What kind of player sprite do you prefer?
What kind of player sprite do you prefer?
I'd like to know your opinions in the actual character sprite design concept. If you prefer the ship, aircraft, etc that he/she is piloting, or do you like to see the actual body of the character. From a dev perspective a ship is easier to animate and make, but a humanoid sprite is more dynamic (hair and body moving) and could show more about the personality of each character you can play.
Vlad, does the word 'ergonomics' mean anything to you?
Spaceship, every time. Preferably with no visible pilot, and no squeaky navigator chattering over the radio. People should be relegated to key art and bookend cutscenes.
R-Type III is always my go-to example; the pilot amounts to a pair of armored gauntlets on the control shaft, and everything else is pure mechaporn
As for reasoning, I guess it comes down to machines being a safer bet for cool factor; they have character and personality of their own, which - per the above - can stand alone given focused treatment.
Human characters are a much wider spectrum, ranging from likeable to completely fucking intolerable. In most cases, it's a matter of adding more ingredients to the pot than are necessary; why have a puppet explicitly expositing a given character archetype when mechanical design can do that already?
Not to say I'm above enjoying things like ESPRade or Mushi, mind. Ditching the vehicle entirely, or turning it into its own 'character' as per the big beetle, are interesting cases in and of themselves, if subject to similar pitfalls.
Reflecting further, living in the 'late stage anime' era probably factors into my grumpy old man viewpoint. Statistically, it's more likely that a given character will be a low effort pasted-on trope intended to increase appeal for a given slice of audience, than it is for them to be a genuinely well-written and compelling individual. Marketability be damned, I'm here to enjoy the artisanry.
But alas, I think we've yet to see the Planescape: Torment of STGs. Perhaps someday, if media collectively gets over its present need to distil things down into a nauseating lowest-common-factor, or a paticularly auteur indie emerges.
But until then, MACHINE > MAN
R-Type III is always my go-to example; the pilot amounts to a pair of armored gauntlets on the control shaft, and everything else is pure mechaporn
As for reasoning, I guess it comes down to machines being a safer bet for cool factor; they have character and personality of their own, which - per the above - can stand alone given focused treatment.
Human characters are a much wider spectrum, ranging from likeable to completely fucking intolerable. In most cases, it's a matter of adding more ingredients to the pot than are necessary; why have a puppet explicitly expositing a given character archetype when mechanical design can do that already?
Not to say I'm above enjoying things like ESPRade or Mushi, mind. Ditching the vehicle entirely, or turning it into its own 'character' as per the big beetle, are interesting cases in and of themselves, if subject to similar pitfalls.
Reflecting further, living in the 'late stage anime' era probably factors into my grumpy old man viewpoint. Statistically, it's more likely that a given character will be a low effort pasted-on trope intended to increase appeal for a given slice of audience, than it is for them to be a genuinely well-written and compelling individual. Marketability be damned, I'm here to enjoy the artisanry.
But alas, I think we've yet to see the Planescape: Torment of STGs. Perhaps someday, if media collectively gets over its present need to distil things down into a nauseating lowest-common-factor, or a paticularly auteur indie emerges.
But until then, MACHINE > MAN
Re: What kind of player sprite do you prefer?
I have a preference towards themes of machinery and weaponry and is why I took initial interest in most shooting games. I'd further cite a liking for historic or near-future science-fantasy military aircraft and helicopters. It feels thematically fitting that a war machine would be able to fire off all sorts of projectiles like bullets, missiles, and bombs. Spaceships are cool too, but outer space is a theme I'm a bit weary of; I think that traditional spaceship games have been done to death so new artists may need to consciously strive to achieve a distinct ship/game look.
I'm not much of a cute 'em up enthusiast either.
That said, I really like the way that the player character/dragon work in Dragon Blaze. I think that the ability to dismount and fly independently from the dragon with a wingsuit adds additional depth to both characterization and gameplay mechanics. I think the game gives a good sense that the character/dragon are 'flying' through the air using their wings rather than floating characters suspended in midair like ESP Ra.De. Also I think that the sprite scale of the character/dragon in relation to all the background graphics elements like buildings feels believable and comfortable, and the sprites were detail and animation rich.
I don't care much for Dragon Blaze's psikotic game design, but I'd like to see other games feature similar dragon or dragon riding.
I'm not much of a cute 'em up enthusiast either.
That said, I really like the way that the player character/dragon work in Dragon Blaze. I think that the ability to dismount and fly independently from the dragon with a wingsuit adds additional depth to both characterization and gameplay mechanics. I think the game gives a good sense that the character/dragon are 'flying' through the air using their wings rather than floating characters suspended in midair like ESP Ra.De. Also I think that the sprite scale of the character/dragon in relation to all the background graphics elements like buildings feels believable and comfortable, and the sprites were detail and animation rich.
I don't care much for Dragon Blaze's psikotic game design, but I'd like to see other games feature similar dragon or dragon riding.
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PerishedFraud ឵឵
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Re: What kind of player sprite do you prefer?
machine
character can be included elsewhere. typically portrait /w text box, cutscene stuff, etc, if they're important to the game's vision
character can be included elsewhere. typically portrait /w text box, cutscene stuff, etc, if they're important to the game's vision
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neorichieb1971
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Re: What kind of player sprite do you prefer?
Ship, but ESP rade is one of my favourite shmups of all time.
Depends on the orientation of the shmup, if its hori, i'd prefer ship.
If its vertical, either or.
I prefer verts.
Depends on the orientation of the shmup, if its hori, i'd prefer ship.
If its vertical, either or.
I prefer verts.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
Re: What kind of player sprite do you prefer?
In some game settings/premises the usual well-sealed spaceships bringing some heroes into the void of space can be replaced by something else, but it has to make sense:
- open vehicles for atmospheric flight (e.g. Jamestown)
- drones
- submarines
- humanoids, walking (e.g. Guwange)
- humanoids, flying (e.g. witches on broomsticks, Superman shooting lasers from his eyes at space invaders over Metropolis)
- animals, flying (e.g. dragons)
- animals, swimming (e.g. Aqua Kitty)
- many other slightly more original possibilities