Character sketch

[Jad]

the more time she crouches, the more delay between the player's button press and when the jump actually happens! That can get seriously annoying for the player

I'd choose floatiness over that any day!

[xbogx]

that's true, i hate it too when games don't respond right away

it might depend on what the framerate is and whether you can choose different speeds for animations to be played at. If it were possible, i'd try to add an extra frame where she's crouching more and then have the animation played faster

it's looking good as it is though so none of that is really necessary

[Accident]

A different take,



Yeah, don't be looking at mine for originality either, since it's too girly and kind of... boring in terms of design, but my suggestion on the shorts stay, as does the hands. Her hands are too... noodly? I'm not sure how else to describe it. Take from the edit what you will, and what you won't.

[bengo]

If I may say something... I don't think we should be trying to CHANGE the style, only refine it, what OP has is fine I think.

[Accident]

If I may say something... I don't think we should be trying to CHANGE the style, only refine it, what OP has is fine I think.

which is why I mentioned that the only suggestions I'm sticking with is how to shade the shorts and block out the hands. the rest is all pointlessly cosmetic.

[gliding]

I like the style but I think the black outline detracts from the appeal. I tried keeping as much of the original's feel as possible by letting the dark lines recede to black. The most important change was desaturating those shadows of yours. I think the palette works a lot better this way, and yet, it still retains the cartoonish, simple look. In my opinion, having black lines within the sprites outline just doesnt work as well as using actual colors to differentiate areas from one another.

[Mike]

the more time she crouches, the more delay between the player's button press and when the jump actually happens! That can get seriously annoying for the player

I'd choose floatiness over that any day!

When I use crouches for jumps in my games I make the delay in microseconds by making the animation super fast but even still it feels like the delay is simply too much but it adds a nice springy-ness to it overall.  Shadow of the Colossus used it to great effect though, most of the time.

[Chis]

The height of the jump was kept because it was mostly a mockup, as in-game her position will be controlled by some programming code (and also because I'm a lazy bum, and also because I like the floatsiness).  I also have no limits on number of frames that I know of. Planning fail ftw.

I tweaked her crouch animation and decreased the microseconds on the jump, but as far as I can tell something wonky's still going on with her hair when she lands. Gaaaargh.

Those edits are awesome! I totally dig the hair on Accident's edit, and the softness of gliding's edit, and the pants on both. They make me painfully aware that the hands and pants currently look like crap (), and inspire me to make another edit. Speaking of which, they give me an idea of some awesome game in which the character is always the same, but the style changes throughout. I don't know how much work that would be though.

[Accident]

They make me painfully aware that the hands and pants currently look like crap (), and inspire me to make another edit.

THERE IS NO TIME TO FEEL BAD. SUCK IT UP. <33333333333333

you have a distinct style all your own. it is /not/ crap. we are just here to help you refine it. 

I must say, what I like most about the animation is that she actually looks up.  it's something I've seen a lot of people forget.

[Mike]

Heres my 2 cents on this


Honestly I wasted my time working on the actual vertical velocity considering you'll be using code to move the sprite.  If I were you I wouldn't even worry about that.  Just use it for a quick mockup of what you want to see in the game but there's no reason to refine it.

What I did was take out frames for the hair that had doubles when she is hitting the ground.  Typically with follow through animation you need to be on 1s and do it straight ahead.  What I mean by that is don't make duplicates for the hair it needs to be unique each frame while at the same time following behind the base movement.  You can do your keyframes using pose to pose but I believe it's best to do the hair, clothes, scarves, tails, antennae etc, after your base animation has been established. 

Oh and one last thing.  I think you should keep her hands sort of non descript.  I love the powerpuff girls type style hands.  Plus it's easy to animate, which is why I used it for this character


(Not pixelart)

They make me painfully aware that the hands and pants currently look like crap (), and inspire me to make another edit.

THERE IS NO TIME TO FEEL BAD. SUCK IT UP. <33333333333333

you have a distinct style all your own. it is /not/ crap. we are just here to help you refine it.  

I must say, what I like most about the animation is that she actually looks up.   it's something I've seen a lot of people forget.

Yep I forget that most of the time too.  It's amazing how that can really bring a jump animation to life.