Quick note:
The things I am about to show are early drafts and still need polishing. There will be inconsistencies and errors in these.
Part 1: I Went Crazy With Animations
OK first of all, this post is special because we're going to talk about two topics. First, I let myself go crazy and made this:
Basically, I've been learning about sprite animations, so I've been spending all my free time on them... And I love making these animations to an unhealthy point where I spend the whole day working on them xDDD
That little bit must be around 20+ hours of work, but I'm getting faster and now I can reuse some parts of the animations. For me, it's a tremendous leap in terms of presentation and I'm super super proud of it!
What did you think?
Part 2: The Elephant in the Room - Diego and Art Differences
To create the visuals you saw above, I had to resort to a new technique for making images. Our visuals are there, but they get a *bit* of an upgrade.
So now I have 2 options and I would like your opinion on them, specially Diego's fans.
Option 1:
I accept this and acknowledge that in CGs and these more complex scenes where I make animations, it won't be possible to represent Diego exactly how he is.
Option 2:
I redo Diego's current sprites.
Advantages of Option 1:
I save time and work.
We have 10 outfits/poses for Diego, 37 expressions (yes, I tend to overdo stuff xD), and we still have CGs that would need to change.
Advantages of Option 2:
We give Diego an update, who out of everyone, had the lowest quality sprite. Not only the sprites would look sharper, but have greater consistency between sprite, combat sprite, and CG.
It has a disadvantage though. The chars I've been making more recently: Lucas, Zane (not revealed yet), Joel, and even Harry's update already have more detail. So I beleive these won't look off to a new more detailed sprite.
But characters like Matt have a bit less details and polishment because they were among the first I made, and at the time I didn't know better.
I love our art and wouldn't want to change the style. But there's the possibility that I make the updated Diego and find that it clashes with the others, and I'd have to think about whether to proceed or not even if you guys want the update.
Half body Preview of Diego's Possible New Sprite:
Super Important Note: This is all possibility, not certainty. If you guys think it's best, I can try to go ahead with his update.