21 on: September 02, 2007, 10:39:40 pm
Well, the blue is much too bright. Leaves aren't that reflective, so I suggest getting rid of it and bringing the darkest greens a bit closer to a desaturated blue instead.

The grass needs more contrast. The grass is made of the same material as the bush, isn't it? Since it's the same color, it should cast the same shadows and have the same highlights. That should make the lawn darker than it is now with more defined blades of grass.

I say lawn because it seems very sterile. The bush is neatly trimmed, the grass all the same short height, and that makes the rocks look misplaced since if someone is tending to it, they wouldn't just leave the rocks there. Either place them closer to the edge of the road or make the grass varying heights with some flowers thrown in at random to make it seem unkempt. Objects like the signpost would be surrounded by taller grass anyway as it's difficult to cut the grass around them.

The rocks also need a bit more contrast. :)

Offline Danik

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #22 on: September 03, 2007, 11:59:31 am
I tried having the same highlight color on the grass as on the bush, but it looked really awful. (maybe Im not doing it right though)

Yes, I tried having higher grass under the sign, but the problem is the grass is to busy so when i try to pixel high grass around the sign for instance it's swallowed by the texture in the grass. I can't seem to solve this. Same thing with the grass around the rocks.



Maybe I will have to redo the grass, it's just too noisy. I find it very hard to pixel grass when a single straw is at most a few millimeters and the relative size of a pixel is closer to a cm.

I see what you'r saying about the lawn, and I agree it's unnatural, but most rpgs have tiles with short grass like this, but I will make some variation tiles with higher grass and flowers etc.

Thanks for the crits, I appreciate them much!

BTW. In promotion, is there a quick way to change a color of a sprite into another one, without changing that color in the palette. Instead making a copy of that palette color leaving other tiles using it unchanged? Or do you need to make the new color, then redraw every pixel on the sprite?
« Last Edit: September 03, 2007, 12:02:24 pm by Danik »

Offline Arachne

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #23 on: September 03, 2007, 05:14:25 pm
Something like this was what I had in mind. :)

Offline Danik

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Re: Rpg tile graphics

Reply #24 on: September 03, 2007, 05:27:15 pm
That's beautiful.  :y:
I will study that piece and try again!