VNilla's Sprites - Update #7 (3/24) ["First Attempts]

Share your custom sprites. Go on, show us how good you are with pixels. I dare you.

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Your opinion:

"What do we want?" "MORE!!!" "When do we want it?" "SOON!!!"
20
34%
"And the Lord said, 'Let there be parts,' and VNilla made parts, and the Lord smited him for their awfulness..."
10
17%
Meh.
14
24%
Abstain from voting. (Heh heh.)
15
25%
 
Total votes: 59

VNilla
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VNilla's Sprites - Update #7 (3/24) ["First Attempts]

Post by VNilla »

Okay, I've taken the first steps to either being a success or being a failure at sprite making.

(Download)

--------------------
NEW: Okay, first the bad news: the food parts I almost promised (kinda sorta) didn't materialize. "Kinda Sorta" means that I tried to make one, but it came out as a different (non-food) section. Oh well.

However, I have been busy working on other parts! New things in this update include:
*Two new jointed parts, both designed with quarter-circle attachments. (So you can fit for sections on one joint.)
*Feathers/Scales. Two designs, one small (in the VNil_small folder) and one large (in the VNil_sections folder). They tessellate with other identical sections (i.e. small tessellates with small and large with large, but not large with small) so they can make a nice pattern. Loosely inspired by/based upon Cycerin's Athena drawing and its Aegis shields (although now that I look closely, they're hexagons, not round scaly shapes. Oh well.)
*Three new regular sections, including the large feather/scale. The other two are a new wing part modeled on plates of metal, and a frontal thingie with a split down the middle. (The frontal piece was my attempt at a food section: I was trying to make Stock 17 look like a large strawberry, but it didn't work out so I backtracked and made it into a different thing.)
*A Doodad, found in the new VNil_misc folder. It's a spinning circle thingie - see picture below.
*Two animated beams! One is an Electric Beam that looks like one of those sound thingies with the jumping bars. The other is a Sliding Beam - hard to describe, see below.
*Two new weapon turrets. One of them, the bigger one with the two storage tank things in back is designed to be used with the Electric Beam. The other, tentatively called a MagmaGun. SET RELOAD TIME TO 20 FRAMES!! The animation makes the gun "refill" in 20 frames in order to fire the next shot. I'm currently working on a custom bullet sprite for this, but for now use the TacNuke's bullet sprite because it is about the right color for magma (or at least close enough for now) and fits the gun's six-pixel-wide barrel.

That's all the new content, but in Organizational News (layout of below previews), I have:
1) Added names and a small "Notes" section to each entry. This may contain suggestions, reminders, or just random info about what inspired it or how it otherwise came to be.
2) Separated the Beams/Bullets category into two separate ones so you know which are which.
3) Reordered the categories so all sections come first, then my "Misc" category, followed by weapon turrets, and ending with beams and bullets. 4) Added a "Coming Attractions" area at the bottom where I will mention what's planned for future updates.

P.S. In case anyone was wondering, I use www.gifmake.com to make my animated GIFs. I have tried other products/services, but found them too complex to use well or too tedious to use for my simple needs.

C&C as usual, please.
--------------------

REGULAR SECTIONS:
Image
Strutted Hexagon piece
Special Notes: None.

Image
Nesting Cylinders Side Décorum
Special Notes: Interestingly enough, inspired by (and designed to be used to look like) the swirly side buns (not a typo) in Princess Leia's hairdo from the original Star Wars.

Image
Central Dual-Strut
Special Notes: None.

Image
Generic Wing with Thruster Attachment Platform
Special Notes: Doesn't have to be used with a thruster, but I think that's the first thing that comes to mind for what to put on there.

Image
Plate Metal Wing with Prongs
Special Notes: I am very proud of this part. I don't know why, but it just brings joy into my heart when I remember that I made that.

Image
Two-Pronged Arrowhead
Special Notes: Also called the "mutant strawberry" because it came out of a failed attempt at making Stock part 17 into a large strawberry for the Food Sections collection.

Image
Large Feather/Scale
Special Notes: Loosely inspired by Cycerin's Athena drawing and its Aegis shields.

--------------------

FOOD SECTIONS:
Image
Pineapple Section
Special Notes: None.

Image
Watermelon Slice
Special Notes: None.

--------------------

JOINTED SECTIONS:
Image
Rotating Joint Piece
Special Notes: All jointed sections are designed to rotate around this as the center. However, due to an even number of pixels for width, it does not rotate perfectly when rotated at larger angles, so remember to be careful.

Image
Long Straight Connector Segment
Special Notes: For consistency reasons, would anyone object greatly if I moved the section over to the right side of the image? It would mess up any ships already made with it, so I wanted to "look before I leapt," so to speak.

Image
Short Straight Connector Segment
Special Notes: None.

Image
90 Degree Angle Connector
Special Notes: None.

Image
4-Way Intersection Connector
Special Notes: None.

Image
Two-Way Splitter Segment
Special Notes: None.

Image
Triangular Two-Way Corner Splitter
Special Notes: It can be used to make a square platform if you use two of them.

Image
Corner Attachment Connector
Special Notes: None.

--------------------

SMALL SECTIONS:
Image
Square/Pyramidal Nub Piece
Special Notes: Might make a nice "ridge" along a ship if used right.

Image
Tapered Connector Bar
Special Notes: None.

Image
Small Feather/Scale
Special Notes: Loosely inspired by Cycerin's Athena drawing and its Aegis shields.

--------------------

MISCELLANEOUS STUFF:
Image
"Spin Cycle" Doodad
Special Notes: Originally envisioned in vivid flame-orange, but made in white for color blending reasons.

--------------------

WEAPON TURRETS:
Image
Generic Turret #1
Special Notes: Opening in barrel for bullet exit is small, so use an appropriately thin bullet, like a railgun shot or something. ALSO: See "Coming Attractions" section below.

Image
Generic Turret #2
Special Notes: See "Coming Attractions" section below.

Image
Electric Cannon
Special Notes: Designed for use with the Electric Beam sprite (in Beams section below).

Image
MagmaGun
Special Notes: ALWAYS SET RELOAD TIME TO 20 FRAMES! (so the animation will have time to "refill" the gun before the next shot.) For now, use the TacNuke's bullet sprite until I get a decent custom bullet ready (hopefully soon).

--------------------

BEAMS:
Image
Random Beam #1
Special Notes: My first ever custom sprite. Actually started as a project where we were learning how to make different colors seem to blend into each other by hand. I found the old file and added some red stripes. Also thinking of chopping off the left and right pixel borders in a future update.

Image
DNA Beam
Special Notes: Sized to be fired from a MegaBeam turret sprite.

Image
Aurora Beam
Special Notes: (Pokémon FTW!) Designed as an alternate beam for the Railgun.

Image
Electric Beam
Special Notes: Designed to be fired by the Electric Cannon (above, in Weapon Turrets). Inspired by those little sound thingies with the many jumping bars. They're on car radios and the like.

Image
Sliding Beam
Special Notes: Fits a MegaBeam turret sprite like a glove, interestingly, seeing as it wasn't built to fit any specific turret sprite.

--------------------

BULLETS:
Image
Artillery Shell
Special Notes: None.

Image
Random Bullet #1
Special Notes: None.

Image
One-Pixel Bullet
Special Notes: Very hard to see. Might be an advantage in some cases. Makes a good bullet sprite for the Flak Gun, Particle Gun, or MachineGun.

Image
Grapeshot
Special Notes: Meant as a food sprite for the Demeter Pod Launcher's pods. However, you can't seem to use a custom sprite for the DPL's pods. (Grr.) If anyone finds a decent use for this, please drop me a line.

--------------------
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
1 - Changing the first 2 turret sprites so that the barrel is the center pixel, as all of the stock weapon sprites seem to do.
2 - Custom bullet sprite for the MagmaGun.
3 - Maybe some more regular sections if I get the chance. (My teachers finally realized "Holy crap SOLs are coming" and slapped us with mounds of review work on top of our standard workload.)

I may also "take requests," meaning that if a bunch of people all want something similar and mention it in their comments, I might bump it up a few places on the (rather short) priority list.
Last edited by VNilla on Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:33 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Post by Anna »

Pro-tip: Offer sample pictures or most people won't even bother downloading the sprites. I know I certainly wouldn't.
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Post by VNilla »

Right. Forgot. :oops: Edited first post with picture.
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Post by bl3d4 »

The Sections seem to have so potential, though the bullets don't look as good.

I don't think we need food fights in space.
*Loads pineapple into railgun*
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Post by Perturabo »

I like the actual "bullet" bullet, not sure what the one in the middle is supposed to be. I giggled at the pineapple.
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Post by Aerth Child »

You are a very humorous person, and you remind me of a friend of mine.

As for the sprites, I think you should continue making some comedic ones for me, but also some serious ones for everybody else, because I seem to be the only one who wholeheartedly wants to make a pineapple tree ship now.
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Post by VNilla »

@Perturabo: I was originally trying to make a mini-nuke with a radioactive warning symbol, but it seems to have devolved into some sort of fat injection needle or something.

@Aerth Child: I've been thinking about doing a custom bullet for the Demeter Pod Launcher that looks like a bunch of grapes. I'll see if I can get that into update #4.
Last edited by VNilla on Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ne me forcez pas à arracher votre gorge, s'il vous plaît.
~~~~~
[b]ZOMG NINJA SARCASM[/b] :shock:
~~~~~
[quote="Arcalane"]If anyone says "y'all" again I'm going to string them up and put their head on a pike.[/quote]
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Post by VNilla »

EDIT: Updated parts and links! I added a slice of watermelon to my "food" collection and two new pieces in my "standard sections" set. (See updated preview images.)

C&C, please!

I redid the preview system. I think this is easier on me.

Also, I'm just going to announce new additions in the first post under the "NEW!" heading, so I won't need to explain everything way down here.
Ne me forcez pas à arracher votre gorge, s'il vous plaît.
~~~~~
[b]ZOMG NINJA SARCASM[/b] :shock:
~~~~~
[quote="Arcalane"]If anyone says "y'all" again I'm going to string them up and put their head on a pike.[/quote]
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Post by VNilla »

Thread bump, in case people didn't notice the new title.

For future reference, what are the rules for bumping threads? Obviously, don't bump a thread every two hours, but are there any other real guidelines for bumping?
Ne me forcez pas à arracher votre gorge, s'il vous plaît.
~~~~~
[b]ZOMG NINJA SARCASM[/b] :shock:
~~~~~
[quote="Arcalane"]If anyone says "y'all" again I'm going to string them up and put their head on a pike.[/quote]
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Post by DoomBringer »

Wow like the DNA laser maybe you could make an RNA laser too[jokes] :lol:
Like the food sprites [thinks up an encounter about a intergalatic food fight]
Ill wait for more sprites until I download. Please make more beams
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Post by the mulletron »

Your food sections are funny, but truth be told, your normal sections are boring. Most of them look quite spindly, and they lack any kind of detail. They're pretty generic IMO. :|
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Post by VNilla »

the mulletron wrote:Your normal sections are boring. Most of them look quite spindly, and they lack any kind of detail.
Yeah, I've noticed that too. Whenever I try to do extensive detail, it comes out horribly. And I don't get as much inspiration for parts as I'd like, or when I do get it, I can't write it down or draw it or get to a computer before I forget most of it. The inspirations I usually get when I'm at a computer don't come out as well as I would like. (I seem to get all of my good inspirations during my unit tests in World Studies. Go figure.)

However, I did get a fun idea for a detailed part today. I'll try to include it in the next update.

@DoomBringer: I'm working on a few more food parts. (Any specific ones you'd like to see?) And what weapon should I size my beams for width-wise? What beam turret sprite is your favorite? (This question is open to everybody.)

P.S.: The DNA Beam is sized to be fired from a MegaBeam, in case anyone was wondering. :wink:
Last edited by VNilla on Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ne me forcez pas à arracher votre gorge, s'il vous plaît.
~~~~~
[b]ZOMG NINJA SARCASM[/b] :shock:
~~~~~
[quote="Arcalane"]If anyone says "y'all" again I'm going to string them up and put their head on a pike.[/quote]
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Post by Slayer0019 »

The bullet right below the green beam and the Blue beam with the stuff around it are evidence that you are capable of some interesting things. However, the food sections and the Grapeshot have that feel about them. The same feeling as that thing that the one kid over there said to try to be funny, but it wasn't.
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Post by VNilla »

Perhaps if I used more color variation in some of my sprites? Or do you have a different suggestion/idea?
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~~~~~
[b]ZOMG NINJA SARCASM[/b] :shock:
~~~~~
[quote="Arcalane"]If anyone says "y'all" again I'm going to string them up and put their head on a pike.[/quote]
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Post by Slayer0019 »

I think they are too generic, they don't seem to be created with any purpose in mind.

As for the food sections, they suffer from a case of "When would I ever want to use this on my ship" -itis.
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