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[godsavant]

I don't think Jim's was done, and in truth, it was pretty faithful to Oracle's intent.

But yeah, new sprite looks alright in person. Should the eyes be the squiggles they are now, though, or the customary block-pupils of the other characters?

[Fuzz]

But yeah, new sprite looks alright in person. Should the eyes be the squiggles they are now, though, or the customary block-pupils of the other characters?

I think that the squiggle eyes work for this character, because he's so small and the source material doesn't even have eyes, but I think that the eyes might look better if they were more rounded and less elongated.

[Feliz Lombriz]

Hey thanks Feliz, great to get some input from the Liero/Worms experts! 

Alright, to get some actual movement into this, I gave the first sprite a shot:

Glad I could help.

Awesome! Your sprite looks really great! I do have a few suggestions/brainstorms though. My only real complaint is that his eyes look a bit too evil/angry the way they are now. Since he's such a tiny, "harmless" character and he's at such an ironic contrast with his big gun and powerful moves, I think it would be more effective and ironic if Liero (I suppose that's his name?) were a more innocent and oblivious character, one who is perpetually surprised/unaware that big flashy things keep coming out of the end of his gun. Liero also seems just a few pixels too chubby to me, but I'm being picky. Anyways, I'm no pixel artist, but I thought I'd try a few things and illustrate a few of my ideas.


Tiny tweak. I just experimented with a less angry eye shape. Sort of worked. (He's also a pixel skinnier in all of these.)


I like the bandanna, but I thought I'd remove it as an experiment. It's alright but he looks kind of... bald. The eyes are a little closer together for this one. I also tried to add some eyebrows just to see how they'd look, but they're pretty hard to see.


Eh? I kind of like this one. Just a brainstorm.


Uhh... this one wasn't quite what I had in mind. I was experimenting with the Kingdom Hearts-style I'm-so-awesome-I-even-look-good-in-a-blindfold look, but I ended up with the my-arms-are-so-short-I-can't-get-this-dumb-thing-off-of-my-eyes look.


The Rayman concept pushed to the extreme. I vote we go with this one.

[EDIT: Heh. Didn't see Fuzz's post. I'm starting a nice trend of blatantly contradicting the opinions of the guy right above me. ]

[godsavant]

Haha, those are nice! Good idea, he definitely looks better one pixel skinnier.

[Fuzz]

[EDIT: Heh. Didn't see Fuzz's post. I'm starting a nice trend of blatantly contradicting the opinions of the guy right above me. ]

Not at all. What you just said was exactly what I meant. I like your more roundish eyes, and I was just saying that I don't think eyes like the ones for the Naija sprite would work well for Liero.

[Rostiger]

Yes! Great Feliz! I wasn't quite happy with the eyes either and even did a small secret edit on them, but they still weren't right.

I actually like your first edit best - it really fits to the look of the other sprites that way, so I'd say lets got for that one.
The one with the eyes over the bandana looks quite funky too, but he kind of gets that Ninja Turtles look.

Also shape and size is better now, so good job! I think we could start with an idle animation or a walk cycle. I think many of his animations shouldn't be too hard to do, so please feel free to give it a shot!

[Rostiger]

I jut tried to verify that Liero was easy to animate and I think it's quite true. Whipped this up in a couple of minutes:

[Feliz Lombriz]

Not at all. What you just said was exactly what I meant. I like your more roundish eyes, and I was just saying that I don't think eyes like the ones for the Naija sprite would work well for Liero.

Uhh... I blatantly contradict that opinion!
*Reads post*
Oh, wait, you're agreeing with me again. Quit doing that.

I actually like your first edit best - it really fits to the look of the other sprites that way, so I'd say lets got for that one.

And I was hoping you'd go with the last one.

The one with the eyes over the bandana looks quite funky too, but he kind of gets that Ninja Turtles look.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Bank Robber, perhaps.

I jut tried to verify that Liero was easy to animate and I think it's quite true. Whipped this up in a couple of minutes:

It moves! Cue flood of community-generated animations?

[Damian]

I much prefer Kovski's sprite to Jim's. Jim's sprite just seems to be too cluttered, and the details aren't very easy to make out.

? Thats harsh..you read much?
I get that your "fan" or something, but I was going for more concept choice, being that I don't know much of the game. Also choosing not to post future developments of the character, a choice I made due to the disagreements of how the character should look. I ultimatly did go for a tale rather than feet, but I guess you guys wanted to stay true to the long tail, which I don't like(No offence). Anyway, I chose not to continue, and so I feel I shouldn't need to explain why my sketch looked so shitty.

I jut tried to verify that Liero was easy to animate and I think it's quite true. Whipped this up in a couple of minutes:

Kovski,  that is truly great! 

[Hideous]

I much prefer Kovski's sprite to Jim's. Jim's sprite just seems to be too cluttered, and the details aren't very easy to make out.

? Thats harsh..you read much?

How is it harsh? He's stating his honest opinion.

[Rostiger]

Well, but Jim's sprite was also wasn't even rudimentary finished, so the comment maybe was a little overhasty. But I think there's no need to feel offended, Jim.
But hey, thanks for the compliment!
If you have time, you're still welcomed to do some animations also! 

[Fuzz]

I much prefer Kovski's sprite to Jim's. Jim's sprite just seems to be too cluttered, and the details aren't very easy to make out.

? Thats harsh..you read much?
I get that your "fan" or something, but I was going for more concept choice, being that I don't know much of the game. Also choosing not to post future developments of the character, a choice I made due to the disagreements of how the character should look. I ultimatly did go for a tale rather than feet, but I guess you guys wanted to stay true to the long tail, which I don't like(No offence). Anyway, I chose not to continue, and so I feel I shouldn't need to explain why my sketch looked so shitty.

Sorry if I offended you. I just didn't really think that your sprite was in keeping with the general art style.

[godsavant]

I wanted to make shooting cycle, but I ended up just having an animation where he kind of idly tosses his gun up and down for kicks. I think he needs more light reflected off the gunshot.

EDIT: Okay, there we go. Added a bit of recoil and bandanna action, now it looks like he's actually firing the shotgun.

[William Broom]

I think the recoil needs a bit more kick to it. Right now, it looks kind of like he's just lifting his gun up for some reason. Muzzle flash would also help with that effect.

[Soulliard]

Recoil should push the gun backwards in addition to rotating it. Great start, though.

[JLJac]

Eh... guys... about that bandana...

Well I'll just shut up

[battlerager]

Eh... guys... about that bandana...

Well I'll just shut up

No, please do tell 

[shig]

I'd love it if it looked like Liero had a hard time with the recoil. Like he almost falls over when he shoots or something.

[godsavant]

Added some muzzle flash, plus some additional recoil.

I'd love it if it looked like Liero had a hard time with the recoil. Like he almost falls over when he shoots or something.

This would only be true with bigger weapons. Also, way too complicated to animate, considering that his rockets, shotgun, and flamethrower will need separate animations.

[Rostiger]

Nice work godsavant! I think the movement is done quite well, but it kind of bothered me that he lets go of the shotgun with the back hand. Also the muzzle effect is nice, but I when adding such effects, it always pays off to be consequent:



As you can see, I added the lightning to the whole body and also added an actual muzzle flash. Often in such cases it's better to add the effect to the sprite itself, instead of doing it with a particle system, because it gives you more control on how it will look.

Also for the upwards motion of the recoil, I took out a frame and added a speed swoosh effect, which makes it look faster without loosing the sense of the motion.

I took out the last two frames too, because they didn't really add to the overall motion and only made it longer. I was thinking of changing it a little, to add a reload animation, but then I decided otherwise, because it's just such a tiny detail that might be dropped in the end, because the overall animation is too long.

Keep them coming though, I always love to see progress on the sprites. I'll try to do another Nikujin animation today, let's see how far I'll get...