Official Sprite Contest: Ivalicians Abroad

[lirmont]

@Diethe: Those look beyond amazing. Totally professional.

[Diethe]

Thanks man. I dont really quite follow the 16-bit rule or something especially in FE or FFT so I'm wondering if it's not breaking any rules. Plus I'm mainly a splicer, though my best custom works are the Elder Scrolls ones in my deviantArt. Especially since we were supposed to make a 'translation' of FFT characters into another game, presumably a game that runs with 16 bit.

Zalbaag's in progress I guess.

[Lijj]

Delita looks awesome in that style and nosed.

[Celdia]

Elric, you rock. Thank you for adding to our prize list!

Diethe, those portraits are amazing. With how things are getting off to a start here I almost feel bad for everyone when they finally have to vote. Three votes might not be enough! XD

[Jumza]

Male Knight

In Yggdra Union

spoiler: Comparison

Regular Male Knight, then example from game, then my entry!

That portrait is also part of my entry, it was... difficult to create :)

[Lijj]

This contest is going well so far; great work Jumza.

[brittmarv]

This contest is going well so far; great work Jumza.

Yea! That looks like it came strait off an Atlus DS Game. Good work!

[3lric]

Hey Jumza, what is the port? Reminds me of the Jot5 Animist

[Jumza]

It's my attempt at getting a portrait from that games style to look like the Knight, although it ended up coming out a little... blue, but I still like it a lot.

[bcrobert]

Dang. That Knight is solid, Jumza. It looks oddly stationary, but the style is 1-to-1.

[Mobius]

Quite frankly, I don't know if I should really enter this here..






..Last modified: Thu 05 Mar 2008 06:05:18 PM CET

This is quite OLD.

[Celdia]

I like it. Maybe give it a little TLC and spruce it up some then make an official entry of it?

[Disgaeafan1]

Wow these are all so awesome!　Great job guys!

[Mobius]

I shall make custom portraits for the first place winner. You can use it for your event prize, if you win.

But only of more entries come below this post.


Hopefully now this thread wakes up.

[MasterGrand]

spoiler: Sprite Contest OP Quote

Ivalicians Abroad

Back again by popular demand, it's another FFH Spriting Contest! Our last contest brought in nearly a score of entries from the community and there were some truly outstanding ones in the mix. I know I'm hoping to see a repeat of that kind of participation. I'm throwing off the yoke of it being a Halloween contest and going a bit more free-form this time around because our theme is going to be a bit backwards from the norm. I'll admit that this was my second option when I decided on "Heroes From Other Worlds" for the last contest. After how things have developed though, I'm glad I saved it.

With the popularity of Journey of the Five riding high I thought this idea might be fun to use now. We've seen a lot of other heroes coming to Ivalice, so now let's have a look at our favorite characters from Ivalice heading out to those "Other Worlds" to see how they might look there! That's right, this contest will even take our dedicated spriters out of their comfort zone because the goal will be to make sprites in the style of other games using FFT and FFTA characters!

Once again, this is a beginner's level spriting competition. If you've never done a sprite before we'd still love to see what you can do! The competition is open to EVERYONE and you may make as many or as few submissions as you like. You may also continue to update your submissions to the very end of the due date. Feel free to give constructive criticism on entries as they get posted to help people make the best sprite they can. Also, if someone else is doing a character and style you yourself would like to do, don't hesitate to post your own version!

Submissions are due by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, June 30th, with the possibility for an extension by request. Once the submissions are closed, all entries will be organized and a public voting poll will be opened in a new thread. Every community member will be allowed to vote for up to three entries. Poll closing will be determined when the voting begins, but it likely not to exceed 5 days. The poll will be blinded so please respect the voting process and don't make your vote choice public while voting is still ongoing.

Prizes
Elric, Xifanie, Kagebunji and Lijj have each generously offered their talents towards prizes for this competition! To the 1st place winner will go a custom-designed event* and to each of the 2nd and 3rd place winners will go custom portrait-style avatars done by Lijj as well as sprite concepts done by Kagebunji. In addition to all those, Elric has offered to create a custom event as a collective effort to be designed by our top three winners! I hope the sprites in the contest are even half as amazing as the prizes being offered! Thank you all for your contributions!
* - some restrictions may apply, offer not valid on all planets, no purchase necessary

Submission Requirements:
1) A minimum of 1 frame in the style of a game other than FFT/FFTA. If you want to do more frames or even submit something animated, go for it.
2) A name for your entry. This can just be the actual character name you're making.
3) The name of the game from which you are drawing inspiration from.
4) Provide a spoiler'd image or link to a similar-style sprite of the game listed from #3. (Ex: If you're doing a Street Fighter 2 style character portrait, don't link to a picture of a character's idle animation for during a fight, link to another portrait image.)
5) 100% or 200% Zoom in either BMP or PNG format. We like to see those details up close!
6) Post your submission in this thread and it will be officially entered.
7) Submissions need to loosely follow the general competition topic. As long as you aren't submitting an FFT or FFTA style sprite, you should be okay.
8) Follow general forum rules, such as no nudity.
9) There is NO limit on the number of entries per member as long as they are significantly distinct.
10) If there are multiple valid versions of the same submission posted in the thread, the latest version will be considered the competition version.
11) Unique characters from existing FFT/FFTA patches are considered valid, but you will need to provide a source image for the character as not everyone may be familiar with characters outside of vanilla. [Ex: If you're going to do Gospel from Call of Power, make sure to post his sprite with your entry.]

Failure to meet the submission requirements will result in disqualification of the entry.

Judging Criteria:
1) Creativity: There are obviously a lot of different style options when you can pick from any other game. This criteria would be more about how far and away from what has been done before a submission is.
2) Artistic Ability: The more like the chosen game style, the better. Of course visual quality of the entry is always important.
3) Personal Preference: When it all comes down to it you should pick what you like best!

Important Dates:
Opening of Competition: 5/5
Submissions/Extension Requests Due: 11:59pm EST 6/30
Voting Begins: TBA
Winners Announced: TBA

Why are you...?

Just a quick Q&A section to try and head off some possible questions about the contest and change from form of previous contests. I'll update this bit if anyone asks things in the thread.

Q: Why do we get three votes this time?
A: During the last contest more than a few people expressed the wish to be able to vote for more than one entry as a favorite because they just couldn't choose. It was suggested then that for future contests we be allowed more votes.

Q: Why are you allowing so much time for submissions?
A: First, I can't really see extending the submission time as hurting the contest any. Second, I know that this can be a hectic time of year for some of our members who attend school and rather than just wait to announce the contest I figured giving more time would be to the benefit of everyone involved. Third, with all the possible styles to pick from this much time would give people interested in doing highly advanced sprites enough time to complete them. Finally, these contests have been at best bi-annually. It isn't like we're running them every month and the submission time is going to run into another contest's timeframe.

Q: Why are you allowing extensions for submissions with so much time already set aside for them?
A: This is really just reflective of the last contest and the number of messages I got in the last couple days of submission for people that wanted to submit something but didn't have time or hadn't heard about the contest early enough.

Q: How do I request an extension?
A: Just send me a PM here on the forum before the submission closing and tell me how much time you feel you will need to get your submission done. The longest extension I am willing to grant for a submission will be 2 weeks so keep that in mind if you feel you need to apply for one.

Q: You didn't mention any prizes for this contest. Will there be any?
A: At the moment I have no prizes planned for the contest. That doesn't mean that won't change before the end of it. Also, if anyone wants to donate something as a prize for the contest they are welcome to. Just contact me via PM here on the forum about it.

Q: Were you serious about this being back by popular demand?
A: Actually, yes. I have gotten multiple PMs asking about when the next spriting contest might be held.

Q: I'm still not clear on the goal of this contest.
A: Not a question but definitely a potential concern. Here are a couple of great examples of FFT characters done in a different sprite style.
These examples are not my work and belong to their original creators, whoever they may be.

spoiler: Agrias 2D Fighter

spoiler: Tactics Ogre Examples

That pretty much covers anything I can think of right now. If you have other questions, feel free to post them in this thread. Other than that, let the spriting begin! ^_^

Great work also encourages

[3lric]

MasterGrand, please use a spoiler next time if you want to quote such a large post.

I've gone ahead and fixed it myself this time.

[Lijj]

EDIT:
So I think I know what I'd like to do for this. The game Solomon's Key (NES version): is particularly great ( never could beat it),
and it shares a theme with FFT. It's leit motive is based in the Zodiac; so it seems like a good one. Instead of Dana (the original Link): & his fairy friends:
I will use characters and enemies from FFT instead.
Just an idea really; I've never tried Nintendo like sprites before. Maybe I should make it a 16 bit style instead (maybe a bad idea)?
Dana as a white mage? I'm not really sure which FFT chars I ought to use.

Went instead with "Final Fantasy Tactics + Faxanadu (cross) AKA FFT-anadu"

I changed my mind pretty severely, yet stuck with doing something for the NES.. I must say the NES palette kind of sucks; so much contrast and eyeburn involved in so many of the colour combos. It was harder to use than I expected, though I used it in a unique way I think.. using the earthiest tones I  possibly could for the BG tiles.
NES Palette:

spoiler

I used NES restrictions throughout the piece; 4 colours max per 8x8 tile including for the sprites and counting transparency as a colour..  it was a challenge. I may have fudged a bit on the Ramza sprite; but most like ly not as I'll explain:  On one part I had to count 5 to get the sword in there.. BUT!!! I could easily argue that the sword and shield are their own Sprite & I think they would be because of how they're equipped in Faxanadu. So here it is:

What is Ramza doing in the WORLD TREE?
FFTxAnadu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqnJ7P5rWCE&list=PLBE337B8AEDBEFC00

Things that've changed from the original NES title:

Main sprite is 1 tile smaller.. other sprites are also smaller though would still take up the same space. There are now two items shown in the HUD one is equiped magic and the other is equiped item. The tiles are all completely different along with the palette. The game is 4x as big mapwise (in my dream world). And most different of all: IT NEVER EXISTED .

some original screens of Faxanadu:

http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/nes/faxanadu/walkthrough1.shtml

[Mobius]

Hey Lijj, you should add teammates or so to resemble more Tactics. Right now only Ramza is identifiable, and that's only if you know who he is. Those blue guys I have no idea who they are.

I'd go for the more recognizable character jobs for the teammates, like Black Mage/White Mage.

A Lucavi would spice things up too.

EDIT: This game looks actually quite fun for a NES game. Reminds me of Zelda II, The Adventure of Link. Same gameplay really. 

[Choto]

I used to play that game at my best friends house back when I was tiny. I could only ever play for a small amount of time at her house though, never got past maybe the 2nd stage

[brittmarv]

FFTxAnadu

Things that've changed from the original NES title:

Main sprite is 1 tile smaller.. other sprites are also smaller though would still take up the same space. There are now two items shown in the HUD one is equiped magic and the other is equiped item. The tiles are all completely different along with the palette. The game is 4x as big mapwise (in my dream world). And most different of all: IT NEVER EXISTED .

That custom screen looks amazing Lijj. Makes me wish there was a haxanadu.com community!

PS: Have you played Legacy of the Wizard on NES? It is part of the same game series (called Dragon Slayer in Japan) and it was equally immersive. Those games have some of the best atmospheric uniqueness of just about any NES game once you really get into them.