Beta Spritework | Patreon Weekly #105 (Patreon)

Hey Patrons!

Firstly, two things to note, the 18th Patreon Poll is up over here, and v0.9.3 just released yesterday!

For this weekly, I’ve got a bunch of details to share with you about spritework improvements I made over the past week! Also make sure to check out the v0.9.3 blog post. There are some details about v0.9.4 toward the end, that I’ll be elaborating on further in future weeklies.

Final v0.9.3 Spritework

I spent a good bit of last week doing spritework for v0.9.3. I’ve got a variety of progress pictures to share, plus some details about my process for the waterskin.

The crown and mask both started as simple edits of the items as they appeared in their character sprites. I ended up adding some nice perspective to the mask and details to the crown. Rubies fit dwarf king particularly well I think.

While adding in talent icons for T4 talents, I also decided to revisit some of the existing icons as well. Things still aren’t perfect, but talent icons are much more standardized now compared to earlier in the beta, and in v0.9.2.

For the hawk I still used the base shape of bats but make a bunch of improvements to make the sprite more distinct than just a recolor. Note how the hawk attacks with its talons, instead of with a bite.

I've included every major step for the waterskin's sprite here. This is what i did at each stage:

• We start with the original placeholder waterskin sprite. It's essentially an edit of a potion sprite.
• I firstly tried working out a better shape. The nozzle had to face downward, so it wouldn’t get cut off by quickslot text. I also added some red fabric around the cork, instead of making the mouth wider. I wanted to give the impression the waterskin was laying on its side, but it ended up looking too rigid.
• I decided to go for a more exaggerated shape and ditched the idea of gravity holding the waterskin down. The resulting shape is a bit unrealistic for a waterskin aimed down, but otherwise fits much better.
• With the shape locked in, I tweaked the shading to give it a more rounded appearance. Adding in-between colors was especially helpful for this.
• Next I substantially brightened the colors and increased the contrast a little. This better emphasizes the shape and is a more appropriate color tone.
• Finally, partly inspired by the waterskin sprite from YAPD, I added a string harness with the same color as the fabric on the cork. This ended up helping a lot, by balancing out the overall shape a bit and providing some justification for the waterskin’s droopy rounder shape.