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Hi, Scavenger, the link to the image doesn't seem to work!

I'd be happy to comment once it's visible.  

[Remixor]

Remixor, I originally intended to keep the doors small for two reasons: 1) it makes everyone look like they are uncomfortably fitting into a tight space; I didn't want anything about these worlds to seem comfortable or posh. Everything is very utilitarian in nature (I'm probably over-thinking that one, though). 2) I wanted the ceilings to seem even taller, making the characters look even teenier.

If the world were perfect, I would have the game's resolution be at 1600x1200 (which is unrealistic for a multitude of reasons). This is my typical monitor resolution, and I love how damn small all the characters seem at that size.

PureGhost, that font would be a welcome addition!

In the meantime, I've created a 'font' that really is just a drawing with the appropriately scaled characters done pixel by pixel. In my previous drawings, I've had to copy and paste each individual letter into the document. It's pretty time consuming. The font shown on the 'digital chalkboard' is supposed to be a little off perspective under the idea that it was scrawled up there.

I didn't know an isometric font existed. I will also look for it and post results.

In regards to the black outlines, I was drawing in this isometric style before I realized that there was a Pixelart standard out there. I'm kind of glad that my drawings have always been a bit different. I  used to force myself to adhere to the web-safe pallette.

However, just because I am going to go high color with it doesn't mean that I should used gradients and the like on my characters or drop my style of the black outlines. Besides, the gradients were all done line by line and not with a tool, so it would take forever to animate. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to do one character's animations (eight directions of walk, talk, idle, blink). Ouch.

Igor, Mamarulez, Darth,thanks a lot for the comments. This board has provided a great sounding board for all of my ideas, and has really helped me polish the way I look at this game's visual style!

I really like the style. I've always been partial to the hollow pupils look (I use it for any cartoony-comic characters that I draw).

I like thick pixel-borders on computer drawn cartoon characters.

I'd been toying with some concepts myself that I may post later if time permits.

I wanted to do something with a really cartoony character with a thick, high contrast border around him set against a photo-realistic background.

I really think Pixelart has a strong future in AGS or any other 2-D development platform.

You can produce pretty stylized results with a minimum effort (it's more about patience than skill). As long you can make boxes, you can make Pixelart.

Here is the (tentatively) colored hideout background:


Here is the Holovision doing it's boot-up sequence (will repeat after a three second pause for our purposes here):


Here is the Holovision on:


Whattya think?

I do think that the gradients on the characters are a bit much, especially when the characters are put against these mostly gradient free backgrounds. I'm rethinking my strategy on the characters.

Thanks for all the input!

If all the characters will retain this same style as well as these two did, you should have (visually at least) a very polished end result.

I'd like to see these characters in some backgrounds - cool stuff.

I've realized what it is about your drawings that makes them more visually interesting to me. You tend to include a lot of little details in the clothing the characters wear (IE: the belt hanging off of the trenchcoat, the pleats in his pants, the two buttons on his vest).

You see a lot of personality in the clothes your people wear. Does this make sense, or am I nutty?

Hey, Marcus, I didn't mean to be harsh! I do, indeed, like the sketch a lot. Really, the only problem I saw with it can be fixed with a little knowledge on perspective. Not a big deal at all!

This is the first background I have started to work on for the game, the other background previously shown was done close to a year ago and was not intended as a game screen.

Here it is minus the coloring.

Each subsequent revision/new character gets better and better. I especially like the half-dress on the blonde character. The red-head manages to look very different, even after having used the same character as a base.

You, I think, succeeded in creating three distinctly different characters.

In addition, I like the first, more glamorous dress on the brunette.

As with all criticism, please take my comments with a grain of salt. Often times the suggestions that someone makes towards another's work can stray away from the piece's original intentions.

Stylisticaly, I like it. The only thing that I question about it is the perspective on the character's head. Is his head supposed to be turned slightly to the side? Is his hair blowing to the left?

I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd give a quick re-draw a shot. It turned out pretty good, I think, but only because there was a great base to start from. Your character as-is definitely captures the beachy-fisherman vibe.

All I've done is shorten his legs, torso, and arms and make the face (while still turned slightly to the right) a bit more symetrical.

I'm going to be the odd ball, here.

I like the VGA style the best. More work? I don't like the cartoony version very much (it doesn't seem to have as much personality as the other two to me), and I like the EGA one as a distant second.

If you are going for nostalgia, go EGA. If you want to make something that looks closer to a (dare I say it) commercial effort, I would go VGA.

Let the rotten vegetable throwing commence!

Are you familiar with the concept of dropping a vanishing point and a horizon line into your pictures?

The composition of the image is great, there is a lot going on there and it is visually interesting. The obvious visual flaws all seem to stem from perspective and proportion (which is absolutely fine if you were going for that effect.)

If you were to draw using a vanshing point, I bet the next scene would be even better!

[very]

I like it just as it is, anatomical problems and all. It's very stylized. As long as your other character designs were consistent with these 'problems' then I'd say go with it.

I can't put my finger on it, but something about it really appeals to me. I like the big, fat, jaggy lines.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Her whole body seems to be in motion except for her head. It makes her looks as though the head is either detached or floating above her shoulders. I think a bounce/bob in her step would do wonders. Other than that, I really like the amount of detail you were able to pack into 22 x 53 pixels.

I'll throw something in the mix, too, if you don't mind posting some things you'd need.

I've been working on redrawing the characters in high color most the weekend and plan to post completed animations for all their movements. Eight directions of walking, standing idle, blinking, talking, etc.

Probably be doing that sometime later today for at least one of the characters.

Darth M., I also question the number of colors used in the blending. I usually just work in limited color, so I might be going a little over the top with the colors here.

I'm going to slap it all together and see how it looks once all these little weeble-wobble, habbo hotel, jelly bean aliens are animated.

If this guy is supposed to have an iron shell, I would love to see some rivets or other indicators of his metallic origin aside from just using a grey color.

I do like the character design (especially the oversized feet).

I really like the re-done left arm on the character vs. the left arm of the first version. The proportion may be a lot better on this new version, but it seems to lack some of the style of the first version. I think the second, darker shade of yellow you used in the first version would be good to use on the new version.

I think the character, as he is now, is probably the best combination of the look of the first version and the proportions of the second.

I think that I'll use the third option; high color with more black outlines. It'll be hard to pull me away from limited color, as I've always done my pixelart with the standard web-safe palette (The same default palette of colors that most Macromedia products display.).

The low color one is definitely more my 'style.'

I decided to go ahead and try out Dude's preference:



The high color images first posted (far left) do look very faded in comparison to the high color w/black outlines (far right).

Do you think the black outlines make the drawings too busy? (This is the reason that I originally decided to give high color a go.)