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Graphics IM SCARED

F

fxokz

Guest
Basically im scared because take a look at this:














Im scared because i think that although the game is fun, it looks like absolute S word.... A totally black background followed by that mario tile ripoff because i couldnt make a unique one. And especially that grey looking one with the dark squares on them.. It scares me because i dont want people to play my game when it looks this bad. What would you guys do to improve this? Any advice?

There are some things that i dont really mind, such as the coin, crate and the bat sprite. but everything else just looks like it isnt up to par with todays standard..
 

SnoutUp

Member
Redraw everything you don't like? You can't complain that background looks like crap if you did use a black rectangle for it. You can always throw some sort of lazy noisy pattern for that. Look up real life images, clipart and game art and try to recreate them. I also think that vectors are easier than pixels, especially in non-complex objects/characters, so maybe try out doing some Inkscape tutorials.
 
F

fxokz

Guest
so maybe try out doing some Inkscape tutorials.
I tried using inkscape, the problem was that i cant seem to make things perfectly symmetrical also i have problems with scaling an image in inkscape. And its much harder to make stuff in inkscape dude... You have to use a bunch of shapes and manipulate them etc etc.. I guess i can always retry and eventually learn it. Also when you are done with a vector do you export it as a PNG or that file that gamemaker uses swf or something like that?

edit: and im too deep into the project to redraw everything in vector. Maybe for my next project..
Do you draw all of your graphics on your own?
 

SnoutUp

Member
There are a bunch of alignment and shape moving functions in Inkscape, snapping to grid or various nodes makes it even easier. You can scale image in your work sheet or while exporting it (you might missed the part, where you can export any selected shape separately if needed). Don't even have to move around single nodes at first, just know how practice adding multiple circles and triangles together and adding shading/strokes to them.

Plenty of tutorials too: http://www.2dgameartguru.com/

I draw all graphics (with very few exceptions) on my own.

I tried using inkscape, the problem was that i cant seem to make things perfectly symmetrical also i have problems with scaling an image in inkscape. And its much harder to make stuff in inkscape dude... You have to use a bunch of shapes and manipulate them etc etc.. I guess i can always retry and eventually learn it. Also when you are done with a vector do you export it as a PNG or that file that gamemaker uses swf or something like that?

edit: and im too deep into the project to redraw everything in vector. Maybe for my next project..
Do you draw all of your graphics on your own?
 
Getting nice graphics really is hard. And I hope you don't mind me being direct here: I too think you need to redo all the graphis. But before you do that, you'll need to learn a bit more about creating graphics. It's not something you can just learn within 2 hours. Basically I think a non artist like me and most on these forums is able to learn two styles in reasonable time. Both are often used by indie developers because they're relatively easy to get good enough and once you learned a bit both allow you to create assets rather quickly:
  • Creating images with shapes (and exporting them as sprites) like SnoutUp does in his really beautiful Pork Chopper.
    Take online courses on inkscape to learn that program, create your assets and when done recreate all assets you're not happy with yet - most likely the first few you created because you'll quickly learn more while doing this.
    One udemy course I liked was https://www.udemy.com/learn-to-use-inkscape/. But there are others.
  • Pixel Art like in so many other really beautiful indie games like Axiom Verge.
    One udemy course I absolutely loved was by Marco Vale. At least checkout his introduction and the free video samples. 35 bucks for that course are really really worth it (and right now it's only 10): https://www.udemy.com/pixel-art-for-video-games/
I also took a basic game art course for drawing programs like photoshop, but that gets a bit more complicated and time consuming than working with vectors or pixel art. Still a recommendable course: https://www.udemy.com/2d-bitmap-art-for-video-games/

Just in case you decide to go for pixel art I strongly recommend a pixel art program if you're not familiar with photoshop (cuz I'm not). I love PyxelEdit wich is on the humble bundle for a few more days. Many people also like or prefer aseprite wich seems to be really great too.
 
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Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Two simple tips to get you started:
  • Have the terrain grid size be half as wide and half as tall. Your current block size just makes the level feel more blocky, no matter how nice the individual objects are. Terrain blocks should ideally be smaller than characters to look natural, very few structures are made of cubes as tall as a human, manmade or natural.
  • A lot of your objects feel inhibited by being in square sprites, too. Try to make objects that are 2x1, 1x2, 3x2 and so on cells instead of making objects that fit neatly into an 1x1 cell. Remember Akira Toriyama's first rule for designing manga characters: they get a lot less boring if they're different sizes.
 
B

Benito

Guest
My advice:

1º creates individual objects.
2nd test Artweaver free, is easy to handle.
3rd thinks about the option to use free image sources.
4th the first point is important to get different compositions with little effort, using layers will be easier to place the objects where you want and change them too.
 
G

Guest User

Guest
some considerations:
  • it would also help to have a coherent style among your various sprites. nearly every single sprite you've shown looks like it's from completely different game as all the others. it's not necessarily wrong, but for example your blocks (green and yellow) are incredibly crisp and perfect. things IRL are usually not so...flawless, for one, but this is especially jarring considering your crates and chests look like they were ruggedly assembled. the robots (?), too, have their own 'unique' style that is not seen nor tied into any of the other sprites.
  • imo the colors don't seem to work well together much. it may be worth tinkering with them more to figure out which shade of lime green goes well with that shade of gold in the bricks. or, learn to use your palette more effectively if you are drawing from one. right now, it looks like everything was randomly chosen with no regard to how it would look next to all the others.
  • more or less Yal's second point, but the sense of scale is very weird right now. you've put everything in the same sized box, so now the coin is absolutely gigantic compared to literally everything else, chests are huge compared to people as well when. and both of these things are as big as the walls, which are as big as the people. it's excusable if the people in your picture there are supposed to be tiny, but i don't really get that impression at all so it just looks weird tbh.
 
F

fxokz

Guest
some considerations:
  • it would also help to have a coherent style among your various sprites. nearly every single sprite you've shown looks like it's from completely different game as all the others. it's not necessarily wrong, but for example your blocks (green and yellow) are incredibly crisp and perfect. things IRL are usually not so...flawless, for one, but this is especially jarring considering your crates and chests look like they were ruggedly assembled. the robots (?), too, have their own 'unique' style that is not seen nor tied into any of the other sprites.
  • imo the colors don't seem to work well together much. it may be worth tinkering with them more to figure out which shade of lime green goes well with that shade of gold in the bricks. or, learn to use your palette more effectively if you are drawing from one. right now, it looks like everything was randomly chosen with no regard to how it would look next to all the others.
  • more or less Yal's second point, but the sense of scale is very weird right now. you've put everything in the same sized box, so now the coin is absolutely gigantic compared to literally everything else, chests are huge compared to people as well when. and both of these things are as big as the walls, which are as big as the people. it's excusable if the people in your picture there are supposed to be tiny, but i don't really get that impression at all so it just looks weird tbh.
lol i need to scale my sprites... if i make the chest any smaller you are gonna need a magnifying glass or something.. see i sort of screwed up... because you are right. the chest is tiny as hell the way it is yet somehow its bigger than a player.. a bat is bigger than a player lol.. (cries inside)
 
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