Interactive piece (W.I.P)

[Tobe]

Hi all, here's my first thread in the artwork section (previously asked some questions in the discussion section which I'm still in need of help with).
Anyway, I have recently started working on a "flash-base RPG game engine interactive piece",
a gift for my brother's wedding, where both the bride and the groom are from the game industry.

I did a tiny bit of pixel arts quite a few years ago, but I never get to carry on as there was no commercial value back then, from where I were.
Till now, I finally get to work on pixel again, and thought that some C&C would definitely be necessary.

Anyway, I'm still in a very early stage of the project at the moment, and lots of scenes were to be made.
I'm hoping to make an effort and post my progress from time to time.

Here are some early shot of the character


The room/house of the protagonist


The town where they reside


ABC Building nearby


I'm hoping to get some advise especially on the interior shot of the room.
There's a wood house version which I modify from the original "apartment" style.
And since the apartment was the original, most of the colors does not seems matching to me when I changed the wall colors.
What do you think?

Also, just to mention some of my source, I took quite a bit of reference from games like Zelda (minish cap and link's awakening), Earthbound for a clean look, Dragon Quest 6 for layout ideas, and Pokemon for it's urban areas. As for characters, I was looking more at zelda and FFVI.

If you find what you see here presentable, take a look at my new blog too.
It's more of vectors and design then pixel art though.
But it's brand new, so bookmark and check back soon, since it's pretty empty right now.
http://rayteoactive.wordpress.com/

Hope to hear from you guys soon ; )

[Zenobia]

You're the best. Really. That's an amazing gift. And it looks good too!

Oh but I'm not a fan of the green palettes you used in the town. The grass hurts my eyes at the moment.
Anyway I'll leave the actually advice up to the other members. I just wanted to say I really love this.

[Cake Sama]

This is awesome 

but i gotta agree with Zen, the green hurts my eyes otherwise it seems fine 

[AlienQuark]

I'm fine with the grass colour but what's really lacking for me is the quality for the cat and dog. They're a lot less vibrant and punchy in comparison to the environment, which really kinda takes the focus away from them. I'd consider revamping your colour choice on them first and foremost. The rest is awesome though, I really love your environments, to reitterate. I might throw down an edit in a little bit to show you an idea of what I think would improve them.

Good looking stuff!

[Feron]

you have a lot of perspective issues, especially the well and the green-roof house, compared to the vans....

[Vertigo-zero]

I agree with ALienQuark, also, the characters are really big compared to the enviroments  I'd expect more of a zelda-size 

[ndchristie]

I agree with ALienQuark, also, the characters are really big compared to the enviroments  I'd expect more of a zelda-size 

I acutally love the big characters.  the only thing i don't like is the green roof, everything else seems to maintain itself finely.

one thing about the bridge - a nice, flat shadow in the back there, like what you've got on the house side roof, might not be amiss - right now it wants to sit on the ground even though we know it's in the air.

[Tobe]

Hi all, thanks a lot for the fast reply!
I'm already seeing lots of useful tips here which I can work with.

Zenobia + Cake Sama > I'm really glad that you like it. I used this green thinking that it would set the cute and cuddly tone I was going for, but I guess I overdo it a little. Probably get it change as many of you guys did point it out.

AlienQuark > I guess you're right. The 2 characters are one of the 1st thing that I worked on, so I guess it looks pretty off. However, there are things that I have to stick to, like the cat being grey and the dog being orange, since the color stand for my brother and his bride, and I intend to stay true to that. Then again, I guess I can play around with the saturation a little so not to let the environment steal all the show. I am definitely looking forward to your edition, so please do : )

Feron > Thanks for pointing out the perspective issue. I guess I got carried away while working on it. I also spotted the can in the factory scene to be wrong.

Vertigo-zero> hmmm... I did consider the character size issue before, but I decides to go ahead with it. Maybe I will wait and see what others think of it.

ndchristie > I love this forum. Everyone seems to point out something I missed out. I shall add the shadow then. Thanks!


I hoping to hear some comments on the room/house interior do. There's a wood version, and an apartment version. So hopefully, you guys can let me know which you prefer. Also, on technical issue, I have another thread here at http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=6330.0

Thanks!

[Tobe]

Alright, after a miserable month with approximately 0 updates, I finally have something to show.

I've finish up the town scene and also rectify some problems previously pointed out by some of you guys here.




I've mainly work on the perspective issue. Now you can see a glimpse of the back roof. I think if we were to pick, it still looks kinda weird. But I have been trying for so long on this issue, I hope if any of you knows how to make it nicer, please help me out here.

I've also worked on the grass patch colors, the well, the bridge, pond and the new floor tiles.


I've created new versions of the characters too.
They now cos-play as Solid Snake with Meryl and a Mario with Princes Peach.

Btw, I was wondering what software do you use to animate gif? I plan to use flash, but that means I will have to finish everything in PS before I lay them out in flash to check the animation, and going back and forth like this can be quite a pain.

Lastly, I just want to apologize for the late update. My computer died on me, so I didn't have a choice. I have also updated my blog so if you're interested, go say hi!
http://rayteoactive.wordpress.com/ ; )

[CaKsTeR]

Looking great, only thing I can suggest is more variation in fence posts / bushes?