AuthorTopic: [wip] platform sprites, 4 color style experiments (also jesus)  (Read 5983 times)

Offline missingno

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I'll get right into it, I guess.

I've recently been playing around with a new style for my platform sprites. I'm trying to keep things very simple and minimal and try to make something that seems unique. I have a bit of a concept behind the game idea (basically a parody of things with needless symbolism and false "depth") but for the most part I'm just playing with pixels here.

The entire palette will only use four colors, I think. The colors that you can see in the following images. The only expection to this rule is the reds in the blood, which are there for significance and stuff and are meant to stand out a little from the rest of the colors. Pretty much the whole thing will be set against that background color to keep with the minimal style I'm going for (although really it's not final).

First up we have the main character. Right now it's very simple and a straight sideview. I'm working on the animation. He doesn't have arms yet, I tend to animate the limbs separately. Any advice regading this approach? (for some reason i think it's a bad idea, but it's comfortable) Four frames.



Next is a puppy. Not much to say about him, so here he is. Two-frame animation. Not too happy with it.



Lastly (for now), we have the carpenter king. I'm pretty proud of this one actually but I know that you guys here will be able to help me improve this.

Offline Atnas

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This is some pretty solid work.  :y:

Why do you AA the outlines? I assume from what you said it's for a game. But if you have the transparency for only those colors on the outline, then go for it I suppose.

This is a pretty crap edit but I think it illustrates that some more exaggeration in the animation of the main character could make him less stiff. You could make him sink when he touches the ground, or when you add the arms have them pretty loose with the palms facing back.

« Last Edit: October 22, 2008, 08:42:03 pm by Atnas »

Offline missingno

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Why do you AA the outlines? I assume from what you said it's for a game. But if you have the transparency for only those colors on the outline, then go for it I suppose.

I've been AAing a lot lately, don't really know why but it's been leaking over into everything I do. The game is actually going to be very minimalist graphically though, and there'd be no real background other than the solid "white" color.



One of the frames bothered me in the legs as well, so I shortened that a bit (frame 1, where he lifts his leg from the back).

Offline tehwexxl0rz

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I liked the hair without the bob. It's pretty distracting and doesn't seem in tune with the minimalist style.

Offline Antago

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I like the hair bob. The Jesus thing is really cool, and I'm not religious
I'd like to see some more frames for the dog. So far it's like two frames and if he plays a big role, make him a little more animated, like a squirrel.

Offline missingno

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Sorry it's been so long. Been working a lot and haven't had much time for pixels. But I have some more to add.

First is just a little edit of the puppy. He might work his way in or not, it's just for fun and not too special.


Bigger is a game boss I was thinking about. Big king kong type fellow who stands on top of a skyscraper. There'd be a skyscraper in the background and he would jump back and forth between them. Since there wouldn't really be combat in the game, the objective here would mostly just be to try and get past him while he's on the skyscraper in the background. I'm thinking he might also blow wind or something at you to keep you from moving forward at your regular pace.

I still think he needs a lot of work.


Lastly I'm revamping the main character a bit. His general proportions and style now are going to be more similar to the crucified Jesus character (a style that I will try and keep consistent with all the human characters), and he's at a more interesting angle visually.

Here's an idle animation. Still needs work, clearly. I plan to animate the arms and stuff as well, and possibly add more defined hands with fingers.

Offline PypeBros

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tried an edit with the following things:
- made the hair bop downwards rather than upwards so that it looks like opposing to the head bump, but it's not as perfect as i hoped.
- since it's a 4-frames walk, i pushed a 4-frames hair bop. otherwise, eyes is attracted by that "flashing" part only and think it sees a 2-frames walk.
- slightly tried to introduce some "hip twist" in the walk (e.g. you see more of his left bum when right foot is ahead).

otherwise, i thing he's got style but clearly lacks arms (in his jacket's pockets?)

Quote
Here's an idle animation. Still needs work, clearly. I plan to animate the arms and stuff as well, and possibly add more defined hands with fingers.
Cool! Seems like he's going to do the YMCA  :lol:
« Last Edit: July 08, 2008, 07:28:45 am by PypeBros »

Offline kitty

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The attack on false depth is a really neet idea! :]  People think too much and put too much thought into art sometimes.
I think that you are taking the puppy in a poor direction because it's not even cute any more :[ and it looks like a squirrel now!
The crucification is really interesting.  The way you implied that it is wood is great.  You could probably work on the antialiasing down the side of it though because it's still jagged.
never pretend to be drunker than you really are

Offline Antago

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I agree, the new styles have strayed from the original vision. It's become a different game now. And I thought the puppy was a squirrel ;)
Perhaps you could use the original puppy for the puppy and the squirrel thing for a squirrel in the game.

Offline missingno

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Yeah, sorry if that wasn't clear. The puppy will stay, the edit will be used as a different character (if used at all). It's supposed to be a bulbasaur.