Tom ForsythNov 23

I'm teaching myself how to do pixel art, and I got Aseprite, which is fantastic. So I have the game already - and it's fun - but it's using art I "borrowed". But that gives the right idea on size - I can go a few pixels over or under.

Anyway, I was sketching away in Aseprite and I got a reasonable looking outline (no shading yet), and I thought "how far off am I on size?"

My sketch: 96x40 pixels.
Game needs: 24x12

Derp. You have no pixels. None. It's all in the shading. Make every one count.

Show threadTom ForsythNov 23
Before vs after. I actually find it so much easier at this smaller size. You just don't have that many choices!
Show threadTom ForsythNov 23
And yes - the only thing cooler than a swing-wing aircraft is one where BOTH wings swing. The Tomtomcatcat F28!
Show threadTom ForsythNov 23
Watching a modern bunch of pixel art tutorials, and they spend a lot of time talking about outlines, and then shading inside. Which works fine at the big size. But at the small size you simply don't have space for both outlines and shading - pick one or the other!
Show threadTom ForsythNov 24

Revised size, did shading and reorg, and exported it to the game! Note - all assets APART from the main ship are *ahem* borrowed from other games. Placeholders only!

The shading is too subtle in the game context, and I want a nicer exhaust.

For ~15 hours from "total art newb" - it's acceptable :-)

#Mega68k

Show threadTom ForsythNov 24
Wow that got very mangled by Masto. Looks like I'll need to tweak my GIF writer to output bigger.
Show threadTom ForsythNov 24
Did a quick upscaling exporter, but now I'm really limited on time because I smack into the Mastodon 16MB upload limit. And then it MPEGs the shit out of it anyway. Sigh.
Show threadTom Forsyth

Slowly developing the skill of what one of the artists I worked with in the 90s called "pixel-wanking" - tweaking individual pixel positions and colours to make the most out of the tiny possibility space.

It's a slightly mindless "zen" task - excellent at 1am when you don't want to sleep, but you're too tired to code.

Nov 27 at 10:18pmWeb
Show threadjosefNov 27
@TomF when I was too tired to write code, I used to go through mindlessly indenting and tidying the existing code. but ever since the IDE has got good at doing that for me, when it hits 1 AM now I feel lost and confused, and might even do something crazy, like go to bed
Show threadTom ForsythNov 27
@jk I sometimes keep a second TODO list of stuff that is simple but slightly tedious - just for times like that.
Show threadjosefNov 27
@TomF I suppose it's like managing a team of people who are me at different times of the day. for example, me-who-has-finally-had-lunch has quite a different skillset and overall outlook to the unknowable and perplexing me-who-hasn't-had-lunch-yet