Tethical Sprites

[Lijj]

I have almost finished these, the last five aren't perfected just yet gut 1-7 are 100%). I have a few stray pixels in the palette and color adj. needed on a couple of those five still. But now I've developed a system so the next one wont be as hectic or tedious. I build the sprite in a paletted mode, then switch to RGB and separate the colors tp exploit RGB possibilities, THEN mirror the frames;that's were I went wrong first. next time paletting will be a piece of cake but do to my developing trials I have to deal with going over each one again which I will do, only 5 left, but I'd like to move on for now and do those later.

In Tethical if all goes right the player will have a choice of team colors based on this standard:
Here they are on the first sprite that is complete:

At 200%:

spoiler

[mav]

These are adorable and gorgeous all at once. Great work, Lijj.

[alanai]

Where do you (if one is used) get your base sprites at?

[Lijj]

Thank you Mav! Coming from one who knows color best I am very grateful.

Alanai: This is based of of FFT style doubled in size and changed a tiny bit proportionally.

[Lijj]

Here's the male counterpart; I still need to work on the hair but thought I'd post what I have any way:

[Kivutar]

I like it!

Don't you think there should me metal and cape like on the female one?

[Lijj]

The boobs can't be unseen on this (Twin mentioned it looked like he is wearing a training bra) so will rework that area to reduce that and make it metallic. I'll give him a cape too.

[Kagebunji]

It looks really good, Lijj! I like it a lot. You make me want to try doing those sprites as well, but I wouldn't know where to start, haha. I wonder why the original sprite is not in FFT, heh....

[Lijj]

Thanks a lot Kage.. this one is even more custom, the base is non-existent, so it's going to be a while before I finish. I did give him a cape with a cut like your Lezard sprite:
(still working on it, Twin is going to help critique it further as well)

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Personally, I'm bothered by the cuteness, the proportion, and the lack of mouths (cue Twilight Zone theme), but they're pretty damn good, especially considering they're 100% original.

[Lijj]

Thanks PGF about saying they're pretty damn good and sorry for the lack of head gear.. I'll try to do another more defense based fighting class eventually. Sigh I can't turn back now.. Or I would hate to, if I were to change the proportions, you are the second one to say this which makes me almost want to.. but since I'm in a comfort zone here and it looks pretty FFTish I'll stick with it. They are chibi which is a Japanese thing and common but the sprite style is unique enough to not look like every other RPG-  and it's simple enough to sprite based on FFT's frames.  And about cute-ness at least they don't have overly innocent eyes.. The one Kivutar's friend and Twin edited looked way more harmless to me. Cute it is, but for it's chibiness, it's not too cute.
Does anyone know of another game with sprites close to this size? So I can analyze them a bit?

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

I wouldn't worry about changing my spriting style if I were you.  Someone out there will like these chibicized sprites, and since everyone else working on this project is going chibi, you may as well too.  Getting a beta out with a consistent art style is more important than spending months getting your personal style consistent with what us lazy bastards want, but aren't willing to do ourselves.

Saiyuki: Journey West - a tactical RPG (FFT clone) for the PS1 has sprites that are about the same as this games.  They may be slightly higher quality.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/480705-saiyuki-journey-west/images
http://www.vgmapper.com/SysPS1/S/SaiyukiJourneyWestSpriteImageGallery_02.png

Yggdra Union is a turn-based strategy RPG that has an entirely different spriting system, but they are still comparable to FFT.  Slightly lower quality, because it's a GBA game.
http://sdb.drshnaps.com/game.php?game=1195

SaGa Frontier 2 is a straight RPG for the PS1.  It's field sprites look great, it's party battle sprites are basically the same as field, and it's duel battle sprites are just awful.
http://www.rpgdreamers.com/rpgworld/saga2/saga21.jpg
http://www.rpgdreamers.com/rpgworld/saga2/saga23.jpg
http://www.rpgdreamers.com/rpgworld/saga2/saga215.jpg

Jeanne D'Arc is completely 3D, but maybe you could get something by studying the proportions of it's models.
http://roleplayingjew.blogspot.com/2009/04/jeanne-darc-part-1.html

[Kivutar]

I wouldn't worry about changing my spriting style if I were you.  Someone out there will like these chibicized sprites, and since everyone else working on this project is going chibi, you may as well too.  Getting a beta out with a consistent art style is more important than spending months getting your personal style consistent with what us lazy bastards want, but aren't willing to do ourselves.

I totaly agree.

[Lijj]

Yeah, I really don't want to develop anything too specifically. I already had to go back and completely rework the back view frames today and last night(which means I will need to redo all the palettes as well; which ain't that bad but in the future I hope to prevent).
Now they're really looking clean I think. So something simple like this is ideal. Thanks for posting those links, and- hint hint- maybe there are a lot of good bases from 'Saiyuki: Journey West' for potential FFH custom sprites since they look so similar in size. I haven't checked them out and have only played the first two battles of it; so I'm not sure but they look strikingly close to FFT sprites-At  least for ideas.

edit-
and:
"Getting a beta out with a consistent art style is more important than spending months getting your personal style consistent with what us lazy bastards want, but aren't willing to do ourselves."
That's pretty funny; not that everyone around here is lazy. But it is true,  we all have our own ideals

[alanai]

If you need one, heres a sprite stitcher I just now found on the internet http://www.indiedb.com/games/velisia/downloads/honey-badger-sprite-sheet-stitcher
I'm gonna try it out as soon as It is installed. I have a few pics that are in pieces that I'd like to connect without having to resize the canvas properly and what not... Paint.net is great for that n'all but sometimes you actually have to do big numbers and that makes you have to open msoft calculator or whatever yoru device is XD

[Lijj]

At last I have refined this to the point of cleanliness.
Alanai: I don't think I need that program but thanks anyway.

[Lijj]

Got the first set of frames done for the male fighter:

Also, a preview of the female caster:

[Kagebunji]

I wonder, are the arms separate here like in FFT, or is every frame connected? If it is together, that surely saves time, at least visually, heh.

[Kivutar]

They are connected. https://github.com/Kivutar/tethical/blob/master/client/lijj/textures/sprites/4C_F_0.png

[Lijj]

Here's a preview of the back view of the male fighter.. his cape in some of the palettes will be two-tone.. one color on the inside and one on the out: