"A Little Murder" - Please critique my walkcycles! :)

The Great Underground Empire · Sat 26/09/2009 15:40:43

I'm making a game that's a spoof on the Mr. Men cartoon, a funny murder mystery where the characters' personalities are more true to life. (Instead of Mr. Happy, etc., there's Mr. Passive, Mr. Aggressive, Little Miss Anorexic, etc.)

The main character is a noir-ish detective, Mr. Hardboiled. This is the first background I made and his front view. I imitated their art style closely, but really did draw it by hand in Illustrator CS4.

Update 10/03/09:

I changed the side walk cycle a little and did a down one too. I'd like to know what you think of them...the up cycle is driving me nuts, I can't seem to place the feet right. So I'd like to know if these look good before I go ahead.

I didn't put any bounce in the down cycle, either...do you think I should?

Sorry for the black bg, Animation Shop couldn't handle the transparency:

I'm curious what you all think of it! Thanks!

Calin Leafshade · Sat 26/09/2009 16:05:29

looks fun :p

Let me know if you plan on having voice acting.. I'd love to voice a Mr Man

Lets be honest though, the Mr Men books were rubbish.. you could brush your arse by a computer keyboard and write a Mr Men book purely by accident..

So lets hope youre better than the original Mr Men writer.

"Mr Hard Boiled sat up in his bed, the bloody dismembered corpse of Mr Apathetic lying across him... It occured to Mr Hard Boiled that he wouldn't be too bothered about the situation.."

The Great Underground Empire · Sat 26/09/2009 16:10:50

Actually, I was planning on voice acting!

It's months down the road, but I'll be sure to drop you a note when audition time comes.

I promise the story will be way better than the old books. I still remember reading one in the bathtub and watching pages float away when they got wet.

arj0n · Sat 26/09/2009 16:43:05

Looks nice!!

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sat 26/09/2009 23:15:30

I think it has a cute, kid friendly appeal. Good luck with it!

Stee · Sat 26/09/2009 23:27:58

Is the background meant to be all blue? I like it. I still have some Mr Men books somewhere.

Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Sat 26/09/2009 16:05:29

Lets be honest though, the Mr Men books were rubbish.. you could brush your arse by a computer keyboard and write a Mr Men book purely by accident..

:o :o :o

Roger Hargreaves be turning in his grave Mr. Leaftree!!!!

The Great Underground Empire · Sun 27/09/2009 01:22:37

*lol* Kid friendly? Hoooo boy no.

The street shown there is going to have a couple hookers on it, Little Miss Negotiable and Little Miss Communicable. And up in the open window will be Little Mistress Dominant. When you get inside her place, Mr. Submissive will be tied to an X-cross and wearing a leather slave mask.

And yep, the backgrounds from the newest incarnation of the animated Mr. Men show are all just textured colors, with occasional lines to indicate walls, or furniture and doors just floating to show where the walls would be. It's really appealing to me because I suck at perspective and making detailed bgs.

www.mrmen.com

GreenBoy · Sun 27/09/2009 02:18:13

I love it and on the plus side it will be a nice clean graphic style. It should make for smooth progress.

Takyon · Sun 27/09/2009 22:41:26

Lol one of the first smaller projects I've seen on here that I can't wait to play for quite some time. Looks really good.

The Great Underground Empire · Sat 03/10/2009 14:24:25

Sorry for the bump, but I updated the walkcycles above and would like any critique you all'd like to offer. Thanks!

Snarky · Sat 03/10/2009 16:28:15

Looks very nice. I do see a few things that could be improved:

-On the side walkcycle, the bounce is greater when he's standing on the far leg than when he's standing on the close (his right) leg. That makes it seem like he's limping.
-Since you're doing the bounce on the side walkcycle, you might want to do it on the front one as well.
-If you shift the bounce of the hat back one frame, so that it's slightly out of phase with the bounce of his body, you'll get a sense that it compresses when bouncing down and lifts when bouncing up. It will seem less static and more lively.

Snake · Sun 04/10/2009 03:20:31

You must be on the right track since the first thing I thought was, wow, that looks like a "Little Miss" or "Mr. Men" character

Uhfgood · Mon 05/10/2009 00:21:54

About Mr. Men books being "rubbish", you did realize those were for kids right?

Calin Leafshade · Mon 05/10/2009 08:37:55

Quote from: Uhfgood on Mon 05/10/2009 00:21:54
About Mr. Men books being "rubbish", you did realize those were for kids right?

Well I was hoping the humour of what I said was obvious but apparantly not.

Yes I understand they were childrens books and wasn't seriously comparing them to Lord of the Bloody Flies.

Incidentally I also believe that 'Mr Strong goes to town" is inferior to A Christmas Carol.

Though Little Miss Sunshine Meets Mr Tickles gives it a run for it's money...

The Great Underground Empire · Wed 07/10/2009 15:55:32

Snarky: Thanks for the tips! I'll update them this weekend...now if someone could just sketch out the up-walk-cycle for me, I'd be all set.

It's freakin' killing me!

Just another screenshot, of Hardboiled's office (last screen until the In Production thread, I promise

)

LRH · Fri 09/10/2009 23:48:54

Quote from: PlayPretend on Wed 07/10/2009 15:55:32
Snarky: Thanks for the tips! I'll update them this weekend...now if someone could just sketch out the up-walk-cycle for me, I'd be all set. It's freakin' killing me!

Just another screenshot, of Hardboiled's office (last screen until the In Production thread, I promise )

That looks incredibly similar to the art-style of the original Mr.Men, fantastic.

Ali · Sat 10/10/2009 16:19:42

I just want to say that this looks great, and following Snarky's tips will be the icing on the cake for that sprite. Very simple and very appealing.

The background style is also in a vein that really appeals to me, as is the reference image you posted. To refine your backdrops a little more, you could try adding the very subtle shadow effects they use under objects. I also think that the highly saturated cyan of the fishbowl draws a little too much attention, though it might be fine in a scene with higher saturation. Finally, I would avoid single-pixel lines like you have on the ground of the first backdrop. They look a little too clean which detracts from the rough textured, simplistic style.

Hudders · Tue 27/10/2009 14:45:01

This is awesome.

But, why does he bob up and down in the sideways view but not in the front view?

The Great Underground Empire · Wed 28/10/2009 10:53:46

It was mostly because I didn't think you'd be able to see him bob during a down walkcycle. I'm kinda new to this.

Still working on the improvements slowly, had to stall while I prepare for a move! Thanks again for all the compliments and advice, everybody!

ALPHATT · Sat 31/10/2009 01:58:48

Cute, love it