Sprites - Damn, trees are hard

Flametrooper · Post by **Flametrooper** » May 10th, 2007, 1:58 am

I drew some sprites for a game I'm making - the perspective is top-down, it's a shooter, and these are for the Office setting. I was wondering if any of the artists here could tell me what I need to improve on them, or give any other c&c.
Thanks for your time!

theotherhiveking · Post by **theotherhiveking** » May 10th, 2007, 1:37 pm

try making bigger sprites, (allows more detail), if the game ita like pacman (shows the whole map in the screen wwith no scrolling then u have very nice sprites.

Flametrooper · Post by **Flametrooper** » May 11th, 2007, 1:08 am

Yes, the sprites are supposed to be small. There are many, but small, levels, and each level is shown all at once.

theotherhiveking · Post by **theotherhiveking** » May 11th, 2007, 7:26 pm

then good work,

Flametrooper · Post by **Flametrooper** » May 16th, 2007, 10:13 pm

I decided to make the table bigger:

Drake Blademaster · Post by **Drake Blademaster** » May 17th, 2007, 2:48 am

Flametrooper wrote:Notice the wood-grain effect?

Yeah, nice.

Flametrooper · Post by **Flametrooper** » May 21st, 2007, 1:47 am

Damn, trees are hard to draw from a completely top-down perspective. Here's a palm tree, I found it slightly easier than normal ones...but I have the feeling something's wrong about it. Can't pinpoint what...or how to fix it...

Any c&c on this one?

theotherhiveking · Post by **theotherhiveking** » May 21st, 2007, 1:43 pm

no shadows!

Flametrooper · Post by **Flametrooper** » May 22nd, 2007, 2:51 am

Hmmm....here's another try. I discovered the interesting "Bump Map" feature of GIMP, and here's a result:

Post by **Dave** » May 22nd, 2007, 3:23 am

It might be an idea to look at high-detail areas in Google Earth (e.g. the city I live in, Mountain View, CA is pretty high detail). This would give you plenty of examples of photos of objects, including trees, from a top-down perspective.

David

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » May 22nd, 2007, 3:47 am

The pixelled one was better, in my opinion. The bump-mapped thing looks more like a piece of green citrus skin than anything to me. Increasing the range of shades from light to dark on the pixelled one might improve it. Worth a try.

Flametrooper · Post by **Flametrooper** » May 23rd, 2007, 1:20 am

Just wanted to try one more, using bump mapping and a different pre-bump technique, this is supposed to be an evergreen or something due to the shape. I think this one came out better than the last, but it is smaller.

theotherhiveking · Post by **theotherhiveking** » May 23rd, 2007, 1:13 pm

what that? a green mountain?a slime? that can be all except a tree

Post by **turin** » May 23rd, 2007, 3:03 pm

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup ... id=2146196
That's the best I could do. There don't seem to be any overhead views of trees anywhere..

[edit]
Here's a stylized vector drawing of what you want:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup ... ?id=102327

Flametrooper · Post by **Flametrooper** » May 25th, 2007, 12:21 am

Okay, I tried to copy a photo, but mine really didn't look like the photo at all. So, I tried doing the way I've been doing using Turin's stylized vector picture.
Also, another one in a slightly different style. Maybe I should give up the bump map feature and spend hours and hours until i can copy a photo perfectly - I dunno.