The VG Resource

(09-16-2012, 10:18 PM)Shouty Wrote: [ -> ]

Looks pretty good actually.

But he's kinda got a..

Floppy dick
a flopping wiener

he got two actually.

It's called fur Thumbtacks...

it may be "fur"

but bad desing choices lead to put strays of fur on his crotch, making them look like genitalia.

(09-17-2012, 11:26 AM)Mighty Jetters Wrote: [ -> ]It's called fur Thumbtacks...

If he had fur or punctured his own crotch…

(09-17-2012, 02:09 PM)Meta Wrote: [ -> ]it may be "fur"

but bad desing choices lead to put strays of fur on his crotch, making them look like genitalia.

…for the sake of fashion…

(09-17-2012, 01:11 AM)Thumbtacks Wrote: [ -> ]Looks pretty good actually.

But he's kinda got a..

Floppy dick
a flopping wiener

Penis

Flopping around

I mean, they kind of are like dicks, it's just what they'd do…

(09-17-2012, 10:04 AM)Meta Wrote: [ -> ]he got two actually.

Alright, alright, I guess I should address this: they're water bladders, kind of like a camel's hump(s) (except those store fat), and their position is for ironic purposes since he's of a species that reproduces asexually. Anyway, back to progress…

"Walking" forward



He's supposed to be hopping like a small bird. I don't know if the arms should have the blur tweens like the legs do, but I kind of like the jumping, almost disjointed motions of the arms, as if he's stumbling a bit, trying to maintain balance.

I also tried some variations of the idle, I feel it gives more expression and personality, since I want to make it look like he's alert and tired at the same time.

The 'walking' motion you have in mind is entertaining, and what you've got isn't bad, but I feel you could do better. My main concerns are that his legs should have a bit more range, and that he might look better with more vertical movement. He seems too static for abrupt hopping motions.
Another thing, maybe it's just me, but the blur in the back (our left) seems really off somehow.
As for the idle, the second one here has a lot more personality, and it's more interesting than your other attempts. I'd say go with that one.



Walking and ducking. Might make a 6-frame walk later, but I wanted to at least make a 4-frame depending on what the finished game calls for.

the blur on the hopping is unnecesary. basically because there is no way on earth you could hop around like that in a natural way. in order to hop around you bend you knees and the propel yourself foward, using the recoil to gain momentum. in your case,'s just flapping its arms and flexing his legs in midair.

even if you wanted to mimic a bird's movement, you'd still need to do the same thing.

also again on the subject of it having two dicks, it basically draw way too much attention from the character. for ilustration purposes that shouldn't be an issue, since you'd give it a context, but in a sprite of thsi size it just looks plain weird.

Not to mention most, if not all, birds have inverted knees. Unless the character's knees are double-jointed, there's no way he could 'hop like a little bird'.

(09-21-2012, 12:58 PM)NICKtendo DS Wrote: [ -> ]Not to mention most, if not all, birds have inverted knees. Unless the character's knees are double-jointed, there's no way he could 'hop like a little bird'.

He could hop like a little bird in the backwards direction though.
And hop backwards like a little bird in the forwards direction.

It would likely look very very odd, but it might work for an odd character.

(09-21-2012, 12:58 PM)NICKtendo DS Wrote: [ -> ]Not to mention most, if not all, birds have inverted knees. Unless the character's knees are double-jointed, there's no way he could 'hop like a little bird'.

Indeed. I meant to say how little birds hop instead of individually moving their legs. Larger birds wouldn't. I just wanted to make something that looks silly and unique.

(09-21-2012, 01:03 PM)Terminal Devastation Wrote: [ -> ]He could hop like a little bird in the backwards direction though.
And hop backwards like a little bird in the forwards direction.

It would likely look very very odd, but it might work for an odd character.

In order to do this, he would have to be leaning back all the time, with his feet ready to catch him from behind after each leap. Even the smallest birds probably wouldn't "hop backwards" and would properly move their legs to a more orthodox backwards gait. While I appreciate the creative input, I don't think it'd fit in the style of a fighting game, in which you want to constantly be facing your opponent when moving towards them.

(09-21-2012, 07:41 AM)Meta Wrote: [ -> ]the blur on the hopping is unnecesary. basically because there is no way on earth you could hop around like that in a natural way. in order to hop around you bend you knees and the propel yourself foward, using the recoil to gain momentum. in your case,'s just flapping its arms and flexing his legs in midair.

even if you wanted to mimic a bird's movement, you'd still need to do the same thing.

also again on the subject of it having two dicks, it basically draw way too much attention from the character. for ilustration purposes that shouldn't be an issue, since you'd give it a context, but in a sprite of thsi size it just looks plain weird.

The blur is necessary because he's flexing and moving his legs forward at the same time, which is what propels him from the bent position of his legs, and moves him forward. It's two quick motions at once you wouldn't be able to distinguish them with your naked eye. I thought the legs were bent enough on the second frame, but since you didn't notice, they're not. So I just bent them on the idle pose, and I think it looks better, along with increasing the height off the ground in the frame in which he's in the air.



Speaking of naked…

Since they're readable as at least two small protrusions from his crotch, and they're part of the character design, I don't see why I should get rid of them. Whether they're sexualized, be it even subconsciously, or not, is not my intension.

(09-21-2012, 01:41 AM)Ridge Troopa Wrote: [ -> ]

Walking and ducking. Might make a 6-frame walk later, but I wanted to at least make a 4-frame depending on what the finished game calls for.

If you don't want it to look like the same foot is coming down twice, then a 6-frame walk cycle wouldn't be a bad idea. But, as you've told me personally, it seems to be that way for other 4-frame walk cycles. The ducking is good and smooth.

(09-21-2012, 08:23 PM)Shouty Wrote: [ -> ]Speaking of naked…

Since they're readable as at least two small protrusions from his crotch, and they're part of the character design, I don't see why I should get rid of them. Whether they're sexualized, be it even subconsciously, or not, is not my intension.

They aren't really readable as "two small protrusions." They're readable as large, floppy phallic objects. They distract from the character design, in the same way you'd be distracted if Mario was wearing a dildo on his head.

(09-21-2012, 08:23 PM)Shouty Wrote: [ -> ]The blur is necessary because he's flexing and moving his legs forward at the same time, which is what propels him from the bent position of his legs, and moves him forward. It's two quick motions at once you wouldn't be able to distinguish them with your naked eye. I thought the legs were bent enough on the second frame, but since you didn't notice, they're not. So I just bent them on the idle pose, and I think it looks better, along with increasing the height off the ground in the frame in which he's in the air.

no.

adding to the "no": you dont even know how blur works(check the tutorial on the first page please), because you completely missed a fundamental point on wich the whole concept of blur is built upon. in this case, he's just kicking foward with both legs in a rather unnatural way to kick(asuming the character lacks any kind of proper humanoid muscular-skeleton system) and even on this case, he'd just trip and fall on its back.

AND EVEN if he did moved hopping like that, you need to make the legs go back to the idle stance as fast as posible, so he needs another blur sequence to properly render this "fast" moment(take baegal's running animation as an example). as it is, i could work for a long jump, but even then, again, it simply doesnt work/it looks bad/its completely unnatural/its rather weird.

(09-21-2012, 08:23 PM)Shouty Wrote: [ -> ]Speaking of naked…

Since they're readable as at least two small protrusions from his crotch, and they're part of the character design, I don't see why I should get rid of them. Whether they're sexualized, be it even subconsciously, or not, is not my intension.

Quote:(...)they're water bladders, kind of like a camel's hump(s) (except those store fat), and their position is for ironic purposes since he's of a species that reproduces asexually.

meta Wrote:for ilustration purposes that shouldn't be an issue, since you'd give it a context, but in a sprite of this size it just looks plain weird.

its a bad desing choice. it is a weird feature on the original character desing, but it just looks extremely ackward on the sprite. id i was you(in a sense of what i'd do to fix this) is to either remove it or simply not animate it, to keep it as subtle as posible. you CANT blame the viewer for thinking your character has two flopping dicks when you are the one who decided to put two flopping straws of something on his crotch.

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(09-21-2012, 01:41 AM)Ridge Troopa Wrote: [ -> ]
Walking and ducking. Might make a 6-frame walk later, but I wanted to at least make a 4-frame depending on what the finished game calls for.

that walk aint really bad as it is, but it will probably require more frames.

Shouty,your sprites are nice,and it seems like an interesting character,but the dicks really need to go.
They're funny and all,specially on the "hoping" pose (which doesn't look like hoping at all,but Meta already got that covered),but they're only funny because they look like dicks,which is something you claim to not want.
Besides,not everyone seeing your sprites will have the context of they actually being "water bladders" (which is a total bullshit excuse imo),and even with that context in mind,they still look like dicks.And while it might be funny to some,it could easily be misinterpreted as some kind of sick fetish..y'know..with double dicks and all.

If you really need "water bladders",I suggest you move they're position to somewhere else.

Basically, if this was a game about that character, it'd probably be fine because there'd be a chance to explain the water bladders. But, in this context, there isn't really, so it's just going to confuse people. I don't think anyone's asking you to get rid of it FOREEVEERR, but just within the context of this game. Or at least try your best to tone it down. Even if this was a game more about the character, they're too large and have big black outlines in an otherwise empty space that say "LOOK HERE!"

I love the idle, but I'm totally confused about how it lands on the walking animation. It doesn't seem to be possible to land that way without falling over. The others kind of tried to explain that better, idk.

Also I just noticed from the art that it's supposed to have teeth, but they're next to impossible to see...honestly I think I might like it better without them, but try making the teeth outlines a bit darker if they're what you want. As they are now, I think I read them more as lips or something.

I think I found a middle ground to make the particular region everybody is concerned about less eye-catching. And I hope this will suffice, because I don't want to derail the topic anymore with this issue.



I also used everyone's critique (mostly Meta's) to fix everything that was wrong with the walking animation. On that note, I have my ducking animation.