The Resource WIP thread 2

[L.W. Flouisa]

I might try Pyxel edit. So it's basically suppose help you see it in action while you edit it? I'll definitely look into it.^^

Edit: Yea it works wonderfully for what I need.

Also ended up figured out ddisplaying things as tiles creates different results: tile sets vs. character sprites. For example creating the illussion of height.

Not sure how I'll end up using this accidental discovery.

 

[Rukiri]

This is a smallest tileset I'm experimenting with at the moment. When I opened up the game to test it, the tileset ended up making the town look like it was overgrown by vines.

Not exactly what I was intending.

Yeah, you can't just make random lines and hope it'll work.  In pixel art each pixel needs to be placed with care and on purpose.  If you're hoping for the green stuff to look like something you've got to give it more than contrast and texture, it needs form.  Do you have a program that will let you see things tiled while you work?  I've found that something like that helps a whole lot.  The programs that I know of that do that are Pyxel Edit (my fave), Pro Motion, and Krita.  Pro Motion was part of the Humble Bundle, it's not free.  Pyxel Edit has two versions, the paid one (cheap) and the unsupported and buggy older version (free).  Krita is free but you can't do pixel art with it.

Pyxel Edit is pretty good, watch some tutorials as it's pretty useful for tilesets.  

I may be better at sprites than tiles but I agree, you can't randomly place a pixel and expect it to work!  Pixel Art takes a lot of time, heck I can spend days to months on a spritesheet until I get it right, you need to have patience and a lot of it!

 

[BlackRoseMii]

I tried to make a windowskin by myself. I must say, it's actually quite fun and not as difficult as I thought it would be.

(It's an "ingame" screenshot, because I can see how it would look like in a game and not simply as a png. I hope that's okay.^^°)

Spoiler

What do you guys think?

 

[Kes]

Technically I think you've done a good job.  Now down to personal preference.  I think as a player I would find that quite strong background pattern of 'a' quite tiring after a while.  I also wonder what it would look like when it is a text box and there is a good chunk of dialogue on top of it.

 

[Sharm]

That's a good point. I like the pattern better at the very bottom where it's subtle and reversed.  The frame itself looks really nice.

 

[KanaX]

Too much?

Tried to avoid Pillow Shading, as instructed before (by Sharm, I think).

 

[BlackRoseMii]

@KanaX: I'm not really an expert on pixel art, but that looks gorgeous Oo

I made two other versions of the pattern now. One with smaller and more roses (yes, those are roses, not "a's" XD) and one with bigger and less roses. Which is better? (The first one is the first version)

Spoiler

 

[cabfe]

@BlackRoseMii:

I prefer the second (smaller) one.

(and I did see them as roses at first )

 

[L.W. Flouisa]

Actually I think I could deal with the a letters all over, though to note red might not be everyone's favorite color. I don't happen to be one of them, and there might be enough orange to offset it a little bit.

I prefer the bottom largest one myself, I tend to prefer the fewer larger pattern.

On mine, this is a slight rework of the town tiles. One thing I had noted, it didn't really make any sense for there to be grass underneath the houses, unless they houses were on stands. so I got a dirt tile and blocked it out to create a town road and what lies underneath the houses.

Another observation, when I had not tried Pyxel edit, I couldn't really even out the pattern. If I did pixels to close to the edge it would do to the edge of the tile. So some tiles would have the grass cut off and switch abruptly to the water tiles.

This is the new tile set.

I decided to go for less noise on the dirt tiles.

 

[Sharm]

If you want a tile that repeats well you also have to have transition tiles.  That's just how it works.  That's why autotiles are a thing.  I don't think having absolutely no texture at all is the way to go.  It's boring and effortless, there will be complaints about the art.

 

[cosmickitty]

@ L.W. Flourisa  A lot of people think they'll make "easy" tiles by making simple tiles.  Simple isn't easier, in fact it's sometimes harder.  You have to get the idea of the terrain across with as little detail as possible.  A solid color doesn't do that.  Also your trees won't tile, you're going to have weird blank spaces.

No program is magical and going to make you better.... unless you were only using MS paint   Pyxel edit is a nice program, it's useful when making tiles, but it's not going to do it for you, it helps make it easier to make your tiles seamless.  Graphicsgale also has a preview mode where you can preview a tiled image.

@blackrose I think the contrast is too high for the roses... a text box background shouldn't stand out.  I'd think of the way patterned velvet works and make something along those lines

 

[KanaX]

Any ideas? I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the result.

 

[Rukiri]

Giving freehand sprites a try, it's getting late and only got the head/and some of the hair done. 

I had some disagaea sprites on my hdd and figured they'd be a good size reference.  

Also for scale the smaller snes esque sprite.  (scaled so you can see detail) 

 

[BlackRoseMii]

Okay, one last try. Lowered the contrast of the roses and changed the color a bit. What do you guys think?

Spoiler

 

[Rukiri]

Okay, one last try. Lowered the contrast of the roses and changed the color a bit. What do you guys think?

Spoiler

Text looks horrible, but the windows system looks good. 

 

[KanaX]

@BlackRoseMii the new color is nice and it is definitely easier to read, with the lowered contrast. I had no quarrels with the red background either. However, this new pink one might be easier on the eyes.
If I might be a bit selfish, I would like some bigger roses intermingled with the rest!

Edit: But yeah the text is trash. Fire your script-writer right now.

 

[BlackRoseMii]

Haha XD Don't worry, the text is just there to be there. It's not part of any game. It's just for testing.

 

[SLEEP]

 

whoops ignore the stray pixels

 

[Sharm]

Rukiri:  You should cut down on the color count.  More isn't better when it comes to sprites, it either loses definition or makes no difference once you shrink it down again. The nice thing is, with less colors it's also easier.

SLEEP:  The front walk looks great.  The 3/4's view is a bit odd though, it looks like the gap between the thighs is increasing when the legs are crossed.

 

[Banquo]

Any ideas? I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the result.

I'd give both carpets a stronger contrast. Some darker lines between the different colours so it looks less flat. Take Celianna's carpets as an example:

Spoiler

Edit:

Both carpets look gorgeous! Especially the right one!