Full Cast sheet.... complete?

[Alynn]

The origional thread that started this all is here. However, it was getting crowded, and I was going to delete the old and unused sprites off my webserver so here we go.

I finished with the last character, now I have the full front views (well except for the sitting guy) of the 7 characters for the game, I kinda dread animating the guy on the right, I have enough trouble with arms and legs, let alone a walker.

Anyway whatcha think?

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Also, just because I did finish this, and figured what the hell, the title screen.
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Let me knows what you think

[glaft]

nice! i guess you'll solve the lack of shadows later?

the first 3 and the walker guy are very well done.

i think that the hippie guy us weirdly sit. maybe it's only due to the fact shoulders don't seem aligned with head/legs. maybe his legs are a bit short. in any case, i'd suggest using reference just to get the feel on complex positions, like this one.

after a quick search, i found http://www.stanford.edu/~abramzon/Anya's%20art/Sitting%20man.jpg and http://mocoloco.com/archives/demacker_m_icon.barstool.jpg . hope it helps.

now on to details which probably only bother me:
i feel like the black bouncer's ears are weirdly attached to the head due to the beard line, i guess. maybe you could try to add/remove some pixels over thee to see if it solves the problem. that's just a detail, though. same for the lady's legs, which look a bit glued together to me. and finally, the doc looks quite stiff to me. i'll take it it's voluntary. i also liked better the very desaturated versions from the previous thread.

the title screen is neat but feels a bit flat to me, due to the uniformity of colors. i'm also not  very fond of the way the roof connects with the walls. maybe you could add some kind of transition (gutter?), and give some space between top windows and the roof.

also, you could want to add windows on the roof, if it doesn't  hinder the lisibility of the title.

[zabnat]

I just notice a little detail. Men usually wear jackets with their left lapel on top (women with right lapel). So on men's jackets buttons are on the right lapel and holes are on the left one. The doc has the other way around, so he's wearing a women's jacket Though on unisex clothing (like labcoats) the setup is probably the same way as in men's clothing. So on this note probably the old guys would also put the left lapel on top, even when they don't have any buttons on them. Ofcourse they are senile old people so it wouldn't suprise if their jackets were upside down or something

Also I don't think the darker skin color you have on other than the last sprite is very good. It blends too much to the main skin color and seem too gray.

edit: the jacket thing is really just nit-picking, but I just made such a observation

[Andail]

There is a lot to do with all of them, frankly. The muscular guys seem to have their muscles outlined rather than shaded, which looks odd. Also, all their faces need more nuances and tones to become more human.

The hippie character has a very odd posture which doesn't look very natural. I gave him a major revamp:

original:


edit:


I'm no expert at pixel art shading, so maybe Progz can show some better techniques.

Anyway, your characters are full of...character...and seem fun and original, but you can definitely spend some extra time there pushing pixels

[Alynn]

Ok, darkened the jawlines on all of them and added a gutter and downspouts to the building.

They aren't shaded for a reason, I decided to forgo shading completely and just go for a flat style, because all my attempts and decent shading turned out shit. That and it takes me over 50 colors which is what I want to limit all the characters to.

And frankly Andail, had I the talent to do anything remotely like you just did there I would have done so. Also your edit had 70 colors in it, the game is only 256 colors, and 70 just for one character is too much. However, you are right about the posture, I've been toying with it, but nothing really turns out right. I may just have to do with the flat side view like I first thought of doing instead of going with this 3/4 view.

Bottom line is, I suck, and I know I suck, which is why I've limited myself to 256 colors and low res, which gives me a chance to leave out the details that I tend to want to add and add and add and it turns out crap. And even then, people think it looks like crap.

Bah, forget it, I just have no talent for this sort of thing.

[Peder 🚀]

The hippie character has a very odd posture which doesn't look very natural.

He looks very suprised kinda on the original, while on the edit he looks all calm etc.

I love the edit though and Alynn!
These aint bad at all, they are alot better than I can do!

Only one I dont like is actually the hippie character.
As Andail said he has a very odd posture.

I cant really give you any tips or anything on how to get him less odd.

I must say I LOVE the title screen though!
It looks really well done! .

[gASK]

His posture is odd mostly because his closer shoulder is higher than his farther shoulder. Make the closer (eg left) shoulder lower and he will seem less "odd".

Plus he seems pretty "stiff" - or like he is leaning back against something. Move his head, shoulders and upper chest forward a little.

The "surprised" look is due to big, round eyes (2x2 pixels) and head leaning back. I dunno if it's intention....so I just mentioned here how it is done:)

By the way - great sprites. I love that old-school-flat-low-color look...

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I think you should be a bit easier on yourself and Andail.  He offered a fantastic edit, frankly (very Lucasarts inspired) but I can see where you would want something a bit simpler.  With this in mind I made an edit that actually uses fewer colors than yours but maintains good image clarity.

1.  Redrew body (reduced torso size, altered neck width, adjusted legs).  His torso is now smaller and his legs are longer since his feet should be close to the the bottom of the stool.

2.  Reshaded him using the colors in the existing image and black for the shoes and generic shadows.  Removed some colors entirely as they were confusing the image.





Hopefully this helps and don't say you don't have talent.  I have no natural gifts for sprite art, I've just spent many years doing it until it looked reasonable.  So can you, and the advice you're being offered here will help you get there much sooner than I did.

[Chicky]

Shit! You've got my game idea!

Ack, i started writing the story for a retirement/care home based adventure game after my mother was taken to one. They're funny places! Lots of potential for adventure game gags.

The art looks nice, good luck with it

[zabnat]

re: title screen.

Some crits. The gray wall could be a little darker as it is clearly night. The lawn looks a bit bald, you could try adding some small hedge or bushes next to sidewalk.
Also near the walls there could be some sort of hedge or some small bushes. This would hide the fact that grass goes all the way to the walls, which is not usually the case.
If I may say something about the title itself, I would ditch the "escape from". That's a bit of... you know.
"Twilight Acres" would work just fine

[Alynn]

Ok... For the characters, I put the character (codename Hippie) at a different angle, which turned out much better... made him look a bit more... spaced out... Lowered his shoulders and head to make it seem he is leaning forward slightly..

Also added some shadows... although to be honest, personal preference is without them... so most likely as it becomes more final I'm just going to forgo the whole shading thing completely. (Check the first post for the update)

As far as the walls go, they are as dark as they should be, the whole background has a dark blue transparancy layer over it to simulate night. I painted it how I wanted it, then used the dark blue to simulate night.

Most well mancured lawns do go directly to the building when there isn't a hedgerow next to the building. The place isn't supposed to look all that friendly, and more landscaping seems to remove the starkness of the building for me. Some may say it's prison like... which means it's conveying exactly what I want it to. However, I have been playing with trying to texture up the lawn some, make it seem less flat.

Also, the title is pretty much set in stone, it gives out exactly what the game is about, without giving away exactly what it all entails, or even why. There is another reason, but I'm not at liberty to say at this time

Also prog, I just tend to get really frustrated, because I'm not trying to half ass these sprites, I'm actually trying my best on them, and when someone that has talent like Andail comes along and makes what I worked hard on look like garbage, well, it makes me wish I hadn't even tried, since they have a better conceptual view of what I want than I do.

[Hudders]

Looks cool.

The hippie guy kinda looks like one of those people who come around to care homes to entertain the residents. I keep expecting him to whip out a guitar and start singing a song about recycling! 

[ManicMatt]

Chicky:

Haha! Actually come to think of it, "Secrets" was going to have a retirement home section spanding several rooms with lots of old kooks in it but I lost motivation on the project and cut it very very short.
Rough sketch I did:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/manicmatt/Oldfolksrecreation.jpg

looks good Alynn! I'll wanna play this!

Edit:  I removed the displayed image.  This is about Alynn's game so let's not confuse the readers, okay?  Thanks!

[Hudders]

Cheeky paintover of a paintover  :