Catch As Cat Can Mockup.16

[xhunterko]

First off, I would like to apologize to any members whom I may have ticked off recently. I don't mean to be rude on here and have a bad attitude. I am sorry for my behavior as late and hope to make amends with this apology. I would also like to thank anyone who tried to help me on the other thread. I really appreciated your responses.

It's tree again pixelation


New Forest


Pause a bit
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/forestcat.png

Palette Change


New Edits



Level Design help
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/shorecatnonmarked.png
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/shorecatmarked.png

Someone stop me before I make more slimes and lose focus.
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/happyspring.png

Like so?
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/blobcat.png

Testing
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/mousecat.png

Level1
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/cavecat.png

Too Much?
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/catchascatcanplay.png

Hue?
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/cathue.png

From Crit
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/catcrit.png

Bored
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/catsolid.png

Another Quickie
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/catnext.png

Quick Update
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/cat5.png

Updated
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/rob/new/cat4th.png


text warning
Well, I decided to take a break from pixel art for a while and not do anything. Then I worked on a small MMORPG parody comic I've been working on in the background. Then I went to the community programming site I use and see that they had started a Mini game competition. (One of the games was a cat killer game. So that had something to do with this as well.) Since I did not have enough time in my work schedule to make one, and learned about it a few days late. I decided to do a mockup. (Technically, my new avatar came first really.)

Since one of my comic characters is a cat. I wondered what kind of game certain cat activities would make. Since they like to catch small, edible critters, I based the game play on that premise. I turned it into a platform style game and came up with this little bit here.



I tried to keep it a little cute and smallish. The player would then wander about the levels catching fish, mice, birds, and fighting off other cats in a limited amount of time. The player would have 9 lives, take damage when in water, and increase health every time they caught something. (They would also always land on their feet.)

I also tried a walk animation. The head and tail are easy enough to fix. What I do not like is how the legs look. They seem too jerky and look like they could use some more frames. But I'm not sure what to do there.



I tried to pick a light source on this one. I think the tiles are okay though. I'd also like a little help on the jumping fish. Did I do any better here? Or do the same crits still apply?

Comment and critique please
Thanks in advance

(Working on status bar and other tiles atm.)

[Aimsworth]

In reguards to the cats motion, it looks really stiff and jerks around a lot.  I think some issue might be in trying to either stay in the style you have setup (instead of getting to realistic) or that your frames are all mid motion.  There are probably 2 possible ways to approach fixing the animation.  Either tone down the range of motion (same number of frames, but make it appear that the cat is moving slower).  Or you need to increase the number of frames.  Anything else and you are going to pickup the jerky motion.

Did a quick google image search, found some refs you might want to take a look at:

Cat Running:

Dog Walking: Not a cat, but the range of motion is about the same for your animation I believe

[xhunterko]

Hey there!

Thanks for finding those! I think, however, that the main order is more frames. I'm gonna have to look at those a bit and see what I come up with.

[Shrike]

Hey, you're improving.

I had a super-long critique and edit written up, but my compy crashed and nothing got saved.
Things to look at:
The sun isn't yellow, it's white.  I know you want cartoony style, but you can achieve that without the yellow; A matter of personal opinion, but whatever the case don't shade the sun.  If it's something super bright, it wouldn't be shaded, would it?
Lay off too heavy shading for the clouds, and for a consistent look make it your generic blobby cloud.
Cat is good, but you have some unnecessary  colors going on; also, the tail should have the same lightsource as the rest of the cat's body.
Ugh, I'm sorry, I really have to do something and I can't post the rest; here's the edit, take what you will from it:

Pretty bad, I'm aware the dithersmoothing on the sun rays doesn't work but I don't have time to fix.
Happy pixels!
Shrike

[xhunterko]

Hi shrike!

Sun: trying to keep a consistent light source. Ah well. (wait, if that's the source, uh, ya, why is it shaded?)
Clouds: Rats, I like what you've done with the outlines there. Gonna be tricky to keep it un-pillowshaded.
Cat: I really didn't notice the tail! Thanks! He's supposed to have stripes. Probably reason for extra colors. Any hints on how to do stripes?

Anyways, I just have to say, I love that edit you did. I wish my code program would let me do something like that with the sun rays. But I don't think its possible sadly. (Well, maybe.) How'd you separate the water from the sky like that?!

Anyways, thanks again. I'll have to look at this some more.

[Shrike]

No problem!
Yes, it ought not to be shaded.  Keep it looking bright!
This is true, just go minimal on shading for the clouds and shade in the light source of the sun.
Yes, you would need a lot more contrast to get the stripes to show at this size, like this:

Couldn't help myself, cats are too fun to animate.   
If you plan on animating you cat with an idle animation, then look at what I posted before if you so desire.  I didn't finish it, I have other stuff to do, but I may finish for an avatar!
Grass was removed for clarity.
So yeah, glad you liked my edit, just keep trying and you'll get there!

EDIT:
By the way, you said you couldn't do the sun rays with your code program; aren't you just making a still mockup, or are you actually making a game?  Also, what do you mean by:

How'd you separate the water from the sky like that?!

  I'm making these in MSpaint and Graphics Gale, are you asking me how I did it visually or technically?  I'm using a drawing program not a code program.   

Keep it up!
Shrike

[xhunterko]

I tend to like to update responses with results. So here goes.



Every time I tried to look at your edit and draw clouds, I got the most disasterous pieces imaginable. So I closed it and that's what I came up with. I tried to not make it look like your edit, and I hope I succeeded. I redid the cliff and grass a bit. Just don't see how one color is all that's needed. I redid the sun as well. I'm also pretty sure that I have the cats tail and stripes fixed now too. What do you think so far?

See, the point of this mockup was to see if I could make this into a game. There was a mini compo at an Indie community site that I'm part of and didn't have enough time to participate. So I'm making this mockup to make up for it sort of. If I do get this finished. I most certainly would love to make it a game.

About your sun rays though. To achieve that effect would require some expertise that sadly I do not acquire.

So, more CnC please?

[Shrike]

Good progress!
The new cloud is much better; I did mine in sort of weird way.    If you want a cartoony style don't follow mine lol, I mean you could but something like the below images would be good.  Vary yours from mine stylistically if you want, do your own thing and make it your art.

Different cartoon styled clouds:




And more obviously but just to give you an idea.
If you want to continue with what you have, I would make the shading on the cloud you made still less prominent, and give it some AA as I did in mine, but otherwise it's great.  Make variations, don't just downsize it and make it darker as that looks sloppy.
Sun rays:
Ah, ok.  Well, the only way to 'acquire' those skills would be to try.  Do you have MSN or YIM? I can make some tutorials for you (videos) if you want to learn AA and the grass and the sun rays and such, although I could just post them here.  It might help you to see how I work.

One thing I think you need for this mockup is depth for the sky; the two ways to achieve that (that I know of) would be:
A) Shade the sky.  like so:  http://www.photoschau.de/images/20060329214426_blue_sky.jpg  Notice how it gets lighter towards the bottom (technically the horizon)?  Use artistic license and make it go darker towards the horizon, maybe like this:

B) The sun rays.  You don't need to get all fancy like I did; just one color will do maybe with some AA.  Might as well try though it's your choice.

Random critique:
My cat animation is more than just goofing around; I fixed up some of your anatomy too.  Look at the position of the legs in my kitty animation, that would be a natural stance (I believe) for a cat.  Where you have the front right (our right) leg is weird and uncomfortable/tight.  Loosen it up, check out some kitty pictures on Google.

Anyway, let me say one thing about the grass then I have to go:
Your tile looks better, but it looks a tad too realistic; simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!  For this style go simple.  Small amount of colors, simple easy-to-read shapes.  Look at my grass;  don't copy it lol, but I used only two colors (In the last image 3 akshully but the third was unnecessary) to shade the grass and two to shade the rock!  Make it more like a happy condominium grass rather than a gritty realistic canyon grass.  Don't copy mine tho.   

Anyways I have to go.
Keep it up, see you around!  And let me know if you have MSN or YIM.

Shrike

[xhunterko]

Look up cat images on google, he said. Too, many, lolcats...

Anyway, when too much is too much, its time to take a break. I worked on the cat a bit today. I like the back legs the best.  Um, lets see, I have a yahoo account. Does that work? (It'd probably be best to post anything here though. That way, new people can see them.

I've been working on the grass a bit. Not quite ready to post that. Thanks for the bit on the clouds and sky though. That should be helpful. Anyways, here's the latest on the cat.



If more games had cats in them, it'd be a lot easier to find examples. -.-

Thanks again.
Any more CnC please?

[xhunterko]

I am absolutely tired of trying to mess with the front legs. The back legs, I think, look fine. The front ones are a pain. I have a backup idea for them though. Which means I'll have to change the stature of the cat and all.

Left: Latest leg work.                  Right: Just having a tad of fun.


While I love shrikes first animated edit, I think the perspective is just a tad off for a platformer. Or maybe it's just me.

So, CnC Please?