The VG Resource

So, months ago, I decided that the original NES Sprite of Samus was just too outdated to be used in anything. So, I made this. Well, part of it. It just kind of just collected virtual dust for the last several months. Until around last week, when I got the motivation to start working on it again in hopes of finishing it. I'm still working on it though. Might change the walking animation and alter some colors, as well as making a proper diagonal aiming frame.

So, C&C...I guess. I'm sure there are other problems that I didn't notice (though I think something is up with one of the legs).

the main problem is that some parts are an unreadable blob of colors. Clean it more, use less colors in small clusters os it doesn't get in the eye.

I feel like the green is doing that red-green opposite effect where it looks like it's popping out and it's really trippy. I'm on a PC that doesn't have the right bookmarks, so I can't really show you what I'm talking about, but

http://www.cvadrat.com/imagebank/opartst...%20Red.jpg
stuff like this really hurts to look at, right?

I think the green really needs to be toned down.

You could use the red as shading for the yellow to make the sprite more readible




Look at these for instance, these are good examples of 8-bit shading (totally not gonna be modest heh)
there's some shading on parts to give AA to the sprite, make things smoother
Otherwise you'd also shade the leg/arm that's further from the player, it gives a better idea of what goes where and adds depth to the sprite

Hey there Prototroid!

I wanted to illustrate what's already been said:

Less details, more readability!

I actually really like these, though they need some improvements as said above.

I was actually working on the same thing several years ago...

I'll see what I can do about the whole readability issue, and starting with simplifying it is probably going to be the first step in doing that. Maybe not quite as simple as your example showed, Chris, but I'll keep it in mind while I work.

Well, here I am again. Haven't done much, had to read a book for a project in one of my classes, but I've still got something.


The new side view sprite is the one in the upper left. The old one is on the right, Chris' example at the bottom left, and the original sprite on the right.

Hm...Something still seems off...

I think your making the 'back-pack' too big.
Also I'd remove the awful black outline and just display them on a black background.

The point is that she's on a black background anyway so you won't see it
I'm pretty sure that's just to give contrast to make it easier to see against the white...?

(12-08-2012, 02:25 PM)Vipershark Wrote: [ -> ]The point is that she's on a black background anyway so you won't see it
I'm pretty sure that's just to give contrast to make it easier to see against the white...?

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. Although that's not the only reason. It's also something of a...consideration of other possible uses of the sprite. Without the outline, the sprite would look pretty terrible on a lot of other backgrounds. In a normal NES Metroid setting, the outline isn't needed, but in some other settings, it might be necessary.

But I suppose that it does look terrible. I'll see about making it a little thinner, and shrinking the back...jet...pack. Whatever that thing is. Never seems to have much a use.

Unlike the other sprites posted above, black is neither an outline nor one of the colours that make up Samus's palette: red, orange, and green are. Black is the background colour of the game.
Consider the room your sprites take up: do you want to pursue this path, otherwise optimize the original space, or, like I have attempted, use less blocks to convey more information?

Look carefully at how colour was used more to differentiate the different parts on Samus than to shade. Why was this done? There weren't that many colours to shade, without messing up the readability. You can see this attitude changed: as the consoles got more powerful, the artists were more liberal with the growing colour palettes.

Anyway, you're making good progress!