The VG Resource

This is an old Mario sprite I made last year.

This is a character sprite for my NES styled indie game.

Please give me some feedback

I don't know how you sprite now these days, but your old Mario sprites could use work. The shape of the head looks off and the hands are too blocky.

By the way if you want to make an NES styled game, it wouldn't hurt to follow the limitations of the system. I don't know much about the specifics, but one thing I know is that each sprite is limited to three colors and transparency.

(02-03-2015, 07:57 AM)E-Man Wrote: [ -> ]I don't know how you sprite now these days, but your old Mario sprites could use work. The shape of the head looks off and the hands are too blocky.

By the way if you want to make an NES styled game, it wouldn't hurt to follow the limitations of the system. I don't know much about the specifics, but one thing I know is that each sprite is limited to three colors and transparency.

I used two sprites for the character (like Mega Man) because I can't make this look good with only 3 colors.

EDIT:

A background for the game.
EDIT 2:

Some items and more poses.

More stuff

Requesting thread title be renamed to "Morsprites".

You mentioned that you can't make it look right with the NES limitations, but taking advantage of the color limit can really make your sprites feel more authentic.

Performed a little experiment out of curiosity.

With reduced colors you can most definitely still make out the character's design and shape.

Man, Shade's edit looks really authentic. I would go with his, too many Indie games do NES styled games without actually capturing the archaic nature it had.

I've got a friend who actually develops NES games (yeah, that's still a thing). He's on a forum called Nesdev. If you want your game to look like NES without actually being on NES, that'd be a good place to look if you're going for authenticity.

He looks like Higgins from Adventure Island moved to the mainland.

Wait, fruits? Dinosaurs? Hm...

To be honest, I don't think "authenticity" is that important when it comes to drawing 8-Bit art. Authenticity is something that only pixel artists and game developers care about, not the people who will be playing the game. I mean, for most gamers, something like this would qualify as 8-bit. The average gamer doesn't know jack about PPU restrictions so trying to follow them is a waste of time. Just use the NES palette, and try your best to keep your color count low.

With that being said, I liked the original version a lot better before it was watered down to follow arbitrary rules for a 30-year-old piece of hardware. And the old version followed NES restrictions just fine, too:



If you take a 3-colored sprite and layer a 2-colored sprite on top of it, you could achieve his design. This would produce a sprite that is 4 8x8 minisprites wide, which would create less sprite flicker than Mega Man does. Also, notice how the top-layered sprite only has 2 colors. Mors could add an extra color to his design if he wanted and no NES developers would be complaining.

(02-03-2015, 04:54 PM)Midi Wrote: [ -> ]I've got a friend who actually develops NES games (yeah, that's still a thing). He's on a forum called Nesdev. If you want your game to look like NES without actually being on NES, that'd be a good place to look if you're going for authenticity.

Oh! I actually frequent the NESdev forums quite a bit. What's your friend's name? I might have a guess or two as to who they are.

(02-03-2015, 05:53 PM)DragonDePlatino Wrote: [ -> ]To be honest, I don't think "authenticity" is that important when it comes to drawing 8-Bit art. Authenticity is something that only pixel artists and game developers care about, not the people who will be playing the game. I mean, for most gamers, something like this would qualify as 8-bit. The average gamer doesn't know jack about PPU restrictions so trying to follow them is a waste of time. Just use the NES palette, and try your best to keep your color count low.

So... You're saying that the graphical limitations of the system you're trying to mimic's capabilities should be ignored because the common gamer wouldn't know any better? If you're trying to replicate something, you need to follow the rules completely, not get sorta close and hope that no one notices. What's the point of even attempting to call it NES styled sprites if you're not going to adhere to the rules of the console itself? :/

I'm gonna stick by Shade on this one. It shows more competence on the creator's part if they did research, and someone with a good eye would be able to catch onto it. You're right, most uninformed people would think that Kotaku article has "8-bit sprites" on it, but that's not a good thing. They'd also call some SNES games 8-bit, or any 2d pixel art for that matter. Their opinions shouldn't effect us as pixel artists.
That Kotaku article is a GROSS representation of sprite history, the NES, or any retro pixel art in general.

Quote:Authenticity is something that only pixel artists and game developers care about, not the people who will be playing the game.

OK, guess which ones we are, wiseguy?

HOWEVER,
You bring up a good point with sprite layering. It would still be "authentic" yet provide him with more artistic liberties.

(02-03-2015, 07:05 PM)Shade Wrote: [ -> ]So... You're saying that the graphical limitations of the system you're trying to mimic's capabilities should be ignored because the common gamer wouldn't know any better? If you're trying to replicate something, you need to follow the rules completely, not get sorta close and hope that no one notices. What's the point of even attempting to call it NES styled sprites if you're not going to adhere to the rules of the console itself? :/

Yes. Be inspired by the NES, but don't let it's arbitrary restrictions hold back your art.

Shovel Knight broke NES restrictions left and right but did that make the game any worse?

(02-03-2015, 07:29 PM)Pik Wrote: [ -> ]OK, guess which ones we are, wiseguy?

Us, of course. And we represent a very small percentage of the people who play games.

Okay - I can agree that nobody likes Sprite Flickering, memory limitations, and the like.

For example, if Mors wanted this big, intimidating, ambitious Final Boss but the NES couldn't handle it, that shouldn't mean he should just scrap it. You're right, that would be holding back his art. That could even apply to a simple enemy that has AI that the NES couldn't do, as well.

As long as he keeps good pixel techniques and has one, competent style, it shouldn't look wrong.

I guess it depends what Mors is aiming for in his game. If he seriously wanted to port it to the NES at some point in time (or just learn the hardware), he would have to care about exact restrictions. If he just wants an NES inspired platformer, alright, he can have a little more freedom.

(02-03-2015, 07:31 PM)DragonDePlatino Wrote: [ -> ]Yes. Be inspired by the NES, but don't let it's arbitrary restrictions hold back your art.

Shovel Knight broke NES restrictions left and right but did that make the game any worse?

This has nothing to do with gameplay. It makes no difference if an existent game got away with the flaw. You can make "old-timey" styled sprites, that's fine, but if you categorize them as NES styled sprites, the rules that were present in that "30-year-old piece of hardware" apply, there's no ignoring that. As an artist, you work with what you have to make something to the best of your abilities.

(02-03-2015, 08:01 PM)Shade Wrote: [ -> ]This has nothing to do with gameplay. It makes no difference if an existent game got away with the flaw. You can make "old-timey" styled sprites, that's fine, but if you categorize them as NES styled sprites, the rules that were present in that "30-year-old piece of hardware" apply, there's no ignoring that. As an artist, you work with what you have to make something to the best of your abilities.

Yes, and you're right! If your sprites do not follow NES restrictions, don't call them NES sprites. Don't even call them 8-Bit sprites...just use the umbrella-term "retro sprites" and be done with it.

On the other hand, following restrictions will limit your gameplay. Like Pik said, if you're going to follow pure NES restrictions, you're going to need to limit the number of sprites on screen to reduce flickering and shrink your bosses to compensate for the limited PPU memory. It's entirely up to the artist how many liberties they want to take.