New character + animation...

[Das Plans]

Hi there!

Actually, I didn´t want to post anything in this forum, until my game is in the final stages of construction. But after browsing around a little, I noticed that you people come up with some pretty supportive criticism in this lounge. So, here you go. Meet Art Malone, stand up comedian and hero of my first game:



Yes, I know he doesn´t look much like an adventurer, but his other sets of clothing haven´t been animated yet. This shirt and tie dress is his casual on-stage-look.

So, what do you think? Should he be improved? Should he change his style? Should he work on new material to get on with his career? I´m eager to read your comments…

Thanks!

[Mage]

looks very nice and the animations are pretty smooth. 2 things that you could improve are his left foor when standing, it looks pretty odd. and you could also add some head movment while he's walking.

[James Kay]

Take a few pixels off his right armpit (left for us), especially during his walk cycle. His arm looks too seperate from his body. Just a few pixels and it is perfection itself!

[Minimi]

It looks like the character is floating, and twiggling his legs. To fix this, you should make a bounce in his walking. So a high point where a raise, a lowering, and a base...if you'll understand

[Kweepa]

His chest looks too cylindrical to me, in the walk cycle.
I'd bring his back in a bit and puff his chest out a bit. (Depends how athletic you want him to look. Some wrinkles could do the same job without making him look like a superhero.)
Maybe a pixel either way?
Plus, his collar is very obvious. For some reason it makes him look like a scout to me. I'd make the collar outline less dark.
And you could probably make use of some more flesh tones in the hands to make them look less like flippers... Check out some Indy sprites. LucasArts are masters of the implied fingers.

Otherwise good stuff! I like the animation. He doesn't look particularly floaty to me.

[taryuu]

i like it, very nice job.    maybe fix his hands, like was already mentioned.  my fingers don't fly back that far when i walk.  very nice work.

[Das Plans]

Hi

Thanks a lot for your messages so far. So, what have we got so far?
Foot: Done.
Armpit: Almost done.
Head Movement and "height changes": Not done yet, but I tried it before. I was quite satisfied with the movement of the legs, but I thought, too, that some motion in his upper body couldn´t hurt. Well, I´ll try again.
Fingers: Oh, come on. Not that anyone actually walks that way, but I always liked his hands waving around like that, and now you tell me this looks odd? Hmpf... :-)
Flesh tones and collar: It´s probably right that some more colours would do a great job. But since this job would have to be done by me, it would totally ruin the sprites´ look. To be honest: I can´t do it. I tried to copy the Indy style, but failed miserably. So I have to declare this actual look my own personal outline-style. Or whatever...

Well, thanks again. Working on your propositions will fortunately keep me from having to work on the dreaded up and down movements. I have absolutely no idead how to do them. Anyway, I´m off pixeling.