I have no idea how this game is supposed to play, but it looks amazing.
How are those sprites animated? What technique and which software package, if I may ask?
Thank you! There will be no actual action gameplay. The sprites are just static on the map, moving around like board game pieces. I just wanted to make them look more alive instead of just using fixed poses or simple bobbing. (Not that I didn't cut any corners, mind you.)
As for the technique - I'd post images if I could, but right now I can only explain.
I'm one of those fossils that grew up using Flash for vector animation. I'm sure all the kids are using fancy new software, but I appreciate the simpleness and the excellent line control.
The grid is 64 x 64 px, so I sketched out all creatures digitally and then saw about how much detail was needed to make them look neat, but not too busy. The animation is mostly nudge and squash in Flash, with everything being hand-tweened (so no objects or automatic "Insert Tween" stuff). A few details, such as the bat wings, are plain old keyframe animation - four frames to get the general movement down, then tween and adjust.
They're exported into Photoshop at original size, which already gives them a nice antialiasing effect. Then some filters are applied, just what I feel looks right on the creature.
And that's pretty much it!
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