Concepts and stuffs revealed

So first of all it's just a long time I've come here.
I should mention, I've seen in the past and recently news stuff here, and was amazed by the work you guys have done. After all, I've never realized what I wanted (simply doing a demo), because my times were short, and I probably don't have the skill.

So anyway, long times ago, after hacking some SMB3 custom levels, I've decided to try doing a platformer game. The results are lots of levels graphics and some characters.
I've also thinking about news concepts, what the nes should be if we would have keeped his spirit.
So here are stuff I've made for the nes, and stuffs I've expand to a "nes style" more evolved game.
Keep in mind it's just for sharing with you, and get criticisms and advices.
For the moment those are just concepts, and I would probably don't manage to turn it into a game.

So, the main goal is to evolved a game but with keeping the mains feeling of a nes game.
I'm probably not the first who have thinking about that, but after all, I've successfully implement the process for graphics creations. First idea is to keep pixels organizations for sprites and graphics. All graphics should be done as a nes game at first, so here is an example of a little wood level : http://imageshack.com/a/img633/8339/zfdNkM.png



After that, those graphics could be improved and computed using a vectorial software like inkscape.
Pixel proportions must be keeped, and tilesets or sprites should be remade in grey scales images (for using 3 colors palette like the nes). It require a lot of skills in vectorial creation to be convincing.
The result are some png table graphics which could be scaled for high medium or low resolutions screens. It also give the life to anti-aliasing which doesn't exist at 255 levels on nes games.
So this same level (with a few things added) is multi-resolution capable (click the link to see HD) : http://imageshack.com/a/img908/6672/EfWXm5.png


Others I've made based on the same tileset process :

http://imageshack.com/a/img911/4744/FIsuj5.png


http://imageshack.com/a/img905/4249/yAivvn.png


http://imageshack.com/a/img908/2867/oopaE9.png


I've also done the same process on some sprites, here is a cute squirrel walk cycle :


First frame example done in vectorial inkscape software (a grid is used to represent pixels and tiles) :
http://imageshack.com/a/img903/3405/pJJw0T.png


Other nes graphics I've done:


http://imageshack.com/a/img905/73/hqM76l.png


http://imageshack.com/a/img911/3880/fLiQxt.png


And after all, some news stuffs character done recently based on mario (not vectorized at the moment) :



I will love to here what you think about the idea.
If you want to see, I've also others nes stuff, I've never show.

Some of the trees look very good.

Oh thanks, there are all the same model, but like any other nes grahpics, color and arrangements are really important to optimize the visual.

I've also thinking about different species with pins tree like this :
http://imageshack.com/a/img633/6175/FOybqU.png


So now I'm thinking about doing something different than a mario game.
I want to evolve my little squirrel with littles friends like a rabbit or anything in the same range of size.
(I own some enemies, which also could be considered as playable, like a caterpillar)

So animals could be able to climb thoses trees, think about of the lizard from little nemo.
I'm also wanted specific ability like walking upside down (the cartepillar do !), crossing horizontal wood branches ....

Just a little preview of what I'm working on, I've updated the squirrel look.
Chirpy is a little bird named "rouge-gorge" in french, it's traducted by redbreast or robin.
I hope his characteristics are enough exagereted.
For sure thoses 3 animals would become playable (if I will do it as a game).

Funny trivia: the American Robin doesn't look much like the European Robin, nor are they closely related.

Then again, I'm not certain whether this sprite size really affords much ability to define something more clearly than "this is a passerine bird".

Nor does Christopher Robin Milne look like Dick "Robin" Grayson. (See The Adventures of Batman and Christopher Robin.)

But good pixel art so far. Have you planned out how these three characters will feel? Will it be like Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, where you choose one character to play through the whole game and the hard parts in various levels are in different places for different characters? Or will it be like The Lost Vikings, where you have to use teamwork involving each character's abilities to pass each level?

So random.

Oh thanks to point it out lidnariq : It's definitively based on the European Robin.
The one which has been used as a reference is this one (the fat species) :
http://solene.ledantec.free.fr/Animaux/rougegorge.htm


For the sprite size, it's made like this to handle nes limitations, but yeah I've thinking doing better, there's a big rabbit in this table :


Update with a new animal (a little less well made) :


Regarding the gameplay, I don't think I want "The Lost Viking" team mechanic.
It's more like Sonic if you want, but involving capacities of different animals.
My reference in my head is more like "Little Nemo" or "Super Mario Bros 3".
Nothing is really fixed, but i would like must of the parts be playable with any animal.
Each animal should be able to be transformed at anytime accros the same level.
It could be triggered by the player (select button) or by selecting an item representing itself (I haven't really make the choice at this time).
I'm also thinking about collecting items for enabling different abilities (for example a golden feather let the bird fly without any limitations of time).

For the moment my goal is to animate each one (because this is difficult, even more with the hedgehog littles foots), I will let you see some gifs if you wanted !
And after all, I will let you see also the converted proportional SVG (as explain before).

Thanks for the comments

In other words, Little Samson.


Will this hedgehog be able to "spin dash"? And I hope "Spicky" won't end up having unfortunate implications.

You might want to go with "Spikey" for the porcupine, or else it sounds like a racial slur.
Nevermind, beat to the point.

Background looks good. I dig some of the palette choices, and the leaf clustering on the pines.

Yes that game is surely a reference for me, I really appreciate it, I've play it entirely there's just propably one year.
But if you have suggestions, I will take it as a reflection, nothing is fixed, and nothing is made.
(Sure it's blurry at that time because the level design need to be also taken in account).


In some sort, I wanted him to be able to roll, but unfortunately I don't want amalgam with Sonic.
My reference here is a little flash game named Roly Poly which is cute.
It depend on what I will be able to do with this hedgehog as nes sprites animations.
I've done some hedgehogs designs for my work, so I will probably take this as antoher inspiration : Hedgehogs do a swing


No there isn't really meaning, it just come from the work "spike".(I'm sure you've understand)
I don't want those animals to speak, but they would propably do some weird animal sound. (Think about the amazing birds tweets from Adventure of Lolo 3)
Also if you have recommendations for naming my littles animals, I'm not closed.

Regardless, it is a racial slur. And is thus, not a wise choice.

Do you perhaps mean "Spiky"?

Oh my, sorry, I didn't know.
Really I read what you've send me tepples (and others), but it's me who didn't understand.
Please apologize, english is definitively not my native language.

So I will change his name ...
For the story I choose with a "K" to get the same number of letter with others animals names.
After all, I really mean Spiky like implicitly suggest.

To be excused, I will show 2 littles animations of my Squirrel (I will probably fix littles things in the future) :
http://imageshack.com/a/img633/2383/EWn7Hk.gif
http://imageshack.com/a/img910/5603/XZuDL2.gif

So it's a few days now, I didn't get the time I wanted, but here are new stuffs. (with some gameboyish LCD render)

Some items, insects would be used for the bird & the hedgehog, vegetables for the bunny, acorns & nuts for the squirrel.
It would probably recharge the life energy of each animal depending on what is eaten.


The second bird design refer to this bird (I didn't find the name in English) : En français = Mésange


Somes running animal, not fully conviced by the hedgehog, but I wil rework at it :





And this is a converted bird fly animation in SVG→PNG :

"Long-tailed Tit on a washing line" by Dave Croker, CC BY-SA 2.0

French: Mésange à longue queue
Latin: Aegithalos caudatus
English: Long-tailed tit

Oh yep this is it : Very Interesting, thanks !
I've found it in google, but I was afraid "tit" would means something else.

Here's how you could keep it E-rated: You could call this bird a "long-tailed mesange" in-game. Then use the excuse that in the game world, speakers borrowed the word "mesange" from French, much as English borrowed other French words such as "derriere" (butt), "au naturel" (naked), "brassiere" (tit sling), and "loo" (crapper, from l'eau).

The picture ("mesange bleue") is a "blue tit" in English.

In the US, the corresponding species are known as "chickadee"s

Oh, it's true, I was amazed to hear from brazillians things like c'est la vie^Fr, or from koreans and a lot of others country the word Voilà^Fr.


I think I will go with that, I've also wondering how to translate this species La Mésange Charbonnière^Fr which is this exact one :
[url]https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mésange_charbonnière[/url]

Here in France, seeing this species is relatively uncommon, but we could hear them in winter, every time it happens it reminds the feel of the cold winter : it's also an indication the weather temperature would probably fall a little more.


Ho, chickadees^Uk sound good, I also like it

Edit :
So after all, I've found in french all the species of Mesanges, and it seems I get confused between the blue tit and la mésange charbonnière^Fr

Native English speakers...tend not to immediately associate the word "tit" with birds (same with "cock" or "booby"). Chickadee would be much better.

The Mésange charbonnière is a "Great Tit".

Unfortunately, none of the (US) chickadees are as showy as the Great Tit or Blue Tit.

I am told that Brits (and other non-US english-speaking places with Tits) aren't as easily titillated.