Critique

[Trickster]

So I was planning on making a hack for FE7 and I wanted so feed back for sprites. They're a younger Linus and Lloyd, I just wanted to know anyways I could touch them up, or outright fix anything.

I added the normal portraits next to them for comparison purposes.

[NICKT™]

How are belts relative to their age? If not, then why remove them instead of just giving them a different outfit entirely?

[Trickster]

How are belts relative to their age? If not, then why remove them instead of just giving them a different outfit entirely?

That was more of a personal change, I never really understood (or liked) why they had belts on their collars, so I just removed them

[47948201]

They have belts because without them, their outfits are massively bland. Name one important FEGBA character with less flair on their outfit: everyone at least has, like, a golden clip or some capey thing--heck, even some generic villagers' clothes have more stuff going on. Throw on some cool things. Younger people like cool things anyway, right?

As for the sprites themselves, you did a pretty good job of removing the belts and generally reducing their apparent age, though AAing with colors that weren't previously there is slightly unnecessary and might cause trouble with hacking if you add fancy stuff to their outfits. Also, Linus' right eye (OPV) wants to be moved left, and his jacket's trim is kinda messy right around here:

EDIT: Also their ears are a liiitle gnarly where you removed the earrings since it looks like you kept the general shape of the ear in some places.

[Trickster]

They have belts because without them, their outfits are massively bland. Name one important FEGBA character with less flair on their outfit: everyone at least has, like, a golden clip or some capey thing--heck, even some generic villagers' clothes have more stuff going on. Throw on some cool things. Younger people like cool things anyway, right?

As for the sprites themselves, you did a pretty good job of removing the belts and generally reducing their apparent age, though AAing with colors that weren't previously there is slightly unnecessary and might cause trouble with hacking if you add fancy stuff to their outfits. Also, Linus' right eye (OPV) wants to be moved left, and his jacket's trim is kinda messy right around here:

EDIT: Also their ears are a liiitle gnarly where you removed the earrings since it looks like you kept the general shape of the ear in some places.

Hey thanks for the imput!

So I fixed the jacket, because I was editing it at 1am after a nine hour shift so I was probably to tired to notice how off the jacket looked.

I moved the eye over one left and one down, and I think it looks nice. I fixed up the ear a bit.

As for the Plainness of their appearances, it will have a point in the hack I'm making but I'll add some additional flair onto them when it'll be right for the plot, but for now they have commoner clothes.

[Kon]

Could I ask about how much younger you're trying to make the Reed brothers? It doesn't really look like they've de-aged more than a year or so. :/

[Trickster]

Could I ask about how much younger you're trying to make the Reed brothers? It doesn't really look like they've de-aged more than a year or so. :/

My aim was to scale them back only a couple years, I was hoping to make a game that centered around the fang's first formation, however as Legault implies the fang actually hasn't been around very long, maybe three to five years at most. Considering Legault is barely older than the bothers and he's only in his twenties I was trying to get them to look around the age of 17-19.

tl;dr

18ish

[Kon]

They really don't look that young. Try drawing references from Hector or some of the other teenage characters (which is most of the PC cast, really). The fact that their bodies haven't been changed doesn't make them look any younger either, although I'm sure you're getting to that..

[Trickster]

They really don't look that young. Try drawing references from Hector or some of the other teenage characters (which is most of the PC cast, really). The fact that their bodies haven't been changed doesn't make them look any younger either, although I'm sure you're getting to that..

Alright thanks for the tip.

[Trickster]

So I tired to make Linus have a smaller body, to show that he's younger.

However his head looks a little on the big side, but I just wanted to see if I'm on the right track or not.

I really need to stop spriting/splicing at 3am

[Barney Calhoun]

So I tired to make Linus have a smaller body, to show that he's younger.

However his head looks a little on the big side, but I just wanted to see if I'm on the right track or not.

I really need to stop spriting/splicing at 3am

The newest one, hmm.... his body is way too small

Maybe the third one with a face similar to the fourth and an ever-so slightly smaller body would look good.

[Trickster]

So I'm back, but this time I've got a map


So the map is that it's a castle garden, hence the trees and grass in the center.
The objective would be to defeat boss.
Who would be in the center, having several soldier around him, other enemies on the map would include cavaliers and fighters, with a handful of reinforcements coming from the stairs.

[deranger]

Too uniform, too little going on. I believe Prime's indoor tutorial has some tips on how to spruce it up. http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=25878&page=2#entry1573080

[Trickster]

Too uniform, too little going on. I believe Prime's indoor tutorial has some tips on how to spruce it up. http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=25878&page=2#entry1573080

Thanks for the tips, I have got a improved version now.

[SPQR]

A few issues:

-The tiles for the base of the pillars don't match up with the other tiles in the room, they also lack shade tiles to the right of them as well. The center walls lack shade tiles as well to their bottom and right sides.

-The garden itself for being such a focal point of the map seems rather small compared to everything else, not to mention it seems outright odd to see an outdoor section surrounded on all sides by an indoor area. Most castle gardens I've seen in some sort of medieval-fantasy setting are are vast and open, not to mention they have man-made walkways that run through them. We can't expect the high and mighty nobles to walk on bare earth, now can we?

-To parrot deranger's comment the map as a whole seems pretty generic and has too little going on. When designing a map you need too account for each area and make sure that most if not all sections serve some purpose, whether it's a pathway to get you from Point A to Point B, a pathway/area to funnel enemy reinforcements to impede your progress/give you stuff to kill so you can level up and watch your stats go higher/make your playing experience hell, a side room that has treasure, etc. Check out the tutorial that was posted and work from there.

Edit: Okay, so you reworked the map and it does look a little more lively, but I feel like there is too little going on for the topmost part of the map You could cut that part out entirely and still have a serviceable map, and not a bunch of empty space that doesn't contribute at all. Of course that is assuming that you start at the southwest stairwell, even if you start at the north there will be one side on the left or right that doesn't serve much purpouse. Of course, there are ways of fixing that...

[Trickster]

Alright, so I've gotten rid of the upper part since it was useless and added more to the garden.
I should have explained that the player will spawn at the upper left, by the stairs, while enemy reinforcements (Cavaliers so they can actually catch up to the player) will spawn opposite on the upper left as well as having several fighters by the lower stairs and soldiers protecting the boss in the garden.



Tremble at my mighty path way, It's lopsidedness terrifies you!.... because it's shit.

[blyegg]

What's up with the bottom of the pillars?

Maybe make the light grass a little less uniform? (Not the road.)

Also, if you want the image, just click "Export" and then check the "Current layer as big picture (?scrn.BMP)".

[SPQR]

I think the pillar bases is an issue with the tileset itself. Looking at some of the other maps from the base game I assume it is supposed to be some sort of floor reflection of some kind. I guess it's supposed to be really shiny tile flooring?

[blyegg]

Maybe...

[Trickster]

I think the pillar bases is an issue with the tileset itself. Looking at some of the other maps from the base game I assume it is supposed to be some sort of floor reflection of some kind. I guess it's supposed to be really shiny tile flooring?

Yeah it is the Tile set, hence why I was using the other ones earlier, but they didn't match well with the tiles

Maybe make the light grass a little less uniform? (Not the road.)

And what part of the grass were you referring to? The dark patches or the lighter stuff?

[blyegg]

Yes, I know, I could have done it a lot quicker and easier.... but I had nothing else too do. Procrastination <3

The Light Grass. You get the idea, I hope.

Andyesiwasthatbored.

[Trickster]

chapter 1scrn.BMP
Alright this look any better?

[deranger]

pretty sure you can upload bmps to imgur

[Trickster]

pretty sure you can upload bmps to imgur

Better?

[deranger]

I don't like how boxy it is. Also, the staircase in the left wall create a height error with the top stairways. As well, the 2 high wall in the middle starts on a different level than the 2 height walls on the side.