Thanatos-Zero Sprite Workshop

[Garamonde]

some NES sprites ARE well-shaded like that, you know.
the two blue shades actually make a difference but I think the beard shades are a bit close, looking at it again.

[Thanatos-Zero]

Santa Light:
"Have you been a good Megaman this year?"

[Thanatos-Zero]

Currently I am working for another hacker. This time is is for a advanced Zelda hack, namely for the first game in the series.
Some people might say: "Why doesn't the hacker use the Pocket Edition found on Romhacking.net?"

The answer is simple because, my client Infidelity doesn't want to invoke the feel, that the hack is going to be a identical clone of Link's Awakening and the Oracle games.
However, the sprites will still be designed in the style of the games I mentioned above, but differently.
Here my first try on Link, on which I ironically managed to give him the same face of the games I mentioned above, despite not using the original of the gameboy games as a reference.



Here also a animation.


In case, the picture of photobucket doesn't look clear for you here, click on it for a better resolution. It is hyperlinked for your comfort.

[Novally]

His arm looks really odd in the animation. It doesn't match or look smooth at all.

[Thanatos-Zero]

His arm looks really odd in the animation. It doesn't match or look smooth at all.

I will work on this, rest assured.

[Thanatos-Zero]

I have removed now the shield to get the arms and all the other stuff right.

Now in three different mails available.

[Previous]

I wouldn't shade the face, it makes it look as if he was wearing a mask.

[Virtuaboy123]

The link
Is it in Dragonquest 3 Gbc style?

Also the teal eyes on doctor light don't seem right, neither does the peach colored beard

this is my edit

the shading on the eyes seemed pretty unnecessary and it still uses 6 colors(I missed shading in the eyes with the darker blue that correlates with the colors I picked)

One more thing that black line underneath his mouth isn't needed, you could remove it and make his mouth look more curved rather than a straight line

like so

[Thanatos-Zero]

I wouldn't shade the face, it makes it look as if he was wearing a mask.

Hm... I do not mind, but wouldn't this remove one of the characteristic elements of the shading style of GB/GBC Zelda games?
Link's face is there shaded, as I want to stay a bit in style.

Here the shading in the face removed (Now with shields).

The link
Is it in Dragonquest 3 Gbc style?

No, but a different styled LA/OoS/OoA Link for a Zelda hack.
In fact, I haven't used Dragonquest as a reference.

*About the Dr. Light Mugshot

I would have loved to shade him this way, but there are limits in the NES we have to keep in mind. Background tiles cannot have several layers, but sprites can be used to make up for it. The only thing you have to avoid is sprite flickering.

About NES limits, please go to DuoDynamo's thread, as I explained about them there in detail. http://spriters-resource.com/community/s...?tid=22508
I have been working with hackers for years, therefore I know, where the limits are.

In the end, for the hack Dr. Light is used. My client had to remove the two shades of blue, using only one so it is consistent with the Dr. Light sprite as both of them use the same palette.

As for the beard in skin colours, look at the NES in game art for Dr. Wily. His beard is shaded this way. Light's beard is darker shaded though.
http://www.sprites-inc.co.uk/files/Classic/MM6/Misc/

Edit: I added shields for Link to hold.

[Virtuaboy123]

Its doable though. I doubt there would be any flickering. In fact you could do it with just 4 colors besides black and white.
Maybe a little bit of him will be blue where the skin color should be but it won'y be very noticable.
Like for instance his ear or part of his nose

so it would be 3+1 and 2 for his face sprite

[Thanatos-Zero]

*above*

Sorry, but under the current settings it isn't possible, because we already adjusted the palettes for the sprites and background tiles.
It is afterall a mugshot made for conversations ingame. Roll will also be there with her own mugshot which will utilise sprites.
Roll, Light and Megaman are together 4 palettes for sprites, which we cannot expand to 5 palettes.
We are on our limits now.

[Previous]

Hm... I do not mind, but wouldn't this remove one of the characteristic elements of the shading style of GB/GBC Zelda games?
Link's face is there shaded, as I want to stay a bit in style.

Maybe you want to look again. Only some sideview sprites have that shading line. Also, the contrast between the colours is lower so it doesn't stick out as much.
Aside from that, even if they did - I don't see why one would adopt flaws to stay in style when making custom sprites in a different style. Unless you're trying to make sprites that fit in with other sprites, I wouldn't add flaws just because they did.

[Thanatos-Zero]

Update.



Edit: Infidelity informed me that the left side of the sprite with the big shield is unanimated. Also the right side reuses the walking sprites. As a result the wideness of the shield had to be reduced to a lenght of 8 pixels and will be stiff.

[Thanatos-Zero]

New frames and animations!

[Thanatos-Zero]

No reply? Seems I have done something wrong, or it is okay as it is. Hm... I'll rather do not take any risks and post my newer version.