Nuclear Ocean sprites

[Zero]

Hey Pixelation! Haven't used this account in sooo long, but I've been doing more pixel art lately, so I figured I'd start posting again.

These are the main character sprites for a game called Nuclear Ocean I started working on:


Also, a swim animation of the squid:


The game is a side-scrolling shmup, so I know that the squid is at the wrong angle. Here's the story behind that: the game was originally going to be a top-down, vertical shmup, and the squid was the first one I worked on. Anyway, does it still look good with the rest of the sprites, or should I change it?


6/19: New death/hurt animations for the fish, shark and turtle:
       
Not sure what to do for the squid, seeing as they don't have skeletons... Any suggestions?


More animations/HUD/attack sprites coming next.

[Ben2theEdge]

One thing I would advise thinking about a little more (if you haven't) is the fact that you're using both double-thick outlines and a lot of dithering. This is a bit of a strange choice to me since the outlines are very clean but the shading/coloring is very rough; to me, these are two ideas that don't share space together very well.

The other thing I'd like to comment on is your animation. I really like the tentacles but the rest seems very rigid and stiff, because you tried to reuse as much of the first frame as possible. The worst offender is the nose that grows and shrinks. It looks like you're going for some stretch-and-squash which I think is a great idea considering the style of the characters, but if you're going to do it you shouldn't be afraid to go all out and have some fun with it.

This is a very poorly and hastily made example, and it's a bit exaggerated for the sake of demonstration; resizing like this should always be cleaned up afterwards but I just wanted to get the general point across.

[Zero]

One thing I would advise thinking about a little more (if you haven't) is the fact that you're using both double-thick outlines and a lot of dithering. This is a bit of a strange choice to me since the outlines are very clean but the shading/coloring is very rough; to me, these are two ideas that don't share space together very well.

Really? I thought it was a good blend of the two, especially on the turtle... I'll try doing one that looks cel-shaded and compare them.

The other thing I'd like to comment on is your animation. I really like the tentacles but the rest seems very rigid and stiff, because you tried to reuse as much of the first frame as possible. The worst offender is the nose that grows and shrinks. It looks like you're going for some stretch-and-squash which I think is a great idea considering the style of the characters, but if you're going to do it you shouldn't be afraid to go all out and have some fun with it.

This is a very poorly and hastily made example, and it's a bit exaggerated for the sake of demonstration; resizing like this should always be cleaned up afterwards but I just wanted to get the general point across.

Wow, that looks way better! I'll defintely have to do something more like that. Amazes me that such a simple change makes such a huge difference. Thanks for making that edit.

[Drazzke]

Looks pretty good, I personally think the border is fine.

The turtles head and neck look a little odd though. It looks almost as if the turtles head is coming out of the top of the shell, where with most turtles (I think..) their necks seem to come out beneath the shells top: Refrence

The shark may look a bit better if his/her mouth was closed. Just a personal opinion

Otherwise, I think they are pretty good 

[Zero]

Looks pretty good, I personally think the border is fine.

The turtles head and neck look a little odd though. It looks almost as if the turtles head is coming out of the top of the shell, where with most turtles (I think..) their necks seem to come out beneath the shells top: Refrence

The shark may look a bit better if his/her mouth was closed. Just a personal opinion

Otherwise, I think they are pretty good 

lol, that's what I was going for with the turtle head, but I can see now how it looks weird. I'll have to fix that.

Also, I think you're right about the shark. Besides, I need to make sprites (just single frames) of each animal attacking, so the open mouth will work for that.

And lastly, I added a couple new animations just after you posted.

[chriskot]

One quick thing that I noticed immediately is that the shark could use some ribs in the hurt animation. Having only that one rib leading down to the fin looks a bit awkward.

I like the colours. The squid is my favourite so far, but then again I have a thing for invertebrates.

[Zero]

One quick thing that I noticed immediately is that the shark could use some ribs in the hurt animation. Having only that one rib leading down to the fin looks a bit awkward.

I like the colours. The squid is my favourite so far, but then again I have a thing for invertebrates.

See I was going to do that, but then I realized that sharks don't actually have ribs going down their bodies. Should I try to fit some of that stuff next to it's head?

[Drazzke]

I didn't see the hurt animation when I posted last.

I like them, but I agree that the shark needs a little more of... something.

As for the Squid, it could just be black, no white bones or anything? I don't know if that would look very good, though.

[wah_wah_69]

Squids do not have bones but they do have a cartilage, in fact the sharks skeleton is entirely made of cartilage.

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/squid_support.html

http://z.about.com/d/greekfood/1/0/1/8/thrapsala06_499.jpg

For the dead turtle youd could leave just the shell, or the shell and bones like now but crack the shell so it reflects it's wounds before death.

[Souly]

For the turtles death I think the turtles whole shell should just go black and show his bones, the turtles spine goes across the top of the shell.

Also maybe you should close the sharks mouth.

[Zero]

For the turtles death I think the turtles whole shell should just go black and show his bones, the turtles spine goes across the top of the shell.

Also maybe you should close the sharks mouth.

That's probably a good idea with the turtle, the full shell looks out of place. And I plan on closing the shark's mouth once I get a chance to.

Also, I just finished this as you were posting:

Thoughts?

I'll start working on the turtle death animation and the shark in the meantime.


EDIT: Okay, I got the shark done pretty fast:

Just need to make a new death animation for that now.

EDIT 2: @ Ben - Before I forget, here's a quick comparison of the original sprites and modified sprites without dithering:

Personally I don't know which I like better yet. I think I still kinda like the dithered ones though.

[Malor]

well aside from the fact that squid do not possess bones, I think this animation would be more effective at conveying the pain/injury message, with a little bit more of an expression, bulged eyes, perhaps a wee bit of flailing about... Just my Cent and 1/2.

[Ben2theEdge]

I agree with Malor; Again... I think your animation is suffering because you're trying to be too economical and re-use your drawings for different animations. I would recommend drawing the characters in a new position when they're hurt, reeling back in pain.

[Zero]

Yea I need to get out of that habit... This still uses the original image in it, but I think it's an improvement:

I think I might need a transition frame though.

[Zero]

Fish swimming:

Again, trying to get out the habit of re-using images. How does it look?
Oh, by the way, the animation will actually be a little slower in the game than what you see here.

[Xion]

Woah, that fish is totally spazzing out!
Fish don't flap their fins, afaik.
When fish swim, the majority of the movement is at the tip of the tail, as opposed to the head, which just barely wiggles unless at a fishy-sprint, and even then the tail moves more.
this video may help.
You may also consider changing the lightness of the tail as it goes towards and from the viewer, as you did the fins of the squid.

[Zero]

Hmm, something more like this maybe?

The fin flapping thing is just a stylistic exaggeration by the way.

And thanks for the video, that definitely helped.