Sprite style comparison

Started by Funkpanzer, Mon 15/08/2016 00:03:14

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Funkpanzer

Hey all! I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the way I've been approaching the sprites in one of my games and wanted your thoughts on these two versions, and to share some of my process!

Here's how things looked when I last worked on the game:



The big head Lucasarts style wasn't working with the tone of the game, especially when trying to deal with death or tension in the story. Here is the revised concept art for Bailey, the lead character:



Here's part of the cast in both styles:




A lot of facial detail is lost but if I go with this style I'll be able to use portraits if need be. I also find these proportions allow for more natural animations, especially in scenes that involve climbing or running.

Let me know what you think, still lots of time for tweaking before I start the next build! :P

SilverSpook

Yeah the first style will set a cartoonish tone to the game.  I'd go with the second style if you can.  I like portrait personally even though it takes some extra work.  Looks good either way!

ThreeOhFour

I like them both, and prefer the second set!

Mandle


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#4
Both are well made. I'd go for the first set with slightly increased bodies.

VampireWombat

#5
I'm going to be a bit contrary and suggest a third option. Keep the general body style of the second set and make the head size somewhere in between the two. My suggestion would be to resize the original heads to be be 120-150% the size of the second set. Also, I think that the color scheme for Bailey is better in the original, since it's more muted.
I suggest looking at screenshots of I Have Not Mouth and I Must Scream.

I tested on my own, and resizing the original head in Microsoft Paint at Horizontal 80% and Vertical 90% gave a decent size. You could play with that to get the right look.

Danvzare

I prefer the original style. But then again, I've never liked portraits in adventure games, and have always liked my adventure games to look cartoony. Not only that, but there's just too many adventure games out there with realistic proportions and not enough that look cartoony. :~(

But if you're going for a very serious adventure, then the new style will probably fit a lot better.

I still prefer the original style though. It's got pizzazz and originality.

CaesarCub

I have to agree. I love the first style, but the second one is more suited for a serious themed game.

Kumpel

#8
In my opinion your first style looks much more serious because of the great face details(that black guy is giving me the creeps! 8-0), the second one is still good (only baley is too colorful for me aswell), but I don't feel the same tension there. I would love to play a cartoonic yet serious themed game. This ambivalence in an adventure game could be a really cool thing to experience and somehow unique! (But I am myself trying to create a cartoonic yet realistic and serious game for over a year now... (roll))

Funkpanzer

Thanks so much for all the feedback! Really relieved to see some people opting for the older style. :cheesy:

I'm going to take a few days to digest it all and make some adjustments.

Funkpanzer

#10
Ahh, I couldn't wait to work on this. I've considered everything you guys said and come up with this:



Definitely going to tweak the hair and the expression a bit so she doesn't look so morose but I'm loving this silhouette over the last two. Bailey looks like she's ready to kick some ass!

I also got my center pixel back. (roll) Thoughts?

Edit:

There we go...


Mandle

It might just be me but in that last shot does it look like she has no eyeballs?

Funkpanzer

#12
Quote from: Mandle on Tue 16/08/2016 05:01:21
It might just be me but in that last shot does it look like she has no eyeballs?

Yeah, the "Edit" has a lot of changes that probably get lost with the background. Here it is for comparison.



I prefer the subtler eyes so I can save the whites for bigger expressions, especially as I won't be using portraits with these new character models.

ThreeOhFour

Maybe something like this?


selmiak

have you ever tried the small heads on the bigger bodies? It's really hard to say what is better, both sets and styles have their charm. And somehow the first set could fit better for the background you already did, maybe just because you did it together. The new style you are developing right now with medium sized bodies and heads also seems like a good fit for the BGs. Maybe make the feet also 1px wider and it's a thing. Maybe it's totally off, idk, keep it up :)

Mandle

Quote from: ThreeOhFour on Tue 16/08/2016 07:28:53
Maybe something like this?



That makes the eyes pop, instead of fading back into the face, which I think is where I was getting the illusion of no eyes at all...

It might be perfect or it could possibly be toned back just slightly so that the eyes are not such obvious pixels...

Darth Mandarb

I love the style!

It feels a tad washed-out to me and could use a little contrast punch!

(I also made the skin-tone a little more pink but if you're not going for a caucasion look you can ignore the skin tone adjustment)


Funkpanzer

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Tue 16/08/2016 14:21:58


You whitewashed her! :P

Here's a revision with accents on her jacket, deeper shadows, and more facial definition to get some more contrast. I've also made the pupils a shade darker, thanks for the suggestion ThreeOhFour and Mandle.



I may revisit the model later but I've got about twenty other characters to redraw now. :~(

Thank you all for your help and advice! Here's all the iterations side-by-side so you can see how far she's come in the past year!


Danvzare

Quote from: Funkpanzer on Tue 16/08/2016 21:42:47
Thank you all for your help and advice! Here's all the iterations side-by-side so you can see how far she's come in the past year!


That sure is a lot of iterations for just one year.
She sure has changed a lot.
That third version (the first big one) is really scary looking.

Kumpel

I really recommend, you find your definite style before going over all the other characters again 8-0 8-0 8-0
The last version is very cool and brings back the feeling I missed in the skinny style. I guess you are into these kick ass boots now. I liked the shoes in your fifth version a bit more, as they were the only thing that showed me visually, that Baley is a girl. You designed her pretty manly now and even more in your last version. Maybe a slightly wider hip or rather that typical triangle shaped upper body could help strengthen this without losing to much of her toughness. Here is what I mean.

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/WifFF4W.png[/imgzoom]

the first is your version. The second has a 2 pixels wider hip and upper body, the second only has a 2 pixels wider hip. In both versions I moved the crotch a few pixels up.

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