My Sprite

My task for this project is to create a sprite from scratch so first of all I had to do some research into sprites and how they are made and how I can try to get that look, for the look I was going for which is pixel art I used a program called Graphics Gale which is a pixel art program where you can create clean pixel lines. Later I switched to Photoshop as it was easier to use.
















This is the character I created, it is a little spirit. I created some concepts for my spirit however I have chosen this one as it seems it will be most fun to make and I like the feel just the floating cloak with eyes it gives a mysterious look. To create this sprite I went on to Graphics Gale to create the initial design but then when I had to animate it I had to export the file and imported it in Photoshop.

 After I had imported it to Photo I had to create different frames for each layer I was planning on using, I was planning on using 4-6 frames as this was just a simple sprite with a flowing cloak. I saved the file as a .tga as as .tga files can be opened up in most image editing software so I can easily access this file from most software.

I removed the second patch near the bottom of the cloak as it got in the way of my animation and I thought it looked a bit to busy as well with the creases down there so I thought it will be easier to removed the patch instead of having it in the way and trying to animate that as well flowing with the cape, it saved a lot of time.
When creating the sprite I had to consider the cloak and its creases when it would flow in the wind, I also added a patch near the top instead just to add a bit of character to it as just a plain cloak would seem boring to the player to look at. I also moved my sprite slightly up and down each frame just to give the impression that it is floating, I will try to consider the cloak going up and down as well as the cloak will widen as it is going down slightly and vise versa.

Once I had completed the first 5 frames I then duplicated them, at the 10th frame I removed the eye so then every 10th frame it looks like it is blinking as the frames would repeat, just to add a bit more detail to my sprite. On the 10th frame I had to duplicate the 5th layer so in total I will have 6 layers for 10 frames.

I had several different looks for my sprite, I first wanted to have my sprite be a cartoon like ghost like the one you see in Dragon Ball Z, Gotenk's Ghost. It was a simple design and will be do able in the 1 week I had to create a sprite. However I did not chose to make this as I would then have to animate the hair flowing and also facial expressions which I did not have the time to animate.

Another idea was a child who was out looking for ghosts but at the same time was really scared so to show this I put several scribble lines around the character to show that he is shivering in fear. I had a cartoon style in mind when thinking of these characters as for a sprite a details realistic one would not suit and will look out of place. This concept will later on become one of the enemies of the game as he carries a light source and in our game our character will die if it touches any light source