Sonic Sprite Ideas?

[DigiTan]

I was trying to come up with some game graphics last night but I realized there wasn't much I could do until we have a Sonic sprite. I think it's fair to say the rest of us are also stuck at this point and before we can move forward much, we need to come up with a few good sprites.

Also, I got to thinking about the tilemapping in general and I think 16x16 will be way too big to fit the screen. On most Z80 machines, it would mean the screen could only be 4 tiles high, and that's gonna make things very difficult gameplay wise. Would it be possible to have a 16x16 sonic and a 8x8 tileset? The Sonic image wouldn't have to take up the entire 16x16 per se--maybe it could be 8x12 or 10x10, etc. visually.

The reason I ask is because Mario, Metroid, and Kirby have all managed to pull off really good-looking sprites in this size range while using small tiles. Plus, the rest of our map tiles would be 4 times smaller.

Anyway, I made a couple of sprites with Paint and GStudio and I'll post them up sometime this week.

[Madskillz]

That also has stopped me...I have a demo from L-man, but inorder for me to get my walking/rolling routines done, I need to have sprites for them in a suitable size...I was thinking 8x8 tiles for the levels and 16x16 baddies and for Sonic...ideas?

[leofox]

Maybe 16x8 for Sonic, like Mario?

[Mike_k]

Scale 'em down

http://www.planetdreamcast.com/sonic/see/s...gba/02sonic.gif

-Mike

[DigiTan]

I haven't had much luck scaling those down. The shrinking was so extreme, it ruined most of his detail. I'm trying to do a few running sprites "from scratch" with MS paint.

[shadowing]

Hmm... I would think 16X16 is adequate.

[Mike_k]

Most of my original sprites are 16x16 or smaller...?





Some were wider to show running actions, but all are under 16 pxls high.

-Mike

[Raiser]

[DigiTan]

Now that's what I'm talking about! I think the 12x16 are just about the right size for the TI screen. We're gonna have to sacrifice alot of detail if we want to fit to the screen, but it will be worth it.

[Raiser]

Here's a sample run animation. I might work on it a little more, but I've gotten it to be a lot smoother than when I first tried it.

[DigiTan]

That's awesome! I like the way his feet 'blur' like in the genesis games!

[alexrudd]

That looks great! Would you be able to get dynamic sprites during the game without affecting speed?

[Madskillz]

Sweet...I was in need of sprites like that...sorry mike, but 12x16 is more workable!

[Arcane Wizard]

[Raiser]

Thanks for the advice Arcane, I've fixed up the outlined areas, and rounded the feet to make them animate in a more circular motion. In the fourth frame, making the 3 pixel long line wider made it look too bulky and awkward, so I shortened it. In the third frame, however, I felt the shoe only needed the pixel at the top removed, as it looked too square with it.


I also tried cutting it off like you had suggested, but I can't decide which is better:


Anyway, here's what I have done so far: the standing sprite, the running animation, the walking animation (used as Sonic is building speed), and the roll/jump. The latter 2 I'm still working on, as they're a still a little buggy:

Sonic's hands are supposed to move when he walks, but are stationary when he runs. Because his hands are 1 to 2 pixels big, it looks quite awkward.

Edit: Fixed the roll

[Madskillz]

wow...for the size limit, those are extremely awesome...thus work can now be done again! I will work on Sonic some this weekend....I promise!

[DigiTan]

Now that's what I'm talking about! These sprites will make the engine much easier to visualize now. I know it's kind of early, but do we have a couple of badnik sprites? They might help us determine a sprite limit for the graphics.

[Raiser]

I haven't made any Badnik sprites yet, however, I believe that Madskillz made a couple of enemies (Crabmeat and the fish that jumps up from under the bridge).

Edit: Also, what animations are still needed for Sonic? I currently have standing, walking, running, rolling/jumping, skidding, and death sprites. I still need to make the sprite for when he gets hit and loses his rings, but do we need spindash, pushing, ducking and looking up sprites as well? I assume the latter 2 will depend on how the engine handles scrolling the screen. Also, when Sonic finishes an act, will he run past the spinner ala Sonic 1 & 2, or pose ala Sonic 3 & Knuckles? I'll make an 'act clear' pose if necessary.

[DigiTan]

I guess we could also use sprites for hanging from vines/hooks if we use those kinds of objects in it. There's also a 'spring' sprite for when you are flying straight up. A few others come to mind, but they might not be critical.

[Arcane Wizard]

At first I thought you'd nead another in-between frame, but now I think the problem is that the first two frames are nearly identical, the leg only moves 1 pixel.

Make for a more even change in each frame.