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The Screenshot Topic Returns
It's a very good book. I highly recommend it for any aspiring pixel artists.
If people feel the two art styles are too jarring, however, it wouldn't be too hard to switch the cell shaded look to a more airbrushed look, similar to what is used in the Y's remakes.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
(I absolutely love the art style of the Ys remakes by the way. That's my new goal to aspire to).
If people feel the two art styles are too jarring, however, it wouldn't be too hard to switch the cell shaded look to a more airbrushed look, similar to what is used in the Y's remakes.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
(I absolutely love the art style of the Ys remakes by the way. That's my new goal to aspire to).
The Screenshot Topic Returns
Actually, the clash was entirely intentional. It's a throwback to things like the early Final Fantasy and Turbografx 16 games (as well as just Cell-shaded anime in general).
NFGMan's book Character Design for Mobile Devices, Mobile Games, Sprites and Pixel Art puts it better than I could:
"...compare the character design in Final Fantasy VI to that of the enemies encountered during the game. Unlike the player's characters, enemy sprites are intricately detailed static images that are much larger and properly proportioned, a design tactic used since the very first game in the series. The reasoning is pretty simple. Let's say the party is going to fight a huge dragon. The player is already perfectly familiar with the characters in his own party, and provided they're given the proper range of emotions, is likely already quite attached to them. The dragon the player is fighting, on the other hand, is not a character he's going to attempt to empathize with, but rather an enemy he's going to try to defeat in combat...At first, it might sound as if the two styles would jar together-a realistically drawn dragon fighting a bunch of misproportioned, comparatively plain party members. However, this is almost never the case...
...In a way, it's very similar to how a cartoon works. Many cartoons, especially those hailing from Japan, have main characters that are markedly less detailed than their surroundings. This is because a simple design on the characters makes them easier on a psychological level for a viewer to project themselves into. As a general rule, the more realistic a character looks, the more distances he is from the viewer and the less empathy he will inspire, a trick that goes as far back as the earliest Disney cartoons-the good guy always had a big, relatively blank expression. He had large eyes, exaggerated movements and facial features, and a lack of overall detail, while a villain would have small eyes and sharper, less inviting features, and was likely to be much more realistically proportioned."
So the idea of 'cheating' with two different art styles is intended to make it easier to empathize with the heroes of the game, as they do all kinds of emoting and appear often in cutscenes. At first I thought about making the monsters in the same cute anime style, but I found that it made the bad guys less fun to fight. I'm hoping the final aesthetic of the game will be appealing to players for these reasons.
NFGMan's book Character Design for Mobile Devices, Mobile Games, Sprites and Pixel Art puts it better than I could:
"...compare the character design in Final Fantasy VI to that of the enemies encountered during the game. Unlike the player's characters, enemy sprites are intricately detailed static images that are much larger and properly proportioned, a design tactic used since the very first game in the series. The reasoning is pretty simple. Let's say the party is going to fight a huge dragon. The player is already perfectly familiar with the characters in his own party, and provided they're given the proper range of emotions, is likely already quite attached to them. The dragon the player is fighting, on the other hand, is not a character he's going to attempt to empathize with, but rather an enemy he's going to try to defeat in combat...At first, it might sound as if the two styles would jar together-a realistically drawn dragon fighting a bunch of misproportioned, comparatively plain party members. However, this is almost never the case...
...In a way, it's very similar to how a cartoon works. Many cartoons, especially those hailing from Japan, have main characters that are markedly less detailed than their surroundings. This is because a simple design on the characters makes them easier on a psychological level for a viewer to project themselves into. As a general rule, the more realistic a character looks, the more distances he is from the viewer and the less empathy he will inspire, a trick that goes as far back as the earliest Disney cartoons-the good guy always had a big, relatively blank expression. He had large eyes, exaggerated movements and facial features, and a lack of overall detail, while a villain would have small eyes and sharper, less inviting features, and was likely to be much more realistically proportioned."
So the idea of 'cheating' with two different art styles is intended to make it easier to empathize with the heroes of the game, as they do all kinds of emoting and appear often in cutscenes. At first I thought about making the monsters in the same cute anime style, but I found that it made the bad guys less fun to fight. I'm hoping the final aesthetic of the game will be appealing to players for these reasons.
The Screenshot Topic Returns
@Craza and Kentona
Thanks guys! Yeah, the numbers look pretty bad and it's something I haven't gotten around to fixing yet. I'm thinking of making my own black-bordered font and adding it to the project, as well as giving the facial portraits a gradient fade so the numbers are more readable. I'll post a pic when I have that done.
@Adon237
That's VX? Nice scripting! Though I do see what Killer Wolf means about the fences; they look like they are framing raised areas of the land in places.
Thanks guys! Yeah, the numbers look pretty bad and it's something I haven't gotten around to fixing yet. I'm thinking of making my own black-bordered font and adding it to the project, as well as giving the facial portraits a gradient fade so the numbers are more readable. I'll post a pic when I have that done.
@Adon237
That's VX? Nice scripting! Though I do see what Killer Wolf means about the fences; they look like they are framing raised areas of the land in places.
The Screenshot Topic Returns
Hey, I love sharks! They don't all have to be the same kind of shark; they could be hammer heads, goblin sharks, etc.
Or how about a mutant shark with three heads!
Er, anyway, the screenshot looks pretty neat. I think I might just steal your level idea too. :)
Or how about a mutant shark with three heads!
Er, anyway, the screenshot looks pretty neat. I think I might just steal your level idea too. :)
The Screenshot Topic Returns
That's what I was hoping, but it's good to hear it from other people.
That effect is quite neat! How are you going to use it in game?
That effect is quite neat! How are you going to use it in game?
The Screenshot Topic Returns
Yeah, the black border has been used so often in RPGs as an indicator of being indoors that it's almost subconscious.
I was recently working on monster sprites and noticed that the flat circular shadows looked off, both because they were in no way realistic and because they didn't deform in the same ways.
So, I tried to make 'dynamic' individual shadows, all positioned for the light source to be coming from the front right. Here are the results so far for a few random monsters:
One problem with this sort of thing is that the shadows can only approximately be on the same angle due to the various different sizes of the sprites. I have checked through a lot of 2D RPGs and none seem to overcome this problem (most don't bother with it at all by just having 'generic lighting'). So far I don't think it's very noticable, but please tell me what you guys think.
I was recently working on monster sprites and noticed that the flat circular shadows looked off, both because they were in no way realistic and because they didn't deform in the same ways.
So, I tried to make 'dynamic' individual shadows, all positioned for the light source to be coming from the front right. Here are the results so far for a few random monsters:
One problem with this sort of thing is that the shadows can only approximately be on the same angle due to the various different sizes of the sprites. I have checked through a lot of 2D RPGs and none seem to overcome this problem (most don't bother with it at all by just having 'generic lighting'). So far I don't think it's very noticable, but please tell me what you guys think.
How do I stop people editing my game map?
I don't know for sure either. I think most people in the community are too decent for that kind of stuff anyway.
One thing this thread has made me decide is to have a save anywhere feature built-in, lol! If people are that passionate about it, it's going in there!
One thing this thread has made me decide is to have a save anywhere feature built-in, lol! If people are that passionate about it, it's going in there!
Question for the RMNians
How do I stop people editing my game map?
I suppose you could just include whatever GPL code you used in a separate txt file, provided you didn't integrate it in with the rest of the code.
Why do RMXP/VX chipsets look so crappy?
...Okay.
I don't know. Those are great maps though.
(I am helping!)
author=Darkflamewolf
I know this is...sorta necro posting, I apologize. But I was looking up rmxp tilesets and found this topic. This is directed @ griever. IS the game that those awesome maps are for even released yet? Or is it even going to be finished? Or is it one of those jawesome games that will fall into obscurity once the designers loses interest? Because that is simply too much effort to just go to waste on those maps! Nice work!
I don't know. Those are great maps though.
(I am helping!)
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