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I personally find the sprites look a touch out of place because they don't cast shadows. Other than that, I like 'em.

Agreed. Although women tend to walk oddly in heels, it still looks pretty unnatural. Either have her strike with her heel or toe -- NOT the flat of her foot.

Though not necessary, you may want to put a touch of bob/ sway in her hair.

Nevertheless, it's still very nice.

LOVE the new sandals, and the far hand is remarkably improved from earlier incarnations.

The near hand is still a bit lacking though, IMO. First of all, it looks like it's swinging too unnaturally far back from at the wrist.... and it may look too wide...

She could maybe benefit from sone sort of eyebrow. It'd probably help bring out her eye more.

I also find that the hair accessory is weid-looking.... like an old pair of headphones or something, especilaly at a glance when I see her handbag (which makes me think "walkman" when I see the hair band).

All-in-all, not bad though. Keep up the good work!

I'm likely THE worst person in the worl to be giving such advice, but ignore that, becuse this advice comes from someone else (maybe some sort of famous source, I dunno).

The truth is though, that you might not be so nervous or self-conscious about things if we knew just how little people most really care about us in the first place.

Now, I know that may sound kind of depressing, but think about it. Go pick up a phonebook. Look at ten random names. Do you give a damn about ANY of those people? And do they give a damn about what you think about them? Even think of the people you go/ went to school with. For the mostpart, did you care about what they were up to most of the time?...

So, since few people care, give them a reason to. Be confident and let them get to know you.

I have a theory about confidence and why people find it attractive, by the way (as if anyone cares):

People tend to LIKE people who are confident (that get along with them or taht they think would get along with them) because if the person's confidant and willing to be around you DESPITE your flaws, then they're not likely to leave you high and dry.

-OR-

"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same."
-Elbert Hubbard

Take all that for what it's worth. And remember: women are people too... so try treating them that way and not like they're some mystical creature. (Yes, they're very sexy people, but people just the same... he said idn his best Zap Brannigan voice.) Try becomming FRIENDS before moving on to anything else.

Again, though, keep in mind that I'm a social retard when it comes to women, too. In different ways than you Borish, maybe, but that still doesn't make me very good at dealing with them (however, the same thing can be said with any relationship I form... but I digress...).

In conclusion (so that I stop rambling): Go getter' tiger. (ugh)

Keep in mind that I'm no expert.........

I guess one of the things that always strikes a lot of people about art is that they'll look at a piece and say either "What?! *I* could do that!" or "A two year old kid could do that". Often these people don't realize what goes into the composition of the piece, including the presentation and composition of it all.

Many of the so-called great artist have been criticized at various points. People looked down on a lot of what Picasso did, saying that the guy couldn't draw. They could look at a big blue blob and criticize Matisse. They could look at a canvas dominated by two big rectangles; one orange the other blue, and totally poo-poo it... I'd go on, but I don't think I want to right now.

I think that a part of what makes something "art" is somehow convincing people that it is just that, and being the first one to do it. It's one thing to take a crap in a box and put it on display, but it's a whole world away from convincing people that it's artistic.

As far as tattoage and piercings go... I suppose one might be able to consider it art, in some form. It is a means of expression (and though it may be ambigous, a lot of art shares that trait), but so is the clothing we wear... and that's not referred to as art nearly as often, if you ask me (personally, I think that creative use of clothing to be a lot more artistic in a lot of cases than are body piercings or tattoos). I may be blasted for saying this (even though I don't mean to be too critical about it), but I think that an AWFUL lot of the people who get tattoos and piercigs these days are doing it as an "in" thing to do. This would explain the ridiculous ammout of Chinese, Japanese and Celtic symbols that are going around in modern tattoos, wouldn't it? Not to MENTION all of the butterfly, dragonfly, dolphin, dragon, eagle, skull and cartoon/ comic book character tatts that are out there. I think that the lack of originality in too many tattoos (not all, of course) is a sign that indeed, a lot of what we're seeing isn't very much of a fine art.

On to piercing, it's getting harder and harding to do something even remotely original anymore. (Not that I'm big on the piercing scene, but a temple piercing was one that I'd never heard of before... congrats on that much, I guess.) It's like it's all been done to death. I'm living in a small town and I've seen more than my share of piercings in all of the typical places (ears, nostril, middle of the nose, brow, tongue, that part of skin under the tongue, nipples, lip, under the lip area, and some others) at some time or another. The very fact that so many of these are a typical loop, basic stud or barbell (save for ear piercings, that is) I think, further demonstrates that piercings (along with tattooing), in the way they're largely done at the moment, are more of a zeitgeist and a fad than they are legitimate artistic expression.

In a lot of ways, they're not unlike the bellbottoms fad decades back. I remember talking to someone who'd lived though that time and asked if they wore them. "Yeah", they said "but it was only because that's practically all you could buy at the time". Young people getting tattoos and piercings are looking for some form of self expression these days and/ or want to fit in. Tattoos and piercings are two of the things they feel will fill that role for them right now, so it's an easy, semi-socially acceptable grab.

At very best, I think that tattooing and piercing as they're popularly done today could be an infancy of the evolution of the artform, but that it would have a long way to go and develop.

Conversely, you could argue that fine art goes through fashionable trends, too, and you wouldn't be wrong.

So what is art and what isn't? It's largely a matter of perception, I guess. No matter what anyone says, there will always be those observing whatever and saying that it is or isn't art. Some will talk of the juxtoposition of brushstrokes and colour, others will discuss the perfect placement of bits of metal. Others still will be of the opinion that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes (new or otherwise).

(Finally, for those who do get tattoos and piercings, PLEASE, do it for yourself.)

From, and currently living in New Brunswick, Canada (on the East coast).

Taxes here are crazy.

If this is supposed to be an insect-like monster, you may also consider giving it more insect-like mouthparts.

The original eyes are also a bit odd. At least slanting them in the opposite way would be better and more aggressive-looking. Or try more insect-looking eyes like Angelos's edit (again, possibly slanting them toward the middle of the face).

The wings, IMO, are just too busy in their color pattern. It's hard to tell what those brighter green parts are at a glance, taking your focus away from more important parts.

I'd liked Dick Deitrich (sp?) a lot better, which had one of the cast members of Son of the Beach doing a mock talk show. It was good stuff.

I realize what you're saying, Ben. I guess I was wondering, more than anything, if anyone knew of somewhere that someone has already done the screen captures (never thought of the video idea, though) and already made spite sheets with them. I'm willing to give it a shot myself, but thought that if the work's already been done somewhere else out there, that it'd be a bit of a time-waster.

Thanks, though.

And Ciro, I did try gooling it without much success ("I've looked around a bit myself, but haven't had much success in finding anything"). Thanks for trying, though. The other site may prove useful, but maybe not for these games in particular. Thanks.

Thought it over a bit and decided that Flippy's entry is my favorite of the bunch, as I found it to have a very nice, odd charm to it. Congrats, Flippy! And best of luck with the next Jam.



As for everyone else, great entries, and thanks very much for participating!

I was wondering if anyone might know offhand where I might be able to find some character sprites to study (in the form of sprite sheets or animated gifs or whatever), specifically from any of the following games:

-Another World (Out of this World)
-Heart of the Alien
-Flashback
-Prince of Persia (any of the old parts)
-Blackthorne

They're all so beautifully animated (at least, my memory seems to tell me that they were) that I felt they'd be pretty useful as a learning tool.

I've looked around a bit myself, but haven't had much success in finding anything. Any help would be appreciated.

Got mixed up with the date somehow, and now realize that I have to leave tomorrow at noon Atlantic Time. As such, I'll be picking the winner then.

Very interesting entries so far, but  if you have a last minute one to throw in, you're running out of time!  :o

You might sort of be able to do it with a seprate sprite for that body part that follows the player character exactly.

I do use PSP, and there's a pretty easy way to do a "sheen" effect in there.

-use the "lasso" tool to select the area where the "sheen" will be.
-go to Colors -  Adjust - Brightness/Contrast
-Up the brightness a bit, to whatever you feel is appropriate and looks good
-repeat as necessary (you may want to de-select the area with a  right click to select a new area), possibly oeverlapping selected areas for varried brightness.

That's just one of many ways of doing it, of course. You could also just take a white coloured brush and sweep across it here and there with a lowish opacity or whatever. Or just do it manually by selcting a lighter shade of blue... Whatever you're most comfortable with, really.

Good luck!

PS- I still think that chair is too dark. I seriously have to lurch forward to see the detail on my screen.

Since I don't feel like drawing it at the moment, what I'm picturing fr a title screen is the manor, more or less in black (with some highlights, maybe... and possibly a window that we can see into where there's a silhouette of some zombie creature), with the sun coming over the horizon in the backround.

Zootyfruit's looks nice, though.

The static, while an interesting idea, doesn't really seem to fit with what you're planning to do with the game at all...

Do what you like with the Moonlens or any of the creatures that I make here. It's your game, after all!

Here's another one, though:

GLADIATOR
A warrior slave who fights for glory and his life in the arena he's bound to.



And because I feel that you need more female content:

SORCERESS
A specialized magic user, capable of casting powerful spells against her foes.



EDIT: And I think Remmies' squid looks like this (as there was a mistake in the URL, with the http:// repeated twice):

Looks alright, but

-he seems to be leaning to the left a bit (his arms, anyway)
-you may want to use different colours for the shirt for better contrast with his skin -- right now, it's hard to tell the difference between the shading of the red and the brown of his skin.
-his yes look a touch high on his face
-if it was me, I would shade quite so high up his crotch

Crap. I accidentally voted for 1 day a Mosquito (hadn't played it yet). Please take that into consideration.

Ah. Didn't see that one, I guess. 

The chair is showing up as way too dark on my montor. Hard to make it out unless I get close up.