OPP threads:
Style guide
Contribute: Jungle set

Hey guys,

I thought I'd explain some more about the Open Pixel Platformer project. I have been in contact trough private messages with many of you, but it couldn't hurt to put the conclusions out here.

History
Way back there was the PJ game. A plan that was suggested multiple times and once there even was a collection of sprites and tiles made around the PJ nerd. Lack of organisation made the participants give up hope.

Also, there have been many many open source community build game projects that have a lack of artists. They find it hard to attract creative minds to their plans and the games often lack originality.

It is time for an art focussed community game to rise. A game where artists get to decide how the game will look and feel.

Creating a game is a lot of work, the goal of creating a game is still far far away. Therefore we start just with the first step: creating a CC-BY licensed tile and spriteset. Even if the final goal of a complete game is never reached, we give a quality tileset to the community.

After bouncing ideas back and forth with many PJ members such as Surt, Skeddles, Flyguy, Gecimen, RileyFierey, Dawnbringer, Ellian and many more the decision to create a multiverse platformer set was made.
Thus, the open pixel platformer was born.

The plan
There is a palette, there is a style guide, so we can get started on content creation.
I have opened a jungle set which is open to contribution of all kind. Anyone can open a set as well and moderate this, as long as all the content gets CC-BY licensed. I will package the tiles nicely so that they are well sorted out & easy to use. Also this package will contain information about its creators for proper attribution.

Creation does not necessary need to happen on the PJ forums, I hope to be able to get similar threads going on at OpenPixelart.org , WayofthePixel.org , TIGsource.com , Spriters-Resource.com etc. If you are a moderator or active member of a community with pixel artists, feel free to contact me and see how we can promote the OPP best :)

Why would one contribute?
Of course it is fun and practise to make pixels. Also many artists like me enjoy seeing their work used in computer games. Since all artwork is CC-BY licensed it is very likely that this will happen in one way or another.
As everyone is free to edit your work you might get to see your art from a different direction, an experience to learn from!
Of course in any use of this art the creator(s) should be attributed, the OPP might make some advertisement for you!
Last but not least, does it not feel great to give things away? So how about giving things away to the world? That you have made yourself? This gift might stick around until the end of time!

The future
Once some basic tiles are done, the next step is to get some people to look into game design. I hope to get this discussion going over at TIGsource.com , who have experience designing the TIGbrawl game.
A story gets written, charters are designed, game objectives are set, etc.
This will allow the artist to have a better image of what needs to be done.
For example, it is good to know if your tileset needs signs, breakable blocks, pushable objects etc.
Also collectibles, powerups and whatnot needs to be drawn, but this can only be done once the game design becomes more clear.

Right now the only definition of the game is: An action platformer game featuring multiple locations/eras/dimensions/universes

If the designing phase goes well and the required sprites and tiles are getting finished we might attract attention from interested programmers looking for a challenge!

Of course it might also very well be possible that programmers start working on games with our material without our great plans. After all it is CC-BY licensed and everyone can do with it whatever they want. The future will tell what happens :).

In the future the OPP might get it's own website where artists who contributed a lot of material get exposed, you can download art packs for free and join the OPP discussion forum.

F.A.Q.

• Can I submit art for the OPP to the PJ gallery?

Of course, I encourage you! However, note that the PJ rules state that everything you submit must be 100% made by you (in few exceptions they allow colored line art from someone else). So no edits you did on other peoples work

• Should I license my work

Yes, yes please please make a public statement somewhere that all the work, edits etc you do for the OPP are licensed under a CC-BY licensed. The more clear the better! I might be required to ask everyone later one who has not done this for such a statement to make sure everyone feels comfortable using this kit. This of course might get complicated if someone makes an base, other people edit it and later on the original creator decides not to license it...
The point is to make a free to use set. For this it needs to be obvious that the set is free.
Of course all creators get attributed!

That is it for now.
Leave ideas, plans, encouraging comments etc below and of course, contribute!




Edited by Hapiel - 09 June 2013 at 10:31am

Hey Stephen,
Thanks for your reply!
Crates will always come in handy at some moment!

It almost fits the style guide, just watch a few things:
Try to avoid dithering in objects and characters, only in backgrounds there could be minor dithering.
Also try and avoid black (out)lines, choose a dark color closer to the object color instead.

I made a quick edit showing what I mean.

As you can see in the second image the dithering is removed and the outlines are changed.

The second thing I did is not in the style guide, this you will learn with experience. From straight front this object looks a bit boring. For this reason I have turned it around for a tiny bit.

If you can put this under a CC-BY license (a link to the license next to the artwork will do) this can be included in the project! Feel free to continue on my edit or try and replicate the result yourself :)

Hey guys,
Next week I want to start two new creation topics:
One on pixelation and one here on PJ.

On Pixelation the theme will be 'cave', and will of course match the style of the jungle set. Stones, torches, stalagmites, crystals, maybe mining gear, maybe a hidden underground labaratory, bats, spiders, maybe lava etc etc.
Should I try and create some base tiles for this, does someone else want to give that a try or should a template be sufficient?

Here on PJ I will make some extra promotion (front page news post), and for all these contributors it will be easier to get involved if there is a more empty post, the jungle set is already getting more and more chaotic (thanks to your wonderful contributions!)
What theme should a new set on PJ have? All suggestions are welcome.
Some ideas of mine:
Western desert: Cowboys, cactusses and saloons
Ice age: dinosaurusses, fred flintstone buildings, fires, frozen trees etc.
Underwater world: Seahorses, squids, seaweed, sunken ships
Medival town / victorian town / whatever
Please suggest something cool for a new OPP set!

I'd go with something that fit the jungle/cave theme; not as an extension (the goal is to have different themes, right?), but as something that would smoothly transition to either jungle or cave.

I mean, you wouldn't jump straight from sci-fi to western. Might as well try to have something that would quickly go together?
(hopefully though, we WILL reach a point where we have both a western and sci-fi theme :D)

I'd go with a village, since jungle/cave already are... well, gameplay/exploration/fighting areas.
Medieval/Victorian/Ice age (without ice?) town?

That, or underwater world (could be easy to jump into a lake when you reach the end of the jungle area, and/or have your cave lead into the ocean or something).



To be added to your list of theme ideas :
Volcanic area, sewers, mad scientist lab, clockwork area, housing (interiors for castles, taverns, houses, etc) (era to be defined), micro/macro area (character reduced to ant size), graveyard, lost mechanical city (think Elder scroll Dwemer areas)...

I started making tiles for a medieval house. Going for the tudor style. I'll post the tiles when I'm finished and when the topic is up.

I'll be back to helping from Saturday onwards.

 this is very very nice and Of course it is fun and practise to make pixels. Also many artists like me enjoy seeing their work used in computer games. Since all artwork is CC-BY licensed it is very likely that this will happen in one way or another.
As everyone is free to edit your work you might get to see your art from a different direction, an experience to learn from!
Of course in any use of this art the creator(s) should be attributed, the OPP might make some advertisement for you!
Last but not least, does it not feel great to give things away? So how about giving things away to the world? That you have made yourself? This gift might stick around until the end of time!

You should have posted this as an idea in the village thread. Maybe it can work as a level alone but sometimes it fits nicely in a village. I'll add it in the thread.

Been trying to start a cliff/mesa type tileset.
First attempt didn't work, though may be redeemable for some underwater rock.


Tried a few concept thumbs but none of them really feel to work with existing OPP stuff.

If I have an idea for a set I wanna post, would that mean I monitor the thread myself? Or do I just suggest it?

Hey Gogglecrab,

Yes, you could start a thread yourself though I think there is enough going on at the moment. Suggesting it here first would be a great idea nonetheless to see if there are people interested in your idea!


Also, I am back and getting soon to work on the organization part! Expect something :)

All these awesome characters






Should perhaps an aditional character thread be created so that these can be finished, animated, etc? They are mostly not really set related anyway.
Anyone up for starting and monitoring it?

CC-BY
Tried some shroom forest style platforms. Again don't really fit the style. I can't do clean. :(

Bump, this topic disappeared for no reason