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Jimmy_Scythe 4/14/07 8:21:50 PM
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Advanced Member
Joined: 12/31/04 |
As some of the long time members of this site already know, I am a retro gamer. Most of the games I make are also 2D retro style games. It can actually be very challenging to make a game art that is clear to the viewer while dealing with massive restrictions like being limited to 4 shades from white to black (original gameboy style), or using Atari 2600 quality graphics.
The best part about pixel art is that you don't need any expensive software or even a really high end rig to produce it. As long as you have a working copy of XP with MS Paint, you're good to go. If you're more comfortable drawing with a pencil than a mouse, here are a few tutorials that can help you get a grip on this "olde skool" art form. Zoogles - This is probably the best sprite / tile tutorial, that I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of them. SpriteArt - There's a tutorial section here that covers some of the more advanced things like lighting and isometric tiles. Walk Cycle - This tutorial is on the personal web page of an artist and details the walk cycle in different frame amounts. Derek Yu's tutorial - This is a pretty complete overview of the sprite builder's work flow. Nothing really new here, but nothing totally useless either. Pixel Head - This tutorial involves making a head from reference images. av3's Antialiasing tutorial - This is a rather confusing document about antialiasing sprites and pixel art. WARNING some heavy math is contained in this one! And finally, just a couple of examples of what you can do with pixel art: This video wouldn't be so amazing if it wasn't for the fact that this guy was using MS Paint. Doing this in Photoshop or Paintshop Pro wouldn't have impressed me nearly as much. Finally, I give you Paul Robertson's Journal. This guy has some serious talent and this page just has all kinds of examples of it. P.S. This is for those of you that are wondering WTF I'm talking about: The Pixel Art Wikipedia entry - not a tutorial, but you may come across some asshole that wants to split hairs about what pixel art is and is not. |
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| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2if5GYXOGyo |
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CaesarsGhost 4/14/07 8:50:16 PM
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Hard Core Member
Joined: 4/03/04
The only difference between a Troll and a Fanboi is which side of the fence they stand on. |
VOXELS!!!
Crysis uses Voxels in some spots. Hard to believe, huh? |
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| - CaesarsGhost Lead Gameplay and Gameworld Designer for a yet unnamed MMO Title. |
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CleffyII 4/15/07 7:49:25 AM
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Elite Member
Joined: 7/22/06 |
Not really. If you spend more then 1 hour level designing you learn the value of pixel art.
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skywisenight 4/15/07 8:51:35 AM
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MMORPG.COM Staff
Joined: 10/22/04 |
I agree totally! Pixel art is great when done right. I think this is also a comment on how just because 3D is cool, not everything needs to be 3D for 3D's sake. Take sonic: 2D = great, 3D = aweful, or Disney movies lately... what happened to great movies? Meet the Robinsons has nothing on their movies 10/15+ years ago.
I just wish more people would go back to isometric, side-scrollers, and the such and thus hopefully focus on making a great, fun game rather than worrying if their game has the most advanced 3D engine over being fun (which seems to happen 95% of the time) |
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khanstruct 4/15/07 11:51:43 AM
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Novice Member
Joined: 2/28/07 |
Sorry, the world is never going to go back to 3d. Basically you're saying the 2d=fun...that's silly. Yes I know you said Sonic specifically, but you also said you wanted people to go back to 2d games to make them fun. Those 2 things are not connected. Unfortunately, developers are still impressed with themselves that they CAN do 3d and haven't yet learned WHAT they can do with it. As... someone was saying on these forums (I forget who it was). Most 3d games are not 3d, they just have a 3d appearance. All the action really only takes place on a 2d plane. Again, we haven't learned to properly use 3d yet. As for the pixel art. Enjoy it! But sadly, you are doomed to be the old man clicking away at his MS Paint while the rest of the world looks over their shoulder at you. |
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Vyava 4/15/07 12:05:14 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 3/23/05 |
Originally posted by khanstruct
Never been a good 3D Castlevania or Worms, but how many years did it take for them to learn that? On the other hand Metal Gear was massively improved by going 3D and so were a few others. |
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| ÉG eins og bjór |
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skywisenight 4/15/07 1:13:35 PM
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MMORPG.COM Staff
Joined: 10/22/04 |
Originally posted by VyavaCouldn't have put it better myself! (and obviously not too!) Gameplay (enjoyment) is paramount (or should be) when making a game, it just seems that many developers get hung up on the visuals too much, or try to take franchises into the 3rd dimension that just don't belong. So not so much go back to 2D games to make them fun, but make games in their appropriate dimension, which sometimes in 2D. It's not that there isn't a market for 2D games, there is just a shortage of new good stuff. Almost every non-hardcore person I know when asked their favorite games will say stuff like Super Mario World, Diablo 2, Sonic, Tetris, Bomberman, Bejewled, Collapse. Never have I ever heard a "non-hardcore" player say a 3D game. The market is there. There are people who do think 2D games are fun, even if you don't Khanstruct. (don't get me wrong, pretty well every game installed on this machine is 3d, I just have an appreciation for 2d games and I know my family prefers 2d too and we love the Wii virtual console! ) |
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Jimmy_Scythe 4/15/07 1:18:49 PM
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Advanced Member
Joined: 12/31/04 |
As for the pixel art. Enjoy it! But sadly, you are doomed to be the old man clicking away at his MS Paint while the rest of the world looks over their shoulder at you. It's not like you can't do other kinds of graphics as well. Most of us here draw, make music, design levels, etc. because we like doing and not because we really give two shits about anyone else's opinion. Pixel art is still relevant because it's usually the first thing that an artist does when they get on a computer with nothing better to do, and because drawing with a mouse feels significantly different from drawing with a pencil or painting. Given, most of use eventually broke down and bought a graphics tablet, but unless you're working exclusively with digital sculpting, you're going to have to make images with the mouse at some point. Let's also not forget that there are all kinds of hand held and cell phone games being made that still use 2D art, as well as icons, logos, clip art that people are willing to pay for. The days when you could get paid for just knowing the software are over, if they ever existed. You have to be able to draw within the limitation of the technology. Pixel art is a good start down that road. |
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| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2if5GYXOGyo |
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CaesarsGhost 4/15/07 1:33:41 PM
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Hard Core Member
Joined: 4/03/04
The only difference between a Troll and a Fanboi is which side of the fence they stand on. |
Actually if you look around you can see that Pixel-Art/Voxels are making quite a comeback overall. Lots of games are using them for things like Terrain and Destructable Environments because of the decreased processing requirements.
Sometimes the old way of doing things is still superior... that's all... |
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| - CaesarsGhost Lead Gameplay and Gameworld Designer for a yet unnamed MMO Title. |
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Jimmy_Scythe 4/21/07 4:20:27 PM
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