Asking for advice on resource creation

[palumatzu]

I seriously didn't know where else to put this but meh =/

Anyway, I wanted some tips on making Boss Sprites that don't come precluded with the RPG maker programs. I thought about using Paint, but I wasn't sure if that would translate easily into any rpg maker programs. I wanted to be able to make my own Boss Monsters, because using the precluded monsters kinda makes it repetitive, which is bad.

 

[Jesse - PVGames]

Well, paint is good and all but you might want to use something that lets you have a transparent background, which I don't think paint does. There is a thread that lists some decent software to use for creating such art:  http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/5027-software-for-making-pixel-art/

Though it does not list GIMP, which I would also recommend since it is basically like a free version of photoshop. 

 

[Sharm]

I'm not entirely sure where it goes either, either, honestly.  I'm going to move it to resource requests for now, it's a better fit than here.

Making a boss sprite isn't much different than making a character sprite.  Paint is okay but I wouldn't recommend it.  I'd say use something that has layer and transparency support it's a lot easier to work that way.

If you're going to making a battler to match the sprite you most definitely don't want to use paint.  You'll want something with good anti-aliasing tools, GIMP is a good choice all around for that.

 

[palumatzu]

Ok, sweet. I want to make characters that either aren't human, or have a bunch of extra bits to make it more or less humanoid. Its child's play making a Human sprite, but that totally defeats my intended purpose.

EDIT: Also, no one has given me any artistic pointers.

 

[Sharm]

Making a monster sprite is a bit more like making a new sprite base than it is like working from an existing base, that's for sure.  I found this tutorial.  Not sure how helpful it'll be but it is going from the point of view of making monsters for RM.  This tutorial may be helpful too, even though it's focusing on humanoid sprites.  Both of those tutorials use outlining to define the image pretty early on, which I do not recommend.  It's better to sort out the thing with a silhouette first with blocks of color representing the different moving parts, then go in later with details like outlines and shading once you've got the animation solid.

 

[palumatzu]

Sweetness! What else... Considering making some of the bigger battles similar in nature to Zodiark and Yiazmat from FF12, and thus make battles rely on strategy moreso than on pure grinding. Shouldn't be a bad Idea, right?

 

[Sharm]

I donno, I'm just an artist.  If you want game balancing advice you'll want to ask elsewhere.

 

[palumatzu]

I meant in terms of entertainment. Simple battles vs. Difficult ones, complex strategies vs. level grinding. Either way, i'm still grateful.

 

[Andralexis]

In your position, I'd focus on getting the concept right and not the sprite. The sprite will only be as good as you are with pixel art, in the other hand, if your concept is solid, it will survive over whatever flaws your sprite has.

 

[palumatzu]

Well, I've never done sprite art before, so I would enjoy making good, decent sprite art

 

[Andralexis]

Well, I've never done sprite art before, so I would enjoy making good, decent sprite art

You'll be unable to come up with good sprite art if you've never done sprite art before. Traditional/digital art skills will not carry you that long, even if you're a good artist.

Why? Because spriting/pixel art requires a different set of skills than traditional and even digital.

 

[palumatzu]

Uhm... I have never done any art. I'm quite literally  an Idealist with a game maker engine.

 

[Sharm]

Oh dear.  Um, I suggest starting small and easy, like with a slime or something.  If you've never made sprites before you won't want to start with bosses.  If you've never done any art before, you've got a lot of basics to learn too.  Use references, lots and lots of references (always a good idea no matter how awesome you are at art).

 

[palumatzu]

xD I love that reaction. But, its always nice to dream big, amirite? lol, still I think I'll do well.

EDIT: I tried playing around with GIMP, but it doesn't snap to the grid as well as I want it to, no matter how small I reduced it to.

 

[mlogan]

Why do you need it to snap to the grid for spriting?

 

[palumatzu]

I find it slightly easier to manipulate.

 

[mlogan]

Well, I'm not entirely sure how you are using it or what size you have the grid set to, but I find it difficult to sprite with the snap to grid setting on. However, I do believe if you go into the preferences under Edit, the tool options has a place you can change the snap distance. I don't know if this is something that would help you or not.

Personally (and I realize my way is not the only way), but I find using the snap while spriting makes it more difficult to place pixels precisely where I want them, as it continually tries to snap the pixels near the grid, not where I want them.

I use the grid for larger stuff. My default is set to 32 x 32 since that is the basic tile size of Ace. I primarily use the snap to grid feature when I am copy and pasting larger amounts of pixels and need them to line up properly. For example, if I'm rearranging a tileset and the tiles need to be in a precise 32 x 32 formation in order to be placed right in Ace. Or if I'm taking the clothes from one sprite and pasting them on another and need it to line up properly in that 32 x 32 space.

So take that for what it's worth, but you did ask for advice.

 

[palumatzu]

Yeah, but If you look at some of what looks like paintings, and then zoom in super close, even in-game portraits and images are made of pixels, albeit ridiculously smaller than usual. I would like to be able to zoom in and then make one big image, by manipulating pixels on a tiny scale.

 

[Sharm]

The scale of the sprite doesn't matter, I'm with mlogan, snap to grid gets in the way.  The only way what you're saying makes sense is if you want the pixels themselves to look bigger, in that case just make it small at first and increase the size.  I have no idea why you'd want to do that though.

 

[mlogan]

I get what you are saying, but you just need to zoom in then, not snap to grid. I'm curious, when you are saying snap to the grid, do you have "show grid" checked as well, or are you talking about the checkerboard pattern of the background?