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Resources => Graphics => Topic started by: Koh on July 07, 2013, 09:11:07 pm

Title: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on July 07, 2013, 09:11:07 pm
No, you can't smoke this thread, don't even try :P.

I guess I should have my own general place where I can get some feedback on my work.  As you all know, I'm an aspiring game developer, and have a few projects underway.  However, I've mostly halted the other projects in favor of working on my own.  There are two primary original projects I have going on at the moment, being World of Chaos 1:  The Jewels of Life and World of Chaos 2:  Kenta's Journey.

Here is a basic screenshot of what I have done so far with the new version World of Chaos 1.  Some of you may remember the last time I worked on it a few months ago before I lost the data.  Due to that, I've started from scratch, but it has also allowed me to make various changes and updates to my ideas for the game.  So that said, here's an early preview screenshot; how does the graphical style look to you?

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/WoCJoL-0_zps05669319.png)

Just a note:
-I'm aware that the sky and panoramic backdrops are missing.  I've yet to draw them, and have very little to no experience in doing so...so I'm basically putting it off for a bit while I build the base engine.  Doing the code to get them to move around based on the screen is easy; actually drawing them is far more difficult o.o.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: FrozenFire on July 08, 2013, 09:29:25 pm
The tiles are nice, but there is very little variation (at least, so far). When making a level/area/stage/whatever, keep in mind that you want the player to enjoy going through it, looking at it, wanting to check out what comes next. If you treat it more like an obstacle for the player to get through, it will likely turn out rather uninteresting. Usually games tend to have moving things as a main method of keeping the eyes entertained, making the game feel more alive. It's incredible how much difference animated things make. Also graphical effects like: particles (e.g. sparkles, dirt pieces, smoke/dust), glowing effects, sun ray overlays, reflections in water, etc., can all make a fairly minimal tileset look a lot better, which makes the game more interesting to play and much more enjoyable and memorable for the player.

Always be thinking of ways to make your game stand out amongst the crowd. Make it memorable. I really like your pixel art style for the most part. The biggest flaw I see in it is the font, which looks a bit sloppy; it should be more uniform. Just look at the lower case "m" and "n" against the lower case "e" to see what I mean. The problem with it is that it makes it hard to read, and the MOST important thing about text is that it should be easily readable, because that is it's purpose, to be read.

Besides that, the bar with the star on it has the black outline border run through the star's black outline, causing - for lack of a better word - "interference", which screws up the star's definition (I hope you follow; I probably could've worded it better). It might be better to simply make the star BE the end of the bar, rather than having the bar come under it. It would make things cleaner and more defined. Actually, now that I look at it, the 1's outline is having the same problem. Not to mention that it also takes away the "curve" to the bar's edges. You might want to make that bar thicker as well, or at least make a design that has the part with the number thicker, so it doesn't have the same problems.

If you fixed those things, I would love this completely. I am especially loving the tiles, the character, and the character's mug. Very nice work! I hope I helped you a little. I'm always looking to help fellow aspiring game developers. :)

EDIT:
I saw this and realized you probably already have a good grasp on level design:
http://tamerkoh.deviantart.com/art/World-of-Chaos-2-Graphical-Style-345849885 (http://tamerkoh.deviantart.com/art/World-of-Chaos-2-Graphical-Style-345849885)
Aw well, maybe I helped you a little bit anyway.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on August 21, 2013, 05:40:09 pm
Yes you did =).  I've updated most of what you were talking about already.

(http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/233/b/f/world_of_chaos_1___panorama_test_by_tamerkoh-d6j40wo.png)
Finally trying my hand at Panoramic Backgrounds again, since I've little to no experience with them.  I figure it's best to make the panorama similar in style to the foreground, keeping it "blocky."  The hardest part was shifting the colors towards the sky...
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on January 29, 2014, 12:40:19 am
*blows off the cobwebs on this thread*

I do have some things to show that I've been tinkering with lately.

Messing with 4 colors per 8x8 tile restrictions:
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/8BitTileTest_zps984bd30f.gif) (http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/025/c/1/8_bit_mountainy_place_by_tamerkoh-d73pxnc.gif)

Practicing Hi-Res:
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/KenHiResPractice_zpsa02eca75.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Whitay on January 31, 2014, 01:47:31 am
Those look very nice, good work. i love the second tileset, it looks very good and old school.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on April 04, 2014, 08:18:00 pm
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/LTTPLinkHR_zps6c6eaeb3.png)
Just for funsies.  I've always wanted to try doing it for this sprite.  Oh hey look, 900 posts.  It only took 8 years.

Edit:  Updated Version
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/LTTPLinkHR_zps448da47e.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on April 15, 2014, 12:47:13 am
(http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/104/4/8/_woc1_resolution_settings_by_tamerkoh-d7ehqhr.png)
Lo, Med, and Hi Res.
People would be able to switch between any of them at any time in the options menu.  Which do you like best?
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: DarkerColt on April 15, 2014, 02:30:57 am
Personally i prefer the lower resolution images (pixelated). But they are all excellent, very jealous of your talent!
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on April 28, 2014, 01:33:31 pm
They do have a certain charm, which is why I wanted to have these different settings, to appease the most people.  It can be fun, seeing what kind of detail you can add, while maintaining the style of the original as well. Thanks~

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/FontResses_zps3fae0f81.png)
Lo and mid resolution font.  Lo doesn't have enough space for lower case, so everyone would be talking in all caps rage, ha ha.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on May 07, 2014, 03:21:03 pm
In other practice...

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/LinkExperimentSpin_zps03778ae8.gif)
Baby, you spin me around ♫

Definitely good practice; it's not often I draw ordinal directions.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on June 14, 2014, 03:32:11 pm
Just an experiment to handle my spritework in a similar fashion as I do my toons (see my avatar for reference).

Old Way:  (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/VectorOldTrans_zps42884c2c.png)
Updated Way:  (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/VectorNewTrans_zps59c8d145.png)

The third shade and such will come into play for things further back, or in a position where the lightsource is blocked.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: FrozenFire on June 14, 2014, 05:30:53 pm
Updated Way:  (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/VectorNewTrans_zps59c8d145.png)

With the way the source appears to hit him (most noticeable by looking at the pants), the floor shadow feels like it should not go in front of him but behind him. Also, the contrast color difference in the pants is much more extreme than the feet. The feet need more contrast in colors. Same with the purple parts.

A simple method to ensure all shades of colors are consistent is to use layers. To do this, you would use single solid colors (no shades) for the lower layer and then layer the shading over top of that. The shading would simply use black (shadow) and white (highlighting) and make use of alpha blend to get lighter and darker shades. And if you wanted more advanced shading, you could include another layer (above all layers, except maybe not your outlines) which would give a certain tint to all shades and colors. For example, if your character was outside and the sun was shining on him, you would give a tint that seems "sunny", like an ever so slight white-ish yellow tint. If in a cave or outside at night, you'd probably do some slight purple-ish tint. If a full moon was out, you'd do something a little whiter than if in a cave. I'm sure you get the idea; you'd just be trying to simulate the desired environmental lighting.
(I use the free program called "Paint.NET" for most of my graphics and it can do layers, just in case you would like to try this out and you if don't already have something that can do layers.)

I should note that there may be more accurate way to do shading, but this is the best way that I personally know of.

Anyway, the difference from new and old shows some real nice improvement. The perspective and proportions of the character seem much nicer. The image is more detailed and it's sharper, for the most part. Oh, and the spinning Link is cool too. 8)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on June 14, 2014, 07:42:56 pm
I know what method you're referring to with the layer shading.  I actually migrated away from doing that, because the shades turn out bland.  I like to make each shade (and highlight) manually, adding some color shifting to make them pop out more.  But thanks for the feedback~
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on June 19, 2014, 12:14:46 am
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/VectorNewWalkDown_zps3387e4f8.gif)
Experimented with giving double frames of animation for Hi-Res sprites.  I quite like the results~

What's missing from this animation:
-Hair/cheek fur bounciness.
-Tail movement.
-Translucent Shadow.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: FrozenFire on June 19, 2014, 01:43:12 am
Looks pretty nice; very smooth animation. If you could get some mid-body sway and a tad bit of head bob, along with the other things you listed, it'd be even better.

Not the best example running animation, but Google wasn't being nice to me, so it's the best I found:
(http://www.bbmgif.com/images/robot_3d.gif)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on July 03, 2014, 10:03:39 pm
Definitely trying that as I go back and edit the frames to add the missing things, but not before I get the base of the other directions done.  It'll allow me to have consistent positioning of the tail and such when I go back to add that throughout the directions.  Here's a distraction.

(http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090323050757/zelda/images/c/c3/Nayru_(Oracle_of_Ages).png)
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/NayruHi-Res_zps27398d55.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on July 06, 2014, 09:35:25 pm
@Demonlink:  I like that you've went above and beyond to make the animations not just horizontal flips; looks nice!  The only thing that bothers me is all their skin colors.  At first I thought it was just a thing for Red Nayru, but they all look like they got a bad sunburn.  Unless, maybe that's intentional?

These graphics aren't new, and are going to be replaced as mentioned in the previous pages of the thread, but I wanted to try out a sweet program Lexou Duck, on Spriter's Resource, linked me to to capture GIF video, GifCam (http://blog.bahraniapps.com/?page_id=21).

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/WoCJoL1_zps112f29e9.gif)

Quite nice indeed.  Thanks for the reference!  I can use this to show how things animate in the world when I get there with my other projects, without having to make a Youtube Video.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: AJAX on July 07, 2014, 06:08:01 am
If you had time to do a project on the side, I'd hire you
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on July 12, 2014, 12:01:41 pm
I didn't want to spend too much time on the cliffs, but you get the idea.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/LTTPColorBG_zpse01ee2da.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on July 16, 2014, 04:59:02 pm
Will be moving onto the running animation next, but here's a quick little showcase thingy.

If you just hi-res the existing frames of an animation, you get this.
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/KohResWalkSame_zpsed4949cd.gif)

Looks fine for the lower res, but for the higher res, it looks jerky.  So what do you do?  You treat those frames as key frames, and create a new frame after each, that transitions to the next key frame.
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/KohResWalkUnique_zps5f7f9f98.gif)

Ahh, much smoother.

Side by side
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/KohResWalkSame_zpsed4949cd.gif) (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/KohResWalkUnique_zps5f7f9f98.gif)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on August 14, 2014, 02:15:19 pm
So I found a really old backup of World of Chaos DX:  Extended (so old, elemental charging wasn't even added!), and began to derp around in it, updating the graphics with my refined hue-shifting technique.  Behold, how much control the power of color can REALLY have on your works.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/WoC_zpsccaa13e2.png) (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/WoCUpdated_zpsc6422a49.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on August 22, 2014, 06:23:04 pm
Wanted to try something out.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Zelda1_zpsc2b17e67.png) -> (http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Zelda1Redux_zps2d86bf9a.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Leduardo on August 27, 2014, 05:39:23 pm
Why don't you try to edit the original rom?
It would be extremely awesome.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on September 02, 2014, 12:45:34 am
Nah, I don't know anything about rom hecking, and I'd rather devote that kind of time to my own stuff, ha ha.

Finally redid Koh's midres sprite.
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/KohResIdle_zps39fe9bba.gif)

Now I've more space to show things like the bent knees.  So I can try doing the better walking animation from this new version.  Also, the animations aren't simply flipped, so his battle stance will look different facing left.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on September 08, 2014, 11:20:46 am
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/LTTPGBTileTest_zps81b6da91.png)

Just practicing less aggressive, but still noticeable shifting on tiles.  A Link to the Past's flat colors were used, while I  made my own highlights and shades.  Why is Zelda always my default experimental route? 
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on September 20, 2014, 07:35:19 pm
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/LTTPGBTestHUD_zps456c5351.png)
Proof of Concept Mock HUD.  Imitates the flat color + white highlight style in the menu boxes, given a drop shadow.  GB Screen is TINY.  WonderSwan has the same height, but is at least Widescreen with its 224x144 size.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on September 25, 2014, 03:57:24 pm
Sprite I made for my 9th anniversary on another set of forums.  Zelda was what brought me there, so I figured I'd make a my own sprite for the occasion.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/AnniversaryLinkTrans_zps7555f79c.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: AJAX on September 27, 2014, 05:48:58 am
Knowing how good you are at your sprites, I'd definitely take a hit off your joint. ;)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on September 28, 2014, 10:52:51 pm
If I smoked, ha ha.  But thanks for the compliment~

Just a little quicky I did this morning.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/zelda017_zps446c809d.png)->(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Zelda1Redux2_zps14e72f3f.png)->(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Zelda1Redux2_zpsc3195944.png)

Personally, I'd just replace the 32x32 clusters with tree tiles that take up a 32x32 space, and are layered atop one another.  The clusters of small shrubs are fine, but that's just what I'd do for a better overall visual.  But, since I just took the existing tiles and updated them....
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: rhalifax on September 29, 2014, 05:44:40 pm
Wow these are all amazing!
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on October 12, 2014, 05:48:04 pm
It's been a while since I've sprited.  I kinda felt like doing the rest of the walking for Link today, as well as preparing his alternate colors.  I was just updating the default poses btw, so there's no jumping or swimming or any of that.  I don't even have those graphics.  Holding items is missing currently.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Zelda1LinkReduxTrans_zps692282ac.png)

It all look good?  This is free to use, naturally, as it's fan material.  Just give credit where it's due, please.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on December 11, 2014, 02:56:18 am
I starting having too much fun with this.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/LTTPSmoothResSheetTrans_zpsc9a00d73.png)

Now I'm curious how it'd turn out if LTTP had a remastered port with a graphics setting for this, lol.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on January 31, 2015, 03:14:13 pm
You know, that scaling technique, and working within the old pixels rules for that old revamp thing is actually extremely useful for making hi-res/HD versions of sprites.  It ensures you keep the same general proportions as the original, while also adding more detail.

I took that updated version of Koh's old sprite and did a lil test.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Koh%20Old%20HiRessed_zpsul9oeea3.png)

You pick the dimension that matters, which in this case was Height, and try to match up to the scaled vertical dimension while you work on fixing it up.  The dimension that doesn't matter, in this case width, is free to either stay where it is, or be shrunken.  In this case, it was shrunken by a pixel on both sides to make him less fat and more tall.

With this setup, not only are the sprites hi-ressed, but they also stay within the collision boxes of the original.  Man!  If I had known this years ago when I was actually working on the 2012 version of World of Chaos, it'd have saved me a lot of time and made this whole thing so much easier xD.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on February 07, 2015, 11:47:55 pm
Lemme just say I really love this bite-sized sprite thing.  Simplistic and retro at the same time.  And then the res-lift modernizes them, but still keeps it pixel-ish.
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Mini%20Koh%20Ressed_zpsl6ap7je0.png)
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Mini%20Skale%20Ressed_zpsnp4krvxl.png)

It's impossible to put any shading on sprites that small with outlines, lol.  And I hate outline-less sprites, because they blend in with the background XD.  I'm sure tiles at this size would be no problem to shade though.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on March 23, 2015, 07:46:12 pm
Been  a long while since I've posted anything.  Random stuff.

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/MiniWoC1_zps0oc8b2z3.gif)

(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Koh%20Old%20Updated_zps5mpiefru.png)
(http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q2/dlbrooks34/Koh%20Topdown_zps5kustdyl.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on April 24, 2015, 09:56:41 pm
Best dust off the cobwebs one more time before final exams begin.

So, we're going to let players choose between a boxy or rounded style with hi-res HUD frames and text.
(http://i.imgur.com/HWsVqFM.png) (http://i.imgur.com/mCPMkMR.png)

http://i.imgur.com/5qG7dXz.png

http://i.imgur.com/d6glFBO.png

Some mugshots.
(http://i.imgur.com/vZpLhrW.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/MOaGFAU.png)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: MG-Zero on April 28, 2015, 12:49:57 pm
Oh well that's kinda neat.  Is that being done just for aesthetics or for performance reasons?
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on April 28, 2015, 11:25:31 pm
The rounded versus boxy styles?  Well, believe it or not, the rounded style DOES increase the filesize by a few KB...But it was mostly just for aesthetics; whichever the player likes the look of the best.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on May 15, 2015, 06:25:37 pm
Just practicing making some tiles.
(http://i.imgur.com/wF4sPA7.png)

More to come over time.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on May 17, 2015, 12:58:35 pm
(http://i.imgur.com/e9eCb8X.png)
Small trees.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on May 19, 2015, 02:16:18 am
(http://i.imgur.com/bzrFdAP.png)
Full Body Pixel Art practice (Lo-Res).  We plan to use FBPA in our games for the menus, for the characters' status and such.
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on May 23, 2015, 02:25:16 pm
Am pleased with how these turned out~
(http://i.imgur.com/ZYy2ehQ.gif)
Title: Re: Koh's Sprite Joint
Post by: Koh on August 23, 2015, 03:24:47 pm
Remastering sprites and animations from the old WoCDX for animation funsies.  It's also a great way to see how far along you've come~  Oldies on left, newies on right.

(http://i.imgur.com/h7Z3dky.gif)(http://i.imgur.com/RLuris6.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/mOJqTo9.gif)(http://i.imgur.com/kwVPUtE.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/NhS31NN.gif)(http://i.imgur.com/LfLREAN.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/ULAH2uQ.gif)(http://i.imgur.com/iNMVspn.gif) (http://i.imgur.com/3RfYONR.gif)(http://i.imgur.com/lPDaQKG.gif)

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