what program do you use to make you game's art?

[santitassara]

hi! i'm curious about the art you use to design your game's art.
let me know in order to improve myself.

Thanks!

[Retro Wolf]

Graphicsgale for pixel art.
GIMP for image manipulation.
Inkscape for vector art.
Blender for 3D.

Excellent software and free!

[Blondbraid]

I rely almost entirely on Firealpaca, it's free, starts up immediately without any loading time and it has a nice onion layer function that's great for making animations for your sprites.

I made this sprite in Firealpaca, and the onion layers really helped me making all the directions consistent;

Spoiler

[close]

(I put it under a Spoiler tag for those finding rotating sprites distracting when reading other comments)

[eri0o]

Aseprite and Krita!

[Gilbert]

Nowadays I usually use GIMP and Krita, and for 8-bit graphics I use Edge.

Never heard of Firealpaca before, but I just installed it and it really keeps its promise that it starts instantly!
(though during installation it complained about a certain library file couldn't be registered to the system, and I don't know whether this would affect anything.)

[Ponch]

Gimp for most of it. Photoshop sometimes. My "After Canada" and Oceanspirit Dennis games were all made in MS Paint. 

[dactylopus]

I haven't completed a game using this yet, but I've been creating game art on my iPad using Procreate.

[rongel]

I'm using Aseprite for characters and objects, and Photoshop for backgrounds. Quite happy with Aseprite, before that I used to animate with Photoshop and that was painful.

[cat]

One more vote for Aseprite - I don't know a better tool for pixel art and especially animation.
Inkscape for vectors
IrfanView for scaling
For high-res it is Photoshop, although I'd like to have an alternative to it (I just can't get used to Gimp). Has anyone experience with the Affinity products? My college recommends them, but I haven't tried it, yet.

[Danvzare]

I use Paint.NET.
It's like MS Paint, if it had some of the basic feature that MS Paint is missing, such as layers and transparency.
It's not the best tool for the job, but its really easy to learn and it gets the job done. Highly recommended for beginners, especially those that like using MS Paint.

Of course, that's just for pixel art. For high res art, I use Adobe Illustrator CS3, Gimp, and Paint.NET.

[CaptainD]

MS Paint for concept sketches
Aseprite for characters / icons
GIMP for backgrounds

With the above said, it has to be admitted that I usually try to get someone artistically talented to work with me instead of rely on my own paltry skills!

[Ponch]

Downloaded Aseprite and spent a little while playing around with it. Very neat little program! 

[Joseph DiPerla]

I admit, I haven't made any games in past few years because I am really bad at art. But, I have been practicing on many different tools lately. For starters, if you are not good at art at all, check out the list of assets I personally like that are good for adventure games on Unity's page: https://assetstore.unity.com/lists/2d-pixel-art-assets-for-point-and-click-adventure-games-171509. Some of the assets are 2d pixel characters. I find the one that matches best what I want if its not there already and I draw over it and use it as a template.

First off.. There are a lot of tools out there available that I like. I like using blit paint(https://pixelburner.itch.io/blitpaint-beta/devlog/149435/blit-paint-v042) to use textures as a brush to paint onto the scene. Then I use an online pixelator(https://onlinepngtools.com/pixelate-png) to mimic the pixel effect. Also what I do is take a 3D object, run it in the pixelator(Better to use objects than whole scenes as the pixelating algorithm might mess up the detail) and then paste it into the scene piece by piece giving it a truly detailed and pixel adventure style.

Mind you, all of this takes time and patience and fine tuning. But it doesn't really require that you have a lot of art talent. Itch.io has a lot of great tools to work with as well.

This here is a 2D character creator that creates cartoony style characters with tons of animations: https://mochakingup.itch.io/cc2d
Mr Easy Sprite animation (https://misterm.itch.io/mr-easy-sprite-animation) very reminiscent of the character walk cycle generator that was made in AGS years ago(https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=47818.msg636448359#msg636448359).
Pixel Room Generator(https://lovebirdsnest.itch.io/pixel-room-generator) can create simple iso rooms.
If you are looking for 3D... Assetforge is a great kit-bashing toolkit that allows you to develop models easily. https://kenney.itch.io/assetforge-deluxe
Flowscape(https://pixelforest.itch.io/flowscape), also great for medieval 3d environments that have been used by AGS creators as well.

You can also check out other AGS threads such as here: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=21021.msg636621044#new and here: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=32234.0 and also here: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=14864.0 and another here: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=5644.msg67916#msg67916 and the last one: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=56164.0

Hope some of this has helped.

[KyriakosCH]

Blender & Gimp

But now you guys will make me examine what this Aseprite program is

[Joseph DiPerla]

OK, I didn't see in the rules that I couldn't dig up an old thread in the General Discussion, so I apologize if this is Taboo. But I have become addicted to KenShape. Kenney, the creator of AssetForge create this sprite layer 2d to 3d Editor. Essentially, you draw a pixel graphic up to 32X32 in size(for now that is the limit). Then you decide how many layers each pixel should be. The program then converts it to a 3D object ready for export. I have used it with Blender. I have made so many fun things using this program.

You can get it here: https://tools.kenney.nl/kenshape/#overview

You can see what people have created here: https://twitter.com/hashtag/kenshape?src=hashtag_click&f=live

It really is effortless and I have literally created Robots, sci-fi items and such in fabulous 3D in just under a minute. I am literally addicted to KenShape. I thought this would be a great arsenal for those looking to make adventure games.

[imgzoom]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwudVH-XAAI1h3B?format=jpg&name=small[/imgzoom]
[imgzoom]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ewsp53ZUUAIjnPw?format=jpg&name=small[/imgzoom]

[FormosaFalanster]

I am not that much of an artist, but for what it's worth, everything I did involving graphics was made with Aseprite.

I see it as the AGS of graphics: simple in the beginning but once you get better you can do awesome things with it. It's easy to start and can actually take you far. At least for what I could see. As a total beginner I was able to design stuff easily, yet it was advanced enough to use palettes and frames etc. From what I saw it's a good introduction to pixel art.

It has some really cool tool as well such as the symetrical axes. Maybe other softwares have that but in Aseprite I found it very convenient.

[Ali]

You can also use Blender for traditional 2D animation now, thanks to the improved Grease Pencil tool. It's surprisingly easy to use, especially considering Blender's reputation. It would work really well for a traditional 2D high-res adventure game. If anyone was mad enough to try animating one.

[deadsuperhero]

Just jumping in here! I use Aseprite on Linux and absolutely love it. I use mine both for making sprites as well as background, and the tool has a built-in workflow for producing animations using onion-skinning.

It's got a great interface, and is really nifty for its support of layer groups and animation frames. The technique I've been developing involves painting layer upon layer upon layer, until the initial blobs I created look like shaded, clothed people.

Seriously, I can't recommend it enough. It's great with a Wacom tablet.

[fire7side]

I'm still weighing up what to use.  So far I've tried Krita and like it but animation is tedious.  I'm seriously considering doing characters in 3d in Blender, then using an art program to pixelate it.  Not sure yet.  The thing about Blender is you animate the character once, then just move the camera for different views.  I've done some modeling so that's not that big of a problem.  Another idea is just make a mock up of the character in a simple way and then use it as a back drop for painting.

[guga2112]

Aseprite. The best money I've ever spent. For pixel art and animation it's great.

[deadsuperhero]

I'm seriously considering doing characters in 3d in Blender, then using an art program to pixelate it.  Not sure yet.  The thing about Blender is you animate the character once, then just move the camera for different views.  I've done some modeling so that's not that big of a problem.

Honestly, this is a pretty neat workflow that I myself have considered. I believe Blender has a way to render animation frames at a low resolution? You might be able to render a very plain "basic" model to convey movement, and then paint over those frames in a pixel editor to make it look like regular pixel art. In a way, it's like rotoscoping, but using 3D models instead.

[cat]

In a way, it's like rotoscoping

I have not tried it myself, but there is a program for rotoscoping:
Paint of Persia

[Mouth for war]

I use Poser for most of my stuff :-)

[Kyrridas]

i'm not much of an artist (and haven't finished a game yet either), but i exclusively use aseprite. it's simple. does everything i could want. looks nice. and it was pretty cheap. since its software on steam, you might even be able to find it on sale at some point.

[Joseph DiPerla]

So I decided to buy Pixel Studio Pro and AseSprite. Best $30 I spent as far as 2D tools go. I did this in 15 minutes without so much as a tutorial and not really being a 2D pixel artist. It's not much, but I am impressed with myself.: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=58931.msg636634348#msg636634348

Goes to show how intuitive and powerful both software is. I drew the different character parts in Pixel Studio Pro (Eyes, hair, glasses, mouth parts, head). Added each part in it's own layer in Aseprite. Each layer had about 12 frames to animate. I was able to pick and choose which parts to show in the animation just like my very own character creator. It is super cool!

[imgzoom]http://sw-bfs.com/images/Aseprite.JPG[/imgzoom]

Aseprite can be bought on Steam or Itch. Pixel Studio Pro can be bought on Steam. I like Pixel Studio Pro because you can easily draw per pixel like you would in a voxel software. It has tons of tools and the software has a network sharing feature to download palletes and other works to use in your own works. It also is super cross platform working on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. It also has a lot of drawing tools and supports layers and animations like Aseprite, but the animation aspect of PSP is not as easy or intuitive or even feature-ful.

Eitherway, both Aseprite and PSP made me a believer.

[Blondbraid]

I think Monster Mash might have some potential as an animating program if anyone knows a way to convert the animations to a set of 2D frames.

[eri0o]

I use a bunch of mentioned programs here already, but one thing that I recently discovered that I found really handy is GMIC

https://gmic.eu/

Now, I use GMIC through Krita, and my favorite thing in GMIC is this one called Color Preset, which has a bunch of preconfigured presets, all which can be used to quickly color correct a piece.

I have a pillow python code I use to glue a bunch images in a single big image - I use on room backgrounds - and it paired with color presets allows me to quickly correct all the backgrounds in a game.

This video shows a bit of GMIC in Krita

https://youtu.be/MQiC_RujLHo

Other cool tool I used recently is Geomorph, it's FOSS and Linux only, it allows hand creating heightmaps. I am also using TerreScope, which is free and Windows only, and gives some extra features for heightmap manipulation - I mostly use it to pretender shadows in the colorset bitmap which will be used as sort of texture on the heightmap.

[Ali]

I'm seriously considering doing characters in 3d in Blender, then using an art program to pixelate it.  Not sure yet.  The thing about Blender is you animate the character once, then just move the camera for different views.  I've done some modeling so that's not that big of a problem.

Honestly, this is a pretty neat workflow that I myself have considered. I believe Blender has a way to render animation frames at a low resolution? You might be able to render a very plain "basic" model to convey movement, and then paint over those frames in a pixel editor to make it look like regular pixel art. In a way, it's like rotoscoping, but using 3D models instead.

I've (sort of) done both of these things. I did pre-rendered, toon-shaded 3D characters in The Fowl Fleet, which I would deeply, deeply not recommend. There's some logic to a 3D protagonist in a 2D game, because it makes doing lots of animations simple. But modelling and rendering all the OTHER characters in 3D is an enormous waste of time. I could have made the characters look so much nicer! With pre-rendered 3D you lose all the advantages of actual 3D and gain none of the nice bits of traditional 2D animation. I think Broken Sword 5 is the only game I've seen do pre-rendered 3D well (I especially liked the way the characters are lit differently based on context). But even BS5 isn't that likeable.

For the full-body shots in this video I did a 3D animation and then rotoscoped it. And I would recommend that, because it can be a big time-saver.

[cat]

For the full-body shots in this video I did a 3D animation and then rotoscoped it. And I would recommend that, because it can be a big time-saver.

This got me stuck in your Youtube channel for almost an hour and I do not regret 

[Matti]

This got me stuck in your Youtube channel for almost an hour and I do not regret 

Same here   

[Snarky]

As a Gunnar Gunnarsdotterson, I feel personally attacked by that YouTube channel.

[Ali]

Apologies all round, especially to Gunnar. The important thing is - definitely think twice before doing pre-rendered 3D. Don't make the same mistake I did!