Adventure Game Studio

Welcome again to the Sprite Jam - hope you all enjoyed the last one; I was pretty fond of the topic, as there was a lot you could do with it. This week, I'd like to give people the opportunity to flex their creative muscles in a slightly less common (in the adventure game circles, at least) environment, so I offer you this week's topic:

Isometric pixels

For those of you who are unfamiliar with what isometric art is, this website (http://rhysd.syntesis.org/tutorial/index.php) offers a pretty comprehensive description of the art form. And if you'd like some inspiration, feel free to have a look at some of the art of our very own, showcased on pixeljoint here (http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/18546.htm), here (http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/8530.htm) and here (http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/14912.htm) (Apologies for not asking for permission ahead of time).

The rules are simple, and as follows:

Your sprite must be isometric
There is no size limit, but wide or long sprites must be divisible to fit on an isometric grid
The sprite may have a maximum of 16 colors

Otherwise, as long as the sprite fits those three rules, feel free to do whatever you'd like with it. I'm looking forward to seeing what people come up with.

I'm giving it a try, but it's pretty tough so far.

Thanks for joining in, MoodyBlues! I understand it's a bit of a challenge compared to the more freeform sprite competitions, which is part of the reason I chose it as a topic. It gives people a chance to push their talents a little further within the constraints of a certain set of dimensions. I really hope you get your sprite finished - I'd really like to see what you have!

I don't quite understand.
So basically this needs to be a big object of some sort?
Since if it would be a sprite of a character there is no telling if it really is isometric or not, right?
And since this is a sprite competition and not a background competition, it can't be bunch of buildings or a room (like in example you gave), or can it?
So what's confusing me is where is the line of isometric sprite and isometric background and how can a character sprite be regognized as isometric?

The difference between isometric sprites and non-isometric is the perspective, essentially. A 26% top-down angle, on a grid, generally not following the rules of vanishing point and horizon. (i.e. the perspective does not change with distance) A great example, if you've played them, is in tactical strategy games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Vandal Hearts. If you're an old-school console gamer, Solstice or even Q-bert are good examples of isometric games.

The size of the object is unimportant, and I didn't stipulate that the sprite had to be of a character. It could be an object, like Big Brother's chess pieces, or any of the props in Darth Mandarb's room. I'd also accept the individual props in Bulought's big room there. What separates this from a background blitz is that even if you release something that equates to a background in many respects, the individual objects should still be placable on a grid, and therefore usable to create other backgrounds.

Remember, a sprite doesn't necessarily mean a character. It's just a standalone, non-static object in a game. If you want to do buildings, or more detailed sections of buildings, feel free. I'd love to see what you make. The only rules I need followed for this edition of the competition is that the objects are isometric, and fit within the color limit.

Good luck!

But you won't accept isometric tiles (you said, the 'props' from buloghts work would go, but that's a pretty loose definition)?

Sure I would. The only stipulation is that it's isometric. I'm not planning on being very picky.

Ugh, can you give at least a theme? I can pixel a whole isometric city, but that won't count, or will it?

Still, its hard to define if the single object is isometric or not, if there is no background or anything, even if the object is a box. It can be viewed from an isometric ngle but the box itself can be turned. This is rather philosophical statement, but face it!  ;D

Ok, I quicly whooped something up in Paint:

(http://www.hot.ee/tindiplekk/paintroller.gif)

Radio did you really do that?

No, my right hand did that. Gosh.

I can give you a theme if you really need one for purposes of creativity. I kinda blatantly left this one open so people could be creative and show off their isometric spriting skills, but if the general populace wants me to be more limiting, I'll go ahead and impose some more limits. So how about it? Anyone else who is thinking of joining the competition but is limited by the lack of limitation, let me know. If the majority wants it that way, it shall be done.

And since Radiowaves is being a smartass and finding major faults and/or loopholes in my rules (A good thing, make no mistake), I will only ask that the sprite's creator, if they don't wish to do things in a traditionally isometric fashion, demonstrate how the individual tiles mesh. I understand that this can easily be worked around if the creator decides to just make one enormous isometric tile underneath their object and rub my face in it, but I'll leave it up to the better judgement of the spritist. I said before, I intend not to be overly picky, and if you want to go through the effort to make your own pixeltown (http://www.deviantart.com/view/27892167/), I'd be fine with it, if you could justify it to me as being one sprite.

I'd prefer that you don't impose any more limits since I'm almost done with my sprite.  However, if you think limits could give people more ideas, I could work around them.

QuoteIt can be viewed from an isometric angle

Isn't that what isometric graphics are, once everything is said and done? Isn't an isometric RPG merely an RPG viewed from an isometric angle?

I'm not sure something like a fully isometrical "box" (i.e. object) exists.

Well, yes, but define a ball in an isometric view, for example! Btw, it was just a nitpick not meant to be serious, I have already posted my entry anyway..

If a ball in an isometric view is just the same as a regular ball, then why should not a regular ball be a valid entry?

Exactly. I think it is time to change the wording to: Your sprite must be isometric and therefore, must be recognizable as an isometric object  ;D Oh the beauty of exactness. But i think anyone gets the rules anyway, so.. Enough of OT for now.

Yeah, just start painting. Most people have a rough idea of what to do, and if you fail to do something perfectly isometric, it's not like the forum will break or anything.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/a1n2t3z4/isobuilding.png)
I got lost with details anyway
Presenting the building with no windows or doors but with a half built subway (note I know that the lightings wrong on the pavement)
oh yeah 12 cols so far

All right, here it is (shield your eyes, Frank):  Pia Zadora as Girmar from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

(http://www.freewebs.com/luvrayman/Girmar2.png)

15 colors and goodness knows how many hours.

Edit:  Tweeked her legs and shoes a bit.  Oh, and I forgot to include my references, which included frames from the original film (colors) and Virtual Magic Kingdom screenshots (pose).  Nothing was traced.

Alrighty, the cutoff date has come and gone, so it's time to announce our winner!

I'll begin with a brief comment on each:

radiowaves: That's one hell of a sprite you've done there. Upon close-ish inspection, it does indeed seem to be isometric, and the attention to detail is commendable. Is "inky." a pseudonym? I'd love to see some more of your art.

Sinsin: Following the rules of isometric art to a fault, almost. The picture itself is pretty interesting, though as you said yourself, some details seem to have been lost. I'd like to see this picture finished before I really give it a heavy critique.

MoodyBlues: I'm afraid I've never seen Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, but from the title, it sounds like a movie I'd want to see. That aside, I like the sprite quite a bit. It follows the rules of isometric art very well, and has a lot of character. It also sort of reminds me of Kamen Rider, for some reason.

The turnout to this competition was small, but I'm pretty satisfied with what we've seen. Granted, the theme was a lot more open, apparently, than many would often seem to prefer, but such is life, I suppose. This week, I'd like to award the prize to MoodyBlues for her adorable if depressed-looking Pia Zadora. Great work, MoodyBlues! I'll see you in the next competition.

Yes, my full pseudonym is inkspot. More art: http://www.pixeljoint.com/p/912.html

My congratulatory to the winner!

Darn it. I wanted to enter with this:


It's rendered in Cinema 4d, but still an isometric sprite, very usable in a game with 15 colors + bgd color. Six or seven hours of work... Oh well, might use it in a high-color version for another game...

For what it's worth, dkh, I'm fairly certain I would've given that first place, too. Looks great - kinda reminds me of a Starcraft building or something along those lines. The detail is awesome, and for some reason, I love those barrels. Sorry that you didn't make it on time, I really dig it.

Hehe, that doesn't exactly make it much better... :)

Thanks, though. This surely won't be the last Jam nor my last render.

Dang, dkh, that's a gorgeous sprite.  Be sure to enter again!

Great work, y'alls.  Get ready for the next contest!