Are things slower around here?

[DragonDePlatino]

Sprites (pixelarts)are an aging form of art generally speaking, because they are assets from old videogames, or try to mimic them. Of course there are still games that use them to full extent, and pixelart will never stop existing, butthe decline is still visible.

I certainly agree, but doesn't it seem that in the grand scheme of things, pixel art is something that will stick along, maybe even with a resurgance? Look at other antiquated things like black-and-white photography. Monochrome photography originally arose because of a limitation of cameras, but in the end it still remained a popular art form because it's simplicity emphasized the contrast of a scene and gave it a much different feel. Sprite art can do the same thing. It's simplicity brings out details and something that might otherwise be a trivial detail could end up being a key part of composition.

[E-Man]

Hey, as long as someone is using our sprites in some kind of media, there's still a chance for this community to grow after all. Besides, some of those childish sprite comic artists ended up becoming successful spriters on this site if I'm not mistaken.

Like you, Gors, I'm a hair bit picky about which comics I read. Even though I find amusement in some comics, I only actively read and follow web comics that make me very interested in looking at them (i.e. Dr. McNinja and Brawl in the Family). While I did have a negative opinion about sprites and sprite comics due to experiences that happened to me prior to becoming more active here, I'm interested to see what our community could do with some sprites and great story ideas.

Also, why just limit it to sprite comics? Drawn comics are also welcomed as much as sprite comics. By offering another creative output that would get as much exposure as our sprites, it would provide draw for more activity and offer comics that quiet possibly even you would be interested in, Gors.

[Neweegee]

I think it would be a good idea if we had a 6th site that you can submit fan-games to for others to play, since making fan-games and stuff is basically why most people come to the other Resources.

I also think fan-gaming is starting to fall because it's almost entirely limited to Mario and Sonic(both of which are becoming stale), which is because there seems to be no site that accepts fangames of any series besides the nearly unmoderated Yoyo Games Sandbox, which is where some actual really good Mega Man, Castlevania, Zelda and other fangames may never see the light of day behind all of the terrible games, plus it's all Game Maker only, all of which is why having a fan gaming site would be a good idea.

A fan-gaming site would also be a lot better than a sprite comic site since it would tie-in with the Spriters Resource as well as the Models, Textures, and Sounds Resource.

[Koopaul]

Well... why not all of that? Comics, Videos, Games.

[E-Man]

While I'm going to keep sticking by my idea for a section for comics (sprite comics and drawn ones), I will give you props on your idea, Neweegee.

While we're at it, though, how about making some of the games submitted open source? That way, some users would be able to modify games into anything ranging from cheap edits to astonishing masterpieces.

[Kirbyfan42]

Though this may be redundant, I feel it would be valuable to share:

Insert brief recap of discussion with personal pessimist flair:

Going back to Koopaul's original prompt, tVGR (doesn't roll off the tongue as well as tSR, if you ask me =P) is less active. This could be for multiple reasons suggested. Efforts to reinvigorate fan-games, support and create sprite comics, and published videos featuring sprites maybe turn out to be useful, but I'd have to predict otherwise.

Spriting, as with anything, is becoming more dated every day, and the things that made it popular (games, in particular) are moving on to other graphical options. Nowadays, any game utilizing sprite art is filled with nostalgia and remembrance of the olden days.
Expecting these forums to still be flourishing would be too hopeful, in my opinion.

The only way I see to help permanently solve this issue, and not just temporarily until the project is done or the comic ends, is to re-popularize spriting. This is a bit large of a task for the 6 or so people partaking in this discussion.
It would take a lot more than a few sprite-oriented games, comics, videos and project to rejuvenate the forums, or by extent the art form as a whole.


We wouldn't need to hypothetically change the views of the world, but just enough people to find a new population.
That being said, if we started several large projects, a la comics and games and projects, and kept progress moving on them, than something might come from it. But they all need to be large, involved, inclusive and cool. Something hip and poppin', as the youngins would say.

[E-Man]

Kirbyfan42 does have a point. Almost everyone on this web site grew up with a SNES controller in their hands (or a similar controller if you either grew up with the N64 or any of Sega's consoles), so it makes sense that the younger gamers of this generation are only exposed to CGI models. I'm not saying that all young gamers prefer models over sprites, but that's the norm as it were.

Kirbyfan42 mentioned something about large projects, so I think that would be the ticket. Once the comic section is up, maybe one of the first comics to appear (besides the ones we were talking about earlier) is a comic similar to the vane of author comics on Smack Jeeves (without the drama). Basically, our characters would go on misadventures and more than one author would collaborate. Sounds good?

[Kosheh]

Once the comic section is up, maybe one of the first comics to appear (besides the ones we were talking about earlier) is a comic similar to the vane of author comics on Smack Jeeves (without the drama). Basically, our characters would go on misadventures and more than one author would collaborate. Sounds good?

Like this?

yeah, that's a great idea

(not)

i'm gonna be 100% relentlessly honest with you, if I was quality control for our site's comics area, here's how I'd do it:

>Creativity Subforum
- Peruse Comics threads
- Privately message the author of one good comic, informing him that we're considering hitting him up for Good Time Add Comic
- Repeat for all Good Comic

- However, I'd be super strict, and probably not consider sprite comics to be featured in our comics section (SHOCKER!!!)

---

Speaking of features: even if we took up KF42's suggestion of undergoing large projects, it wouldn't do much if we didn't publicize them on our site. THAT would draw in users.

I'm not talking about going the route of Wartune or anything, slapping risqué ads all over everyone elses' websites (dont open this spoiler if your boss is behind you pls)

!! Epic Sexy Orgy With Hot Babbe Await You, My Lorde !!

Like, if we had a weekly rotating Project Showcase on TSR with a cool image, a brief write-up, and a link to the topic on the forum, that featured project would probably get new users to come in and say ''Hey wow this is neat, I'd like to help out with this project too''

like uh, something like....this. (but you know, with actually good grammar LOL)

...psh, forget about a sticky for the forum itself, if we did this for our spriting projects it would also probably bring some Actually Good Projects back from the dead

[E-Man]

Arguably, the multi-author comic idea would need a lot more work, but it wouldn't hurt to experiment with the idea to turn it into something a little more to your liking, Kosheh.

Also, considering that's how you would run the comics section, I think it would also be a good idea to have more than one mod run it. That way, there would be a second opinion going to see if a comic is acceptable or not. Besides, if we opt for rejecting sprite comics on the spot, that wouldn't do much for promoting the growth of a site that focuses on pixel art. Not all sprite comics are bad and Drshanps should know (I bet he recalls a very good sprite comic artist by the name of Afrohawkman).


By the way, if that's your strategy on how to promote new projects and revive old ones, I'd say go for it!

[Kosheh]

* Kosheh backpedals on his internet bike

Arguably, the multi-author comic idea would need a lot more work, but it wouldn't hurt to experiment with the idea to turn it into something a little more to your liking, Kosheh.

no, it

* Kosheh loudly sighs before responding with furrowed brows

no.

see "bob and george"

Also, considering that's how you would run the comics section, I think it would also be a good idea to have more than one mod run it. That way, there would be a second opinion going to see if a comic is acceptable or not. Besides, if we opt for rejecting sprite comics on the spot, that wouldn't do much for promoting the growth of a site that focuses on pixel art. Not all sprite comics are bad and Drshanps should know (I bet he recalls a very good sprite comic artist by the name of Afrohawkman).

Okay okay okay geez. The reason I'd say this is that most sprite comics exist for the sake of "wow haha look how cool it would be if mario and sonic teamed up to fight crash. and itd be FUNNY if mario talked and sonic made toilet jokes!!" Sprite comics - like the ones made with actual characters, for the most part, don't really promote originality. They promote laziness. Anyone can slap two sprites onto a background, add in some text, and post it on a forum. That said, a sprite comic would really have to wow me to consider me adding it. Like...well, for instance, the comic Hero, Oh Hero that was previously mentioned in this thread. A sprite comic of that caliber would definitely be considered for approval, because you can see that the author really busted his ass on the comic, story and characters to deliver a premium product. Every character is original, for starters, and not a carbon copy of an existing one.


...but most sprite comics (we're talking like 85%) really don't have that. :/

I'm sure there's the rare exception, but whoever the moderator of that forum is is really gonna have to wade through a lot of just okay sprite comics before they find a real diamond in the rough.

[E-Man]

True, but by having users like that come to our site, we could critique their work and shape them into better sprite comic artists. Not everyone is capable of writing a sprite comic as grand as Two Evil Scientists on their first go, so it would be up to multiple users to make sure we get the comics we like to see.

If the same principle works for spriting and pixel art, surely it would translate very well if we did that for any future comics we receive.

[Kirbyfan42]

Well, for starters, are we more worried about the storytelling or the spritework for comics? =P

And E-Man, a collaborative comic was exactly what I was thinking, actually. As someone who has grown up reading comic books, I can tell you that the highest quality work is not done alone. There are multiple writers, and multiple artists.
I think it would be really cool to see a sprite-based comic with some real, original writing, and spritework that isn't just copy-pasted characters on a background from Nightmare in Dreamland.

[Kosheh]

True, but by having users like that come to our site, we could critique their work and shape them into better sprite comic artists. Not everyone is capable of writing a sprite comic as grand as Two Evil Scientists on their first go, so it would be up to multiple users to make sure we get the comics we like to see.

If the same principle works for spriting and pixel art, surely it would translate very well if we did that for any future comics we receive.

Well duh. Let me explain the previous process, but this time I'll use more words.

• Aspiring comic artists post their comics on the forum, be it sprite, MSPaint, or hand-drawn.
  
• It is viewed by the posters, who express their approval or critique of the comic. If the comic is good, most likely the creator will take the criticism, and continue writing/making it with the suggested changes, and then more people will like it as it continues on. If it's not and they're a baby who doesn't accept criticism, the comic will fizzle out.
  
• Whoever supervises the approval process gauges the reception of the members and contacts the creator of the successful comic for the approval process. No site content manager should see a comic's first page and say "wow, we need that! time to PM the creator!"; it needs actual community backing first.

Did that make more sense this time around? :/

[Kriven]

As someone who has grown up reading comic books, I can tell you that the highest quality work is not done alone. There are multiple writers, and multiple artists.

I really don't think this is true. The majority of inheritance comics go through months of sludge (SUPERIOR sludge) and only sometimes have a single arc credited to a single writer (or team) which is anything special. Oftentimes the remarkable stories written in these situations aren't even connected to the primary canon, but sidestories set apart as their own title for the duration of the story. You look at characters like the X-Men and you think either "Stan Lee" or "Claremont". You look at Batman and you see "Frank Miller" and "Alan Moore". And those four names tend to be repeated indefinitely when talking about the quality material in collab. comics.

Then you get into talking about stand-alone comics worth their salt and... well, Alan Moore pops up again. Maybe Bryan Lee O'Malley or a few mangaka.

In short, any of the critically acclaimed and cult-followed material is the fruition of one individual's vision. Maybe that vision was carried out with the aid of other individuals, but the vision belongs to one person and is associated with one person.

And between all those visions are wrestling matches and filler.


Editing to Add: I think it might be worth considering only accepting a completed comic, so as not to have a million abandoned cliff hangers cluttering the site.

[Kirbyfan42]

As someone who has grown up reading comic books, I can tell you that the highest quality work is not done alone. There are multiple writers, and multiple artists.

I really don't think this is true. The majority of inheritance comics go through months of sludge (SUPERIOR sludge) and only sometimes have a single arc credited to a single writer (or team) which is anything special. Oftentimes the remarkable stories written in these situations aren't even connected to the primary canon, but sidestories set apart as their own title for the duration of the story. You look at characters like the X-Men and you think either "Stan Lee" or "Claremont". You look at Batman and you see "Frank Miller" and "Alan Moore". And those four names tend to be repeated indefinitely when talking about the quality material in collab. comics.

Then you get into talking about stand-alone comics worth their salt and... well, Alan Moore pops up again. Maybe Bryan Lee O'Malley or a few mangaka.

In short, any of the critically acclaimed and cult-followed material is the fruition of one individual's vision. Maybe that vision was carried out with the aid of other individuals, but the vision belongs to one person and is associated with one person.

And between all those visions are wrestling matches and filler.

You sound like you don't really like comics. =P
I also think you're getting the credits for who created the series and who wrote that particular comic (or arc) confused.
If you think Frank Miller and Alan Moore are the only two people who have written a good Batman story, than you're far off. And even the stories that they did write, they had help from others.

And I'm not talking about whose vision it is anyway, I'm talking about who carries it out.
You said it yourself: "Maybe that vision was carried out with the aid of other individuals...etc"
We will need multiple individuals to do this.

I'm not saying it takes 20 people. I'm just saying it takes more than 1.