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START IT NOW!!!!!!!!

New one coming soon!

The only thing I really have to gripe about is; On the side view, you don't need to try and fit all of her face in there.

Last, Her hair (in the behind view) is a little dredlock-like. If it's not intentional: Heads up. If it is: Mission Accomplished.

Is the above sprite the ACTUAL sprite, or an attempt a color reduced version?

I'm working on it, it's just a complex sprite requirement. We have to do an original sprite AND show them playing a sport (with probably other sprites, because there aren't too many individual 'sports.')

I hope I get one! =P

Both. =D

I knew time was short so the fastest way to make an instrumental song is with loops, so I chopped up pieces of other songs I had and recycled them and looped them, then threw in some loops I already had made and tried to make it all flow.

Given more time I would have used fades, envelopes... makes some sound effects like there was a crowd screaming in the background all the time... and the intro (which was supposed to be a band warming up) would have sounded like what it was supposed to.

It doesn't really seem like she's made it her home. In an environment like space (or a ship on the ocean) you really have nothing. You can't go walking through grass. You can't visit a coffee shop. You're restricted to the ship almost 24/7. Not only that, you're ALWAYS working. Everyone on the ship should have an integral job, so you're constantly working. The only escape you have are your private quarters.

Look at Star Trek, Firefly, 80% of the sci-fi shows out there. She has some pictures and a computer screen.

Either she's new or the ship has very strict regulations...

Why does every midi make me think of harvest moon?

So, I couldn't deicde what type of music to go for. And, not knowing what Lowlands REALLY is, or the type of music I figured i'd cover as many bases as I could. So here's my entry. Imagine you're walking around the festival and you're hearing different bands, it all blends together, but it's all so different. Like architecture. They're all cement, steel, wood, bricks... they're all the same. But they're all different. And imagine all the girls... yes the European women... Ahhh yes... In the sun... What's that? You want to make out? Why su-

So... here it is:
http://www.archive.org/download/LowlandsDayOne/LowlandsDayOne.mp3

Feel free to run one, I'm a bit busy right now. Whoever does it, I would strongly suggest sticking to similar rules to before. Every time one is run people ask for more restrictions or longer timespans (theme, two weeks etc). I think that's a bad idea personally and I think the reasonable success of the other ones suggests the format works as it is. The only change so far was to allow people to have multiple rooms if they really want. The point was to make people think small, not to make them worry about if an intro counts as a second room.

Actually I may as well run it, it's not much more work than hosting the games and putting up the old vote page again... I'll make a thread.

Anyword on this?

When I do a 50% reduction, I like the last the best. But, that's just me.

The new edit makes it look like she has a unibrow, in the small portrait.

Is this the actual size?

I would also like to point out the thing that Ravey said about colors. I mean compare the detail on Raveys edit with four colors on the jacket and four colors on the trousers comparing to the edit by Questionable (sorry mate, don't mean to diss you, I know your edit is not focused on the colors and there is some automatic blurring going on there) with who knows how many colors. Also compare the posture, your character has kind of a basic posture, which does not much character in it. I mean with just one standing frame and posture you can tell much about the characters personality, if he's laid back or official. Okay, if you choosed so, your character kind of reflects some officialness and stiffness, if that is your purpose.

No by all means, man; I agree. It's probably the most given piece of sprite advice: Less Color.

People usually wind up muddling their image because they think they need to blend stuff in... well, you don't. Were dealing with very small visuals here! The human eye tricks itself into seeing more colors than there actually are. So, if we're going to see 16 colors if there are 16 colrs or 3, wouldn;t it be better to use 3? Smaller file size, easier to animate, easier to manipulate and if you really need another color to add some pop, you have 13 more chances.

DANG beat me to it Prog. I almost had that one finished.  Batman is standing at the batmobile (profile view), his hand in his pocket... He's looking at his pocket, as everybody does when they realize that something they thought was in their pocket isn't in their pocket...

A little thought bubble above his head reads:

Shit...

This doesn't make me feel tense at all. Or sad. Or dark.

I picture a couple of cowboys riding through a colorful nevada canyon, at sunset. Their cattle escaped and there's no way they can catch them at night, so they're returning to camp. They know the other cowhands are going to be pissed and they're even more mad at themselves... and each other.

That's literally what pops into my head everytime I play that track.


One of the things that has always made music feel tense to me is having a drone. Carnival did this in his edit and I think you did it a little, but I can't remember. Violins usually have this job in movies and the effect is so subtle you hardly notice it. Just like when a kick drum hits once every beat, and it makes us want to dance (read: techno.) Droning notes/instruments just put this tension on a scene.

I don't think your song sounds anything like stairway to heaven, though even if it did, a midi retool that sounded decent would still qualify as "original," so I think you're focusing on the wrong thing if that's your biggest concern.

I think what you should do is thing of things that make you feel tense, like you heard a noise at night, from the kitchen so you're walking there slowly, thoughts fluttering through your head ~is it the dog? Dad? just the house settling? a robber? someone coming into the house, with ether, to knock us all out, then tie us up and force us to watch him torture each other? Someone setting up a surprise birthday party for gram?~ It's uncertainty that causes tenseness, so pick a scene in your head that you can imagine the character being tense, or a scene from your life where you actually felt tense. Then, using the instruments you have available to you: score that scene.

You're trying to evoke a specific emotion, but what it feels like what you did was putter around with synths untill you found a melody that didn't sound like crap and felt a little sorrowful.

If that's what you're going for: NAILED IT! If not, you could re-touch this and make it a killer tune.

Good luck.

It feels like the guitar is just looping. The best thrash metal i've heard doesn't sound like the same melody over and over.

The drums are good, they're like a machine driving into you. The singer has it down decent for thrash, he could use more range in his "singing." Otherwise it starts to sound like someone pissed that their dog pissed on the carpet instead of someone trying to express themself.

The only real thing that doesn't make this feel like a song for me is the lack of variation in the guitar. (Interestingly the second song doesn't suffer from this is much, but it's still just the same riff over and over.)

What looks good up close looks odd when the pixel is at it's natural size. Always work with a thumbnail.

I didn't bother with limiting color but you could easily simplify it. I felt like his pants were too bulky for any khaki pants I've ever seen, so I decided to give him some flat-front docker styles. I kept the "tucked-in" thing you had going on, where his pants go into his boots, because I thought it looked pretty regal. Like someone willing to get dirty... just not wanting to get their pants dirty.

Once I thinned up his legs, it was obvious that his torso didn't have enough shape to it. I left out a flare where his shirt meets his pants because, well, that's just what happens when you tuck in your Kenneth Cole V-Neck sweater. =P

Over-all I think it gives him a much more interesting silhouette, and it makes sense visually on a small scale.

The last thing I did was make the boots more black than blue and put a little shine on them. It would be more visible on a dark floor than on a pastel pistachio BG, but I prefer pastels because it's easier to judge contrast and I prefer greens or gray-browns as BG colors because they're not colors I tend to use and they don't make me dizzy. Back on topic, I took the boots in one pixel to make it look like his feet are slanting  outward and forward instead of... sideways.

Hope I gave you some ideas! Looking forward to the next installment.

P.S.

Steve-
I think I crapped my ass.

I absolutely love this style, this method, this everything.

I'm agreeing with Ghost's sentiments, and I feel that if you can clean it up with the suggestions, this is going to be one of the best (looking) games, one of the most original (looking), and one of the most alluring (looks-wise) games to come out of the AGS com, for a while.

Make a great game and i'll remove the parentheses.

Good luck & keep posting!