thoughts on my first attempt at a game character

Started by polydark, Fri 24/09/2021 23:52:16

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polydark

Hi everyone, been reading the forum for a while but this is my first post. I've been working on a game idea for some time and have finally started doing some art, this is the main character which you will play. He's started out as pure pixel art but has since gone through some iterations. Drawing on my background of graphic design and proficiency with vector based graphics this is what I currently have and what I feel the best over so far. He also started out as a private detective but is now a rare book collector tracking down a certain grimoire in 1920's Louisiana. What I mostly want to know is does the head look off, especially in the side view? or does the it look fine when compared to the body? I am currently trying to do some walk animations and will post them a also soon, I want to get some sort of a playable character done so I can start prototyping in the engine :-D




cat

I like him, especially the coat is awesome, but I think he could do with more contrast in the face and hair. In the side and back view the shape and highlights of his hair look somewhat weird.
The mouth might be a bit too wide.

polydark

Yeah you're right, the head overall looks flat compared to the body, and  his hair highlights looks like bacon  (laugh)
thanks for the feedback Cat!

Mandle

I love the character! But I am started to precognive your pain animating his walkcycles with that long coat. The wonderful lady, Cat, above, once told me, the time I met her for real, that, looking back, she had no idea what she was thinking when she made a character that walked with a staff as the walkcycles were a nightmare. But good luck!

Matti

I think he looks good overall. His eyes look weird though and he has a very blank face expression, almost zombie-like ;)

cat

@Mandle: I'm amazed you still remember that conversation, that was years ago!

(I couldn't help but picture us as old people on a park bench with you saying "Do you remember Kawagoe when you told me about that walkcycle?"  (laugh)

Babar

The two things that stand out to me is:
His eyes
His unnaturally upright pose in the side-view compared to the front. I'd expect him to be leaning his head forward a bit.
The ultimate Professional Amateur

Now, with his very own game: Alien Time Zone

Mandle

#7
Quote from: cat on Wed 29/09/2021 07:46:34
@Mandle: I'm amazed you still remember that conversation, that was years ago!

(I couldn't help but picture us as old people on a park bench with you saying "Do you remember Kawagoe when you told me about that walkcycle?"  (laugh)

I tend to remember everything that is about anything interesting to me... I even remember how you physically described walking up and down your front hall with a broom-handle to test for yourself how someone walks with a staff... I even remember Stu's flaming sunburn that made his photo in front of the Oni statue in Hidaka all that much better.

And, I hope to discuss walkcycles one day in another life where we are both cats. (Can anyone nail that movie quote?)

Mandle

Quote from: Babar on Wed 29/09/2021 07:54:17
His unnaturally upright pose in the side-view compared to the front. I'd expect him to be leaning his head forward a bit.

A very good point that only a pro would notice! I didn't!

Pax Animo

#9
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Misunderstood

polydark

@Mandle yeah much to my dismay I have found out these past two weeks that animation is not my strong suite :-[ I will admit that when I drew him originally I did not consider walk cycles and animation at all

@Matti for the eyes I wanted to make him seem "dead eyed" if that makes sense, in the plot of the game he will be possessed by an entity also

@Babar that stiff and straight pose is the issue in the side view I could not see earlier as I mentioned with his head in the OG post, spotted like a true pro like @Mandle said  :-D I would never have considered this, thanks

After my failed attempt at animation thus far I have shelved this design for now, the character will still live on however but I think I am going back to my low-res-pixel aesthetic that I started with.
Here are some animated sprites for your viewing pleasure I have all 8 move directions mostly done, just need to clean up a few stray pixels here and there






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