Going about building graphics for your an old school agi-style adventure game?

[Uhfgood]

Hello, my name is Keith.  I posted recently on Pixelation about a character I was making for my agi-style adventure game.  A forum member did a paint-over and said at one point "2. More contrast with the colors you have, I added black shadow below the neck for example. Right now your version is too high-value. It would work against certain dark backgrounds, but if you put it on top of a light one (think Space Quest in an 'Ice World' scenario) he'd be lost. You have to take these things into account for an AGI-type situation." --

So that got me to thinking whether or not I wanted to work on model sheets for the character(s) before I had backgrounds to put them in.  If the sprites don't read well on certain types (too light or too dark) I will have to redo them.  So I wanted to ask your advice as to whether I should think about all of that stuff first.  Also perhaps equally important is your character sizes within the backgrounds.  So what about for that... do I work out some sprite sizes before I do a background or after?  How would you approach this.  -- Sprite sizes vs backgrounds vs sprite colors etc...

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[SpacePirateCaine]

As a rule of thumb, unless your game is going to exclusively be in a very limited palette with backgrounds of all similar colors, it's best to create your sprites with a neutral background color. Most graphics programs start with backgrounds set to all-white or have the photoshop-style "Checkerboard" transparent textures. I find that a gray with hints of blue/red (Sort of a lavender color) can cover most natural background colors, as well as prep the sprites for indoor environments as well.

The issue is basically that if you're creating a sprite on a white background, it tends to trick your eye into thinking that the colors are darker than they actually are. Neutral backgrounds help to alleviate this optical illusion.

If your art program can handle layers (Which it hopefully should), you can also create a number of colors of varying brightness to test your base colors on.

[Snake]

As a rule of thumb, unless your game is going to exclusively be in a very limited palette with backgrounds of all similar colors, it's best to create your sprites with a neutral background color. Most graphics programs start with backgrounds set to all-white or have the photoshop-style "Checkerboard" transparent textures. I find that a gray with hints of blue/red (Sort of a lavender color) can cover most natural background colors, as well as prep the sprites for indoor environments as well.

The issue is basically that if you're creating a sprite on a white background, it tends to trick your eye into thinking that the colors are darker than they actually are. Neutral backgrounds help to alleviate this optical illusion.

If your art program can handle layers (Which it hopefully should), you can also create a number of colors of varying brightness to test your base colors on.

Just finding this now...

Very helpful tips, SpacePirateCaine! I will be sure to remember them