Hello all. I'm working on a harvest moon clone that is set in a sci-fi type environment. I'm still new to pixel art but I've been able to get a decent look for my building. I'm struggling with adding smaller details and textures. I'm mainly concerned that everything looks too clean. I don't know how to dither at all and I'm not sure if it's needed in this piece.



I like cleaner styles of pixel art like A Link to the Past. I just can't help feeling like I'm missing something.

It's not a problem to have clean looking scifi, in fact most of it is very clean. What bothers me more is the floor you're using; it's very noisy and the grating also doesn't look nice to walk over.

that's a really great idea for a game.
As for making it look dirtier, you can achieve it without dithering. You could essentially give it a stained look, slightly altering the hue/value to suggest discoloration or dents, dull or rough sections, etc.

Definite improvement to the floor.

As for making it dirty, like Snader said, you don't have to - nothing wrong with clean sci-fi. But, if you're set on dirty (also cool), here's an edit I made



(Yes, dithering, sorry!)

The key is to make it dirty in ways that would happen irl. Grime should accumulate in corners and crevices, not the middle of nowhere. Mechanical parts might get grease and stuff all over them (like the leaky vents I made). Add some access panels and sh*t, cuz right now, the whole structure is way too perfect - if someone was capable of making such a clean-cut, flawless building with nothing like obvious screws, vents, pipes, etc, why would they have problems keeping it clean? Look at city rooftops and slums for inspiration. Lights get broken, walls get vandalized. Etc.

That looks really good! I'm a sucker for orange stripes, hah. Also, the stairs look much better, too.

I would say it's probably best you move on and design some more buildings now instead of getting too stuck on this one. It looks fine, at least for now.

Also, protip: clicking on an image in the forums will upsize it, so you don't have to post zoomed in versions.

Great updates.