CHALLENGE: Cards Alive

You are challenged to create a sprite based on one of the characters found on the court cards in a standard deck of playing cards.

You may base your sprite on any of these cards:

Jack of Hearts
Jack of Diamonds
Jack of Spades
Jack of Clubs

Queen of Hearts
Queen of Diamonds
Queen of Spades
Queen of Clubs

King of Hearts
King of Diamonds
King of Spades
King of Clubs

Information and images of court cards

Canvas Size - Maximum 70 (width) x 100 (height).
Colours - Maximum 12.
Transparency - Required.
Animation - Optional.

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CHALLENGE RULES

• Participants have until this upcoming Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) to submit their entry (strict). Don't forget to check the 'Submit to weekly challenge' checkbox.
• Only new pixels allowed.
• Open to all members.
• Posting WIPs in this thread or in new threads in the WIP section is highly encouraged, but ONLY SUBMIT YOUR FINAL ART.

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CHALLENGE JUDGING

• Every Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) the previous week's entries are judged.
• Every week a new voting poll will be posted for previous week's entries.
• Winner announced the following week.

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CHALLENGE PRIZES/GOODIES

• Top three finishers will receive an award displayed in your PJ gallery profile for all to see and envy.
• Top finisher gets to call the following week's challenge...sweet.
• 'Participation' ribbons will be given for all who enter.
• No matter what happens you get challenged :)

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CHALLENGE VOTING

Vote now for your favorite pixelart in this week's challenge!

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CHALLENGE AWARDS

The Cards Alive pixel art challenge is complete and we have three new champions. This week's challenge awards go to the following pieces:



Thanks so much to all who took the time to vote and participate in the challenge!

Please don't.
That's asking for unoriginal entries.

Uhm I started early cause from halfway through the week I won't have time to work on this at all...

This is how far I got with her yet :)

should i carry on with this?



if people think not, i'll make a new one :}
it's uhm, Jack something :P


Edited by Quake - 11 May 2009 at 3:09pm

You should give it a suit identity somehow.  Is he a Spade or a Club?  How?

@Amelith, its 11 colors not 12,k.

Feelin' cute



Edited by jalonso - 11 May 2009 at 10:43pm

To me, none of the entries so far scream "sprite." Part of my judging will be based on which one I can imagine being a fully developed animated game character. Usually this means you shouldn't use time consuming shading techniques (like dithering) or choose an impractically large canvas size.

I'd prefer to see a solidly designed game character that fully answers the theme of playing cards.

I might give this one a go if I get the time. Best of luck everyone!

Is this good enough? This is my first challenge, so I would like to know what you guys think. ^.^

WIP
I had mixed feelings about how this looked until a bit ago, I kind of like it now.

heres an update to my earlier WIP (colors,fixed arm)

That's more like it, yrizoud. It at least looks like a game sprite. I would perhaps rethink the heavy use of black. Maybe a darker shade in between would work to ease it into the black. I find your skin tones a little too yellow too. Also, he might benefit from some sort of darker outline to provide a buffer zone between the light coat and the background (as you've said, he's got to work against any neutral background). The little details like the hair and belt are nice, but maybe avoiding using dithering on the clothing. This would be a bitch to animate!

@Jeremy:Id like darker shadows to the yellow/golden clothes. Especially the pants, they kinda 'stand out' yet they are kinda behind the cape. But it´s looking good. Has many good details.

Here is my work, King of Hearts:

I might animate it, but I dont know if I´ll upload the animated version to the challenge. btw, Jeremy. IMO My work and your WIP could be from the same game. (lets do a game??? ;D)Sorry if my work sucks.


Edited by jiipm - 13 May 2009 at 1:48am

Very much a WIP.
He will be sitting on a throne. With that heart thing in his hand.

The challenge is not to make a card but a sprite, k. Transparent BG is required too, get giffy from FAQ page or use www.iaza.com

@Chase, your entry is not a sprite. Sprites are full body game assets, you have more of a portrait going on there.

Bubu:  I like the new one better except for the vail.  I liked it longer, but that's just me.  She seems more readable and standing up straighter plus a bit more cute.  :-)

I have to admit, Setzer that very sub par compared the the other stuff you make. Maybe you should make the pose a bit more dynamic. i found him a bit too static 

Very nice susuwataris.

What I have so far (will be jack of heart) (No transparency yet, I work in MS Paint so I'll only add transparency at the very end)

susuwataris The image itself is really cool, but I think its head is a little too big for it to be a practical *sprite*. The style is really nice though, and if you work on the head you should still keep that one somewhere on your computer, don't let it go waste.

darchangel You might want to consider a more dynamic pose than just plain ol' "facing forward with arms on the side"


EDIT: Oh crap, got owned by dimentions, should've read more carefully. Oh well, I guess I'll finish it anyways, even if I can't submit it


Edited by XXITheWorld - 14 May 2009 at 3:29pm

Uhm I might be mistaken... but it seems to me that it's a little over the max canvas size?
Canvas Size - Maximum 70 (width) x 100 (height).

Yours seems to be 192x128? Wouldn't want it to be rejected due to the size :(

Edit: ok you noticed it yourself, d'oh. :P


Queen of Spades



I don't really do sprites so I could do with opinions from the sprite experts ;D I tried to keep the shading simple and un-dithered this time :)


Edited by Bubu - 14 May 2009 at 3:33pm

Well f**k, once again I join a challenge without really reading the description...

I thought we were allowed to make any card.
Or at least I thought "Ace" was allowed...



Edit*
Oh and what do you know it has to be a sprite.


Dumb challenge.


Edited by Souly - 14 May 2009 at 4:38pm

Jack of hearts WIP

I did the same, Souly. I've just submitted mine as a normal piece now. I guess I was too keen to get stuck right into the pic.

Two reasons I think:
You did not follow the rules since sprites do not have copy and you have writing on yours. AND...
Your character is tiny, tiny and almost impossible to see. You have till Sunday night, do not get discouraged...get challenged.

*Your personal challenge is to get something 'IN'.




Edited by jalonso - 15 May 2009 at 6:44pm

It came directly from this you said which made too much sense and is really the challenge this week:
"To me, none of the entries so far scream "sprite." Part of my judging will be based on which one I can imagine being a fully developed animated game character. Usually this means you shouldn't use time consuming shading techniques (like dithering) or choose an impractically large canvas size."

I hate anatomy and sprites but can make them if I try, which I hardly ever do cuz I hate making them.


Edited by jalonso - 15 May 2009 at 8:33pm

Eh whatever... I spent ages on that >:(

Also: "sprites do not have copy" <-- what?

Edited by Cesque - 16 May 2009 at 2:22am