Nice work on this! I see no problems with this piece, but on your AA and gradient comment: AA isn't necessary, and can infact be a major time sink, even on simple animations. As for gradients, also a time sink. Honestly, it's a combination of your stylistic preferences, how much time you have/want to spend, and how long a frame will be seen for.
If you study the pixel art of pixel games, you'll notice that most will only apply fancy techniques to certain important static images. Most won't use any AA, and also use flat colors instead of gradients or dithering. This is mostly for saving time, but it's also because most people won't notice if you do add them. Either way, good work on this.
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Nice work on this! I see no problems with this piece, but on your AA and gradient comment: AA isn't necessary, and can infact be a major time sink, even on simple animations. As for gradients, also a time sink. Honestly, it's a combination of your stylistic preferences, how much time you have/want to spend, and how long a frame will be seen for.
If you study the pixel art of pixel games, you'll notice that most will only apply fancy techniques to certain important static images. Most won't use any AA, and also use flat colors instead of gradients or dithering. This is mostly for saving time, but it's also because most people won't notice if you do add them. Either way, good work on this.