Bitten by the sidescroller bug...

[Howard Day]

Okay, that's good to hear.
Here's an update of the bumblebot with new rotors..

The projectile for the spiderbot:

And the various explosions...


Thoughts?

[Ultimaodin]

Wow the level of epicness just doubled, and these were already pretty Epic. The new APGN's look sweet. What program are you using for the APNG's? I'm sick of using Jasc animation shop still.

I like the new rotors, they look smaller and don't lap the character much but I find them more distinguishable. Good job. 

[Conzeit]

Did you only apply alpha to that projectile? I have to say that projectile is looking much much better, though the opposite is true for the blasts, dont go overboard with the alpha...

[Howard Day]

Ultimaodin: Glad you like. For the APNGs, I'm using GIF Movie Gear - the demo version, currently, but I think I'll purchase the full. I am glad the new rotors read well, it was becoming a major concern of mine...
Conceit: Yep, those are what the exported sprites from MAX look like, just animated. when you say don't go overboard on the alpha on the explosions...what do you mean exactly? The explosions do need to fade out, right? I'm not sure what you meant by this.
Anyhow. Been going kinda slow, just done another couple of play area art pieces.

I think I need to do a projectile for the bumblebot, a taunt/alt idle animation, and a death animation.  I also need to come up with another enemy type - on the light/melee only type. I'm thinking something buld around a rolly-polly, with a green lighting taser attached. Ah, yes. Then I need to make the player character. I've kinda been putting that off because I'm not completely certain about the colors and style, but I think I'm snagged onto an awesome idea and I probably need to run with it.

[7321551]

I truly like this.
I thought the same thing about the explosions.

This one seems sharp when it fades out, and the small clouds are visible as discrete units. Very appealing.

In comparison, this one seems less sharp, almost airbrushed.

Also, when designing the backgrounds, particularly the buildings, you might want to consider methods of faking perspective utilized by old games, such as the selective angling of elements... here's an example.

[Howard Day]

That demonstrates it perfectly. Luckily, changing one number fixes it handily. I've also lightened up the smoke a bit - It was too realistic as it was, and I kinda liked the...goofy looking version more. Not a big change, but there you go.

And I gave the BumbleBolt a shot. It's close to the spiderbot, but the real difference will be in the impact animation.

Thoughts?

[Conzeit]

what I meant was that I liked the explosions when they faded out by chunks without alpha http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=9591.msg105083#msg105083 it looks unique and pixelart-y.

The alpha fadeout looks more commonplace...I might be alone in that but that's what I think...honestly the new explosions I think have only improved in having darker smoke, the rest looks too unspecific to me. if you were to use the alpha smoke, I think it'd be a better use to have a smoked piece of the floor keep on releasing that translucent smoke for a while, that helps it look realistic (I've been to riots and even small potato bombs leave smoke for a while)

[Howard Day]

Conceit: I see. Well, I'll do another pass and see if I can come up with the look you're expecting.
Anyhow, I did a pass on a bumblebot taunt animation.


Thoughts?

[Lizzrd]

Can't see the images.

[Gil]

Firefox 2 displays static images instead of animated. Can someone confirm that Firefox 3 shows these?