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Author Topic: Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro style sprites  (Read 3867 times)

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Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro styl...
« on: May 03, 2015, 03:51:03 pm »
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The shoes have since been changed to the teal color.
This is what happens when you allow a programmer with no real skills to sprite a run cycle.



I can see the inconsistencies in the arm and leg lengths from frame to frame.  I tried to fix it and spent about 2 hours on this sheet.  The head is also awkward but given the simple style, I could not figure out what to do with it.

I used my pixel editing software for each frame then imported into Game Maker to align the frames and make a nice animated GIF


Now, here is my inspiration material.  I had to record my gameplay footage then break it down frame by frame since I could find no sprite sheets on the net.  There will be some color issues due to the recording software then screen capping frames in VLC.  I also imported each frame into Game Maker so I could align the frames better then exported so I could make a gif later.



It's the protagonist from Project Firestart.  It's a commodore 64 title.  I know nothing about ripping C64 graphics straight from the disks, so this is the best I can present. 

Now, I will show both my work and the inspiration side by side animated and also at 2x sizes.





Due to different browsers and such, they will probably be out of sync.  Each was saved at 15/100 time so feel free to save images if you need better timing.

Anyway, I am still looking for criticism.  The only other frames needed for now are holding a firearm of sorts(idle), crouching, walking up into a door, walking down from a door,firing a firearm,  and a death sequence.  Trying to keep it simple with colors yet still have that retro rotoscoped feel.

Most NPCs will be derived from the protagonist's animations with exceptions for children and elderly people.  Few deviations are planned such as hulking men(guards), skinnier men, and women.  I am trying to get the people animations finished so I can move onto the shadow beings that are the "monsters" for my project.  After that, my time will be dumped into backgrounds/tilesets that give a feeling of a "prerendered" environment circa 1980s as alot of the older side-scrollers for C64 and PC did back then.

Well, alot was in this post.  Hope to hear some suggestions/critiques.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2015, 03:58:40 pm by Theforeshadower »
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Re: Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro ...
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2015, 07:19:26 am »
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I will work on the legs next if the arms are looking better.  I added some brown pixels in the head for a few frames to give the feeling of the head turning side to side as the character runs.



It already feels alot better than the first version.  Some issue with the left arm again.  It seems to grow in length instead of just being more visible to the camera as that side of the body is turned.  Will work more on that.

How do you feel about the new arms?

Here is a comparison:
version1version 2
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Darklink45

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Re: Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro ...
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2015, 05:18:16 pm »
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It looks great! A major improvement.

personally I would tilt the head less, and for the back arm, you should change the position of the elbow joint in the third frame so it doesn't look like his arm is growing.

Also, don't know if it's me but the arms look too small in comparison with the body.
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Re: Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro ...
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2015, 01:13:57 pm »
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Sorry for late reply.  Taking everyone's suggestions in(multiple forums), I made some slight changes.  I am still not happy with the head.  I tried to shrink it but then he looks like a dinosaur or spooderman.
Anyway, I am not aiming for perfection.  As said before, trying to capture that old style of rotoscoped animation which is supposed to look funky.

Here is the new strip and animations.  2x zoom has some discoloration.



Looking better?
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Re: Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro ...
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2015, 01:18:21 pm »
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I think the only thing that I could say for the head is that it rotates.  Like, when he swings his right arm back, his head turns to look at you.  It would look a little strange if you saw a dude run passed you and he looked at you every time he swung his arms :) Try making him look straight ahead
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Re: Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro ...
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2015, 04:02:08 pm »
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I think the only thing that I could say for the head is that it rotates.  Like, when he swings his right arm back, his head turns to look at you.  It would look a little strange if you saw a dude run passed you and he looked at you every time he swung his arms :) Try making him look straight ahead
I don't know, I kind of like it. It feels natural in a sense, and when you jog you don't always stay looking dead center ahead. When your arms move when you run, it sort of twists your body ever so slightly and your head can rotate a bit because of that.
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Starforsaken101

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Re: Looking for suggestions/criticisms on retro ...
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2015, 05:58:32 pm »
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Yeah, but it still looks unnatural.
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