Hey all!
It's been awhile, hasn't it?
I have a new Pico-8 project brewing. Anyone care to guess what it could be?
Please keep in mind I just started work on this today (6/21/22) so there isn't much here yet.
Indeed it is @dw817. I'm already starting to notice areas that could be compressed a bit, like my animation system. I need to read up on the map editor by @JadeLombax, and see if I can fit it in here.
Heh - how about that, @Turbochop. I managed to deduce that from the way he animates when he walks. Guess I really have seen a great many video-games in my time and can pick out characteristics.
Best wishes on your game - and please call on us if you need help in something.
Thank you @dw817. If people can instantly recognize what I'm trying to make by one glance at the character, I'm doing something right. Having said that, though, I do want to ask about the way he walks.
I wanted there to be clear back and forth head movement, but I couldn't really achieve that without it looking exaggerated. Anyone have a idea on how to better convey his movement? I'm actually pretty happy with it as is, but maybe I don't know any better. I have already toned down the arm movement, but the head makes it almost look like a limp.
Well now, @Turbochop, you could check out the game "Shantae" for the Gameboy color done by the animation company, "WayForward Technologies."
To me anyways they have the best and most perfect movement of pixeled sprites, definitely worth examining.
Here is a video and the channel to reach them and examine more of their animation works.
https://youtu.be/xHLYbv8AGGM
https://www.youtube.com/user/wayforwardtube/videos
I agree with you about the walk looking like a limp @Turbochop. You said you were trying to get a back-and-forth movement but what you've actually got is the head dropping down just as the character steps forward.
Now, I'm not artist so take this with a grain of salt but I think typically any up/down motion in a walk cycle usually comes from the legs themselves: When the legs are passing and you're sort of up on your toes of one foot the head will be highest; when the legs are apart and both touching the ground the head will be lowest. But the head/torso itself remains in basically the same position apart from arm movement.
Here's some Castlevania 1 gameplay just for reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOTUVXrAOE8
Notice that although the head does move it always stays at the same height. The movement of the head actually seems to have more to do with the way the torso is moving. When the character isn't moving the foreground arm is quite far forward and what we see is mostly his back. When he walks the whole torso rotates back exposing part of the chest and background arm. It's a pretty exaggerated twist actually and the back-and-forth head movement seems to be a result of that.
Taking a closer look at your sprites you actually do have that torso twist going on. So I think your problem is actually that you've got the head moving opposite to what the torso is doing. With your character, as the body twists back you have the head moving forward and down.
I made a couple quick edits to your sprites:
- Moving the head back instead of forward
- Keeping the head at the same level for the whole animation.
Still looks a bit odd but it doesn't look like he's limping anymore.
Good luck with your project, I look forward to playing it! Always loved castlevania as a kid.
@jasondelaat Hmm... You're right: It looks a little odd either way. I'll have to do some research. Thank you for taking a crack at it, in any case!
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