[WIP] Hero Sprites - CC Wanted

[Biggs]

Nice to meet ya, Pixelation. I'm Biggs. I've recently started pixel-artistry (pixelling, pixelating, pixeller-artistring, I've got a million of 'em), and I'm hopin' to learn from the masters.



This is the hero for a game project of mine. He doesn't have a name, but he's modeled a bit after me, so I'll call him Little Biggs, for the irony. He's only got two frames, and it's really just a pixel-shift. I wanted him small for easy animation game integration, but I'm finding the restrictions on small sprites almost cancel out the ease of animation. If there are any ideas on what I could do to spice animations up, I would like to hear them. Taking brutal C+C is a hobby of mine.



Here's one of Little Biggs' special attacks, vomiting a powerful stream of evil energies. I'm proud of it, but something about it feels... wrooong. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure YOU do!

[blumunkee]

Hello and welcome. Very nice animation here!

The pushback, blur, and dust clouds are all nicely done. Very dynamic and entertaining.

The smoke from the energy looks like it gets sucked back into his mouth. If that's what you're aiming for, great, but you might consider changing it so it looks like the smoke dissipates into thin air.

[Phones]

Hey, if you want brutal C+C this is THE place.(Not from me though )

The recoil is actually quite a problem, at least from my Point of view. He may as well be sliding back on ice. There's no proper movement in it, and it just feels really weak. Making the laser push him off balance a bit would help, perhaps adding more speed would help a bit as well. Maybe only making the laser a few frames then a white flash on the peak frame? Regardless, it needs a lot more strength.

[Biggs]

I see what you both mean. I didn't really mean for him to eat all the energy back up... but it's actually kinda cool.

And as for the recoil, I think you've identified the "wrong" feeling I had about it. It only pushes him back for a moment, instead of the duration of the beam. It makes it seem like it only has a weak, initial push. I think I'll turn the beam into a two-frame burst, and start working on making a more dramatic animation for the laser. Thank you, guys.




Melee time! When not spewing forth unholy energies, Little Biggs spends his time pretending he's a MMA champion. I'll be working on strings of attack combos that he'll be able to pull off with the right amount of button mashing. This is the opening attack. Little Biggs doesn't play games or use any little "jabs", he goes all-out. I feel unhappy about the motion blur in this one, but I can't pinpoint the problem.

[Endpiece]

I see what you mean. It only pushes him back for a moment, instead of the duration of the beam. It makes it seem like it only has a week, initial push. I think I'll turn the beam into a two-frame burst, and work on making a more dramatic animation for the laser. Thanks.




Melee time! When not spewing forth unholy energies, Little Biggs spends his time pretending he's a MMA champion. I'll be working on strings of attack combos that he'll be able to pull off with the right amount of button mashing. This is the opening attack. Little Biggs doesn't play games or use any little "jabs", he goes all-out. I feel unhappy about the motion blur in this one, but I can't pinpoint the problem.

If I remember my lessons in animation correctly, you need to work on your anticipation and reaction. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this.

1) Antic - pre-action. Put a little more emphasis on the wind-up of the punch, like he's really putting power into it.

2) Action. Pretty good, but it seems a bit stiff and slow. He's lunging forward, which is good - he has to really throw his body forward with the punch. Think of it as a \ turning into a /, or an imaginary curve of action. Maybe cut the number of frames used, but put more emphasis in the transition as well.

3) React - post-action. Start a A, draw back (windup), shoot past B (punch), and snap back to B (pull/stagger back to idle stance).

You can also find research drawings and videos online of punching in action, if necessary.

Edit: consider me corrected! Thanks, Jad!

[Jad]

Noo no no no more wind-up, he's got LOTS of wind up

it's just the ratio windup:delivery that's off

2 transition frames are 1 too many

0 overreach frames are 1 too few

so I removed one transition frame and made the hit frame an overreach frame

I think my edit will talk for itself if you just open it alongside your original

I actually only edited ONE frame, the only other thing i did was remove a frame.



Oh yes, do remove the smoke, it doesn't really work ' 3 '

[Biggs]

I'm surprised by how much that one minor change in the overreach frame did. It looks a lot better, thank you Jad. As for the dust cloud, I was hoping it would emphasize the punch, but you're right, it's not working very well.

Next I guess I'll work on returning to the idle stance and making a second attack to follow up on the first punch as part of the combo. Right jab - left cross - right uppercut sound like a good combo?

[Jad]

Good that you realized the importance of timing and how easily it's made and broken! Mission accomplished.

Your combo sounds good. Keep in mind that you can lengthen the windup some for the punches that go off after the first one to create more impact.

See, the important thing is that the first punch you unleash should be as close (time-wise) to the button press as possible, or the game will feel unresponsive

after that, though, it's easier to accept some delay before the other punches are delivered, so that's something to keep in mind.