Sprite attempts for indie game of sorts.

[Filler]

I'm kinda okay (Or so to say?) at 8-bit style sprites? I mean, I'm not an absolute artist at it, but I do try.

Either way, I've been working on an 8-bit game or sorts, that somewhat obeys 8-bit limits. (I'm bad with colour limits. I know sprites in NES games can be "stacked" to get more than 3 colours, like how old-school Mega-Man games did, but I don't know for tiles.)

Either way, here are some of my "sprite work".

Assets and such

Player.



Enemy Space Monkey



Catus



Tilesets

Desert-thing



In-game screenshot/mockup (From beta, so some sprites were different)



Any suggestions or changes?

[Kelvin]

The bodies are rather blocky, and some parts change sizes in the animation. I can understand the blockiness for the space suit, but the monkey just looks unnatural. I really like that tileset, though. It's got a lot of dithering which makes it look old-fashioned, but it's not so heavy that I get eye strain looking at it, and the shading is really helpful for giving it a sense of depth.

[Silversea]

Agree with the shading on the tiles, it is a really nice effect that is often forgotten.

Maybe you can try and round out the space helmet (and accompanying icon on the bottom right interface). One thing that really needs smoothing out is the monkey tail, it needs to have a smoother bend and not have straight lines. Hard to explain, I can draw up an example later if needed.

[cwvicky]

Agree with the shading on the tiles, it is a really nice effect that is often forgotten.??

[Silversea]

Agree with the shading on the tiles, it is a really nice effect that is often forgotten.??

Because I've only seen a few games that have done it? Most games don't have the shading on the tiles like that and are more uniform. Admittedly usually because there are not diagonal walls in many games but still.

[Filler]

Sorry for the haitus/bump. But I redid and improved some works.

Player:



In animation







Random asset dump/scratch pad.


This is from an older project of mine, these are weapons from a side-scrolling shooter. With both non-held, and held. 

NOTE: These sprites where ripped and organized from the game's data from the time when they where inserted, so the order is a bit wonky...

[Filler]

I am very sorry for this bump. But I have some newish content. I actually had to re-build the game due to issues with data corruption.

First of all, the tileset for the desert level has had a massive redo on it, as there is now less monochrome to the rock's colour choices. The sand texture was changed to look more mountain-like. The bright mountain-sands remains the same for better contrast with the newer sand texture.



The level design had some minor tweaks and such.



New level

This level is not done, but here's some screen caps. This is a platforming level, unlike the other one. (Most of these are from level-building, so that's why it looks so wide-screenish. And it lacks HUD)



The background kinda feels empty to me. Dunno if it's just me.

These saw monsters on the picture below slide left and right upon contact on a wall. Makes them very deadly hazards. I also had a jerkish idea of spike placements.



So, any ideas on what to improve?

[LuigiM9]

The arm swinging back in the run animation is awkward, like he's trying to swat something off of his back.

[Filler]

I think the violent return swing is why.

May change that up soon. For the meantime, here's a WIP of a new walking animation on the monkey (I also changed the colours to look less mutant). The animation also turned out to play too fast due to the fact I have no clue how Gifs work.



Any suggestions before I finish it?

[shrubbyfrog]

It kind of look like the monkey is skipping or galloping rather than walking.

[Gors]

I advise against that dither shading on the ground: it's way too harsh and it'd be better if you made that terrain dark with actual colors.

[Filler]

@Gors

I've noticed the darker section of ground kinda has a nasty contrast to it. Although, I may brighten up the darkest shade on the lighter sections of sands.

If this fails, I have made a list of different styles for the ground that could replace the current.

[Bombshell93]

just to bring attention to your animations, I like that your willing to change the shape, that's a difficult thing to do, but with work can become the means of a weighty and effective animation, but something to keep in mind I think is perfectly illustrated here, motion begets motion,

I don't mean YOU WHIP YOUR HAIR BACK AND FORTH YOU WHIP YOUR HAIR BACK AND FORTH!... couldn't resist a dated reference,
observe how her head moves, her hair follows,
I notice most in your punching animation that the body is moving with the fist, where the body should move to accelerate the fist, likewise in your run and walk animations, nothing is causing weight to be moved, it just looks like wheel rolling down a hill, no umph to bring the motion
I know its the sort of thing is hard to keep to, but I think a study on drag, follow, stretch and bounce (fundamentals of animation would likely cover the bases) would do wonders for bringing a better weight and more natural flow to your animations, seems like simple stuff but its no patronization, good fundamentals are what build a diversely skilled artist, even in art classes drawing a circle, shading a pyramid and doing a turnaround of a cube are a common routine, simply because fundamentals in all artistic mediums are the building blocks of greatness.

[Filler]

@Bombshell93

I'm seeing more of a line-of-action there. As Shantae bends back into antic with a fake "c-bend" LOA. Then the snap back to to main action is done with a few sharp-weighty frames to enhance the action of a hair-whip-snap thing. Less intense motion is used after the re-coil of the hair with it's overlapping action onto the getting a loop back to the main pose.

I already know most of the fundamentals of animation (Kinda a geek on that) Just no good at transferring it into pixel-art.

[Bombshell93]

if you can't transfer it you don't know them, sorry that'll sound harsh, putting it simply, knowing what they are is not understanding how they work, do a study, many simple attempts at recreating a motion, observing the motion in real life, assessing your work, lather rinse repeat, its no easy task creating smooth motion, take your time, share your findings