sprite graphics advice/assistance?

[gauauu]

One piece of feedback that I got about my homebrew game Robo-Ninja Climb is that the main player sprite is a bit drab. Which is pretty true -- graphics are generally a weak point for me. I was wondering if any of you talented folks here had any specific suggestions or advice for improvement. The sprite is based on a character that I've used in an Android game and a NES version of the same game. Attached is a screenshot of what he looks like on the Atari game, and in the NES game. I have enough kernel time to add color, although in my own attempts at graphics, I haven't found any colors that I feel like make it look better.

 

So that said, if anyone is interested in helping me out, I'd appreciate any ideas or advice y'all have.

 

Just a couple notes: I've decided to go with a black background to prevent the HMOVE lines from being visible, which is why I inverted the character's colors on the Atari. There's also a couple other animation frames (jumping and rocket), but I can adapt those based on the main sprite. I don't feel like flickering him, so I don't want to do something crazy with two sprites at higher resolution. Th exact height of the character isn't set in stone, but I'd want to leave it approximately the same size.

[LS_Dracon]

Do you have spare cycles in the kernel to enable Ball?

I think you can use it for an extra color for the eyes.

 

EDIT : A quick attempt :

 

Edited July 29, 2018 by LS_Dracon

[gauauu]

Wow, that's amazing! I've got time for either the ball or multiple colors. I'll give the ball a try.

[Jinroh]

One thing I was thinking too, during Zero Page's play the other day, was that a gradient may look nice for the character too. ^^

The game is so fun though btw! I really like the simple to play, hard to master!

Edited July 30, 2018 by Jinroh

[G-type]

I like this game! nice work

[+SpiceWare]

I've decided to go with a black background to prevent the HMOVE lines from being visible, which is why I inverted the character's colors on the Atari.

 

 

 

Are you using Missile0? If not then revert the colors so that Player0 is black then for Missile0:

• size 8X
• x position 0
• on for the entire height of the screen

Another option is to hit HMOVE on every single line like Activision often does.

 

 

[gauauu]

 

 

Another option is to hit HMOVE on every single line like Activision often does.

 

Yeah, I thought about that, but it would be painful to work into my timings (I would also need to find time for some occasional HMCLRs also)

 

 

 

 

 

Are you using Missile0? If not then revert the colors so that Player0 is black then for Missile0:

• size 8X
• x position 0
• on for the entire height of the screen

 

 

Ah, I didn't even think about that option. I'll have to give that a whirl and play with the color scheme! Thanks for the suggestion.