The Resource WIP Thread 3

[Sharm]

@RocketKnight Nice! You've been doing lots of edits for your other project so you have a good idea of how much work is involved for this, so I can just be excited about seeing a brand new original tileset come together instead of worried about you getting burned out.

You're having troubles with light sources again. On the dome you've got at least five light sources, one for each post and two on the top, but none of those light sources are interacting with each other. It's also going to look odd if you put it together with any tile or character lit by a single lightsource. It would be much easier to pick one light source and stick with it for the entire project, doing multiple is difficult, especially if you're not solid on how to do one. The brazier could use more shading, especially on the bars. Everything is colored independently of a light, making it look flat, uniform, and boring. Doing it that way also makes it much easier to accidentally fall into bad pixeling habits, like keeping your highlights right next to the outline pixel for pixel. Since you've been having light source troubles fairly consistently, it will probably take less time and get you better results if you take a step away from your tileset for a bit and do a study specifically of lighting. Any tutorial on lighting will help, it doesn't need to be a pixel art tutorial and would probably work better if it wasn't related to pixels at all. If you don't fix the underlying problem the effect of it in your end results will come up over and over and that would get annoying and time consuming to keep having to fix instead of doing it right the first time.

You've got quite the mismatch of coloring styles between the two pieces. The dome has strong contrast and strong hue shifting, making the whole thing look shiny and in bright light. The very purple shadows could either be a style choice or an indication of lots of yellow light, depending on how it shows up in context. On the other hand the brazier has low contrast any hue shift in the ramps is minimal and not purposeful. It looks like a straight ramp visually. This type of coloring is better for cloudy dull days, where there's no direct light at all and it's supposed to look depressing and uninteresting. Most of the time a straight ramp is to be avoided.

You've also got a mismatch in perspective, the dome is seen from higher above than the brazier, but most people don't notice or care about that sort of thing, and I've seen that level of mismatch in AAA games all the time, so I guess it's not a big deal. If you'd like to fix it, round out the brazier's shape vertically a bit more. You should at least tweak it so that it matches itself. I'm guessing the flat bottom is to get it to fit inside the tile or something, but it's not working.

The architecture on the dome is nice and strong, and it's fun to see such a large architectural element that's meant to be tile based. It makes me really excited to see your first mockup. You've also done some fun things with the shading on the dome, I like the little shadow details that give it some texture. I look forward to more!

 

[RocketKnight]

@Sharm i got your point, but the dome isnt a dome is just a balcony. About the other things i'll try fix them, thank. Your analyze really means a lot for me

 

[Alexander Hawksmoor]

@Sharm I'm glad you said that because all of your #2's were exactly what I was wanting from the character. That makes me very happy.

 

[Sharm]

@RocketKnight It's a balcony? I did not see that at all. If there's supposed to be a railing or some sort of edged bit before the flat section it would be good to make it more pronounced. Make the top edge brighter and thicker perhaps. If it's supposed to be completely flat on the top then you've got a dark area that should be a highlight not a shadow where the front edge transitions into the top.

 

[Robert-Character Creator]

While my work has mostly been code-related lately, I've created some placeholder graphics for some doors and doorways, so my walls aren't filled with holes anymore. Still tweaking the event itself, but here's the concept art. In-game, these doors are actually recessed into the wall half-way, so the tops are slightly hidden.

 

[Prez]

So for my sci-fi adventure game, I've been working on a custom tileset designed to fit in with the PHC artstyle, meant to look like the interior of a grungy old spaceship, with a distinct red-grey sort of motif. I've made a couple mock-ups of what it might look like in-game, with some lighting effects. I'm torn on whether or not I should use Terrax lighting, and I'm also questioning how well I made these pillars. This is my first attempt at making any sort of tileset so let me know what you think.

Spoiler: Screenshots

 

[Sharm]

@Robert-Character Creator Ooh, I like the variety. That's going to look really cool.

@Prez Could you post it without the lighting? I can't tell if the bland sameness is a tile problem or a lighting one, and it's hard to judge the tiles when they're being altered by the atmospheric elements anyway.

 

[Prez]

Sure thing.

Spoiler: No Lights

 

[RocketKnight]

@Sharm It was supposed to be flat but i don't get what you try to say.

I made some retouches in the metal pieces also made new things to. All the bricks need polish.

 

[Sharm]

I'm not feeling great today, so here's an example instead of more words. Things can still read as gray or brown to the mind while still having lots of differences. Don't make things samey, it's boring and flattens everything.

Spoiler: Example

@Robert-Character Creator Sorry, I'm going to have to come back to this later, don't let me forget.

 

[Robert-Character Creator]

@Sharm It's fine, I want to clean up the stairs I want to post here anyway- pixel count is all off. I don't know what's wrong, but I hope you feel better.

Edit: I just remembered why I stopped working on these stupid stairs. Here, take them. Get these abominations away from me.

Spoiler: WARNING: Hideous Stairs

(I actually like the ones going downstairs, it's the upstairs versions I despise.)

 

[Harrumi]

I'm working on a character sketch, here is the first drawing to try to match the faceset.

 

[Prez]

@Sharm I understand. I think I see what you were talking about; I blanketed the whole place in the same colours and they blended together too much. Admittedly, it looking drab and bland was partly intentional, but I wouldn't want that to extend past the fourth wall since the entire game takes place on this ship, so thank you for pointing this out.

Anyway, here's an update. I changed the floor colour in both rooms, and in the barracks/crew quarters I also changed the wall topper so it wasn't the same colour as the wall itself. I made some other edits as well, like moving the pillars to be in line with the walls they're attached to - it turned out that making the floor a different colour solved the problem of them being hard to distinguish against said floor.

Spoiler: Updated Screenshots (Lights and No Lights included)

 

[Nutty171]

@Prez If you're going to use custom lighting, then please don't use the default shadows, they're unrealistic, they don't blend well with the custom lighting and, imo, they're ugly.

 

[RocketKnight]

I did some progress, samples in-games:

 

[Harrumi]

I did some progress, samples in-games:

From my stand point the tiles themselves look very good! However, I few things I noticed. The bridge image looks a bit weird with boxy shadows because your tileset is very curvy. For the second image with the Arch and Roof, it doesn't quite look like it belongs or connects right to that wall... it looks like it's on top of the wall.

Other then that your art skills are amazing, I like the work you're doing.

 

[Rukiri]

Don't think I can get this any smoother

 

[Harrumi]

That looks awesome, the only thing missing is his arms. It would be cool to see an updated version.

edit: are you planning on shadowing his legs during animation?
edit edit: like where his knee is, it would look cool with some pop or definition.

 

[Rukiri]

@Harrumi
Hows this?

 

[acirnep]

@RocketKnight the balcony shadows looks wrong to me, however I wouldn't know how to fix it. Also, the black border around the tent makes it stand out a bit too much, maybe use a darker version of the tent colour?

@Rukiri you could try colouring the bottom part of the leg that is behind in a darker shade

I've tried to design a simple sprite, I'm not completely happy with it, especially the side view, but I'm stuck. Constructive criticism is very welcome!