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You want to see a 15-year-old bite my head off?
Live, no less?

What Calin said - If your textures are small and models are low-poly, the graphics-obsessed 13-17 demographic will bite your head off these days. And a big benefit of uncompressed resources is that you can actually access them at a much higher speed since you don't need to make your game actively decompressing resources and wasting tons of memory.

Hey Chicky - Just filled it out and tried to be specific on my answers, but I did want to point out that I think your definition of "film production roles" is a little hazy. There were a number of places where I wasn't quite sure whether to answer yes or no, as there are a number of skillsets that are parallel, but not necessarily directly connected. You might want to put some sort of preamble, perhaps, on the document to explain exactly what you define as "film production roles".

If you include the creation of animated content, like 2D or 3D cartoons, there are a lot of areas that overlap. I would consider those film as well, but if you're talking about live film, then it's a little different.

Just my two cents.

Complicated or high-poly 3D models, high-resolution textures, low-compression audio (Audio is ridiculous at times, honestly) and a ton of other factors go into working out the size of a game. Even if at first glance it doesn't look that much greater than previous games in the same series, it's more than likely that they've upped the poly count and textures, added better sound, visual effects and a fair number of other little tweaks that contribute to the continued filling of your hard drive.

Hell, I bought a Terabyte drive with my new computer this year, and didn't think I could get even half way, until I decided to load my Steam/GoG library onto it. That said, I remember the good ol' days when I had Quest for Glory II on five "Five and a quarter" floppies. And when Police Quest 3 took up, like, 8 megabytes on our sixty MB drive.

Ah, the good ol' days. I guess the moral of the story is that the more space you've got, the more ways developers like us can find to fill 'em.

Then it's decided. As Bodrius has defaulted by not showing up for more than a week after winning this most recent Sprite Jam, I'd like to third the nomination for Anian to start the next competition. Feel free to do an OSD contest, or whatever else you like. Assuming nobody is against that?

Well, technically since I never stipulated that you couldn't use reference materials, Bodrius still gets the winning spot. However, Bodrius hasn't logged in in over a week now, and I'm afraid that with more than a week and no activity from him, someone else should probably start the next competition in his absence.

Hey Red Runner.

Apologies in advance for the large amount of text that follows. I'd like to just give a few general pointers that might help you really define your sprites. Let me start by posting a paintover of your sprite next to your original:



I haven't actually made that many large changes - the biggest thing I did, aside from messing around a bit with the pose, is to greatly increase the contrast between the colors you're using (Light and dark valued colors next to one another) and to define the shadows to a greater degree. I am actually using fewer colors in the paintover, as you had a handful of colors that were so similar that it was near-impossible to tell them from the colors surrounding them.

As a rule of thumb, a sprite in low resolution, like your space girl, usually won't need more than three tones for a single group of colors, and in many cases (like the pink), two should even do the trick. In the case of this sprite, there weren't a lot of colors that I could reuse, aside from the gray of the hose to create the dark tone of the gloves and boots. If I wanted to be particularly palette thrifty, I could have also changed the color of the eyes to the darker purple and it wouldn't have been so noticeable.

By using colors that compliment one another as well as having a high enough contrast to be easily told apart, you can create a lot more definition.

Looking really good, Studio3. I think you've done an excellent job on the water. You could make the bullrushes and other elements inside the water a little more noticeable by increasing the contrast just a little, but even that isn't fully necessary at this junction, I think.

The main issue I can see now with the water is that the border between the water and ground blend a little too well, and it's tough to tell where one ends and the other begins. You've definitely got the right idea, but might want to darken the ground around the water's edge just a bit (Wet ground is darker than dry) which will give the player a more easy to recognize visual cue.

Lastly, you're doing a good job with the shading - the trees are looking good, shadow-wise, but the texturing on the ground and also the trees is making your world look a bit flat. By playing with your textures, texturing the background on your own (Takes a lot of time, but feels a lot better in the end) or creatively erasing sections of the texture to create depth, your background will feel much more solid.

Hi Grim - It's always good to see someone with motivation to expand their horizons.

The first thing I'd like to say is that everyone here has given great advice. The truth is that everyone enters art from different angles and as long as the end result is good, everyone's happy. That said, I'd say that what you should focus on is primarily based on what you want to do. As you said you want to do pixel art specifically, I have a few suggestions that might help. I, personally, have always been a 'sprite' guy. I've been working lately on my backgrounds, and hypocritically give out plenty of advice on backgrounds, but architecture in particular is one of my weak points so take my advice on backgrounds with a grain of salt.

For working on sprites, I got my start from the very same pixel art tutorial that Babar linked above. MrColossal is one of the great pixel artists of our community and has a lot of extremely useful advice that's easy to understand and implement. The truth is, you don't really honestly need a great classically trained background when going into character sprites in low-res. The higher resolution, the more classic technique is going to be important. It certainly helps to understand the 'eight heads rule' for creating characters of varying levels of cartooniness and it never, ever hurts to know how the masters have always done it, but if you want to start off with low-res sprites that have semi-realistic proportions, I'd certainly suggest doing low resolution photo traces. Take an image, resize it to the size of the sprite you want then paint over it with pixels - and no cheating!

Once you've done this a few times, you really start to understand how to best work on small scale and how to trick the eye into seeing things a certain way. After you've done that, you can also start working on limiting your palette and really start developing your own pesonal technique. At that size, it's not as much how realistic your proportions are, it's how realistic you can make them seem to be.

Now, to contradict myself, I'd suggest that for backgrounds, it's much harder to find a way out of doing classical research. Some members of the forum recoil in terror and hiss and gnash their collective teeth at the prospect, but I am a firm believer in understanding and making prodigious use of linear perspective - single, dual and triple point perspectives can really help you understand architecture. When it comes to coloring and shading and so on, though, that's where I start to run out of patience. So don't listen to me - listen to the people I listen to.

A while back, fellow forum-goer abstauber created a MAGS game with some great background art, and did the community a great service by offering a tutorial about how they did it. That can be found here. Look it over and I'm sure you'll find some inspiration.

Finally, learn by studying! I'd suggest you spend some time just browsing the archives of PixelJoint and look through some of the threads at the Pixelation forums for inspiration. And never be afraid to post on the Critic's lounge right here!

Lastly - an artist is only as good as their tools. The funny thing is that Photoshop, while a great high-resolution art tool, is not the ideal tool for pixel art. I'd suggest trying out GraphicsGale (my weapon of choice) or any of the other low-resolution art tools developed specifically for pixel art out there. They have a number of tools that are unavailable or much less intuitive than the larger art suites, as well as being geared toward animation, which is something you will, I hope, be planning on working on in the future.

@WHAM:

Sweet - looks like I got the "best" ending (Let's hear it for clicking around while waiting for the timer). And I most certainly do enjoy it. To be honest, I haven't really ever considered myself much of a fan of adventures with time limits before recently, as it makes it harder for me to puzzle-solve, but this and a few other projects lately have really given me some inspiration in my own work as well.

I think that you found the butter zone for limited time: Not being chased by a creature and fumbling around for your weapon, but knowing that you're facing impending doom, but that if you take to the task with a clear head and are mindful of your surroundings, you can do something about it. Really builds up the suspense, and I hope that you can achieve that same level on other projects.

And thanks for sating my curiosity above. I obsess about potential MacGuffins and didn't have a frame of reference for your other game that may have tipped me off about the object in question.

Well done. Looking forward to more.

Great work WHAM - Just finished playing through, and I have to say - impressive! You've definitely got a knack for creating atmosphere. I'm downloading Infection now as well, just to get a little more, though it's a little too late at night for me to play right now.

Had a quick question, though - are there multiple endings? As the ending I got seemed sort of time-based, like I'd done basically everything I need to do, then it was just a matter of waiting for something to happen, and since I was pretty vigilant in avoiding disaster, it took a few minutes of just standing around and waiting, once I was absolutely sure I had done what I needed to.

Also:

Spoiler

Are the bullet, spools of wire, bandages and fire extinguisher just complete red herrings? Seems sort of like Chekhov's gun - like there should have been some use for them, which lead me to believe that there must have been another ending - perhaps one where I'm not killed by some shadow government operation?

[close]

Regardless, it's a great piece of gaming - tense and difficult without being frustrating. And the voice acting was great - very well delivered by most of the cast. I'd love to see the story extended into something even bigger.

Thanks, and looking forward to seeing more from you soon!

Hmm - Armageddon, Ryan: I understand what you're saying, but (and this may be an issue with my own monitor) I wasn't really seeing it. Still, I've spent some time fiddling about with the contrast/brightness of my starfield layer, and think I've managed to tone down the starfield in general, without losing it completely.


New - Old

Also, to increase readability, I've gone with ProgZ's advice and added just a little more glow around the 'dark side' of the planet, as well as slightly reducing the glare of the sun's corona.

[Bodrius]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the deadline has come and gone and it's time to make a decision on this week's Sprite Jam winner. I'll begin with a quick comment on each of the entries, then proclaim our weekly champion.

First up: Bodrius


I'm not familiar with the character of Mafalda, so the reference is a bit lost on me, but the sprite is absolutely solid. I'd be remiss to say that there's something odd about a little girl sunbathing topless, but as an entry - especially for the topic provided, it's a great job. And for your first competition entry, it's great work.

Next: Anian


A man after my own heart. What's not to love about bikini babes on pink rollerskates with boomboxes? She'd fit perfectly into a high-res 80's-themed adventure game, and reminds me fondly of "Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!". If I were to give criticism, I'd say that the shading could be a little higher contrast, but looks great even without. And man is she pale, for being out in the sun all day.

Followed by: Tabata


Looks like Joey's got a bit of a bad habit - but hey, who can blame him (aside from the police)? Great expression and fun posing - the body is twisted in a kind of odd way, but it works. Of course, on a hot sunny day, that outfit would be a little stifling, wouldn't it?

And finally: ProgZmax


Ah, Limey - one of my favorite contemporary AGS characters. A little disappointed to not see Lucky anywhere in the background (unless that's his charred remains there to the side of Limey's beach chair?), but no big deal there. I'd love to see another Limey Lizard game one of these days.

And now the hard part: Deciding on a victor. Going from a technical standpoint, Limey's always amazing with his limited size and palette showing just what ProgZ can do, while from a "The kind of stuff SPC was hoping to see" standpoint, it's Anian hands-down. Fun-factor goes to Tabata, of course - once again, great expression and nice interpretation of the rules, but I think I'm going to go with Bodrius this time around: Great execution, quick turnaround and apparently totally recognizable from the source material. A really good start on the AGS forums.

So again, congratulations, Bodrius!

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the next competition, and I plan on participating, whatever it may be! And thank you once again to everyone else, as well, who entered the competition. I had a lot of fun, and hope that you all did as well. See you next time!

Thanks for the inspiration, Darth! I decided that even though it might take a little extra time, the effort is worth the end product (as is the case with most art, I suppose). Although to be perfectly honest I didn't employ any of the same techniques that you did, most likely, it definitely helped me to decide that it can certainly be done. And after about an hour and a half, eureka:



(And the original for reference)


The satellite is gone and will be replaced by an animated space station.

And in regards to Al_Ninio - But of course it is! That's what the night sky should look like, if it weren't for all of the natural light making it impossible to see the darker, more distant stars.

Hah, hadn't thought of that - it's meant to imply large concentrations of light at night, sort of like the images at this site. I suppose it might be a good idea on a redraw of that one to change the coloration or saturation of the light on the planet from that of the stars.

Thanks for pointing that out, Snarky.

Interesting observations guys - Funny thing is that it's not 3D, just creative photoshopping and then touch-ups on the pixel level. But I think you're right, Ryan, that it's an issue with the color count. The question, then, would be how to do "space" effectively without resorting to the same technique? I suppose I could do a noise filter on a black background then go around creatively erasing sections until I get the effect I want, much like the PS image above, but would it be too detailed, I wonder?

And I'll have to work out a way to have a blown out sun look without a lens flare - not sure what possessed me to use one in the first place. Any suggestions?

[Edit:]

Ahoy there, folks.

It's been a long while since I've posted up any of my own project-related work. Aside from helping Mods with KI, I haven't really had any major sort of game developing presence lately in the AGS scene, but I've been feeling a bit of a rush of inspiration lately and have started working as quickly as possible on a new old project (Something I've been planning for a few years now, but never had the energy to work on).

The big issue I'm having at the moment, however, is with maintaining consistency in my backgrounds. I've never been much of a background guy to begin with - I much prefer to do sprites/animation. But I've put in the hours studying various background art techniques and I'm making a lot of progress - the biggest issues, though, come when comparing my organic and non-organic artwork. Natural scenery - deserts, forests, etc. are generally similar-looking, and interiors are also generally similar looking, but I'm wondering if my interiors and exteriors look like they belong in the same game or not?

Allow me to give a few examples:

Interior (Made last night):

Airlock from game opening, character sprite rendered for scale and reference.

Exterior (Some of you may recognize this one from a couple of years ago):

Behemoth in the Galen Desert.

And even more jarring, my space scenes:

Used in a cutscene, potentially also title menu background. Please forgive the lens flare.

Could you folks see these images all used in the same game? The bottom-most graphic (cutscene) is probably the one that fits the least and I may attempt to redo it eventually - I like the way it looks as an individual piece of art but it is admittedly a little too well rendered, perhaps, to fit with the rest. Any thoughts? Similarly, as this is the critic's lounge, please feel free to offer comments/criticism of the individual images/sprites.

Are interiors/exteriors just inherently that way? I could use an extra pair of eyes or two.

Much appreciated.

Edit: Added the new, pixelly version of the space scene for easy reference

Well done so far, boys and girls - only a little time left! My how the time flies when you're having fun in the sun!

It's already the 7th here, but I'll give the rest of you folk a few more hours to finish any last-minute entries, if there are any to be had.
Also, ProgZ, mind adding a separate, background-free version of your sunbathing Limey Lizard sprite only there, por favor? Looks amazing with the background - I'd like to see him cut out as well (as per ze rules).

Much thanks to everyone who's participating! Not a huge turnout this time, but the lack of quantity is offset by the awesome quality we're seeing.

Hey Studio3,

I think you're starting to get the idea of the swamp - though it still seems a bit over-clean to me. Not to say that swamps necessarily have to be mossy, peaty bogs, but I have a feeling that the idea you're trying to convey is in that sort of bent.

I think what you may want to do with your water is to add some scum to the surface of it - easily done by adding somewhat random horizontal streaks in sort of veiny patterns, then adding small light and dark highlights. I've created a very quick example of this here:



Interestingly, I looked at the very same images Ouxxey did while putting this together. The big idea is stagnant, sitting water, as opposed to streams - though they can be in locations that once had running water, creating the small chasms that you have in your current image.

You do want something to break up the monotony of the water: As Ouxxey mentioned previously, reeds or lily pads do the job well - I also might suggest fallen sticks or roots, as in my image above. I put some light highlights around it to hint at light hitting the water that ripples around the edges of the twigs. And don't forget that things have shadows and reflections.

Remember - every swamp is different, so there's no one right way to do it, but there are plenty of cliches that you can follow to get the effect you're looking for.

You may also want to look at this Background Blitz from a few years back for some inspiration.

[Fun in the Sun!]

Fun in the Sun!

Ahoy there, boys and girls - time for another Sprite Jam. Sorry that it took as long as it did for me to start the new topic, but I was spending some time deliberating on what exactly I wanted to do for the topic this time around. I spent some time playing Tropico 3 and a little Just Cause 2 and thought, "Man, I wish I was in a tropical paradise - Preferably one without the threat of despotism or parachuting terrorists with satchel charges".

So our newest sprite jam will be "Fun in the sun"! - For those of us in the southern hemisphere, Summer's on its way soon. The season of volleyball, string bikinis, surfing, shark attacks, all of those great, warm-weather activities. So I thought just to get pumped up for the upcoming season, let's see some character sprites engaged in markedly "Summery" activities! You are free to interpret that as you will.

Now, for the specifics:

   
• Your sprite should be a character (Human or otherwise is up to the creator)
     
• Your sprite should depict the character engaging in a "summertime" activity (Passive activities, such as sunbathing, etc. are acceptable)
     
• Your sprite should be independent of a background - please include an image with transparent background (or flat color if you are unable to set transparency).
     
• Backgrounds are allowed, but an individual sprite should be provided separately in the format stated above.
     
• If a sprite is not self-explanatory, a text description is encouraged.
     
• Sprite resolution and color depth are not specified
  

The competition will continue for 1 week, and end on Friday, May 6th, 2011 at midnight.
Only 1 sprite will be judged, if submitting multiple entries, please specify the official competition entry.