This is an action adventure game with 3/4 perspective!

I am working on my own game and I need some help and critiques so that my game can have awesome art and so that I can improve as an artist through this project

I am trying to keep this cartoon-ish, basically pokemon like or what you guys say now, in 'bubblegum' style?

Here's what I've made so far:

A place where one of the main NPCs would stay named Oori.



Those purple roofs are there so that if I think purple roof would look better than current gray roof, I'll just switch them. Used Zelda as reference for this.



Stuck at this robot atm. Not sure how to make it look better, more powerful and give it awesome shading like Jinn's Robo HD: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/69298.htm#

Help me out please!

Some  more castle tiles and a big throne for the king:

Please help me with the throne.. It looks flat atm and Idk how to make it look better. So please help.

The walls, floors, and ceilings blend in too much with each other; there's no definition to any of them.

Take a look at a scene from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past:



Notice how the whole scene appears to have depth. Not only do the walls and floors have clearly defined edges, the lighting of the scene creates the illusion of shadows/shade. Without any sort of light source, everything would look flat. Right now, your floors/walls/etc. don't have any depth to them, and it makes for a rather dull background.

Your throne, on the other hand, does show actual depth. It has a light source (as proven by the shadow underneath the throne and the shaded areas of the throne's platform) as well as clearly defined edges. It could use a little work in regards to anti-aliasing and outlining, but it looks far better than your background work at the moment.

Some guys pointed out that the tiles needed some different color so it doesnt blend.

Also changed the color of the robot and gave it a shooting animation:




@Mr.Fahrenheit: Thanks a lot for that edit! But does that work for rpg perspective(the dark color on top and lighter beneath?) cuz I am not too sure.

If you want to achieve a Zelda-esque top-down perspective, you have to create the same illusion that A Link to the Past does in terms of perspective.

Take another look at the screenshot I posted. Granted, I posted a JPG...

{file-format nerds mutter angrily in the distance}

…but you can still see that the walls have only a handful of colors and the bricks get ‘smaller’ in terms of height as you go from ‘top’ to ‘bottom’. You can also see highlights on the ‘highest’ bricks on the wall at the bottom of the screenshot, indicating that those bricks sit closer to the light source than the bricks at the ‘bottom’.

Even if you want to go for a, say, Final Fantasy-esque look, you still have the same problem: your wall tiles lack the illusion of height due to a lack of a defined light source.

You have a solid foundation for some good work, don’t get me wrong. You just need to work on that foundation by studying the kind of work you want to create (e.g. 2-D Zelda games) and learn from what makes that work…well, ‘work’.


Edited by StoneStephenT - 06 August 2013 at 3:04pm