DDP's Sprite Workshop

[DragonDePlatino]

Welcome to my sprite workshop thread! Here, I'll be uploading anything I happen to be working on at the moment. It'll be a good learning experience for you, me, and along the way we might have some fun. If you want to see what I'm currently working on, head to the last page.

Now let's get crackin'!

[DragonDePlatino]

First up we have a Mega Man-styled sheet for Link! I know Mega Man sprites are a bit taboo around here, so I did my best to make it NOT look like an edit. And it's not. :I

This sprite is based off of Link's design from a Link to the Past. My goal is to sprite all of the basic Mega Man actions as well as Link using all of LoZ:LttP's items. Think it looks OK so far? This is my third iteration of the sprite, and I think I've just about nailed the palette and Mega Man style.

[Deathbringer]

Those are some of the better edits I've seen. Pretty good.

[Ton]

Looking good! He's definitely in the style! I can't wait to see more!

[DragonDePlatino]

Oh! Oh! I forgot! While I was working on my Link, I remembered it was my friend Keeper's birthday. Took a break and whipped up a free avatar commission for him of his main OC in about 45 minutes:

Happy birthday, Keeper!

Think this looks alright? Keeper's design is nice, but I it would be a bit pointless to just copy his existing avatar so I went with something a touch more realistic using Dawnbringer 32. Not so hot on the orange, but it really seems to be the only thing the palette has to shade skin so I went with it. Oh, and his hair was requested to be more sparse.

[DragonDePlatino]

Made some good progress today while listening to the Skyward Sword soundtrack! Today, I added climbing and rolling sprites as well as all of the pause screen icons using the official concept art of LoZ: LttP. I also added in a few more shield rotations, swapped some layer colors and set up a temporary sprite sheet. With the dull stuff out of the way, next up is the fun part...weapon and sword techniques! Those will take up a bulk of the sheet.

Anyone have any requests or suggestions for this sheet? Also, please keep in mind, this is the classic brown-haired Link, so I'll only be considering things from Legend of Zelda, Link's Adventure, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening or Link Between Worlds. And if I'm in a silly mood, maybe Wand of Gamelon or Faces of Evil.

[Deathbringer]

How about the upward and downward thrusts from II?

[Ton]

You could add the Roc's feather since you have the jump already. How about lifting (like, pots, for example)?

[Deathbringer]

Or have the Roc's Feather be a double jump like in the Castlevania games.

[DragonDePlatino]

You could add the Roc's feather since you have the jump already. How about lifting (like, pots, for example)?

Pots will be easy. I can just create a generic grabbing/throwing sprite and superimpose a bush/pot/bomb/cucco/fish onto it.

Or have the Roc's Feather be a double jump like in the Castlevania games.

Hmm...Roc's feather would make sense, and of course I'll do that, but if you haven't noticed, I already have the sprites for that! The Roc's feather is just a mid-air spin, and that could be easily managed by just using the rolling sprites in midair. I'll make sure to do the thrusts in the sword-techniques section. That'll be the first item I do.

[BullockDS]

Pegasus Boots sprinting as well, perhaps (with and without sword)?

Oh, and by the way the sprites look great; they evoke the Megaman-ish essence without looking like generic edits, so kudos for that.

One thing I'd change, though, are the item icons; maybe reduce the amount of unique palettes used in those icons? (Also, the colors for the Magic Powder bag seem a touch too dark.)

[DragonDePlatino]

Pegasus Boots sprinting as well, perhaps (with and without sword)?

Oh, and by the way the sprites look great; they evoke the Megaman-ish essence without looking like generic edits, so kudos for that.

One thing I'd change, though, are the item icons; maybe reduce the amount of unique palettes used in those icons? (Also, the colors for the Magic Powder bag seem a touch too dark.)

Hey, thanks for the feedback! I've lightened up the powder bag a bit. I originally wanted it darker so that it could have a unique palette, but I guess it was at the expense of clarity. I think the palettes for the items are just fine, though. The Mega Man games didn't do this, but I think it would be reasonable to say a 3-color item overlayed on a 4-color (non-transparent) box would be possible on the NES.

Yeah, I'll be adding the the boot dash right after I finish the stabbing and midair sword techniques.

---

Progress has been going smoothly. Didn't do a lot for Link today, but yesterday I did quite a bit. I went back and added arms on the shieldless poses, as well as pushing, damaged, charging, slashing and two versions of the iconic DA-NA-NA-NAAA! Now I think I have all of the generic poses done.

Also, judging from the size of this sheet so far, it seems that it will be a lot bigger than I originally expected. Will probably have to spoiler this next time I update it. And that's with only the bare minimum of LttP sprites...How should I mend this? Should I expand the sheet horizontally from here, or just keep expanding vertically? Also, how does the swinging pose look? I'll be reusing this for lots of things like rods, canes, hammers, nets, etc. I'm not sure on the style of motion blur and it might look better if the sword finishes it's swing at a lower angle. It's important that I get it perfect!

[DragonDePlatino]

Hey, seems that things have been awfully quiet around here lately, eh? Well, that's because I've put Link on hold to finish a huuuuuge 4-month project called "Dawnlike" which aims to fix the design problems most roguelike programmers run into when it comes down to making graphics. Screenshots and download here!



I can also make a project thread here on the TSR forums if anyone's interested in helping out with this tileset.

[Kelvin]

It's not often you see edits of NES Megaman that look so good. Kudos!

[DragonDePlatino]

It's not often you see edits of NES Megaman that look so good. Kudos!

OTL Thanks...But why does everyone keep saying these are edits? To quote,

First up we have a Mega Man-styled sheet for Link! I know Mega Man sprites are a bit taboo around here, so I did my best to make it NOT look like an edit. And it's not. :I

Oh well....I guess that given custom spriting's history, it's pretty much impossible to make a Mega Man-styled sprite without it looking like an edit.