SNES-style RPG stuff

[Perihelion]

It doesn't loop, but I'll probably make it do that eventually. At any rate, this is my first real attempt at pixeling clouds, and I'm not sure I quite got it right in some places. Also, a couple parts look weird, especially the smaller fragmented clouds in the upper right corner. Thoughts?

[Zoggles]

For a first (real) attempt, it's pretty darned impressive in my book.

My first comment however, would be that there appears to be a curvature to it, the main clouds dip in the center making the clouds on the left and right edges look closer.

The second comment would be that the directions of the wispier clouds at the top seem to shift around a lot, particularly the ' \ ' angled ones in the very top left which seem to contradict the movement/flow of the other clouds and shading.

I think it mostly boils down to deciding upon which way the clouds are moving, and thus from which direction they are forming.. in the case of the small 'mackerel skies' type clouds in the top right, they seem to (given the general '/' direction of the rest) be more like clouds dissipating, rather than small puffs of cloud growing larger as they travel and grow.

Bottom half is lovely, soft and fluffy looking with a good indication of movement (just needs to be a bit more level horizontally.. especially if you plan on looping it) Top half has a few too many indecisive directions I feel, but that's a lovely blue showing through at the top.

-Z-

[Perihelion]

Well, when I first made it, I wasn't planning on looping it, and then I realized it's much more viable if I do. As far as direction goes, yeah, I agree with you that it's inconsistent. I sorta wanted it to look like it was arching overhead, coming from the background like this, but it didn't quite work out because it shifts around so much. And if it's gonna loop, it probably needs to not do that. Thanks for the feedback! I'll try evening it out and making the movement more consistent when I revisit it.

[Perihelion]

Well, I left it for a few days, but I'm still too sick of looking at it to do much in the way of substantial edits. I did make the cloud direction more consistent and made it tile, though. That said, Zoggles, I really do appreciate the critique, and I'll keep things like formation and evenness in mind in the future.

[Dr D]

Those clouds are just lovely, looks very painterly. Soft and fluffy, like Zoggles said.

They're wavy though, due to the aforementioned dip. I don't think it would be a big problem though, if there would be a lot of stuff in the foreground. But if there isn't it may make it noticeably less seamless and increase repetitiveness.

Are you using this for a game or some sort of project or are you just practicing?

[Perihelion]

I'd like some hard critique on this before I start mass-producing sprites for my game. They'll be seen in-game at 200%. Vaguely inspired by Chrono Trigger.




And here are a couple sample sprites:



I think I might be overdetailing them and using too many colors, and consequently they're sorta hard to see against similarly-colored backgrounds. The first one in particular is too dark, I think. Thoughts? Here's an example map with a sprite on it:

Not all of the environments are gonna be this dark, but the sprite is still hard to see. I think darker outlines might help, but the colors of the sprite itself might also be too dark. I'm loath to change them tremendously, though.

Finally, I'm trying to make it eight-directional, and I'm having tons of problems. I've looked at references and everything, but I just can't get it right. I'd appreciate some help!

[Perihelion]

Yeah, it's for a game. The dip is pretty noticeable, but I'm hoping it won't be an issue since, as you said, there will be stuff going on in the foreground. I tested it out earlier, and this is what I got:

[Dex]

me do believe you could've used both of your topics for this.

however; what you have looks very nice. it's sprited fairly well. the only issue i see with the bases are the animations! they don't look very fluid nor well fleshed out. i think you'd benefit by checking out a human in motion- it'd help build upon what you have now

about the sky panorama: i think what you have is excellent, but i've never seen a sky background particularly work in an rpg. i'm not sure, i don't play many rpg's but it just seems strange to me to see those two different angles.

keep at it

[Perihelion]

Yeah, I should've just made one thread for all the stuff for my game. I didn't want to dump a ton of other stuff in that thread that was unrelated to what it was originally about, but it occurs to me now that I could've just edited it. Oh well, too late now! I'll keep it in mind for next time.

That's a fair point about the sky background. This was supposed to be on a mountain, though, maybe overlooking a cliff. It's definitely not going to be on every map.

Thanks for the tip about the animations; it's one of my weaknesses. I'll go check out some professional sprites and look at people walking and go back to it.

[Phones]

The tiling is most certainly very nice, but the contrast between the BG and the characters needs a lot of work.

The grass also is way too busy for my eyes to enjoy looking at. I know a lot of people like to sprite grass that way, but I never found it particularly attractive. That being said though, it may be just another contrast issue.

[Perihelion]

How would you recommend doing the grass if not this way? I felt that something simpler looked out of place with how ornate everything else is, and I spent forever trying to come up with a grass tile that looked all right, and that's what I got. :\ I'm not averse to changing it, but I'm not sure what to do with it exactly.

Also, yeah, the contrast issue was definitely a big problem. I retooled the sprite I showed in the screenshot.


How's this? Looking at it now, I can see a few problems, but I think it's a step in the right direction, anyway.

[Dusty]

I think there are some huge contrast/darkness issues going on. Perhaps not a contrast issue as much as just everything is very dark. There is also some color readability issues with the river, in my opinion. So I made an edit. Problem is, because of the way you used the palette some things suffer, like the dirt... I'm not sure what sort of limitations you're working with, and if you are open to change there:

[Elk]

I'd go for an even more olive tone in the grass
Made edits on water cliffs and clouds too

[Gil]

I don't like Elk's edit, but Dusty's is a big step in the right direction. The contrast and detail on the rocks in Dusty's edit are still pretty harsh. Everything is basically fighting for attention in your piece and it's hard to make out anything really.


Can we see some animated versions of the character template? I think they don't animate well, but I can't be sure until I see them.

[ndchristie]

Yeah I'm not entirely sold on Elk's piece after Dusty's, it feels like a very different atmosphere...good for some things but perhaps not for others, and the unification of tones makes things a little drab.
HOWEVER it has stronger artistic value (which can sell a piece even if it's not as instantly engaging or readable) and the character is easier to find.  I think a marriage of the two might be in order?

Also I think that the rocks are too dark and waste a shade on unnecessary/departing edges.  The value and hue differences are so strong you don't need to increase them further imo.  My suggestion would be to make 2 fairly light colors out of the 3 browns you have and then work into the "black" regions with a new 3rd.

[Ben2theEdge]

I don't think you should be using the same green hue for all the plant life. Grass, trees, bushes and vines do not color-coordinate in real life so they shouldn't be doing so here, either, unless you have genuine palette restrictions. Giving them variation in hue will not only make things more varied but it will also separate these elements from the background a little and make it look less flat.

[Perihelion]

Hey, guys! I really appreciate all the great feedback, but I've been busy the past few days, and with the way I have this set up, retooling things is a little cumbersome. I want to do more than just a palette change, so I'll probably post an updated version sometime in the next couple days.

Dusty and Elk's edits are definitely a lot more readable than my version, but I think they might be a little bright for the atmosphere I was going for. I wanted something sort of dark and moody (so with that in mind, the sky panorama doesn't really belong with this particular tileset, but I felt the need to include it since I had it). I think it's the grass that's bothering me more than anything, but it's much easier to see what's going on when it's light. Maybe I can add a dark accent grass or something and use a lighter one for the main tile.

ndchristie, thanks, I'll try that when I go back to it.

Ben2theEdge, that's actually a really good tip that hadn't occurred to me. Looking at screenshots from professional games, I see they do this, and I just didn't notice. I'll keep that in mind when I'm revisiting things.

Gil, here's an animated version:

A number of the poses are somewhat unrefined because I intend to draw them individually for each character. As for the walking animations, they're kind of weird because they're three frames and the middle one has to double as an idle pose. Well, there are four on the sheet, and the first one is both the idle pose and one of the intermediary poses for the walking, and I'm having a hard time visualizing how that could work in a way other than what I did. The program I'm working with is limiting. I may be able to change it, but keeping it as it is also means I have a lot less spriting to do, which is a consideration.

[Elrinth]

Maybe you are looking for something like Secret of Evermore?
The characters have alot of colour in them while the backgrounds are somewhat dark and moody.

I like your piece, it's very detailed and nice, the background clouds are really nice.

One thing I'm wondering about is the mountain walls.. I'm getting the impression they are made from wood for some reason. It's a little because of the colour, but I think it's also the pattern on them, it reminds me of wood. Am I the only one who feels this? Look at the bottom of the mountain walls. The top (ie edges of grass) looks okay tho.

[Corinthian Baby]

I really like this tileset so far, especially the cliffs. However, the tops of the cliff are a little too neat and round. They should be more jagged and/or diagonally based. You can also make a curved version of the top straight tile for variation. Also, you can put jagged cliff edges on the curved tiles to make it seem less tiley. In terms of colors, I like the dark vibe, and I think elk's edit keeps that vibe intact while improving the contrast.

[Pixelized]

One thing I'm wondering about is the mountain walls.. I'm getting the impression they are made from wood for some reason. It's a little because of the colour, but I think it's also the pattern on them, it reminds me of wood. Am I the only one who feels this? Look at the bottom of the mountain walls. The top (ie edges of grass) looks okay tho.

I was thinking the same thing actually. I believe it is the texture, and how the cliffs come over the top of the grass. I had the feeling that it was the top of a giant tree. Maybe some small tweaks and you could get that rocky feeling.

[Rydin]

Your background objects have very harsh internal lines, while your sprite has very soft outlines.  If it were the other way around, it would be easier to see everything.



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