Tom ForsythNov 20

What are some good tools for doing 1990s pixel art? Specifically sprites, but maybe some larger backgrounds. I see someone's done a JS version of DeluxePaint! Any others people really like?

Slightly heretically, I'd love one that handled alpha channels well.

Show threadTom Forsyth

Recs so far:

Aseprite
Pro Motion NG
grafx2
piskel
pyxel edit
Pixelorama
Cosmigo
Libresprite

My brain is very small, so starting with the #1 most common which is Aseprite.

Nov 21 at 4:37amWeb
Show threadTom ForsythNov 21
This was an incredibly helpful video on Aseprite for a newb like me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Y6OTzNrhk
An Aseprite Crash Course In 30 Minutes

YouTube
Show threadOblomovNov 21
@TomF also that's some incredible hair, and is that the Crypt of the NecroDancer soundtrack in the background?
Show threadTom ForsythNov 21
@oblomov Not sure - it says what he's playing in the top-left corner!
Show threadOblomovNov 21
@TomF oh right I hadn't noticed (and yes it was)
Show threadmariusNov 21
@TomF I've caught a couple of Adam's live sessions working on Insignia and it's crazy how much breadth of knowledge he has over the things required to make a full game.
Show threadKojack 🦎Nov 21
@TomF Cosmigo is the maker of Pro Motion NG. :)
Show threadTom ForsythNov 21
@kojack Ooooh gotcha
Show threadslembckeNov 21
@TomF Ase is great in general, but also because it has a pretty powerful CLI. I scripted it right into my asset build to split out various effect layers and send it all to my texture packer directly from the .ase files.
Show threadRaptor Nov 21

@TomF I'd recommend Pixelorama over Aseprite these days, it's mostly a clone of modern aseprite but merging in a bunch of QOL changes (and obviously using godot for UI so it's a bit more modern) where Ase stagnated quite a bit after they split from the GPL2 version and locked it down to a commercial license, it doesn't even do stuff like onion skinning very well.

Also don't sleep on GIMP, it's an incredibly powerful pixel editor

Show threadFarbsNov 21

@TomF boring answer, but 15+ years ago I went through the pain of learning GNU Image Manipulation Program and it was totally worth it. I'm even using it now for UI layouts via a custom exporter script.

The pain is real though. There are dozens of reasons that you might click on the canvas and not see the pixels change colour, and it takes a long time to learn all of 'em.

Show threadTom ForsythNov 21
@Farbs What is this magical program - oh you mean GIMP yeah I mean it's always there, locked in the corner of my hard drive begging to come out.
Show threadEniko FoxNov 21

@TomF for pixel art aseprite is the best, imo. I use it, and we used it to male Kitsune Tails

I'm even using it for block game

Just don't do non pixel art with it

Show threadTom ForsythNov 21
@eniko I look forward to the distant future where Photoshop has an Aseprite keybinding emulation because they had to kowtow to the dominant tooling paradigm.
Show threadOblomovNov 21

@eniko @TomF

OT but even as a FLOSS aficionado I really like how aseprite manages the whole licensing and source thing. It's source-available, so you can (AFAICS) build it yourself, although you cannot redistribute such a build. A purchase gets you binaries for all supported platforms (including a Steam key), plus tech support, and updates at least until the next major version. I like that attitude.

Show threadscumwaysNov 22

@TomF Late to the party, but I recommend Evil Pixie. Well, I would. I wrote it.
https://evilpixie.scumways.com/

Just two more users, to double the user base!

Evilpixie, a pixel editor