Sprite Mini 01: Alien Mercenary Grunts

[walrus]

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/extras/mini/sprite1.gif

Welcome to the first of the GA Sprite Challenges, where you will be cracking open Photoshop (or the low-fi image-editing program of your choice) and designing characters and making 2d sprite animations for a sci-fi iPhone game. We're excited to bring you a series of mini-comps that won't just be arbitrary specs for a hypothetical game like other minis, but instead be actual specs for a real game that we'll all build together. It's an RPG game tentatively titled 'Infest Station," and will be published by GA as a fund-raiser for the site when we have enough minis to cover all of the art for the game. The game, in a nut-shell, is like 'Paper Mario' 1 or 2... if it were populated by 'Clone Wars' or 'Alien Legion' characters and set on a space-station that looked a bit like the LV-426 terraforming station from 'Aliens.' For lots more information about the game project itself, please read either the GA FAQ (http://www.gameartisans.org/gamecon/faq/index.php#aboutgame) or the longer Sprite Game FAQ (http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12208).

You can see a demo of the game these sprites will be used in here:
http://www.maphart.com/uploads/InfestStation/Build/InfestStation_0_03.html
You will need the Unity web plug in to view it.



The goal of this mini is to design a low-level bad-guy, some sort of space pirate/mercenary/thug who is low in rank in the criminal syndicate, and to give him, her, or it some basic animations.

The Details:
This mini is meant to get your feet wet into doing sprites here at GA. Focus on some fun character designs, and we won't push for a ton of animations yet: We'll work our way up to the big bad bosses!

- The character should be between 75 and 120 pixels tall, and not longer than ~150 pixels wide. Please use this image below as a height reference. That's Ketra, the main character on the left, and some generic humans on the right. These numbers are a general reference for the individual animation frames, too: In the final game, all sprites get automatically ganged together on one sheet (you don't have to do it!) that is a max size of 1024x1024, so you should be going for a bunch of animation frames at a small size, not a few frames taking up the whole screen.

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/extras/mini/sprite1_height-1.png

- Please create a hand-drawn single-pixel-outline style like the character examples above, with no anti-aliasing. The goal here is to hand-draw everything, not to render out 3D models as sprite frames. The outlines should not be all black - all of Ketra's outlines, for example, are darker values of the colors they surround.

- In this universe, humans are a very small part of the galactic civilization. You must create an alien - it can be as humanoid or alien as you like, but should come off as sentient, not a monster. No robots, either - we'll tackle them in some later mini-comps.

- Please light all characters from the top, just like Ketra, the alien with the gun/sword in the examples below.

- Your character for this particular challenge - an enemy - will be on the right side of the screen and must face towards the left. Ketra is on the left facing right because she's a player-controlled good-guy character.

- These mercenaries are a motley collection of smugglers, pirates, thugs, and ruffians - make sure they look like it!

-You must produce a neutral animation between 3 and 12 frames long (and before the 'animation' part scares you off, we have a bunch of tutorials at the bottom here!)

-You must also produce an attack animation. This can be with a gun or rifle, or a physical attack (fists, tentacles, swords, wrenches, etcetera) or some sort of thrown weapon... pretty much whatever you can think of so long as it's sci-fi. If you do a gun, all you have to do is the firing - effects are optional (but if you include them, please keep them on separate layers in your working file so that we can strip them out later!) If you do a physical attack, you'll need to animate your character running forward, attacking, and getting back to their starting position. You can use 3 to 24 frames, please use fewer if you're doing a simple gun fire, more if you're doing the whole run-forward-and-hit thing.

- Recycling frames is encouraged

- Extra credit section: You are welcome to do more animations in addition to the 2 listed above. Specifically:
* Alternate attack
* Short get hit (no more than 5 frames)
* Wounded
* Death
* Taunt

- Please assemble all your animations onto one long animated GIF on one sheet no larger than 480x320 (iPhone screen size). See the example below (but note that Ketra, as a good guy, is facing right. Your character, an opponent, should face left.)

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/extras/mini/sprite1_animation.gif

As always, backgrounds are optional. Enemies are optional. Below is a sample background if you want to use it, but you do NOT have to. (Note: this background, unlike the one above, gives a better idea of the setting for the game.)

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/mdashow/spaceStationBckg01.jpg

Other animations are optional. This challenge is here for those desiring to practice their art and learn more about sprite art and animation, and receive friendly advice from fellow artisans. Have fun, and good luck!

Please do not make a new thread for your entry. Keep all w.i.p shots in this specific thread.

It is strongly strongly STRONGLY encouraged that you post progress images as replies this thread. We're not forcing everyone to yet, but half of the point of these minis are to help build up the community. If you're posting last minute without at least saying hello, then you're missing all the fun! Stop lurking!

Some Helpful Tutorials:
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/printer_friendly_posts.asp?TID=5692 - A good primer, even though a bunch of images are missing
http://www.manningkrull.com/pixel_art/tutorials/walking.asp - Walk cycles
http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_making_fighting_game_sprite.php - Fighting Game sprites
http://shambolic-art.deviantart.com/art/random-sprite-process-138403296 - Shambolic's sprite demo

I'll post more here if anyone else has good links.

References:
http://sdb.drshnaps.com/index.php
http://www.gsarchives.net/index2.php
http://spriters-resource.com/index.html
http://www.videogamesprites.net/



Final Submission:

Submit one image, 480x320 pixels or less. This image should include your final animations all together, and anything else, even the background, is optional.


You can submit your finals here:
link to follow


Prizes:
1st place:
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- 1 point towards raising your overall game, elite, and/or master rating
on gameartisans

2nd place:
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- 1/2 point towards raising your overall game, elite, and/or master
rating on gameartisans

3rd place:
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- .25 points towards raising your overall game, elite, and/or master rating on gameartisans

Public Voting:
All Winners are chosen through a public voting system. Only GA.org
members may vote.

Soft Deadline: Voting starts Sunday December 13 around 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time(EST).

Link to the game FAQ (http://www.gameartisans.org/gamecon/faq/index.php#aboutgame) or the Discussion Thread for the Game FAQ. (http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12208)



Final Submissions:
You can submit your finals here:
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/minis/join_sprites.html

Keep in mind: You can only submit once. If you submit and then realize you made a mistake, you're stuck with whatever you submitted. Sorry!

[Draxxuss]

I'll be keeping a close eye on this as we have some curriculum in the works based on this type of game art. Go team go!

[dkk]

This is awesome

[Mrpearlzildjian]

Very interesting. I like the idea of this contributing to a GA team project of sorts. I hope I am able to learn this type of art and contribute in some way.

[DreameR]

~ Cooooooooool

[karart]

Very cool minicomp , i'll try to do something

[seven]

sweet ass.... that is all :)

[Arkhange]

First sprite Mini, it should be fun :D
I'll keep an eye on it ;)

[SeanW]

What a great idea, it looks like a lot could be learned here.

[Satya]

This is great, I might give it a try,
Are there any color limit for each character?
The max pixel height is 120 right? what about the width?

[Skyzobear]

Very interesting, I wanna try something^^. I'm ready!! :mad:

[walrus]

Thanks, folks, glad some of you are excited about it!

As for limits on numbers of colors, you have to be able to save your final entry animation as a GIF, so that automatically limits your palette to 256 tops. But in general, you should be aiming to do a hand-drawn look like the examples above, not, say, doing a 3D model and rendering out frames. Once you understand that, you can see that it's really a pain to hand-draw in more than a couple of dozen colors anyhow!

As for width, please look at the current build of the game: In that, Gargur is a very wide character, so use him as an approximate guide to width max. To insert animations into the game, all of the frames need to be assembled on Sprite Sheets (handled automatically by Sprite Manager 2, thankfully!) and the iPhone max size for those is 1024x1024. But smaller is better: Someone like Gargur - who is just an example, obviously no animation for him and there might never be - would necessarily get a lot fewer animation frames because he takes up so much more room on the sheet.

[red-fox]

Excelent idea guys!!!

I can't compete because I'm moving in two days. (but i wish!!!)

God luck competitors!

[D3struct-o-Bot]

Signing in!

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2364/woohoop.gif

[Bertmac]

whaaaa so cool i just wanted to test my skills with this subject, eeh i mean i never tried it, but i always have loved the sprite community. this will be a nice change to learn.

[Josh Singh]

This is Amazing! Great Idea.

[Maph]

Good luck guys, let's make something cool with this. :)

We'll be updating the game as we go, so be sure to check out the FAQ thread once in a while!

[Shadownami92]

Blast, I want to join but with it being the last couple weeks of school I wont have any time. There better be another one of these in between December and February!

Also here is a handy tutorial for the idle animation

http://shambolic-art.deviantart.com/art/random-sprite-process-138403296

[sinz]

Awesome! to see this come alive, I hope I have some time to participate.

Got to put some time aside for re-reading all the rules and links before I dive into ideas for a character. Hope a lot of people join in on the fun but so many challenges going on right now :(.

[walrus]

Shadownami -

There better be another one of these in between December and February!

Absolutely! The next Sprite mini should start up before Christmas. As the story is slowly coming together, we already have a good idea of several other challenges we'll need for characters and enemies in the game.
And thanks for the link - I added it to the first post above.

[TheQiwiMan]

Man, thanks Walrus and Maph for organizing all this. This sounds like so much fun!

[Razvan-Sedekiah]

OH!! Just saw this!
*excited*
A NEW CHALLENGER AS JOINED!

[Ekgonus]

Hi all I'm new to posting on the forums, although I'm a long time lurker this comp really got me motivated to attempt something. I've never made a sprite in my life so hopefully it works out.:D Anyway this is my concept so far of a character I have in mind all criticisms and suggestions are welcome.thanks

[Razvan-Sedekiah]

Ekgonus- Hey! WELCOME to the posting world of GA! He looks cool so far!

Here is an idea sketch... more to come.
http://i48.tinypic.com/2qx0vad.jpg
IF you don't see an image, click the link:
http://i48.tinypic.com/2qx0vad.jpg

[Ekgonus]

Thanks! I really like the silhouette of your character and love the arm cannon idea!

[Razvan-Sedekiah]

Thnx Ekgonus!

Sci-Fi is a weakness for me... O_O I better start watching some 5th element and stuff.

Here are some warm up idea really really rough sketches:
http://i45.tinypic.com/k2h1xt.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/k2h1xt.jpg

[Absorber]

Super idea :D I'm glad you pulled this one through :)

I hope I can find some time, I have 0 experience on when it comes to sprite to I first have to study the tut's ;)

Great comp, would love to see some wip's :thumb:

[Razvan-Sedekiah]

I think we can all team up?
So, if someone wants to design, but doesn't want to animate, they could find someone who can animate to work with! ^_^

[walrus]

Absolutely! The way the voting system works, only one person can get the points, but I have no problem with 2 artists teaming up. We'll be happy to credit any collaborators on any creature designs/animations. (Just make sure you credit your partner if you work with someone else!) (And as Drew Carrey used to say when he was the host of 'Whose Line is it Anyway,' the points don't matter. You can't cash them in here or anything, and your status never actually really changes on GA.

... but everyone should at least give the animation part a try before giving up on it completely! The mini-comps are still about learning and growing as an artist. :)

Ekgonus - Welconme, glad we drew you out! One thing to keep in mind is how teh details you're designing will look when they're really small on screen. Some of those will get a bit lost. I'd also suggest experimenting with the armor more, maybe bulking it up or working with some of the shapes more so that it brings out his science-fictiony side and makes him feel less fantasy.

Razvan - I knew you'd join! you've been asking for a while about joining a game project, we just couldn't tell you 'til now! I like the snakewoman's design, although she overall feels more fantasy, except for the gun. But overall, my favorite is easily the green guy in the upper left of your other sketch. Replacing the legs with tentacles is a really fun idea, and his bulky body complements that shape really well. I also like his armor!

[Maph]

Nice to see there's so much positive response to our efforts. :)

Ekgonus: I totally dig that little booster he's got hanging on his back!
But as walrus said, it's very important to try not to get lost in details that you won't see.
Every pixel counts! ;)

Razvan: That green blobby guy is awesome! Looks like an obese Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. With tentacles, which adds awesomesauce! :)

[Bloodeye]

Hmmm... I want to join this because it's something new. Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of writing a novel right now... though I'm pushing to get it done by the 30th.

So... we'll see.

[Ekgonus]

Thanks for the feed back Walrus and Maph I'm going to use the advice and see what I can come up with.

[Satya]

Thanks for the feedback, Walrus
Still studying the tuts, same here 0 experience, I might post something if my animation don't turn up embarrassing , thee hee :D

@Razvan: the snake lady is cute! just needs to be more sci-fi, not sure about the tail gun though

[sprouty]

THis is Amazing!
:approve:

[bin]

this is ridicilously awesome..
and confusing as well :brick:

1.not to make them large and then shrink them
may i ask why? i'm afraid i,m getting liitle bit lost here :p further explanation needed. what's the difference ? isn't it's like.. say. like usual 3d mini when we have 256 texture restriction. but some dudes prefer to works on lager canvas size and resize it later,

2. are we restricted for only using black color for sprite outline? or it is somekind of recommended for using black? ( which is bring contradiction as well. since afaik using pure black outline in regular painting method is somekind forbidden :p )

3.so that automatically limits your palette to 256 tops
so.. for coloring process ( not for the outline ) can we just use "regular" painting method (with wacom pressure and such) an then. save it as GIF so the result are sprite-ed

that's all i wann know.... for now

[GH33DA]

This a really awesome idea! I'm supposed to be enjoying the holiday. But, now I've got my sketch pad out.

Happy Thanksgiving, btw.

[Cold]

Walrus this rox! I am fan man! This is too cool to miss!

[womball]

Sweet! I hope I have some time to work on this. I've been wanting to try out this program Gale. haven't touched pixel arts for years. Should be a lot easier than ms paints setup.

Also how do we maintain the style with so many people working on different characters?

[walrus]

Bin - Sorry for the confusion. Hope I can clear things up:

1. If you were just doing a painting, you could work large and shrink down and it wouldn't make much of a diffence. If you work large here and shrink down, you'll either get an antialiased outline - which will make your sprites look different from all of the other sprites with a hard single-pixel outline - of it you turn bilinear interpolation off, you'll shrink down and it won't be anti-aliased, but you'll get something blocky but still not with a nice tight single-pixel outline. I guess what I really should be saying is, the goal of for all of the lines in your sprite to be single pixel, non-anti-aliased, whatever you do to get to that state.

2. You can use any color outlines you want. On Ketra (the heroine in the example in post #1) I hardly have any black lines at all - they're all a darker-colored version of the colors they surround (so for example her orange hair outline is a brown, not black.)

3. Originally, videogame sprites all had simplified shading because the palettes were so limited. Now we have more colors to use, but it would be nice if you limited how many colors you use so that all of the entries feel a bit more like they could all go together in the same world. Of course, in the end, it's your entry, you should do what you want. But in terms of putting all of the entires together in a game that feels vaguely consistent, it would be nice if your coloring weren't completely different than all of the other game sprites. The few rules we have about stylistic concerns - like not making the sprites aliased and lighting from the top and not using too many colors - are intended to help the game hold together more. And hopefully people will vote based on what they think fits in the game world appropriately.

Womball - I hope the paragraph above answers some of your questions. But there's no absolute way to ensure total consistency and simultaneously make it a free-for-all contest. If we wanted it tightly art directed, we wouldn't be using a mini-comp format (and it would likely be a lot less fun for everyone.) We just have to hope people will strive to make work that fits into the general game aesthetic... But at least the game story - and thus the contest topics - are designed to let people be pretty free about what they create that can still fit into the game world.

I hope that helps, at least a little...? :)

[bin]

^sure it does help! :p lemme join the crowd then.
will be needing heavy guidance from now on :lol:

[maddox69]

I show you the beginning of my sprite.
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2416/presentation01.jpg

[Skyzobear]

here's my yesterday's work^^http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9088/gacomp.jpg

[Ekgonus]

Really nice work so far everyone!! here's an update on a couple of ideas I'm playing around with since my original post...let me know what you think :D

[Ashurii]

here is hoping i can get to this, btw for anyone looking for inspiration, try watching treasure planet by Disney, it had alien space pirates

[rabidbaboy]

I would've expected you to start with a "style search" of sorts. That is, start with a description of the main character, have the compo about spriting her and coming up with a suitable style. Just a few cents. :)

We'll see if I can come up with something. ;)

[Maph]

I would've expected you to start with a "style search" of sorts. That is, start with a description of the main character, have the compo about spriting her and coming up with a suitable style. Just a few cents. :)

We'll see if I can come up with something. ;)

We have discussed this ourselves thoroughly when we were still fleshing out the project and the general game-design guidelines.

In the end we decided to create the main protagonist ourselves due to how the story was evolving at the time, and to set an initial art-direction.
As well to be able to show you guys a good example on how this character would look in game.



A more elaborate reason on why we made this -and other- decisions can be found in the FAQ, and I quote:

If this is a community project, why didn't you let the community choose the game genre and plot instead of deciding it yourselves?
Because if it were up to everyone on GA, that's a large number of people! We would still be debating those points, and even then, few would be entirely satisfied. This way, we already have a working prototype. We knew we'd end up putting in a ton of work on this just on our own time... and we have. But once we were going to do that, we wanted something we were really excited about to drive the project to this state. We're sorry if this genre or design isn't your first choice. Keep in mind, there's no guarantee that if it'd been a design-by-committee project that you would have had your first choice either. Still, we did try to choose a path that would appeal to a lot of artists. I mean, aliens, robots, soldiers, and zombies, who wouldn't love that!?

[walrus]

Oops, Maph beat me to the punch!

Rabidbaboy - If we'd made the first mini about making the main character then there would be one winner and a lot of losers. Granted, that's how most minis work, but we really wanted to set up a system where many people could be winners and get work into the game. That's why we chose a game style that lent itself to team-play and lots of good guys and bad guys, so that few, if any, of the minis had to be about choosing only one winner and then making everyone match that. I don't think everyone has to match my style per se, but I felt in creating Ketra that she was in a similar enough style to all of the other sprite games of days gone by that were about the same size, more or less. Some were and will be more cartoony, or more anime, or more realistic, but that's okay. Plus, I had to create Ketra to put something into the game, make sure our spec for the game worked... So I just did her in my style. (Sorry for the long-winded response! :) )

Maddox - Looking great so far! What do you picture his attack being? A claw slash, shooting something out of his belly, or both? THe claws on his left foot look a lot larger than the ones on his right foot. Also, I feel like some of the details - especially the face - work in the sketch but get a little lost in the sprite. The mouth, nostrils and eyes are a bit hard to read, but maybe some more color variation, some hilights, and some refining of shapes could help. What if you make those eyes a bright color?

Skyzobear - Nice design so far! He totally looks alien, and the face expression on the sprite has more personality than the sketch! His two hands look like they are 2 different sizes - personally, I like his larger right hand better, but it's up to you. You could possibly experiment with bulking up his body a bit more - I don't mean to not make him skinny, that's part of who he is, but perhaps giving him stronger shoulders and upper thighs and chest so he looks like he can do a bit more damage (and actually lift that wrench he's got! :) Also, I like the idea of the chin tentacles on the sketch, but they're really hard to read on the sprite because there are so many details clumped together. They just make the silhouette around that area hard to read, and I think your guy would look stronger without them. (Don't worry, he'll still look like an alien! :thumb: )

Ekgonis - nice sketches! My favorite is the one in the lower right because he's got a unique, strong, distinctive silhouette. The guy on the left looks like it might as well be a human in a mask, but the guy on the right looks alien... and with cool armor to boot. (Although how he gets it on, I can't tell - you might want to expand the neck hole to large enough to get his head through! :)

Ashurii - It's a good start, he's got a nice strong silhouette. Clothing-wise, though, he feels far more Fantasy than Science Fiction. The face mask and horns and neck chains say "unleashed demon or monster" to me and the boots look like the ones I used to wear to the local Renaissance Faire. 'Treasure Planet's costume designs were more anchored in the 19th century origins of the original Robert Louis Stevenson story, if you want animated influences, try 'Titan A.E.' instead! :D

[ninjastic]

my pirate ;p
i tried to paint some my first ideas and for sure i will change a lot but plx write what do u think about my evul pirate

[jasonin3d]

This is sooooo cool!!! I will definetly give it a try, never done anything like this before but I'm always up to trying new things! PLUS being in a job that's completely art un-related I still have MsPaint to play with!

[Samhell]

OMG!!

*squees*

I am so fraking in on this! I've been drawing gohappy sprites for Habbo for the past 5 years and I am soooo ready to move on from happyjoyHabboletsbebestfriends to something supergritty and violent.

The game will be gritty and violent, yes?

:-D

[jasonin3d]

My first ever sprite done in 1 hour! pretty happy with it too!! Would Love some comments!! I feel there's missing a thing or two! thanks! well his helmet is definately not final

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/piratebeta.jpg

[Maph]

ninjastic: I really like how you've done the upper body!
You may want to revise the legs though, proportion and style wise. :) Awesome design none the less!

jasonin3d: That's the spirit! I hope to see some work from you soon. ;)
edit: woops! And there you go. :)
That's a great looking sprite, but I think you should sci-fi-ify him a tad more though. He would fit right in a fantasy game though.

Samhell: Depends on what your view of gritty and violent is. ;)
If you want to do blood splatters and the works, that's fine, you can decide what you want in there. It's a community driven game for a reason.

But for what it's worth -and we don't want to give away too much details just yet! -, I'm sure the story will cater all your gritty and violence needs.

[Cold]

Jasonin3d, you are in the wrong job my friend:P


Spent all day on these.

Fitting them as desert pirates.

I drew them straight next to the height sample, to match style and height as close as possible. So no big versions am affraid.

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/DesertPirates-height-test1.png

Desert mock-up of the whole crew.
http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/DesertPirates-mockup-test1.png



Now the hardest part, animating atleast one of them... anyone use any simple programs that save files as animations gifs without a big fuss? :think:

[jasonin3d]

@Cold - Super big thanks mr. Cold!! and I say Mr as in WoW!! you're realy good!

@ Maph - you're completely right, I was going for a mining colony alien dude very low-tech but you're right not sci-fi enough.. so I did some more touch-ups! (Now don't nobody tell on me, but I gotta get back to my boring job! :cry: )

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/PirateSprite2.jpg

[Maph]

Cold: That is gorgeous! Those sneaky small guys are great. :)
If you're on a mac, try GIFBuilder (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/235). It's a neat little tool and it does what it needs to do, build animated giffs.
Drag, drop, set looping and such, save, done.

jasonin3D: The rock blaster is awesome! Maybe some glowy bits are in order? I'd suspect a miner ought to be able to see something in the dark.

[Cold]

Thanks Maph, found some nippy programs on the web, thanks to the key word given, PC ftw:P

Jasonin3D don't be silly, I ain't that good, plus its all down to common sense, seems like you got a bag full yourself:D BTW I would remove the hammer, and exchange it wiht something more hip, like a mini lazer gun, or some batteries? :P

[Mukhtar]

Ah I want to play tooo :)
I've been waiting so long to get a chance of animating some nice sprites. Especially as nice as Guardian Heroes :D

Anyway, my characters a Mercenary. He might look tough with his shiny armour and Bushido looks, but never judge a book by its cover :)

quick concept and I like but I think I need to make him more dirty...
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/Bushidocopy.jpg

Aaaaaand the Pixel version

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/Pixelated.jpg

[jasonin3d]

@Mukhtar - Really nice! but not looking very alien-y?


okay, done with the mining dude, now I'll have to try and animate this guy! but before since it's brand new for me I had to do a second one.. let me know what you think!

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/2Sprites.jpg

*edit: Rock Dweller now Breathing! now time for bed!
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/RockDwellerBreathing.gif

[Mukhtar]

Hmmm True. Well I played around a little bit. I only changed his face and hands :P I like the 'stolen armour' too much... It'll suit the background that im working on heh :D

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/Bushidocopy-1.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/Untitled-2-2.jpg

[walrus]

Great work, everyone! It's exciting to see stuff coming together! One general comment for all: Remember the important point that this game takes place on board a space station. It's mentioned in the first post, but it feels like some are treating the game like it could be planet-bound. Just keep the setting in mind! :thumb:

Ninjastic - Great design so far! I especially love the head shape and details. I don't think they'll all survive the transition to the small sprite size, but even then, his head has a great silhouette! I agree with Maph about the legs: The torso and the legs don't quite work together yet. If he's supposed to be human-shaped,t he legs are too small. If he's supposed to be really alien, I think you could try experimenting with making the legs less human-like. Right now it's not quite clear which you're shooting for, so try to make it more obvious. Good luck!

Cold - Good to see you participating! Myself, I just use Photoshop. That's what the animation window is for - setting up and exporting GIF animations. It's got some quirks, but overall works okay. As for your characters, great designs! I don't quite get the 'X's on their bodies. What are they, why are they there? The only one that I feel works well is the one on the chest of the big guy because unlike the others it feels like it's in perspective with his clothing and torso... but I still don't "get it." As for which to do, they all look cool but remember that this mini is specifically for the "grunts," the low-level guys. We will have later mini(s) for higher-level enemies, bosses as it were. I think you could save the tall guy for that - it would be great to have low-level guys who relate to the upper level guys. (When you do get to the tall guy, I think the feet and ankles seem a bit simplistic and it would be nice to see you think more about what bone and muscle structure is going on under there.

Mukhatar - Great design! And nice pixel-work - totally solid! I don't agree that he doesn't feel "alien-y" - he seems totally sci-fi to me! Nice job on the metal glare too... Now I just want to see him animated! (Don't forget that his attack will need some form of run-forward to hit, just like Ketra has.)

Jasonin3D - Nice work so far. Nice fun shape, and I like the addition of the gun, 'though overall he still feels more fantasy to me than sci-fi. The feet and hands seem alien but the skin color doesn't - Have you considered different, less-human-like skin colors? Also, he feels like he's dressed more for a desert world than a space station - mosly due to the amount of skin showing and the board shorts. What if he had clothes more suited for space travel? I do like the neutral animation overall, 'though his head might be too bouncy for (or just slightly out of time with) the rest of the animation. But once you have the motion down, I think it would be a great touch to animate the shadows and hilgihts on his body parts a bit as he moves them, so as he dips his head, for example, the position of the hilight shifts subtly. It's a small touch but would really bring him more to life. As for the second guy, the colors and shapes on his clothing make him feel a bit like a court jester to me (sorry!)

[maddox69]

Maddox - Looking great so far! What do you picture his attack being? A claw slash, shooting something out of his belly, or both? THe claws on his left foot look a lot larger than the ones on his right foot. Also, I feel like some of the details - especially the face - work in the sketch but get a little lost in the sprite. The mouth, nostrils and eyes are a bit hard to read, but maybe some more color variation, some hilights, and some refining of shapes could help. What if you make those eyes a bright color?

I think he will attack with his claws. You're right, one foot is bigger than the other and I will correct it in the animation. Now there are the colors, what do you think about the face ? Is it easier to read ?

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9986/prsentation02.jpg

[ryansumo]

Hopefully this won't be another mini comp I can't finish. :P but anyway here's a few quick sketches of some baddies. My favorite's the one on the left, with the big eye. I imagine him having a technologically augmented psychic attack of some sort. Anyway more stuff to follow (hopefully!).

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h100/endlessthirteen/artwork/alien.jpg

[Inpw]

Nice contest. I'll try to take part in it. Here is my first wip. Sorry, no initial scetches

http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt347/Inpw/PixelArt_1/Wip01.gif

[Mukhtar]

OK. I just been able to get his Stance/Breathing animation done. Maybe ill tweak it some more later with a bit of leg movement. Anyway this is my first animation so I hope its good enough!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/animation.gif

[Elcura]

Definitely needs a little bit of a leg bounce, the upper half is really nice but the lower half is too static.

[Mukhtar]

Hey dude :D good to see you lurking ;)

I added more of a leg tap then a bounce but you can see it :) also improved the upper body's movement.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/animation3.gif UPDATED Legs: http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/animation4.gif UPDATED Lights and Fingers:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/animation5.gif

[Razvan-Sedekiah]

walrus- Thanx for the input! This is a really fantastic idea! I am so very excited. I will work on getting the Sci-Fi feel down better. It truly is a weak point for me, so this will be a terrific challenge! ^_^

WOW! So many great posts so far. Most people have already crited on things I spotted. So, just keep up the awesome work everyone!

Mukhtar- THAT IS FANTASTIC!!! O_O

[Cold]

Moh, sweet, but the legs need to go down on the same frame and up, seems like u got abit of a wave going on:P


Just tweaked on Walrus's advice the colours and feel of priates.

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/SpacePirates-height-test2.png

Hope the tweaks sit better with the desired theme, don't mind tweaking some more.

[jasonin3d]

thank you mr. Walrus, allright so here he is with the mods...
I added brown leather gloves (not sure it reads at 100%) a metalic jumpsuit and some boots for the dirty spacestaion floors! hehehe Hope you like!

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/sprite3.png

[walrus]

Maddox - It is reading a bit better now, especially the eye. I think you could get the face to read even more clearly by lightening up the color overall and adding in some more shadows to define the form... but that's just a personal preference. One other area to look at is the claws: They're a very close color to the armor, so the left hand claws get a little lost against the armor. Lastly, the big circle in the belly looks inset a bit, but it feels like you haven't finished defining the rim on the far side of that circle. Just me 2 cents, looking forward to more!

Ryansumo - Oh, definitely, the guy on the left! Great shape and the single eye is fun. The middle guy looks like a robot, which will be the topic for other challenges, and the 3rd one looks like a pet or comic sidekick, not a serious threat. As for psycic attacks, yes our damage chart does take them into consideration! They don't do much against robots, but as this is a bad guy, they'll work fine against our heroes, so go for it! :)

Inpw - Great silhouette! Can't wait to see those forearm blasters in effect, and that tail lashing as part of his idle animation... You won't be able to get away with just moving the tail up and down, give it a nice sinuous animation loop! :thumb: Looking forward to seeing it! One other oddball comment - the black face with what looks like a green glowing X-shaped slash across it... Is he, by any chance, an XBox? :D

Mukhtar - Looking really nice so far! The basic starting motion is working better. Now to add some more subtle details. His right hand feels very stiff, some you could try to animate some of the fingers to be flexing a little in preparation for the attack. Also, the hair of course needs to flow and wave, as right now he looks like he's used an incredibly strong hair gel! Also, I love the glowing bits inside the armor - maybe their glows could hilight some of the parts surrounding them a bit more, or at least their rims.

Cold - looking nice! The white symbols look more like symbols now, and the purple looks really cool! I still think you can add more definition to the big guy's feet and ankles- look at some pictures of horses hooves, perhaps?

Jason - I like those changes, and think he's working a lot better. I especially like the metal on the feet! I'm glad you decided to change the skin color - I think it works well, do you? One question, though: What is that round thing in the center of his belly / belt area? I don't understand what it's supposed to be. It looks like a pile of rocks, but maybe I'm just not reading it right. What if it were something metal, in the same colors as the new metal bits on his feet? And just as an idea for the animation stage, he really looks like a guy(?) who would have 2 actions, the laser gun and pulling a canister off his belt and throwing it (or imbibing it - maybe it's a health potion.)(But things that go boom are always more fun!) Anyhow, just an idea... Great work so far!

[Samhell]

Awesome pixels here already! Hope to see more soon. ^___^

Here's my sketch for a character. It's a very quick and rough sketch with no real pixel work yet.

http://murskain.pp.fi/images/2009_dig_Infestation_mini01_thug.png

Maph As long as there is lots of shooting, slashing, explosions and mayhem, I think I will be happy. :rolleyes:

[jasonin3d]

Hey walrus, Yea I like him better like that, what happened is I forgot the bit about the space station, I'm more visual and when I saw the image with the characters on the planet, I figured i could create a species on his home planet. So anyways I carried on with the idea of him being a big miner where minning is like a religion on his planet and the belt is a big rock...( big rock bomb! maybe!)


http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/spriteBomb.jpg

Allright here he is with the mettalic belt and the rock belt, I like both, but the mettalic one might be befiting the genre a little better, your call :think:
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/sprite4.jpg

[Yung]

I am joining in as well! Hopefully I can finish this one properly :D

Awesome work, Maph and Walrus!

Lots of great looking entry!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y94/Velsthinez/GA_IPG_smileygrunt.gif

My first pass on my smiley grunt :D. I think I will need more colors to smooth things out.

[Cold]

Jasonin3d don't get me wrong, but listening to walrus's suggestions, I think it's better to scrap the whole idea of a rockthrower in a spacestation, if u get me. Like change the gun and front pad even more to suit something energetic and streamedlined. Or so:P Looking hot none the less.

Walrus I hear you, definitely considering it if there is another comp to come for bosses, will completely buff him up, but now i goto catch up with Moh, he like a rocket on this comp, and I only linked him this comp last night after I had my troop done.

Done an Idle animation for "croucher" (no name for him yet).

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/Idle-anim-croucher2.gif

6 frames at 0.2 sec

[Kalango]

aewsome challenge, i plan to participate....i'll do my best despite my daily obligations...

[Mukhtar]

Haha YUNG I like the smiley guy :P

Cold is hiding some skills in that lil dude ;) cant wait to see what the character can do :D

OK i just finished the hair and everything else.

6 Frames at 0.2

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/animation6.gif

[Samson Brown]

Cold - The costumes and the tech look awesome.

Mukhtar - Cool samurai design.

Walrus, I have a question in regards to the animation style. What's the policy on motion blur?
In the Ketra animations you use a clean flat shape to define the blur, do you want all blurs handled this way or can I animate them like this?

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/331/6/6/sprite_01_by_Oeleaus.gif

btw, this isn't the character I want to use. I just wanted to do a rough run through to see what issues may arise. Any crits are welcome tho.

Here are some silhouettes and roughs that I'm currently playing with,

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/331/6/7/sprite_02_by_Oeleaus.gif

I really should have been finishing my 3d mini but I got a few things on my plate and this sprite mini looked very interesting.

[kirilot]

Fun fun, I like the idea of this. hope it happens.

heres mine in progress, just messing around, some pirate space guy midget :)

I have some questions for the packing tho...you want all sprites packed in 320x480? all animations? or can they be split up in parts?, or do you want them frame by frame...I know some space can be conserved if for instance the sprite was broke into just the part moving, but then reanimated and put together in the phone, Or would you rather us shrink it down to conserve space?Thank goodness for sprite packers...I guess this is part of the challenge having to figure out how to pack everything into such a small space..

[Mukhtar]

OK! nice work peeps :) I see people already getting into the animation!

Heres a lil sketch animation for my characters attack. Ive managed to get the dash and stop animation done. And I will work on the attack move sequence while you guys lurk and feast

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/attack2.gif

[walrus]

Samhell - Good start! Are we going to see any hint of the shape of his body beneath the trenchcoat? And yes, we should see plenty of "shooting, slashing, explosions and mayhem" - and in fact are already starting to with folks' entries, which is very cool!

Jasonin3D - I really like the metal one, myself - it feels like it fits a space-station more. Sorry my demo animation was confusing - I did the planet background before the story was further along and haven't had time to do a good space-station background yet.

Yung - Did you realize he has 3 fingers on one hand and 4 on the other... he must be an alien! :)

Cold - Nice animation so far. I love the claw-fingers and the overlapping motion of the bottom of the cloth. The torso motion feels a little jerky - maybe you could use another inbetween for it between frames 4 and 5. And it might be fun to add a lot more motion to the "fingers" keep them moving even more to call attention to them and make them look smoother. But all little picky comments- overall, looking nice.

Samson - Any way you want to do the "motion blurs" is all good. I think what you've got in your demo looks nice. As for which character to do, I really like your 2nd and 3rd silhouette. #1 feels overly bulky while the other 2 have some nice mixes of thick and thin segments. I especially like #2, but that could just be because it's more detailed than #3.

Kirilot - That's a really fun animation so far! And a very quick and really effective way of getting him (?) to his target and back. It works great! Still needs a bit more of an idle, but I'm sure you're getting to that. As for frames, let me clarify: You don't have to pack the sprites at all! The 480x320 is just the final max size of your animated gif so we can see what it'll look on an iPod screen (and you don't have to use that full size.) We've got a much larger sheet for the character animations and a utility that does all the sprite packing automatically. For whatever characters end up in the game, we'll likely need more animations than are just made for this mini. So we'll take all the individual frames as PNGs or GIFs, let 'Sprite Manager 2' pack them together, and use them like that. So don't worry about packing, and feel free to use more frames if you need them!

Mukhtar - That animation is looking great! The overlapping motion in the hair is terrific! And nice movement to cross the screen! As for the idle, the only suggestion I have would be more attention to the folds on the upper legs as he "bounces," a bit of subtle movement of those lines could make them feel more like real folds.

Meanwhile, as you folks work on these, I'm trying to do a death animation for Ketra. I'll post some roughs here when I get anything good enough to share - hasn't happened yet! :/

[Cold]

Walrus, its noted on the todo list. Working very rough on the attack at this moment.

Progress - rough blockout of motion.

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/RunAttack-anim-croucherTEST1.gif

6 frames set at 0.1 secs

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/RunAttack-anim-croucherTEST2.gif

14 frames so far, with few 0.2 secs and rest 0.1 secs

[Mukhtar]

Finished the attack sequence. I might tweak it a bit while im rendering. :)

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/attack3-1.gif

Thanks for the tip Maph! I squashed and skewed the dash frames a tiny bit and added some speed lines in.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/fight.gif

[Cold]

Same goes for me! But sleep is in order. zzzz

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/RunAttack-anim-croucherTEST4.gif

[Genma Saotome]

Captain Gun :)

[kirilot]

this page is pure awesome, just had to say that. Awesome job!

[Maph]

Cold: That animation is absolutely gorgeous!
A small suggestion (no need to follow it ofcourse) if I may:
How about you increase the pause a bit more before he actually attacks, and perhaps a short "power up" on the striking hand just before he strikes?
That roll back move rocks!

Mukhtar: Awesome!
Very cool work, but you may want to add in a bit more squash and stretch when he dashes back and forth.
The animation on the hair is fantastic!

Kirilot: I'll reiterate what walrus said concerning your question for packing the sprites.
As mentioned, we use a Unity middleware solution called SpriteManager 2 (http://www.aboveandbeyondsoft.com/middleware/sm2/), and we can use both single frames with cropped edges as well as full fledged spritesheets for animations. And Ketra is build up with the former method. Anything you see in the demo is build up with that method actually.
She has several animations consisting out of several differently sized sprites, and I just mix and match in the code.
In the light of this competion (and the ones following this), we do not ask of the participants to cut up the animations in several frames. Mike has stated in the brief that for submission, you just need to submit a single gif with your animations.

The winners will be asked by us if they want the sprite in the game, if they do; only then do we require several frames.

[Mukhtar]

Before I get into rendering, I've made different colour themes and the top left i added a mask on.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/Colourscopy2copy.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/Colourscopy-1.jpg

[Satya]

Oh my, you guys are all pros! Not sure I can keep up :paper:

I just started some rough design, one sluggish the other is agile, considering my lack of skill , think I'll go with the slug :lucky:

@Mukhtar: I like the third one the silver one, brings out the metallic look

[gam-er]

mukhtar: hey i love your work keep it up and for the color i prefer the black and red one the first or second!


Cold: That's a nice attack but you can add a little more of strenght but nice work too!

[walrus]

Cold and Mukhtar, you guys' animations rock! Maybe you can give me feedback on improving Ketra's attack... I'm feeling worse about it after seeing yours, but there's always time for improvement.

Cold - I think it's looking great! I only half agree with Maph and Gam-er's notes: Each character in the game can have a strong and a weak attack, so you could keep this as a small attack and if you wanted to, take their suggestions to do a strong attack, and we could use both!

Mukhtar - Also looking wonderful! The hair motion is terrific - Sorry about my earlier crack about too much hair-gel, you've got it totally under control. As for which colors, I wish we had some real backgrounds yet so you could see how each looks on them. I've been picturing the settings being dark, like the placeholder background in the demo, so I tend to like the lighter designs better. I think the black ones are really cool, though, although maybe too black - it would be nice to reintroduce some color to them, the stripe on the pants, the accent colors on the torso and wrists. As for the other colors, I think some of them (like lower left) feel too monochromatic with all accents the have hue. I personally think the lower right - which I chose without realizing it was your original scheme - one works better because you have a couple of different colors but they go well together. My least favorite is the all silver one because the totally desaturated colors are a boring. Silver and metal can have a lot of different subtle hues in them, making them all grey with NO color sucks the life out of them. But if you added a hint of another color - or maybe 2 colors, one as an accent - I think that one could be really strong!

Genma - it's a fun sketch, but keep in mind the name and main theme of the mini: We're trying to do the grunts, not the bosses. You're creating the equivalent of Davy Jones when we're trying to make his miscellaneous crew. Don't worry, there will also be a boss contest too! I do liek the character design and shape, and the gun, but not the chest, which doesn't look like something you find on a space station.

Satya - Great sketches. I like the concept behind the first one, too - not everyone has to jump around! I don't think anyone HAS to make a slug to get out of heavier animation. After all: a gun is a ranged weapon, there's no reason to charge forward if you have one! If you gave the 2nd guy a gun instead of a sword, he could just stand still too. But if you do go with the slug, you could also try a few more sketches along the same lines, try out some different proportions and such before settling down to your first sketch. You folks are seeing my finished Ketra in post#1 but Maph and I went through 6 dozen sketches before arriving at the final character design and colors! And don't feel bad about "keeping up:" This mini, like all others on GA, is about learning and improving. Get some practice now and I promise we'll have more and you'll have the chance to continue to improve! :thumb:

[Cold]

Sound advice, Maph and gam-er. But for me, my main worry is for him to appear too strong compared to the main character,which should ultimately appear strongest in my opinion.

Etherway, I wait what walrus will have to say about that :)

AND Moh I think you should go for thesilver blue one or something matching, since the background is darkblues and metals from the scapeship scenario. If you haven't played the demo on the link yet, i suggest you think about it with the whole end product feel
edit: Or just wait for backgrounds... MAYBE another mini 2D comp:)
http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/sample-of-spaceship_BG.jpg


edit:walrus just saw your post. I am in agreement. I think the moves can be(should be) boring, if you want to make the strong/special moves stand out even more. And Ketkas move is fine, if she will obtain stronger moves later on in the game it will be fine. As for mo's and mine, I think ego plays a role of being dominant in our character, which should be directed at the main characters to be honest. But it is a comp and people prolly opt in for making their character strongest for what ever reasons. Anyway there are more mini comps ahead (bosses, brackgrounds, etc) right?

[Mukhtar]

Cold and Mukhtar, you guys' animations rock! Maybe you can give me feedback on improving Ketra's attack... I'm feeling worse about it after seeing yours, but there's always time for improvement.

Thanks! and about the feedback, glad to help you!
Ketra has a Gunblade like Squall and Seifer in Final Fantasy 8. And they have nice moves so I suggest having a look into that :)

Theres this video of Squall fighting Sephiroth, scroll upto 0:59 and you can see squalls got a nice dash stance and pauses and charges for a split second then attacks. he does that attack a few times afterwards, but hes up in the air. I'm sure you can translate that move and think it to be on ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvKPPZ902Q

[walrus]

Thanks for the advice, guys! (And Cold, I get back to you later today about your PM - I'm not on my own computer right now.)

To answer your question, yes, there are many more mini-comps planned, bosses and robots and good-guy party members, and military forces and evil alien zombies... lots of fun to come, and that's just for the characters!

As for the backgrounds, we've been so busy working out character specs and game design that we haven't tackled backgrounds yet. We could go with 2d paintings, as in my post#1 demo, but as Unity is a 3D engine, we could also try putting them in 3D environments. The background you posted above is a 3d model in progress that I haven't textured yet, so for now it's essentially just a 2D image. We'd love to give that a try in actual 3D and see how it looks - and how it performs and how big it is - before deciding on the final style. But when we do, we plan on having background minis too.

We could even have minis for other things - like, would people be interested in doing minis around just special effects?

[Mukhtar]

minis on special effects would be cool. A lot of ideas in that field! from special move blasts and beams to explosions and gunfire. Sounds really fun!

[Cold]

Heh, sounds like alot of fun ahead, heres some teleport effect for addition attack.

tweaked hands and motion abit, minor
http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/Idle-anim-croucher7.gif

Rough outline 22 frames , all 0.1 secs and one frame 0.5 for dissapear time

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/RunAttack2-anim-croucherTEST2.gif

[seven]

@Mukhtar: A4 works best for me.

@Satya: I like the slug best out of the two.

@cold man that disappear attack is pretty slick.

idle for my character

http://www.andrewkinabrew.com/WIP/OE_space-pirate_idle_01.gif

[Genma Saotome]

walrus
We're trying to do the grunts, not the bosses

O, exactly...
Then he will be not captain but simple sailor, can it be so?
I tried to change chest for more space, it is going to be his short-distance attack :)

[jasonin3d]

WOW!!! YOU GUYS ARE CRAZY!! The animation work is insane! I'm gonn have to start on that ! althought I love creating new guys! here are some more, since my number 1 rock dweller didn<t fit the bill all that well here are three more!

@Cold your animation is aw-inspiring! thanks dude!:thumb:

@Mukhtar I love a8 and b3, and your animation is spot-on! lovin it!!:thumb:


And great work to everybody!! looking good!!
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/SPRITES-1.gif

[jasonin3d]

first and second shooting tests... I admit not nearly as impressive as previous entries

-ohh and I realy like my last dude so I think I<ll be animating him!
Simple shot
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/spriteshoot-1.gif

BigShoot - he first changes the setting then.. Kablooey!
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/spriteshootBIG-1.gif

edit: and an attack move...
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/spriteAttack.gif

[Melrick]

Hey guys been looking at all the incredible work being produced here and would like to join in. I have never made a sprite before so thank you Walrus for all the tutorials. Here is the concept piece for my character.

[FredH]

EVerything is looking truely awesome in this thread.

Cold - The teleport and bounce back move is really cool!

[Satya]

Aye Cap'n, I'll try some variations for the alien-slug-mercenary
Seeing the cool moves from Cold and Mukhtar, really gets me goin :thumb:

[temmink]

Hey guys, I only have a moment to post this but I wanted to say that there are some awesome sprites coming out of this thread. Also thanks to walrus and maph for their awesome work behind the scenes on this.

Here is my grunt concept currently in x2, I will work on the actual sprite next unless anyone can spot anything majorly amiss.
http://www.temmink.org/uploads/spriteconcept.png

Cheers guys, have fun.

[walrus]

Cold - Cool addition to his attacks!

Jason - I like the motion so far, and the rubberiness in the limbs! The physical attack needs a bit more punch, imho - He looks like he's scooping something up in his gun barrel, not doing much damage. Plus, I have to say, the whole idea of that attack is a little odd. I mean, if I had a big gun, my first thought would be to shoot someone with it, not run up and slug someone with it. Guns are generally thought of as ranged weapons. Don't feel like every enemy has to have a close combat attack! Ranged attacks are fine with folks with ranged weapons. As for your ranged attack, keep in mind that the targets are right in front of you, not up and to the left, which is where your guy appears to be aiming.

Temmink - Glad you're joining in. Your character proportions feel a tad on the cartoony side compared to many of the other entries so far. His legs are only around 6 inches long but his head is 3 times the size of a human's. I think you could try experimenting with the proportions more to try something that might feel a bit more in line with some of the other slightly more realistic proportions going around, but just an idea.. good luck!

Melrick - Neat design! You're welcome for the tutorials. Your thanks reminded me of something I'd intended to post - not sure if it'll help anyone, but what the heck. Here is my sprite process:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/mdashow/character-process-01.gif

[Yung]

Cold, Mukhtar, please slow down. You are making us all look bad :(

Awesome job though on the animation!

[DeAtH_SmiLeS]

I just stumbled onto this thread, your guys sprites are looking really awesome!! Will keep an eye out

[temmink]

Thanks Walrus, I'm really glad you suggested I look at it again because I am much happier with how it turned out. Also, your sprite process was a MASSIVE help.

So here is my new concept sprite, I still liked the head and goggles but I think these proportions are better. As for animation, I think I will work on a two handed fire for the gun and the idle.

http://www.temmink.org/uploads/spritewip2.2.png

[Cold]

Yung you are too sexy to look bad. you bad ass mofo:D

Anyway I am busy elsewhere now, wont be able to participate fully for the next week. But I'll be back for sure on this to finish something decent:)


1. Fundamental TIP - to getting cool anims down.

You don't have to place fast stripes behind fast movement. The fact you are skipping endless frames for a sudden movement, makes the effect work. Like giving bigger gaps inbetween one move to the another leaving alot un-explained gives it that fast effect you want. Best way to indicate something sudden is to never explain it really, but explain the beginning and the end of what has happened, if that makes sence.

Get use to drawing beginning frame and end frame of an sudden action.

2. Fundamental TIP - to getting cool anims down.

Walrus delivered a thorough tutorial of pixelating your character,
and I would suggest people to get use to their designed hero. BECAUSE
when animating cool animations, you won't be able to savour your character by placing body parts on different layers. Draw everything from scratch, this gives you greater freedom, which you wouldn't consider if using layers with static body parts.

Get use to drawing your character from scratch each frame.

GL

[Maph]

Awesome tips, Cold!

I think the latter tip can really make someone a great draftsman!

[Mukhtar]

Yung - This is too much fun to slow down :D I've always wanted a chance to make these! haha! so hurry! go go go go goo

[Kalango]

Realy realy nice stuff so far... i dont think i can reach you guys anymore...anyways:
Here are some lineart sprite madness!
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b185/Kalangossauro/2D%20art/Pixel%20Art/aliendude.png1X
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b185/Kalangossauro/2D%20art/Pixel%20Art/aliendude2x.png2X
And here is the concept sketch base:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b185/Kalangossauro/2D%20art/Paintings%20and%20Sketches/aliendude.jpg
I hope i can finish this.

[Melrick]

Thanks for the post Walrus. Nice to know I am making mine the right way, that there's no trick I missing when creating them.

[womball]

IF you want your hits to really impact animation wise you need to:

use anticipation and followthrough concepts of animation. The actual impact isn't as important as those two parts. If its a fast action you might even want to skip the impact frame.

I'm having trouble coming up with an idea though character wise. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot animation wise, with a quadroped.

[Blenderhead]

GA, I think I love you

There are no words for how great the recent revamp of the minis is. :D

[wcoastsands]

Here's what I have so far:

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_rev02.gif

Hmmm. Edge color matches this page's background color a little too well. Looks like I might need to bring up the contrast and use fewer colors to sharpen it up a bit.

Update 2009-11-29 13:35

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_rev03.gif

Update 2009-11-29 23:35

Primary Attack Sequence: Fire weapon for range attack

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_sketchSequenceAttack01.jpg

Secondary Attack Sequence: Advance, slice/bludgeon attack, and retreat

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_sketchSequenceAttack02.jpg

[Yung]

Cold and Mukhtar you guys are truly crazy lol :D

And Cold, solid advice there.

WIP on the sprite itself, added 2 more grey overall and fix the numbers of fingers , thanks Walrus :P

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y94/Velsthinez/sprite3.gif

First stab at animation. Not much of an animator, but crits are welcome!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y94/Velsthinez/animtest.gif

Poor Ketra, has to be everyone's target practice :D

[Bbox85]

This Thread Is So Cool!!!! I'm On It! I Feel So Left Out Right Now... I'm Starting Something Today!!!

[Cold]

And Cold, solid advice there.

Which part, me saying the tips, or me noting what a bad ass mofo you are: hehe

I am very impressed with you YUNG, nice block-out of what you've done sofar. Definitely add some inbetween frames for the charge-up before the hit, giving it some delay, characteristic and gravity.
But mega impressed with the style, Yung - now stop sulking and go kick some ketra butt :D

[jasonin3d]

Thanks Walrus, yea I'll drop the hitting with the gun part. so here is the animation for his shooting. - line art & color blockout.

what do you all think?
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/spriteshootBIG-2.gif

[Draxxuss]

hey guys... great great great work.
I just popped my head in here to get it blown away by some really cool anims and characters. Cold.. I didn't know you had it in you! fantastic stuff. Mukhtar you too!! and there are lots of others that are just getting to the anim stage that are proving themselves as well. Keep it up guys. I have no time to do this comp right now unfortunately, the chick 3d mini screwed me out of needed grading time for school so now I'm pressed beyond belief. I would suggest a thread started on certain practices and techniques for people who are just starting out. A step by step for animation techniques would be good to have as well.
Once again, well done! Looking forward to the end now.

[Mukhtar]

I'm working on other projects now and hardly have time to polish up my animations and colour them in! But hopefully will be done by next sunday!

Anyway I tweaked a bit of my short range attack. His leg looked a bit dodgy when pushing to dash back. and taken out the speed lines.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/fight-1.gif

Long Range A: Fire Ball/Cannon attack

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/longrange1.gif

Long Range B: Laser Blade attack

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c380/mohzart/longrange2.gif

These are really really rough long range tests.. but I think im liking the Fire Ball attack more than the laser blade... Heh seems like a Hadouken V. Sonic boom :P

[Mukhtar]

Jasonin3d - I like the idea of him changing the weapon ammunition thing.
I think it'll look much better to show that he has changed something in the gun. Maybe after he played with the switch some lights turn on on the gun? or some parts change colour? Would be good :)

Kalango - I really like your design :D keep it up

Yung - Yeah I guess we are crazy :P maybe Cold more than me ha! im messing! I like your animation :D Quite the leap in his steps! haha awesome.

[Oddin]

This has got to be one of the best comps ever!!

I think everyone is doing an amazing job so far, and next time I'll try to comment specific entries but I really need to go to bed right now :(

I decided to enter, but with me being a 3D artist wannabe, and after seeing the quality of work in here, I'm not getting my hopes up :)
Not sure if I'll be able to even finish in time, but I'll give it my best shot.

Anyway - here's my sketch for a grunt. It's till very early in design stage so there are a lots of problems that need to be addressed.

Image shows a couple of versions of neutral stance, and wounded one (which I made mostly using warp tool)
any and all crit/comment is most welcome

[Arkhange]

I agree with Draxxuss, is it possible to create a tuto thread on those sprites technics and animations, I'll really want to give a try in this comp' but I m' not sure to do this one just cause I'm a noob in pixel art and stuff like this...
Anyway, great job to everyone, GA proves his talent once more :D
Maybe I'll try to enter in this comp" later in the week but I'm really impressed by all the amazing stuffs produces in the thread.
Keep it up guys !!!! :thumb:

[kirilot]

Hello,

Man is this thread rockin! Thumbs up all around!!

Thanks for clearing things up, Walrus and Maph, phew, glad i got that wrongs and yes, thank you all programmers who have made sprite packers!

Im probably cheating, but lets see..granted this could be a bit cleaner, but my prosess is a bit different. Let me know if its not ok, so then i will try to do it the other way.

I draw things to size in Flash, wtvr actual pixelage, using clean spine strokes for the line work at 1 stroke which translates to 1 px, then export PNG sequences, and optimize in Photoshop....given that it needs to be a gif and its trying to fit the pixel style. Let me know if thats not allowed or you think that it dsnt look good...or im doing thigs not right for this competition.

this is messy, many small things but here's some progress...didnt want to do too much then get disqualified or something, and just wanted to see if the process would work! :P

http://www.kirilot.com/OS/jump_gif.gif

and on white http://kirilot.com/OS/jump_gif.gif

[jasonin3d]

@ oddin - Lovin your grunt, can't wait to see how he turns out! I<d like to see him a little less stiff

@ Mukhtar - Yea I agree something on his gun should change! (not that I thought of it) but I had to leave so I had to post what I had! one thing is for sure your animations is sweet! although for the canonball part it'd be cool to see him do like a prep move, like something thai-chi here's a quick animation I did of what I mean (and added some fun! of course!)

I guess it shows I'm new to animation so this is a whollata fun!
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/exemple.gif

[Mukhtar]

although for the canonball part it'd be cool to see him do like a prep move, like something thai-chi here's a quick animation I did of what I mean (and added some fun! of course!)

I guess it shows I'm new to animation so this is a whollata fun!

Haha nice example :D Yeah I agree a prep move would be best applied. Thanks for the tip! I shall look into ninjutsu and kungfu. or just watch naruto, bleach or something :D thanks again.

hahaha i keep watching him flip backwards from the impact... funny stuff haha

[Ekgonus]

Hey, just an update on my progress so far...keep in mind this is my first sprite EVER!! but once again all criticisms and inputs are appreciated and welcome :D

[Samson Brown]

The animations are looking great!

I was wondering what the time increments are for the iphone, will the gifs retain their integrity or do u have to re-time them?
Not that we need it for our submissions in the minicomp but may something to consider when we are animating.

Here's what I got, all in various stages of wip.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/332/5/4/sprite_03_by_Oeleaus.gif

I'd love to keep some flat blacks (ninja-esque) but think it would fade into the backgrounds and is probably against the general design, though would b mega easy to animate.
Will prolly go with the lizardman but will lose the tights. The guy at the end looks too robotic, would have to get rid of the helmet.

[Mukhtar]

Ekgonus - Your first ever sprite is looking good :) Would be tricky to animate his Idle stance since he has no fighting pose. Maybe zombie kinda of pose suits him right now, like rocking back and forth a little. keep going :)

Samson Brown - Im really really digging the last guy on the right :D he has a lot of potential! I do like the full black on your ninja but like you said itd fade in with the background...anyway keep it up :)

[womball]

I roughed out a quick character, no clothes yet. Not to satsitfied with the hands yet.

[kirilot]

fire armadillo gooo

[Mr-Hades]

Oh man... if it weren't for trying to improve my 3D characters, and needing to get personal projects done, I'd so join in on this one. Might anyways; I've developed a serious love for pixel art over the past few weeks, and didn't realize this was going on. Great job everyone! I'll be saving those tutorials for the next one for sure! Can't wait to see what else everyone comes up with!

[omnicypher]

hi guys, cool competition, alot of great entries so far. im very new to sprite making, but ill give this thing a shot. is there a way to turn off antialaising for photoshop when resizing? i had to use the pencil to clean up the edges, but i know theres a better way somehow. also how high is the horizon? it seems like the example sprites are orthographic, so should i loose the perspective and put the feet on the same horizontal line? that would make sense for a megaman game, where you have to judge jumps, but for a turn based rpg sprite, i think theres usually perspective. idk.

it seems like most people have tall entries, so for variety i started making a small weak grunt. anyone think this guys legs are too bare?

[omnicypher]

Mukhtar: your design is looking great and your animations are cool too. as for color schemes i liked A6, A7, B1, and B3. have you tried a red/black scheme? also his face could be more alien with a color swap to green, blue, or purple.
on the lazer blade animation, his back leg is looking a little weak, maybe you could make it more straight, like the back leg on the fireball animation.

kirilot: nice animations, but every time he ducks the top of his thigh goes down faster than the body, making it look disconected

[maddox69]

This is a attitude animation.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/9076/attitude01.gif

[Maph]

Damn, do you guys live on awesomesauce or something?! :thumb:

Outstanding work guys!
I can honestly say that both walrus and me and VERY happy to see so much enthusiasm for the idea, and not to mention, seeing all this gorgeous work is really motivating to push the game through to the end!


Mukhtar: Fire blast imho! Doesn't look too powerfull, but powerfull enough to do a fair amount of damage!

kirilot: That "munch on face"-move is fantastic! :D
You may want to create a bit more anticipation before the jump though. To emphasize the action just a tad.
And that armidillo guy is just grand. :thumb:

jasonin3d: For someone new to animation, you're kicking out some great work!
For that recoil roll you did in that short clip, how about getting some more ragdoll like physics to work? The roll back is very stiff like that.
Easily fixed with a few well-placed key-frames imho. :)

Samson Brown: We can give whatever time-step we want on the device. Each animation has it's own FPS property.
But to have a point of reference, Ketra uses 10 fps for all animations.
The GUI animations (like the radical, moving menus, highlights, etc...) are a bit arbitrary and are ranging from 15 to 30 fps, as there doesn't need to be much consistency in the timing. If we can get away with less frames on a lower fps, then we do it. :)
Anyway, I like your last guy the best, although he looks a lot like a robot (and that's a seperate mini on it's own!).
But in general, if you can do the same animation in less frames, do it! Because the resulting sprite sheet can only be 1024² (iPhone limitation) max, and it's not a good idea to be uploading 1k textures all the time on the iPhone anyway. :)

Phantasm_Fenrir: I hope to see you join in the next one then! :)

omnicypher: If you don't push the perspective too far, it's all good imho. Like how your guy's standing right now, I think it's pushing the perspective a tad too much.
But for the sake of consistency, I suggest you move the left leg just a tad upwards. :)
This competition is obviously about art, but the reason walrus and I set this up, was also to give GA-artists also the oppurtunity to create art for a game that will -hopefully- be published.
So it's also a good excersise for keeping a consistent look, which is important in game-creation. ;)

I wish I had more time to reply to you all, but I'm at work now, so I ought to do some. :D

And for a quick update on the game:
We are working on the player menu right now, and fixing some balancing issues.
Next up is implementing the inventory and trying out some FX.
And then, the first iPhone build! :paper:

[Ekgonus]

Thanks for the feedback Mukhtar, I'm gonna do some experimenting with a more fighting/zombie pose :)....On another note I recently had a friend of mine say my character looks too much like a megaman villain and I have concerns on him not fitting into the style of the game...any opinions or suggestions on this?

[jasonin3d]

Well back at work, fun.. well I don't have photoshop here so I decided to make another character. I decided to go more alien-y I don't know if I crossed the line and jumped in the monster category.. Can we have more then one entry? I'm thinking of animating him next, You guys created a monster here :ack: , I'm lovin this!! it's all I wanna do now!
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/Crawler.jpg

[walrus]

Great work, everyone! These are coming out terrificly from everyone, both the people who have done this before and the folks who are new to it. Don't worry, there will be lots of chances for practice over the months ahead! :)

One important note that I wanted to emphasize:
When animating melee attacks, keep in mind that you will not know how far away your character is from the enemy! There are 2 good guys on screen at a time, one in the back and one in the front. There can be up to 2 bad guys in each battle, and they could be in different horizontal positions. So it will vary how much distance you need to cover to get to a target. This isn't a problem at all for Cold's teleport attack, or Mukhtar's slide across screen or Kirilot's leap, but could be a problem with Yung's very specific number of steps to get where he's going. Just something to keep in mind.

On to notes:

Kalango - Neat design, I like him a lot! He's got so many colors on him and they're all of a similar saturation that looking at him at a glance, it's hard to immediately tell which on is the skin. It just takes a little studying to read it properly. Maybe making the clothing colors less varies could help. Also, I love the eyes in your concept, but don't think they translated well to the pixel sprite... maybe make them a tad smaller so that you can really show off that slit style. I don't see a weapon, but might I suggest a gun? If you're tight for time, it's faster to animate, and make s a lot of sense in a sci-fi game!

Melrick - No, there is no one right way to do it. I just thought I'd share my way, but any process tha gets you thre in the end is good.

wcoastsands - Neat design! I like the dual-use weapon, and the guy totally looks alien! Dunno how he fits muscles in that body of his, though! Have yo considered experimenting with more thick parts of his body so that he's have a bit more presence on-screen? Good luck with the aniamtion!

Yung - Great animation so far, but keep my big note above in mind! :)

Jasonin3d - Nice work, good to see some animation! I agree with Maph, the recoil feels very stiff with the whole body sliding back, maybe some more attention there would help.

Mukhtar - All looking great! I like the fireball more than the Laser Blade attack too. It's a really readable motion that doesn't look like it's just reusing all the same frames from the first attack. although effects-wise i'd make it an energy cannon as fire and space stations don't mix well. But if you're tight on time, just get one animation done first! You can always add the second attack if there's time, of even after the contest!

Oddin - Neat design! I definitely like the 3 straps - if you can make them look good at sprite-size - more than the one belt. Overall he's got a lot of simple shapes to them, so the touch here and there of something more complicated - like the 3 belts - breaks that up a bit. Nice gun design. My only crit would be that the feet feel a bit clunky. Good luck with him!

Arkhange and Draxxuss - I've already got all the best tutorials I know in post #1 and I posted my sprite process on the previous page, but it sounds like you're looking for something more... but I'm not clear on what. Animation tutorials? Something more clearly labeled? I'm happy to help if I can, just not sure what you all might need.

Kirilot - Don't worry about disqualifications: AS I said above, any way you get there is fine. I'd have never known you were using Flash, but if it works for you, great! I do think there are a few parts of the animation that feel a bit "Flash-like," when limps rotate or slide instead of really being redrawn. If you have the time, I would take Cold's 2nd piece of general advice on the previous page to heart: Redrawing frames makes for a cooler animation rather than letting pieces slide around. Also, I really love your melee attack, but the gun attack feels a bit underpowered. He doesn't need a huge blast like Ketra's (from the Unity demo, not the animated gif in post #1) but even for a small shot, maybe a bit of recoil, some sense that he pulled the trigger and fires instead of just raising and lowering the arm before and after. Also, I would suggest just putting the time in to get one guy looking really tight before getting too distracted with a second whole character. Don't worry, there'll be other minis!

Ekgonis - He looks really nice colored! I still think he should have a larger neck-hole in his armor (so that it looks like he could actually get his head in.) Also, the head and the armor coming to a point close to each other makes the top center - the negative space between the tow - a little hard to read, imho. I think it would look better to lower and pull the top of the armor back a bit, maybe even just round off the top so it matches the armor on his lower torso and ankles. I just don't see what purpose it serves and it makes it harder to read. But that's just my opinion. I don't know mega-man baddies well enough to say if he looks like a specific one, though. Good luck, looking forward to seeing him use those wrist-guns!

Samson - Neat designs! I like the guy on the best - what a great silhouette! - more than the one in a vest, who looks like a comical armadillo and less serious. I do like the robotic armor guy too, but I like the green guy more. As for coloring, black would be easier to animate, but overall just feels "cheap," like you couldn't be bothered with shading and hilights. Instead of solid black, what about a dark charcoal grey, or even adding some sharp specular hilights so he's in black leather? In general, though, I like how in version 2 the pinks and purples (which are a bit overwhelming in color set #3) are offset by the black, but maybe you could mix and match more - add back in the color at the wrists and the stripes down the legs. But you really should try shading the black, it especially sticks out when the pink and purple and skin are shadded and the black on the same body isn't. Good luck!

Womball - I like the upper body shape a lot! The hands don't flow into the claws yet. His lower half feels like just plain humanoid legs, and doesn't match the more alien/lizard-like upper half. And yes, put some clothes on him! :)

Omnicypher - Welcome! I like the fact that you're doing something smaller - we need all sizes! Color-wise, I like the green more than the turquoise, simple because it's more different from Ketra's skin tones. Design-wise, except for the backpack, he feels much more like a fantasy character than science fiction: The weapon design feels like a magical item, and his lack of clothing makes him feel like you'd find him in a cave or swamp instead of on a spaceship. As for the horizon, it's pretty low, but these aren't perfectly side-view shots. Look at my background in the first post, and at the different background in the Unity demo (link in first post too) or a screen-grab on page 5 of this thread. THat should show you what perspective to build to.

In Photoshop, if you go into Preferences (ctrl-K) and set resizing interpolation to Nearest Neighbor, when you resize or rotate something, it won't anti-alias the lines.

Maddox69 - A good start! Now to add some more actual animation to him, like some arm flexing or wiggling of claws as he moves. Speaking of claws, weren't you going to resize the toe claws to all be the same size?

Jason again - There is no distinction between aliens and monsters here, so long as they look like sentient beings and not just mindless monsters. Your backpack in this new one helps with that, and I love the head! The hand could use a little more definition, and it's not clear exactly how the musculature on the legs work - even aliens need working muscles. It's great that you're excited about this, but in terms of the mini-voting goes, I'd suggest taking as much time as you can to polish just one creature and all of his or her animations instead of dividing your attention between too many ideas. Good luck!

One last general note: I doubt this is the case with anyone, but if there's anyone who's dying to do more animation but not as into the character design (or is lacking time) I have a bunch of characters designed that I don't have time to animate because I'm busy with Ketra and UI stuff and more. There's the guy who appears in the thumbnail for the ini (who could have a gun or an electro-staff, but several more on top of that. Just thought I'd toss that out there... :)

[jasonin3d]

Yea, I'll be putting all efforts on polishing my main dude, but since I'm at work and I finished what I have to do for the day (gov. work! pfff..) I'm having fun in mspaint, I redid the legs and added a butt thingy.

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/Crawler-2.jpg

[Yung]

Aww.....crap. Means I got to redo my animation. Oh well no biggie! Thanks for pointing that out Walrus!

[kirilot]

Thanks for the feedback, ill have to see about fixing the face chomper up, like i said i went in with it just being a test, to see if it could pass for pixel art :). when i got into it it was just rough and i had no clear idea of the character or how i would clean him up, but now that hes more defined ill see about going back and making it better. Its good because i have all of it posed out, but there's some issues that occurred when i went back and tried to fix the wonky posing from the rough beginnings and it ended up getting carried over. Anyhow, thanks for the feedback, im glad you like it.

Im in jasons position tho, and im just excited about doing these, but youre probably right, i should go back and see it through to the end with finalizing things. However they are just fun and easy to do now that ive discovered a process. And im inbetween prohjects so i have some time to get excited about something.

Young, maybe you can have him make like am Earth guake/earth slam/shock wave, or send an energy wave with his axe. I like your posing, its great. Just one step rather than a certain distance. Hes got that Juggernaut thing going for him.

Maph>Samson Thanks for bringing up the FPS question. I like 10FPS, Ive been building mine on 12, but i think maybe stronger poses with less in-betweens is a good way to go as Colds point goes, especially for such a low frame rate and such a small space to pack everything into.

Walrus, if you want to throw me the guy with the lightning halberd i can see about trying to animate him or just play with it. It will be interesting to try and match up the sprite with vector splines that carry over in flash, and see if i can make it look good in pixel while retaining the character.

[Maph]

kirilot: I'll make it a bit more clear, theoretically you can use whatever FPS count you want, but we should limit it to 15 MAX. If you can do it in less, by all means, do so! :)
Because these sprites will be packed in one texture, and going over 1k for all animations means we need another sheet for that character. And for non key characters, this is hardly feasable.
The more FPS, obviously, the more frames you need, and the more frames, the less space I have on my sheet... ;)

Ketra's sheet is at 1k right now with LOADS of room to spare for more animations. And she has a bout 6 or 7 different animations right now I think.

[Oktorawk]

Heres my entry so far, I'm fairly happy with him, so I guess its time to move onto animating him. :think:
27181

[Oddin]

I'm so jealous of you guys - I spent half a day today tweaking it around and this is where I'm at.
Hopefully he is looking a little less stiff and his feet aren't as clunky as they used to be :paper:
Just started on the shading

Of course the cigarette had to go :( (but I basically knew that when I painted it) - there's still hope I can make the three belts work.

jasonin3D It's looking great so far. Love how he wounds it up to fire. Second one is also great, although he's inching on the monster side a little.
SamsonBrownAll of those are great. Maybe the right-most guy is a tad above the rest, but whichever you choose I'm sure it'll kick ass.

Yung Smiley axe murdered is awesome. Animation look great, too bad you're gonna have to redo it. Although it prolly won't be a problem to you, it's a little annoying when technical reasons get in the way of artistic freedom

Mukhtar - you depress me
same goes for Cold

Ekgonus My first sprite too. You seem to doing much better though :thumb:

wcoastsands He definitely needs more meat on him. Doesn't need to be all pumped up, but currently he'd snap in half on a breeze :)

Satya Concepts are great, when will we see some sprite action?

[grindill]

OK, first time trying sprite stuff. Here's what I've got so far. Just really playing around because it looked like a lot of fun. Obviously still a WIP. Probably going to give her a bikini top for modesty's sake.

[kirilot]

Maph, Thanks for clearin that up,:thumb: Ill have to do some optimizing, this guys isn't really a grunt either so i might need to rethink the design, still fun none the less. I think he fits into this world you're creating.

Here it is cleaned up

[temmink]

@kirilot: Have you thought about having him backflip after the attack back to his starting position, might be cool, also a bit of slide would help sell the landing better.

[rabidbaboy]

Working on mine, and I have a question:
is hand-made antialiasing allowed?

And I see some people using jpeg. :(

EDIT: whew! finally got the "flow" right, I think. :D Going for a "brain in fluid inside a glass globe" look. cc?

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/945/fluidframes.png
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9437/fluid.gif

[walrus]

That's got a nice flow to it... Is that for a neutral animation? I could see the liquid sloshing around all different ways if the character were more in motion, like for an attack. But anyhow, as for anti-aliasing by hand, sure! Just don't go crazy with it - we do want all of these entries to look good together, and if your edges are too anti-aliased, they won't quite match.

Kirilot - Don't overthink the "grunt" thing too much. The point is, he's a lower-level attacker, not a boss. Your guy fits fine.

[sebaimage]

Hi everyone here is the character I´m playing with, take a look at the process. Is not yet finished but I like it.

[rabidbaboy]

Walrus: Yes, it's for the idle/neutral. Just an up-down, left-right kind of dealie. I'll probably add some bubbles, too. Working on the glass globe frames, shifting highlights and shadows. Figure it will look good if coupled with the fluids. ;)

[Genma Saotome]

Neutral animation, 6 frames

[temmink]

@Genma Saotome: That idle looks great, I love the puffing out of breath feel. Awesome

Here is the rough-in of my attack cycle, is 10 frames atm.
http://www.temmink.org/uploads/spritewip3anim.gif

Obviously still some tweaking to do but I think that will happen as I tighten up the frames. Any crits before I get going?

[Maph]

What's in the chest, Genma Saotome? :)



On a side note:
Walrus and I are still looking for some dedicated help in both the art and coding department.
As we are working on this voluntarily outside of our day jobs, we can use all the help we can get to get this game published.

We're still looking for a dedicated animator, seeing that a lot of animation needs to be done (fx, characters, background idle props, etc...).
Proper skills in 2D animation are required ofcourse.

For the coding help we're looking for someone that is experienced in (or willing to learn) writing gameplay logic such as trigger and dialogue events, self-contained mini-games, etc...
Experience in Unity is preferred, but it's easy to pick up. Ditto with C# syntax. Anyone that's a bit technical minded and can find their way in Javascript or PHP will find the C# syntax quite charming.
Experience and/or knowledge of Objected Oriented Programming is a must though.



We can't offer payment yet (see the FAQ), but if you're willing to contribute to the GameArtisans community, this is the way to do it! :D

Interested or questions? Send either me or walrus a pm!

[ryansumo]

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h100/endlessthirteen/artwork/alien2.jpg

Not enough time to sprite it up yet, but I finished the design at least. :) Still got about two weeks so that should be plenty of time.

[Samhell]

...and the awesomeness just continues on this thread... Crazy animations, I think I don't like you people anymore. :uhh:

*sigh*

Here's an update for mine, I think I'll start pixeling soon.

http://murskain.pp.fi/images/2009_dig_Infestation_mini01_thug2.png

[Frump]

I'm not totally settled on the design yet, but she's going to be some sort of Alien Space Pirate. I thought the whip would be a fun weapon to animate and fairly simple to draw out in pixels. Here's the base lineart/silhouette. The pose is pretty stiff right now because I couldn't get the gesture I had drawn precisely enough with the pixels, but I'm hoping it will look better with idle animation.

Crit away, this is definitely an area where I could use critique. I have only ever done one 3d animation walk cycle, stick figure flip book animations and some rpg maker sprite editing. Looking forward to working more on this.:D

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3142/sprite100.png
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6453/sprite200.png

[jasonin3d]

@Oddin – Once again I’m lovin your character! If I may, I’d say that the only thing missing to pull off the belts would be for them to follow the curvature of the body and don’t forget the back of the belts and as for the stiffness it looks better in your big drawing cause you see where his waist ends, maybe thinning the fore-arm out a little to see the waist. Imho of course! Looking good! I know it’s already a long paragraph but if you want to bring back the cigarette just don’t show the collar on that side. Ok I’m done!

@Sebaimage – very cool!! I prefer the double beard personnaly but still very cool design!

@Genma Saotome – I love how the animation make him look out of breath! Real good animating there!.

@Samhell – you know what I love the most about your character, his nonchalant way! You should make his cigarette dangle from his lip when his wounded.. Also I don’t know how feasible that would be but, I’d be cool if he pulls out his cigarette before attacking with the chainsaw as to not get blood on it (some nice secondary animation!) Just a thought!

[walrus]

Sebaimage - nice design! I'm hoping to see lots of way and overlapping animation on that beard! :)

Genma - Nice animation! :thumb:

Temmink - I like the motion of the animation! The part that doesn't work, for me, is not the animation but the neutral pose. Having his feet pointing in opposite directions make's him look awkward (or like a ballet dancer,) neither of which work very well. I might suggest turning his left foot more towards us. Remember to keep the blast separate, so we can swap out different blasts and stuff. But I think it would totally work to light up his screen-left side when he fires for a single frame or two.

RyanSumo - Nice design! Imho, needs a larger gun, though! :)

Samhell - Looking good! My only suggestions would be to dull down the bright yellow belt buckles and maybe tone down or mute or change the color of the skin. Maybe try a color more different from the main character of the game, there are plenty out there! :D

Frump - Ah, it's good to see a female among these rouges! Her proportions look great! (For a human... but you know, you could make her a human if you wanted - there ARE humans in this galaxy, just not a ton as in Star Wars, and we didn't want everyone to make one.) I actually had an earlier version of Ketra with a laser-whip - think a whip with the whip part glowing like a light saber. (You're welcome to use the idea if you want, though don't burn her left hand off!) Now that you've got the proportions down, time to start designing clothing and personality!

[Ultrabilus]

here what ive got.
any suggestions for a weapon ?

[jasonin3d]

@ultrabilus - a futuristic chaingun!

[jasonin3d]

hey walrus and maph, for the extra help do you have deadlines? If it's pretty loose I might be able to throw in some time to helping out.

[omnicypher]

i put his feet on level, changed the color scheme and turned the weapon into more of a gun

[Samhell]

Ultrabilus, electric cattleprod!

[Samhell]

Uuuh... Walrus, I think you have the 2 trenchcoat baddies mixed up. :-)

Jasonin3d, Thank you man! The cigarette thing is an awesome idea! Gives him more "class" if he keeps it out from the way with the HTH attack. The dangle was planned for the wounded state. ^__^

Teeheeheee, I can now add this to my inspiration source for the character.
A-team, Hannibal (http://yankeecanuck.com/wp2/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/hannibal.jpg)

whereas I started with only this:
Hill Street Blues (http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/060130/141540__hsb_l.jpg)

Thanks!

[walrus]

Samhell - Big oops, I did mix them up! I'm sorry!

ultrabilius - One suggestion for your guy - move the tip of the tail a bit further away from the body so that they don't feel like they're on a tangent with each other. As for weapon, he's a small guy, so I think it would be a fun contrast to have a nice large sci-fi assault rifle, like
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leviwalton/2744096041/ or
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hazel-fantasy/3707679935/

Omnicypher - Just my opinion, but I like the brown and purple one more - the smore muted skin tones fit with the test characters to the left more than the bright green, and feels like less of a cliche, imho.

Jasonin3D - Glad you might be able to help! It's very loose: We're going to be working on these minis and this game for months and months to come, so there's a lot of time. We just need to keep some movement going in a positive direction. Anyone else?

[Samhell]

Hahaha, no worries. You just got me going on there for a while, looking for the yellows in my character.

*I is tired and I've been playing WAY too much Modern Warfare 2*

Okay, back to pixels...

[wcoastsands]

Sebaimage - Haha! I like your guy A LOT! Especially his character. Seems to be right on for this project. Great work!

Walrus and Oddin - Thank you for the feedback! I'm taking it into consideration as I rework the character. I like the slender frame of the character, but I think you're right about having more of a presence on screen. May also add some more items to the character while trying to keep his appearance simple, as I'd like to keep him a lower level grunt. Reworked a little last night. Hope to post an update tonight.

[GE_GRAZE]

Well never done pixel art before but its an awsome idea, also never done animation before so thats guna be challenging. can we have multiple entries?

[Samhell]

Okay, one more from me today. Got the basic sprite almost done, need to work on what's showing from underneath the trenchie. Tomorrow I should have the idle animation done and continue from there.

http://murskain.pp.fi/images/2009_dig_infest_thuganimsheet_WIP_01.png

More pixels tomorrow, now for some more MW2... mwahahahaa!

[Cold]

Working on mine, and I have a question:
is hand-made antialiasing allowed?

And I see some people using jpeg. :(

EDIT: whew! finally got the "flow" right, I think. :D Going for a "brain in fluid inside a glass globe" look. cc?

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/945/fluidframes.png
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9437/fluid.gif

this is pure sex :thumb:

[Maph]

hey walrus and maph, for the extra help do you have deadlines? If it's pretty loose I might be able to throw in some time to helping out.

As walrus said, no deadlines, but it's a very dedicated project that will take a long development cycle. So all the help is welcome.
Send either walrus or myself a pm if you want to help and in what area. :)

[walrus]

GE_Graze - Welcome! I have an e-mail in to Fred to ask him whether the contest voting system allows for more than one entry per user, but 'til i hear back, assume not. Folks should really spend the bulk of their time polishing one entry to perfection. If you find yourself with more free time, make additional animations!

samhell - And now, a suggestion actually intended for you! Seeing your sprite on the page with the other two, it feels like he's much more washed out than the others. You might try deepening your shadows more, shooting for a stronger value shift throughout. Good luck!

[Genma Saotome]

@temmink, jasonin3d, walrus - Thanks
@Maph - We will see when be animation attack will be ready. :think:

[Oddin]

rabidbaboy that's some cool flow you got man

Samhell Nice design. All hail the mighty trenchcoat :)

jasonin3d Thanks for the tips. I kinda had most of those in mind. The original idea was to make his belts flail a little , so I made them go downward. Didn't turn out the way I imagined though :paper:
I thinned his forearm a little to show the back of the belts. As for the cigarette - I really like his to go all the way around, plus there's another trenchcoat guy with cigarette around here so I'll let him have it :)

Walrus Thanks man. I dimmed the buckles a tad, and I changed the skin color. Didn't know which way to go , since red or orange would just make him completely dull, any "greener" and he'd turn into a teenage mutant ninja turtle - so I went with with purple. What say you?

Next step animation. Now that's something I don't have a clue about. Should be fun.

[BADROBOT]

Hi All! I hope it's not too late to join in the fun on this thing. I've been watching it for a week or so now. Last night I decided I oughta get my hat in the ring. This is such a cool idea, it was too hard to resist. Here's what I've done so far: character design was last night, and I painted up that ugly background today. Probably should have made it slightly more monochromatic... but ah well. I've got to get rolling on the animations now. Never done them using photoshop. All the sprite work I did in the past was done on DPaint Animator or ProMotion. Anyhow.. here ya go:

[Draxxuss]

man oh man.. I really feel like I'm missing out on this. Keep up the mucho grande work guys.

[Kalango]

Awesome stuff ppl, i wish i had way more time to use in my piece.
Mukhtar- thanks man, i'll do my best
Walrus- Thanks, i fixed his eyes(i had the same feeling about them), i used these colors for some reason i forgot now... anyways i think it has too much hues but i will see how this goes and i may change the palette later, as for his gun i will do some mutation morphing coolness, i will post the animations sketches when i make them... Thanks again.

Anyays, heres the lastest update....:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b185/Kalangossauro/2D%20art/Pixel%20Art/aliendude_stand.gif
I think it looks better in 2x, there are some glitches on the anim but...whatahell..
Awesome entries so far.
Let me hear some C&Cs.

EDIT: i'm thinking the color should me more clear...damm...
Mockup Madness!:
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b185/Kalangossauro/2D%20art/Pixel%20Art/mockup.png

[MattBlack]

First attempt at a sprite
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/blueguy.png
and second
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/red_lizard.png

[rabidbaboy]

MattBlack: I don't recommend battling in your boxers, haha. And his left hand, the one holding the weapon, looks awkward. Then again, he IS an alien. :D
Kalango: Nice animation! Though his legs look wobbly. And to fix the color problem, up the contrast and cut the saturation. ;) Other than that, it's good.
BADROBOT: You hit the style right on the head. And knocked it flat. :thumbsup:
Cold: Thanks! :)
Oddin: Tell me if these new "angled" ones look alright. :D

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8976/fluidanim.gif

And some concepts:
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/1309/fluid2.png
I wanted him to have an excuse for the fluid going all swishwoshy inside. So I want to give it a tentacle type of appendage.

Also, five angles of the globe, five frames of fluid swishing, and five frames of shifting highlights. Should be great, if I find the time to finish this. >__<

[Oktorawk]

Idle anim is mostly done, barring some little issues, runs at 12 fps
27209

[omnicypher]

i realized my proportions were horrible, and my character wasnt fitting in enough, so i made a quick zbrush sketch to solve the proportion issues and find a medium between what i had and one of the characters from the game. i know the point was not to render out each frame, but i was thinking of using it as a concept to get proportions correct, and still hand draw each frame. is that allowed?

[Samhell]

walrus, Thanks for pointing out the problem with the value and saturation. I blame it on all the muzzleflashes and explosions of MW2 that are now probably permanently imprinted on my retinas. >__<

Here's an update with more darker and richer hues, in my non sleep deprived eyes I think this is OK?
http://murskain.pp.fi/images/2009_dig_infest_thuganimsheet_WIP_02.png

Kalango, I really love your character. He? looks so sad and heatbroken. <3 I'd love to see more highlights on his skin though, so that the form would stand out more.

[Samhell]

rabidbaboy, hope your merc sprays that swirling green goo as the attack? That would be gross and yet, so damn cool! :-D

Oddin, Hell yes, the trenchcoats rule! As do cigarette smoking baddies! I think your character looks like he could be the brains of the trenchcoat unit. I know for sure mine's just a simple, violence loving thug. :-(

BADROBOT, awesome character design!

[jasonin3d]

@BadRobot – Great design! Can’t wait to see the animation on him

@Kalango – Very cool! I think the only big glitch is his 1 pixel forward if it wasn’t for that it would look very smooth!

@Mattblack – I’m a big fan of different and I’m lovin your dude in his boxers! I’d work on finishing him up, would be very original!

[walrus]

Kalango - Your characters really get lost in front of that particular background (not that that's one that will be used in the game. I'll try to post the space-station backgrounds (also a mock-up only) later today, but in the meantime, you may want to rethink your colors. All of your colors have very similar values. If you turned him greyscale, he'd be entirely middle-greys. Try some lighter and darker values. (and personally, I think the blue-green works a lot better than the dark purple, though I think you could still try more.)

Omnicypher - The 2X guy you posted still needs a lot of clean-up to give him a nice crisp single pixel outline, and no matter what your process is, I suspect there's no escaping that hand-clean-up. But it's something we all have to do - but we're agnostic as to how you get there, so if you want to give that workflow a try, be my guest! But I also believe that you will improve at drawing in proportions consistently by doing it more, not by taking shortcuts.

Samhell - Could be my bright monitor, but he still looks washed out compared to the others. The values on his upper legs and tail and under his chin wattles, for example, should be in heavier shadow from being lit from overhead. But right now, they don't look all that darker than anything else on his skin. Ditto on his trenchcoat under his arms - all the ones I mentioned are the areas that feel like they need the deepest shadows but aren't getting them. Also, I think you could experiment more with the stripe color on his trenchcoat. Lavender is not a very aggressive or threatening or bold bad guy color, but also, your lavender is pretty much the exact same value as the trenchcoat brown, so it doesn't stand out at all, especially when you think of how small the screen these will be seen on is going to be. What about more of a chocolate color, or better yet, a darker grey (which would feel more science-fictiony than light purple.) Just an idea....

Octorawk - Nice animation, I like the subtle swinging of the face tentacles. (Too bad they're so hidden.) The arm shape feels a bit thick, as it's lacking the subtle thick and thin areas that convey muscles underneath the flesh. Also, might be nice to see a hint of gut movement as he bounces up and down. Good luck! :thumb:

[Inpw]

Here is rough tail animation. Tweaking in process.
Still thinking about guns.

http://i626.photobucket.com/albums/tt347/Inpw/PixelArt_1/Wip02.gif

[omnicypher]

sweet, i guess i get too keep my workflow. is a standard minigun futuristic enough, or should i halo it up a bit? and is this becomming too much of a boss character?

[walrus]

Great, now you just have to trace every frame with single pixel outlines (and animate him, of course.) Personally, I might suggest making him a little smaller... but overall, he looks not-altogether-terribly-intelligent, so he doesn't read as a boss to me. I also think some of the details on him could be simplified to read well at sprite-size.

By the way, a general announcement for all who asked:
The mini-comp submission process will not let you submit more than one entry for a challenge. One entry per user maximum.

[Samhell]

Walrus, Thanks again for the good points. I'm starting to suspect too that my screen is a bit too dark :-/ *shrug* I did take another pass at the character though and everything sort of feels solid now (minus the still missing details), I'll start the animations finally based on this.

http://murskain.pp.fi/images/2009_dig_infest_thuganimsheet_WIP_03.png

p.s. I think I'll keep the lavender/purple, my baddie maybe a simpleton but he is a simpleton with a sense of style. He likes to match colors as he gets ready to go out to bruise up victims... and since, the purple really matches bruises too. Makes sense, yes? *grins*

The values I did darken though, so - thanks again for a good pointer!

Awesome work on this thread, the Zbrush made character by omnicypher is crazy!

[Genma Saotome]

Preview of attack animation.

[Inpw]

Genma Saotome Nice animation! It seems it will be area attack :)

[walrus]

Genma - Nice motion! Your pirate's chest changes volume a lot during the animation. It feels like it grows a lot as he attacks with it, and you should fix that before you clean up. I feel like your character is way too nautical-piratey for a serious science fiction game, but think you've put in some great motion in him nonetheless, and just as his own character, he looks really cool.

Oh, and for anyone who may need it, here's a blank space-station background - not a final background, just a rough, but maybe it will help:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/mdashow/spaceStationBckg01.jpg

[Oddin]

Genma Saotome That's amazing man

rabidbaboy Yup - still kicks ass

Samhell Mine isn't that bright either :D

Here's my attack animation. Crappy I know, but still makes me kinda proud :)
I'll tweak it some more. It's more difficult than I imagined :paper:

anyway - tell me what you think
p.s. fumes from the nozzle will get tweaked, and I'll prolly ad a swoosh effect to it. I wanna make it seem like he pulled his gun really fast.

If I get the time I'll make another attack, shotgun-like

[MattBlack]

Thanks Rabidbaboy and Jason 3d :)

I have changed the left hand - better?
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/blueguy-4.png

[Oktorawk]

Thanks Walrus, gave his belly a bit of movement, and gave him some definition in his biceps, should make him look a little stronger.

27223

[kirilot]

Genma, exageration is key right? I would pop his feet up and him maybe even more to stress the slam, as if it pop'ed him up from all the force. ;) my2c

[walrus]

Someone earlier said that they might like to animate one of my characters - apologies, but I forget who - so here one is. I think he'd make a great addition to the crew, i just don't have time to work on him and everything else. If anyone wants to work on him, go for it!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/mdashow/fishheadpirate02.png

[Cold]

I wouldnt mind! I need to see if I can fit it in anywhere after my weekend, for now though im optemistic:D

[womball]

An update. I may have to change the chest or legs. Something seems off.

[MattBlack]

Womball - legs seem slightly smaller than the torso - imho :)

[MattBlack]

started an axe wielding cow type alien
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/beast.png

[BADROBOT]

This isn't anywhere near final. It still needs some settle frames and I will probably tweak the pacing on it too.. he seems to step a little too deliberately and slowly into his attack.. so lots of tuning to go.. but I thought I'd post where it's at right now before I break for dinner. :) Any critiques you guys want to offer are welcome. :D ALSO: Thank you to everyone for the nice compliments on the previous post! I hope everyone is enjoying this old school sprite fun as much as I am.

[jasonin3d]

animation update on the shooting (also removed his goatee)

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn203/jasonin3d/spriteshootBIG2-1.gif

[wcoastsands]

Here's my latest so far:

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_rev04.gif

[walrus]

MattBlack - No offense, but he feels a lot more fantasy than sciecne fiction. No clothes, a primitive belt across the chest and an axe as a weapon (and the fact that he's a cow) all make him look like he'd be a lot more at home in 'Diablo' than 'Mass Effect.'

Jasonin3D - Watch out for the size of his head- it changes size throughout the aniamtion, and gets larger than it is in the neutral.

[BADROBOT]

I tweaked the rough attack a bit more...

[BADROBOT]

...but still didn't really like it.. so I tweaked it some more... :D

[BADROBOT]

Walrus or Maph - How does sprite manager pack the frames? Does it index based on the largest frame, then place all other frames inside a space of that size, or does it pack the frames individually, perhaps using a mask per frame so it can fit more on a sprite sheet? Never fiddled with that program, so I'm sorta clueless about the optimum way to set up animations for it. At the moment, I'm just animating by "feel" and not worrying about trying to constrain the motion too much.. but I don't mind taking a different approach if the end result will be better for the game.

[Maph]

Walrus or Maph - How does sprite manager pack the frames? Does it index based on the largest frame, then place all other frames inside a space of that size, or does it pack the frames individually, perhaps using a mask per frame so it can fit more on a sprite sheet? Never fiddled with that program, so I'm sorta clueless about the optimum way to set up animations for it. At the moment, I'm just animating by "feel" and not worrying about trying to constrain the motion too much.. but I don't mind taking a different approach if the end result will be better for the game.

For what it's worth, SpriteManager2 isn't that super smart when building a sheet. It just takes every frame of every animation assigned to a GameObject (Unity term) and puts those where there is room on a texture.
So in the end you end up with a texture with randomly positioned frames in it. But it does not duplicate frames though, which is good.

If you need a comprehensive look on how SpriteManager works, check out the vids over at http://www.anbsoft.com/middleware/sm2/index.htm

Edit: None of this is relevant to your final entry btw!
The winners will be asked by walrus and me if they want their creations submitted in the game or not. If agreed, I will provide a comprehensive document explaining on how I need the frames (read: optimized for work with SpriteManager).
So for your final entry, just treat it as creating a standard animation. :)

For the sake of good practice, do keep your effects in seperate layers!

[Genma Saotome]

@walrus - Thanks for advice and background. Don't worry about chest's volume now, it has been drew roughly. On final animation i will cater for my original chest.

@Inpw, Oddin - Thanks :)

@kirilot - Thanks, I shall try it.

Update:

[jasonin3d]

Walrus - You're right I saw that too before posting last night, what happened is I had gave him a mask and removed it just before posting (the mask made him look like a duck!:uhh: ) so yeah I will redraw the head and then do the breathing animation. But I wanted to know since I'm new to all this how's my animation, does it compare?

[Melrick]

love the animation Genma,

[dray]

lot of great works here. i never done sprite before and i'll probably not find the time to do it but very nice comp and great work everyone.

[temmink]

@jasonin3D: I think your animation is looking pretty cool. Couple of comments, The gun charging thing is a bit distracting, I keep thinking it is his hand or something. Perhaps a progress bar sort of charge along the guns length or maybe if you just showed static electricity sort of charging at the end of the barrel. The other thing that bothers me a little is how his front foot slides so much. Would be good if he lifted his foot when returning to his idle pose rather than just slide forward.

@Genma Saotome: I'm with walrus on the theme of your character being a bit weird for a sci fi game, perhaps you could make the chest he is carrying a more futuristic weapons crate or something. And maybe his peg leg could be more cybernetic looking. More Space Piratey! I hope you can tweak it a bit to fit the theme because I really like him, very cool. Also, regarding his actual attack, don't forget it has to fit with a 'one size fits all' hit animation for the hero character, your attack looks like it would crush her outright!

@badrobot: I like the idea, I kinda feel that with the way his hand is at his idle pose it would fit better if he sort of 'softball pitched' the fireball underhand, or like a backhanded shuryuken throw or something. Would also be cool if you could see him charge up or something before he throws it.

@mattblack: If this is going to be your first attempt at animating in 2D I would probably suggest you go with a ranged attack, melee attacks require much more fluid animation because of the shifting weight and the movement. I'm in the same boat, as many of us are, in being new to sprite animation but I think a ranged attack will be much easier to polish and be happy with.

[womball]

So I should just make the legs longer?

[Oddin]

BADROBOT The guy looks awesome, and animation is shaping up nicely. I tend to agree with temmink on the backhand throw, but it's up to you. I definitely think he could use a wound up though.

wcoastsands Still to slim imho. some meet on those bones would do him good :)

jasonin3D loving it. tammink has a point about his leg in the 'return to neutral' move. But gun isn't confusing me :thumb:

womball You can elongate the legs by a small amount, but I don't think you need to change anything. He doesn't need to be of perfect proportions. He is an alien after all :)

Tweaked my attack some more. Almost ready to call it done...

Opinions anyone?

[BADROBOT]

Maph - Thanks for the insight about SpriteManager 2. I'll go check out the link, but for purposes of the challenge, I'll just keep moving forward as I have been. I'll definitely keep all the effects on different layers. I'd started doin' that already with the latest posts. There may be a frame or three where the energy ball is still in his hand that I'll keep it as part of the same layer.. but it's not necessary to do so. Thanks again for your help.

Temmink and Oddin - Thanks for the comments guys. Hmm, a backhanded kind of throw huh? I could certainly give that a whirl. Is this game turn based? For purposes of that, a little wind up could work. I had a first pass with a bit more of a wind up, but it felt like he was taking to long to get his attack off so I ditched it. But I'll definitely explore it again. I have an idea for a more powerful attack that was going to use a bit of a wind up - as kind of a warning something nasty was about to happen. Anyhow, it's all really rough right now and there's plenty of time left so I'll do some experimenting and let you guys see the results.

[BADROBOT]

Oddin - OK... I forgot to give you some feedback on your animation last post. But, here's what I'm seeing:

1. His upper right arm (gun hand) is really stiff. There's not even the slight effect from the recoil of him firing his gun - it probably should have a little "follow through" effect. You could actually push the recoil back into his torso a little to give the gun a little more punch. I think you might even have enough pixels there to suggest a trigger pull with his first finger. ;)

2. His trench coat on his lower left leg is changing shape, but for no apparent reason. It might better suit him if when he changes stances that the coat has a little overlapping motion which follows his body shift and then settles down. If you're subtle about it, you could probably make that happen in 3 frames.

3. Perhaps rather than the red interior of the muzzle flash, you might opt for really light yellow or near white. You can keep the mass of the flash yellow as is, and then try a slightly darker outline - maybe an orange-ish color. That would help to suggest a really hot flash that is cooling as it expands. If the orange is too "heavy" based on the number of pixels you have to work with there, just go with the two colors.. near-white and yellow surrounding.

Hmm, I'm sure I could make more comments but for now I'll let you chew on those ideas. Mostly, this is about learning and fun.. so don't take anything I say too seriously. :D

[Oddin]

Cool - thanks

a quick reply :)
- there is a slight recoil, but it's a single frame so it looks more like a twitch than anything else - I obviously need to push it further
- the coat moves, because I forgot to remove that effect. I meant to make it all kinda shift from the recoil, but since this whole animation is literally three different frames cloned, but with different muzzle flashes it looks way to glitchy.
I think I need to add some frames to smooth everything out.
The color of the flash isn't final - I actually had no idea what color to use so I'll definitely try your advice. I'll try your advice on everything.

Thanks for all the pointers - you gave me a lot material to explore. I'm a total newb so you've been most helpful.

in the meantime:
I somehow can't force myself to start doing the neutral animation. Here's a super quick sketch of his heavy attack. This one packs a bigger punch so there's gonna a lot more recoil, plus the transition to final firing position will be a lot smoother.

Again, thanks man - hopefully next update will be better

[MattBlack]

Walrus - no offense taken :)

Temmink - thanks

OK here's a new character
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/robot_pirate.png

[walrus]

Matt - One of the rules for this mini (see post #1) is no robots. Not because we don't like them, but because we'll be devoting several minis just to robots in the future. Please come up with an organic character. :thumb:

[MattBlack]

Sorry missed that:(

[wcoastsands]

Oddin, thank you for the feedback!

I've been milling over what you and Walrus had mentioned earlier about adding some bulk to give my character more of a presence on screen. In the process, I remembered an exercise for revision I learned of a while back at one of the Gnomon Workshops. I think it was Thumb War: Design Iteration Combat Simulation (http://www.autodestruct.com/thumbwar.htm). The key was to take the original concept and rework it to the extreme under the direction of creative feedback received. As you might imagine, this helps the artist break away from the original concept and assists in making genuine progress toward the artistic direction given. So with this in mind, I came up with the following concept during break today:

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_sketchConcept02.jpg

What do you think? I'll try to have a sprite flushed out tonight.

Update 2009-12-04 00:08

This evening's efforts:

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_rev05.gif

[android009]

hello.. it's been a while since i've been able to log on... sorry i've been gone so long.. saw this challenge, and since i'm out of a job right now have lots of time on my hands and thought i'd check it out... :)

[Genma Saotome]

Melrick - thanks :)
temmink - I stuck so much on idea with chest, how can i to refuse him now? :) But I will think how make my pirate more futuristic.

[walrus]

Genma - the goal of doing these sprite minis (or any other minis) doesn't necessarily have to be to fit the theme or get in the game: At the core they're still about having fun, producing wok you're proud of, and interacting with the community. If you like your guy (I know you do) you should keep going with him. Trust me, there are going to be a lot more minis where you can try to aim closer to the theme!

wcoastsands - I think you've preserved the essential uniqueness to your alien while making him seem more plausible and giving him more presence - it's working a lot better! Here are a few ideas to push it further, if you like: You could try to make the upper arms thicker to flow into the torso more smoothly. Try making both of his hands the same size. And feet - how does he stand still with no feet, just points? The body design is still so simple, maybe you can be a little more elaborate with the clothing... or at least try something other than bike shorts! :) Anyhow, just some thoughts...

[Cold]

http://www.nikkolai.com/gameartisans/SpriteMini01_grunt01_rev05.gif

To be honest, it would be rude not to make this into a trade mark of such alienated class. You cannot miss this opportunity to make this freature into an animation!:O

It blows itself up before an attack.:D

[Genma Saotome]

Genma - You have calmed me, I will try :)

[Oddin]

Quick update before anime marathon :)

badrobot I tried to follow you advice so here's a list of thing I did:
Changed the color of muzzle flash
Added an extra frame for the recoil. Made his hat jump up a little to show the whole face, he now him clenches his left fist before shooting (he even squeezes the trigger but it's not visible at all)
and added more motion to the arms and coat...

I can't for the love of me make his lower body move even slightly without looking totally crappy...

that's it for now - stay tuned :)

[MattBlack]

OK non robot - thoughts?
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii367/mcarless/blueman.png

[Cold]

ODDIN - it might be better to let his face point down one pixel when gun is blasting off with recoil. right now its not a natural action to have his head popping up, so try down.

+ his whole upperbody/waist could move one pixel back with the recoil to optimise the feel

gl

[BADROBOT]

Oddin - I agree with Cold's feedback with regards to both the head motion and the body. Definitely try shifting the whole torso back a pixel or two when his gun is firing. If you go as extreme as the 2 pixel shift, you can have him "settle" for one frame on the return to his normal stance. In other words.. shift the whole torso (or at least the upper part) back 2 pixels, then on the next frame bring it forward one, then the frame after forward one more, which returns him to the "base" firing stance.

The clench of the left fist doesn't really feel right, I think I'd ditch that.. or go much more subtle with it. You could also try forgetting the clench, but change the angle of his whole fist. Remember to follow the motion and anchoring from where the fist was in the previous frame, that way the motion will feel correct.

I see that trigger pull - :D but if you don't feel it, go ahead and take it out.

As for the lower body, I think part of the problem you're having there is you're afraid to change your work. Cold talked in an earlier post about actually redrawing the whole character each frame, which I think is sound advice. It breaks you out of being afraid of "screwing up" or being too much in love with what you've painted. My approach is to animate quickly, sketching out the motion. I'll later go back and block in major color masses, once I feel the motion is reading well enough.. and then finally, the hard part.. hand tuning and painting each frame to a polished finish. Not all frames require super polish though. Quick motions usually read a bit better with a little bit of a "blur".

A slight caveat about completely redrawing each frame. If a piece of the character is going to remain, either perfectly still, or only move subtly then a complete repaint is not necessary, you can simply rework a few pixels where the effect is supposed to happen.

I hope I'm not confusing the issue by what I've written above. Don't mean to overwhelm you with too much info. :)

[Ashurii]

so here is my guy for this little competition, hope that he looks ok so far, and that I can finish this one

[tokkentakker]

first time posting ... trying to get back to doing more hands on work.

I played around with the silhouette, came up with tentacles arms that wrap around a gun.

[walrus]

Ashurii - A good start. Does he have any hands? They're hard to read right now. It might read more clearly once you clean up the outline to a single-pixel line. good luck!

Tokkentakker - Welcome! I like the idea of tentacles for arms, but the overall form is really hard to read right now - you might try going for a clearer silhouette by having him hold the rifle out in front of him instead of cradling it to his chest. Also, his right leg looks fine but the angle on his left leg feels awkward at the moment.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to refine Ketra's death animation (or perhaps on of them?) Anyhow, see what you think and whether I need to make any changes before cleaning it up.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/mdashow/Ketra_death03_rough.gif

[Ashurii]

this should clear up the whole hand issue, if not he has a cannon on his hand that shoots out some green ray of sorts, also added some armor on his legs.

can't wait to know what you think

[BADROBOT]

Walrus -I was looking at the death animation you've started. I get the dramatic pause as she's on her knees before she finally falls flat, but I'm thinking it could use something subtle there. A shoulder slump, the hair falling down a little.. I don't know. Just ideas. Are you drawing at a higher resolution for the sketches? Almost looks that way. :) I'll look at the animation a little more and see if I can come up with any other comments. Until then, I need to finish the rough I'm working on so I can post something other than "blagh blagh blagh" ;)

[BADROBOT]

Alright everyone - finally another real update. After the feedback you guys gave me I took another approach to his attack. I took it far enough forward to do the major color blocking in the animation, but there are going to be subtle changes made as I take it closer to "final". For now though, this is where it's at. As always, any comment or critiques you have are welcome. Thanks! :D

[Cenelder]

Badrobot Damn badrobot thats looking really nice. love the secondary action on those wires!

My only crit is that right now it seems to be moving at a pretty constant pace and you tend to lose a lot of the strong key poses you've developed. Try pausing another frame or two at his extended keypose (where his arm is behind him the furthest) and pause once again in the farthest pose in the opposite direction (once he releases the sludge). I think this might help the viewer to read the action easier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b02LBVyM77s If you go to 2:40 and watch his final throwing instruction, you can see how his arm is much slower as he winds up, and only moves quick right before release. Also, he sort of holds his position in the "release" pose for a bit until his leg comes down and he recovers his balance.

Your animation looks awesome though, its just a tad bit too realistic for such stylized characters! But seriously im frickin IMPRESSED! the crits ive given are just super minor timing things!

Walrus It might be cool if you could do something dramatic with the sword, like have her toss it up in the air and do a spin and then come crashing down beside her (or sticking in the ground). It might be a dramatic ending!! Just a thought!

[Oddin]

Cold, Badrobot thanks for the pointers.
I'll try to make those changes later during the day. I just got summoned to work (on a f***in' Saturday) so it'll have to wait a little.

badrobot your animation is looking amazingl, the only thing is - it's a little confusing right now because it's so fast. try slowing it down just a tad.

walrus When she leans on her sword she could actually stick it into the ground so when she finally passes, it stays there.

edit:
Badrobot I just saw Cenelder's post - that's what I thought. Only he articulated it much better :)

[Cold]

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/mdashow/Ketra_death03_rough.gif


I think its really good! Also I love the shaking at the beginning, might cost frames but what the hell, it looks goood! :)

Just for the long pause when on the knees, feels like u changed the frames length to 0.2 second, which really makes it feel frozen at that point.

My suggestion is either

- have the frames length reduces to 0.1 secs and leave it at that or

- have it reduced to 0.1 secs and add another frame after it with the sword being clearly dropped first before she starts to fall onto the ground from her knees.

+ if you going for something simular to my second suggestion, and adding a frame with editing the sword and hand - just be sure to move the body slightly forward to indicate constant movement, only by one pixel or so.


p.s. working hard right now

[tokkentakker]

Thanks for the feedback walrus.

here is an update on the silhouette based on your feedback.

trying to get some asymmetry in the legs.

[Oddin]

Ok changed the head to go down, and removed the fist clenching.
I left trigger pull - I figure if badrobot can see it so can the rest people :)
and his upper body moves a pixel, or two (I forget) back during the recoil

any better now?

[Cold]

Good work jimmy - BUT its the waiste that needs t0 be pushed back one or two pixels the upper body obiously resting on the waiste is going to flow with it, naturally - And then you blend it around the knees.

You're kneely there though, keep at it.


And loose the wind lines when pulling up the gun, they make the action look slow.

Just to explain quickly - take polygonal lasso tool, select everything upto the thighs, then move two pixels back, and deselect the selection and then redraw the thighs to the knees, dont worrie about being to accurate, as long as u draw it like it ment to fit together, the additional info not being the same on the cloth will act as natural knock on effect from the impacts push. It's a 2 minute fix

[MickeyR]

I'm not going to have time to enter, but I thought you might get a chuckle out of this.

My 4 year old daughter loves this thread (oooo, looped animations!) and insisted we "make a monster". Relying on her for art direction, we made an "orange monster with two tennacles and he has three eyes and he flies and he has a purple BOOMerarang". After she approved the sketch, I did a quick color pixel version.

Walrus, if you need a remix of this game targeted at a very young demographic, I have the perfect AD for ya ;-)

http://subflux.com/comp/mias_monter.gif

[walrus]

Thank you for the advice, folks! There's definitely room to add some more subtlety to the animation - shoulders slumping, hair swinging, making the sword drop more clearly. I'm not going to plunge teh sword into the ground, which will generally be cold hard steel. And Ketra is not super-human in her strength, above average (for a Yttrian) but not super-powered. This is supposed to be sci-fi, not Final Fantasy! :)

The shaking in the middle only cost me 1 frame - sure, it's more frames in the aniamted Gif, but with our engine's sprite manager, the only cost is for each picture. Flickering back and forth between two costs nothing more than the size of the 2nd image.

Oh, and to answer your question, BadRobot, I drew all of these at actual size with a 1 pixel brush. Why work larger than I need to? I'll fill in all the detail on clean-up.

TokkenTakker: I think the rifle sticking out further is definitely going to help the tentacle arms read better. But you misunderstood the other point: I don't think that more asymmetry is needed in the legs, the backleg still looks awkward. The foot isn't standing on the ground plane, and the leg has no bend or flex to it, making it seem very stiff. Hope you don't mind a paintover, but I think something like this could work better:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/mdashow/Tokkentakker_paintover.jpg

I tired to put tentacles in a logical placement, made a head to match the arms, and took the pom -poms off the back of the boots. Feel free to use as much or as little of this idea as you like, and hope you don't mind the redraw!

Mickey - Thanks to you and your daughter for contributing!

[Cold]

I am half way, just got to add injured-stance, attack2 and death. That's it then, prolly won't have enough time, but i'll try to get it done all tomorrow.

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo259/relativity11/test234343-1.gif