Minor project: Magus sprite recoloring

[FaustWolf]

Ahaaa, now I realize we only have Fan Fiction and Fan Art subforums under "Fan Feedback." Hmmm! I'm inclined to do what Zephira suggests, maybe even parsing out Chrono Trigger hacking, Chrono Cross hacking, and RD hacking, as well as giving spriting its own subforum separate from Fan Art.

But that's because I'm an organization freak. I'll start a discussion on this with the other admins soon, and maybe we'll parse something out. Chrono fandom is so dedicated in comparison to most other franchises, and the Compendium is really the central focal point for it now, so some reorganization might just be in order.

[alfadorredux]

Nit: there's a fanart thread under Fan Feedback. If there's a Fanart subforum, I'm missing it somehow.

Redcape sprites with much darker shadow, which is also used instead of generic shadow in some areas around the cape:


I'm not really persuaded that it's much of an improvement, but I'll keep it in mind. Having to keep track of how long the hem is behind his legs may be a bit of a pain.

Sprites showing all three changes (not reduced to 12 colours yet):


And with that, I think I'm done for the night.

[Mr Bekkler]

Sprites showing all three changes (not reduced to 12 colours yet):


And with that, I think I'm done for the night.

Word! That's what I call an alternate outfit! It looks like something he'd wear while at war with the humans.

Unleash the giggles!

[V_Translanka]

How royally screwed would it be if you changed the cape's shadow to match the regular shadows? Like instead of a darker shade of red made it a shade of black?

I think the purple hair should be darker too (or maybe w/o the white highlighted areas?)...but w/e, s'all good.

[Zephira]

Queen Zeal's sprite uses her base skin tone as the highlight on her hair and robes. If you're really strapped for colour reduction, that is a great shortcut. I think Magus' base skin colour is light enough to pull that off.
I like the darker red shadow on the cape. I don't know how using general shade instead of red would work. If nothing else, you could use something between the two colours as a general shade and cape shadow.

Sounds like this is turning more into a Color Theory thread...  Fun

[mav]

Ooh, that shade of red is beautiful, especially with the purple hair. Very cool, very cool.

[Unclever title]

I feel like I'm being really nitpicky here but the 3rd sprite (Magus lookin' straight at you.) of the red cape + purple hair + goldpants sprite set, his cape looks a little two-dimensional.  I think the orangeish-brown pixels round his shoulder are what hinders the illusion of depth.  Basically just pointing it out I know that it's subject to change if/when reduced to 12 colors.

[ZaichikArky]

Hey Magus is looking really stylish. Keep up the good work!

[alfadorredux]

If I make the cape's shadow the same as the everything-else-shadow, the cape comes out looking like the highlight and shadow areas aren't really part of the same garment, or at least that's what I remember thinking when I tried it.

The hair, fleshtone, and leather areas all share one general highlight colour, so changing the colour of the hair highlight is not feasible unless I can free up another colour somewhere else, and I don't know how many of the fleshtone colours I can blend into the ones for the leather on that last set at this point (almost certainly, those orangish pixels near his shoulder in the third sprite aren't going to be that colour in the end, though).

And many thanks to all the people who're saying nice things about my humble efforts.

[alfadorredux]

So, in you guys' opinion, which of these looks best (or can you even tell the difference)?



(Currently working on final tweaks to this version of the spritesheet. Once I'm done with that, I'll tackle the Goldpants/blue-cape variant, then the one with all three changes.)

[Zephira]

I vote for choice 3 Trying to see where else that skin colour is used. Can't really find it, though.

[Unclever title]

As the sprites are lined up: 1 2 3 4

My favorites in order of most to least:

3, 2, 1, 4

Man its crazy how the color arrangements cause minor illusions, number 1 looks substantially wider than the other 3 (a more buff Magus).

3 I think is the best compromise in shading.

[mav]

I'm partial to 1 m'self--the facial shading on the other three is a little too drastic. But I'm kinda thinking that when it's in its in-game and in its smaller size, number 1 may blend together too closely to tell that there's shading at all...

[justin3009]

I vote 3, #4 it's too dark, #1/2 are too light.

[V_Translanka]

I say 2 then 3. Neither 1 or 4 though.