Can't find good examples of sprite!

[Pine Towers]

Hello guys! Little help over here?


I'm going for a more proportional style for characters sprites, since the chibi style doesn't fit the mood of my game. RPG Maker XP characters also don't, since the head is still too big for my needs and I'm looking for a featureless face, or with minimal features. The PVGames resources (Medieval and High Fantasy) are almost exactly what I need, except for the pre-rendered feel they convey (I want sprite art, and difficulty to create new content that blends well) and the need to deal with parallaxes and photoshop. Aside supported resources, the Diablo (1+2) and Infinity Engine (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape) characters come close, but too "suffers" from the pre-rendered feel aside the copyright questions.


So, I would like help from your guys, in this subject.


1. Should I (can I?) repaint the PVGames resources (rightfully acquired) to fulfill my needs?


2. Aside the common sprite database sites (both I won't link to since I don't know if I can), is there any other site where I can search for good inspirations or templates to more proportional character sprites?

 

[Sharm]

There are a lot of sprite bases out there, especially if you don't stick to RM stuff, but most of them are going to have unrealistic proportions in some way.  I bet there's something out there though.  What tileset are you planning on using?  This will make big difference on which resources will work and which won't.

 

[Pine Towers]

@Sharm, thanks for the quickly reply. I'm planning on doing my own tileset picking the MV as base, basically redrawing it in DrawBringer's 32 colors palette, the same I'll use for the characters. And that's why the character sprite is so important in my game design, since I'll base every other art aspect with it in mind.


Yes, I know this would be overwhelming for plenty of people, myself included, and that's why I intend to work half the MV resolution using 2x2 pixels as the base drawing unit (basically, drawing everything in 24 pixels then doubling in size before applying it to the 48 pixels MV Editor).


This would, IMHO, reduce the amount of work x4, and within this restriction of a tile of 24 pixels (and the character size appropriate for it) will make the 4-step (3 frame) animation that MV use work better for the character walk cycle to be more natural looking.


Did I make myself clear? English is not my first language so sometimes I don't write clearly enough.

 

[Sharm]

Yeah, it's clear, you're good.


Have you ever made a tileset for an RPG before?  If not, you shouldn't try it.  With even the most devoted person I'd strongly recommend not doing a full RTP replacement as their first thing.  You will burn out, even if it's just redrawing the RTP.  I highly recommend starting with an existing set and expanding and editing it to fit your needs instead.  If you don't mind a lower resolution there are lots of 16x16 sets that would scale up cleanly, and I know of one that uses Dawnbringer's 32 palette.  Be warned though, it's not the easiest to work with such a low color count.  That set is very weak in purples and could really use one more middle brown color.  (I'm currently in the process of making a 16x16 tileset using that palette actually).  It's too bad the DS stuff isn't available in it's raw form, that was originally 24x24.  It's an uncommon size though, so other than the PS1 version of RPG Maker I don't know of any other sets that use it.  If you'd prefer to start with a higher resolution I've found a pretty good method of resizing 32x32 pixel tiles so that they don't look completely terrible in 48x48, it would just need some cleaning up.  Unfortunately reducing it to 24x24 doesn't work at all.


If you're dead set on doing it, would something like this work?

 Or do you need it even more realistic looking?

 

[Pine Towers]

Again, thank you for your quick response, @Sharm.


The idea is to slowly replace default MV for the recolored (DB32) as the need comes, and use the default to sketch and plan.


I never thought of using 16x16 because of the very restrictive canvas and how this would reflect on the font used and other graphics that too would need to be rescaled (faceset, iconset, battlers, battleback... Hmm... Yeah, maybe redrawing everything may really burn me out early than I thought).


The problem with using 32x32 or default 48x48 is the amount of work and details each sprite will need. A proportional character would take 1.5x to 2x the tile size for its height to be "readable", so we're speaking of a 72x48 pixels. This is too much pixels for an amateur like me to deal properly (and to make a 3-frame walk cycle good enough for a proportional character sprite).


Using DB32 was a choice because I haven't found a better color palette that wouldn't overwhelm me in choices and I'm not savvy enough to make my own. Your example sprite is quite nice but still too much head/face for me. I have attached something I've worked on.


Whelp, as I said, I'm still brainstorming and testing ideas and concepts.

 

[Sharm]

Hmm, not a bad plan if it weren't so much work.  That will let you map while you're working on resources, so that's nice.  On the other hand you'd end up creating a lot of resources that you wouldn't need for your game and find yourself wishing you had others that aren't part of the RTP.


16x16 is small, but it's actually a pretty good size for pixel art tiles.  Pixel art is funny, in some ways smaller resolutions are easier because you don't have to worry about the detail and in some ways it's harder because you can't rely on the detail to get your point across.   The nice thing about adding to an existing art style is that even if you do burn out you've still got useable stuff.  If you burn out too early on a brand new set you end up with not enough to do anything with.


Don't get me wrong, I like the DB32 palette, which is why I'm using it for the tileset I'm working on.  It's also nice to just work on pixels without worrying about which colors to use.  Arne has a 64 color set, but it overwhelms me with choices. ;D


I like that base.  You're no slouch at this.  You should be fine just making your own in that case.  If you don't want to, I think you could find some good stuff still.  The sprite I showed you is one I made and just replaced the normal head with a smaller one.  It made the body look thicker but I was surprised with how well it worked.  Maybe if you find a base with the perfect body you can just replace the head with one appropriately proportioned?

 

[Pine Towers]

Thanks one more time for your answer, @Sharm.


And thanks for all the advices, always showing me the roadblocks and problems I haven't thought of. When I spoke about the DB32, it is because I don't know other color pallete (and if you have any suggestion, please would you?) and don't even known if MV uses one with so few colors. I find the POP! Horror style very interesting in how it uses the pixels.


The clothed and 3º one is made with an already existing base as inspiration. The middle one was my attempt to do a thinner/weaker type (for commoners/women/mages) to contrast the strong, old template while working on some spriting concepts as the symmetry of the limbs at each frame (actually, taking the side frame and its front leg as example, I just moved it 1 pixel higher and changed color) and techniques. But, as I said before, I'm just a rookie amateur.


I'll try to work on a 16x16 tile size (which would mean roughly a 24x16 pixel character) and see what comes out of it and see if I can modify some big headed base with a nice body to see how it comes out.