Sidescroller Tileset

[Actingman00]

I started work on a kooky little game for fun and I realized it needed some kind of custom graphics but I couldn't make any good cartoony looking ones.  So I thought about what would be easy to map and not that hard to make so I came up with this sidescroller tileset.


Couple of things:

First, there is no shading.  I wouldn't mind maybe a little bit in the tileset but for now I haven't included it.  If somebody could help me with that it would be great.

To give the game a little bit of depth I have two of some of the tiles.  One has priority behind the character and the other in front.  It keeps the cartoony look but still adds a little bit to the tileset. 

Also, it's obviously not done so I'm looking for some good feedback on ways to make it better.


So here's some screenshots:

Spoiler

The character is that brown circular rock.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s291 ... reenie.png[/img]
A picture of a majority of the tileset. 

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s291 ... /2nd-1.png[/img]
Showing how he is sort of behind one tree and in front of another (bottom right of the picture)


Now heres some cave shots, I don't have many tiles for them yet.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s291 ... /cave1.png[/img]

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s291 ... /cave2.png[/img]
This is the same cave but with a black background.  I can't decide which I think looks better.  I've designed it so it's easy to change a map from day to night in the editor. 

 

[006]

The trees look really weird, the houses look like they're wearing party hats. What're the yellow things on the floor? Is the player a cookie?

 

[xinrua]

Now I can see what you are trying to do....Your gonna make a south park sideview game!!!!
That is going to look even worse then the actual cartoon...
Sorry dude there are no shadows...this looks like a 10-20 min put together and post tileset...

But hey i'll give you some slack I mean I hardly see a sidview tileset being posted....
So congrats on that!

 

[Calibre]

Even though it's different, it doesn't look like any effort has been put in and shouts "I've been drawn in paint"".  In my opinion if it's going to be that simple of a style, why not do it by hand?  You can individualism and it won't take that much longer.

 

[Actingman00]

Even though it's different, it doesn't look like any effort has been put in and shouts "I've been drawn in paint"".  In my opinion if it's going to be that simple of a style, why not do it by hand?  You can individualism and it won't take that much longer.

It actually has taken me a little while to do it all. I'm just learning it right now so thanks for the feedback.

The reason I'm not going to hand draw them is because I cannot draw whatsoever.  Even doing it sideview it would look like crap and I don't think it would look any better in the game.

Like I said, I want to shade the tiles a little bit so they look a little 3D without loosing the flat colored look.  But I have no idea how to shade properly.

And the character is a rock by the way lol

 

[sharksweetheart]

I cannot draw whatsoever.

There's your problem! Digital art still requires some artistic knowledge. I don't really know what advice to give because you won't even be able to apply it. I suggest start over; find a nice colour pallet online (although the default MS Paint colours can look good with skill, it obviously doesn't here) and use only block shapes with the shape tool because you don't seem to be able to draw a line. The platforms can be squares, the player sprite a circle, etc. Or rip. Or find an artist. Or be prepared to dedicate years to learn how to draw!

 

[Actingman00]

I cannot draw whatsoever.

There's your problem! Digital art still requires some artistic knowledge. I don't really know what advice to give because you won't even be able to apply it. I suggest start over; find a nice colour pallet online (although the default MS Paint colours can look good with skill, it obviously doesn't here) and use only block shapes with the shape tool because you don't seem to be able to draw a line. The platforms can be squares, the player sprite a circle, etc. Or rip. Or find an artist. Or be prepared to dedicate years to learn how to draw!

I zoom in 800% on ms paint and pixel draw most of it.  I made the platforms how they are because I didn't like the look of them being perfectly straight.

As for the style I wanted something different that I thought would be easy to do as this is only my hobby and not my life.  Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll look for some better color pallets but what I would love a tut on how to shade well...

 

[Kylock]

You get a 10 for effort, I couldn't even do as much as what you've got so far, but man - it's so hard on the eyes.  If you don't wanna grab some old school Mario 3 sprites, I'd strongly suggest finding someone to do the art for you - that's what I do.

As far as that goes, you need to consider your goal here.  Is the purpose of this project for you to learn how to shade and do sprites, or make a side scroller ?  Once you find your focus, go from there.  What you have so far works as placeholder graphics or even as a base for a spriter to work with, I'm sure there's plenty of bored artists around =p

 

[Mattastic]

Hmmm. As someone who's also working on a sidescroller, your topic title intregued me...

Okay, you're not a great artist by trade, but you want to do platform style graphics, and you're not too interested in expanding the colour scheme. I therefore suggest you take long look at the Commander Keen games. They were done using a very limited pallete, but looked excellent for their day, and still look clear and easy on the eyes (if not particularly remarkable). Google some images. Take note of the colours used, and where they're placed, how shading is handled, outlines, and the differences between backgrounds, sprites platforms.

 

[Actingman00]

Hmmm. As someone who's also working on a sidescroller, your topic title intregued me...

Okay, you're not a great artist by trade, but you want to do platform style graphics, and you're not too interested in expanding the colour scheme. I therefore suggest you take long look at the Commander Keen games. They were done using a very limited pallete, but looked excellent for their day, and still look clear and easy on the eyes (if not particularly remarkable). Google some images. Take note of the colours used, and where they're placed, how shading is handled, outlines, and the differences between backgrounds, sprites platforms.

Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for ^_^