Bringing Life to Pixels

Pixel art is great, I love its simplistic complexity! Just one pixel placed in the right way can change how an entire piece feels. its also immensely satisfying to work with if not quite time consuming. Today i've been working on the art, as well as implementing some potions and a small inventory system that the player can use to keep hold of "keyitems"

CHARACTERS

I do always like to draw characters full size first and then attempt to downsize the design to pixels. I find working this way helps me solve design issues. Starting with a high detail solid base, then figuring out what works and what doesn't work at a small scale. This is Ravnna, (Rav-Nah), She is the protagonist of this story. I'll give more details on her soon, but for now i'm going to focus on the pixel design and why I made certain choices.  The combat involves using a sword, and casting spells. so the art needed to allow a free hand for spell casting. I ditched the shield, and for blocking I will just have her using her sword to deflect blows and absorb magic projectiles. having her "casting hand" open and outward will be good for visibility in the "up" and "down" walk /attack cycles. having clarity on the sprite in multiple situations really is important... and it looks good too :P 

How I work on a sprite

Typically I start with a black outline scribble and then refine it, add some base colours, then begin shading/tweaking moving bits around until i'm happy.  I added some glowy eyes in the skull on her shoulder armour, I think it looks cool but also adds a nod to some of the story elements. she, can capture souls to boost her equipment stats. Maybe one of the souls never left that skull on her armour..? potential for an NPC sidekick to offer helpful hints? I like this part of the process as aside from having a good direction with a game design document, when you start getting into the art and the design fully, these small ideas can lead to adjustments that can really improve the game,  lead to some brilliant new mechanics that you couldn't have thought of before.  Did you know that in crash bandicoot it was a very last minute decision to include the "boxes" yeah you know that thing you love to smash and try to find all of them through those levels? Very nearly didn't happen.  The gaming industry is FULL of stories like that, if i remember anymore through out these dev logs i'll be sure to drop them in where appropriate. 

 On the colours, they are more vivid than the original concept, although this will be a dark fantasy title, I think its OK to have some bright colours. using darkness and contrasting it with bright and colourful magic and supernatural stuff is always going to look cool! for pixel art its also important that you maximise contrast between the characters and the backgrounds. I see a lot of sprites that get "lost" in muddy backgrounds so i'm going to negate that by ensuring the sprites for the enemies and characters are nice and bright and the floors they walk on will always be dark!. 

HEY! 

Thanks for reading this far, if there's anything specific you'd like to know more about, then drop me a comment below and i'll respond. and if its a really good question  I might just dedicate a whole devlog to it. 

see you in the next one!  Bren.