The VG Resource

Hey guys, aspiring pixel artist here!

I was just hoping to get some feedback/constructive criticism on a background I've been working on for a game. This is the first time I've really attempted doing any kind of proper pixel art, so I have a lot to learn!

Anyway, the game I'm working on is am 2D retro platformer called Grapple Knight, being built in Unity. I'm responsible for the environment tiles and background art. You can see the game in action here:
http://redknightgames.com/category/games/
(you may have to install Unity web player, don't worry it's safe!)

And here's a couple screenshots:


The background has several layers of scrolling (parallax) that is easier to see in action. I'm not entirely happy with how it looks, and need some feedback on ways to improve it. Hopefully someone here with some experience on creating pixel background art might be able to give me a few pointers!

Why isn't the background at the same scale as the character?

The HUD and the vine grapple points are also out of scale with the background. Everything should have the same pixel size.



Also, there's a weird white edge around certain elements.

I'll step in and explain why there is a difference in scale. It was a design choice made by the team where the non-interactive environment was created at half the scale of both characters and interactive gameplay objects. However, looking back into this, we probably should have made foreground environment the same scale versus mid-ground and background. The strange white edges that appear on the environment tiles is a small problem with the engine (Unity) we're using, but will be eliminated when we work on back end stuff with the game.

We'll definitely work on scale a little more, but please don't hesitate to critique on his actual environment sprite work. If you want to see individual tiles and backgrounds, just drop a reply and I'm sure he'll be happy to comply

It'd be nice to see it as tiles, since when it's upscaled with those dodgey bits, it's really hard to properly judge it.
However I can say that the grass is pretty nasty, and really out of place.

(08-14-2012, 03:56 AM)Kopaka Wrote: [ -> ]I'll step in and explain why there is a difference in scale. It was a design choice made by the team where the non-interactive environment was created at half the scale of both characters and interactive gameplay objects. However, looking back into this, we probably should have made foreground environment the same scale versus mid-ground and background.

If you're worried about being able to tell the difference between the foreground and background, just make the background darker. Any difference in scale tends to look jarring.

Also, fix up the HUD.

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. I'll be looking at redoing/improving most of these tilesets at some point, so these are no means final. I'm more looking for critique on my actual tilesets, not the scale or the hud. I'll post up the background and the environment tilesets








Fire away! I can take it!

the biggest problem I see is the colours. Personally, I don't like thw whole color choice, but apart from that, there is a huge lack in contrast. You have several shades which are almost identical. When you do pixel art, every colour you use should have a purpose. If you have two colours that look the same, you could just as well use only one.
Moreover, you don't need to come up with a new set of greens for every bush and tree. You can reuse colours from one for the other to give the scene a more uniform look. If you want to use different sets, then try to make them actually different - one more green, the other blue, another tinted brown, but don't make them different, yet extremely similar.
Generally, I'd suggest that you cut down on the amount of colours and use a tad more contrast between the shades. I'd say three colours per ramp should be enough, mostly. You can use the outline colour for shading, too.

Next point is the shading - it looks really messy and random mostly. As though it was merely scribbled.


Also, try to post pixels at 1x scale, not 4x like the tileset there

the new images you provided are much better (they keep the 1px ratio, which in turn avoids blurring and allows for sharper details).

As Previous said, pixelart should have more carefully-placed pixels. At the moment, it looks like you scribbled instead of making pixelart. Many elements also clash: the vines are extremely low in detail compared to other things. When doing assets for a game, you need to make sure that all the elements are properly drawn with a unified style.

(also usually the sky is lighter at the bottom and darker at the top, I think.)

The ground tiles seem less like they're effective at conveying ground, and more effective at conveying a bunch of random, brown noise. The way they also drop off into a brown void is very unpleasant. Take a look at ground tiles from other platformers, too. Not only do they usually avoid having an entire level comprised of the same ground, they keep up a level of "detail" all the way to the border of the screen.

Here, look at the tiles from the center of this stage
http://www.spriters-resource.com/snes/mmx/sheet/29569
They have a simple, repeated pattern to them but because the pattern isn't entirely horizontal they don't become too repetitious, they look good and i'd wager saved a lot of space for the developers.
As a whole, noise seems to be the entire problem with this style.

I made an edit of your background:

I made the elements further away from the player lighter and blend more with the colour of the sky, to give an impression of depth and more visibility.

(08-15-2012, 04:15 AM)Previous Wrote: [ -> ]the biggest problem I see is the colours. Personally, I don't like thw whole color choice, but apart from that, there is a huge lack in contrast. You have several shades which are almost identical. When you do pixel art, every colour you use should have a purpose. If you have two colours that look the same, you could just as well use only one.
Moreover, you don't need to come up with a new set of greens for every bush and tree. You can reuse colours from one for the other to give the scene a more uniform look. If you want to use different sets, then try to make them actually different - one more green, the other blue, another tinted brown, but don't make them different, yet extremely similar.
Generally, I'd suggest that you cut down on the amount of colours and use a tad more contrast between the shades. I'd say three colours per ramp should be enough, mostly. You can use the outline colour for shading, too.

Next point is the shading - it looks really messy and random mostly. As though it was merely scribbled.


Also, try to post pixels at 1x scale, not 4x like the tileset there

This is great advice, thanks. I guess when I was drawing it, I wanted it to have that low contrast look as it was meant to look as if it was set during sundown. But I can see now that the lack of contrast doesnt really bring out any of the details in the background. Would you say the best way to go about doing outlines is to pick the darkest colour from the palette and draw with a 1 pixel wide border? As for the shading, I was sort of scribbling with a 1pixel square brush in areas that looked like they would have shadows. But I know now that this isnt really the right way to go about shading. Told ya I'm a noob!

(08-15-2012, 08:47 AM)Gors Wrote: [ -> ]the new images you provided are much better (they keep the 1px ratio, which in turn avoids blurring and allows for sharper details).

As Previous said, pixelart should have more carefully-placed pixels. At the moment, it looks like you scribbled instead of making pixelart. Many elements also clash: the vines are extremely low in detail compared to other things. When doing assets for a game, you need to make sure that all the elements are properly drawn with a unified style.

(also usually the sky is lighter at the bottom and darker at the top, I think.)

I think that lack of unified style came down to us not knowing what we wanted our art style to be at the time, but we have a better idea now of the direction we want to head in.

(08-15-2012, 08:57 AM)total burning heart kojjiro Wrote: [ -> ]The ground tiles seem less like they're effective at conveying ground, and more effective at conveying a bunch of random, brown noise. The way they also drop off into a brown void is very unpleasant. Take a look at ground tiles from other platformers, too. Not only do they usually avoid having an entire level comprised of the same ground, they keep up a level of "detail" all the way to the border of the screen.

Here, look at the tiles from the center of this stage
http://www.spriters-resource.com/snes/mmx/sheet/29569
They have a simple, repeated pattern to them but because the pattern isn't entirely horizontal they don't become too repetitious, they look good and i'd wager saved a lot of space for the developers.
As a whole, noise seems to be the entire problem with this style.

That random brown noise was my crappy attempt at dithering, haha. We used to have repeating dirt tiles, but it was much harder on the eyes. We plan to have decals to break up the solid colours, things like rocks, bones, roots etc. Similar to how The Iconoclasts does this

.
What would you suggest to remove this noise?

(08-15-2012, 11:08 AM)Chris2Balls [:B] Wrote: [ -> ]I made an edit of your background:

I made the elements further away from the player lighter and blend more with the colour of the sky, to give an impression of depth and more visibility.

This is awesome! Looks much better already.

I would suggest going with more defined shapes in the ground, like The Iconoclasts and Cave Story

Hey guys, I've been working on a new set of tiles for the forest environment. I'm completley redoing everything to bring it up to standard with our new character and art direction for the game. C+C welcome and appreciated:

Looks better (like a LOT better) though you've done the "into nothingness" thing again. Solid colour looks bad.