Hi Folks!
Here’s pixel art collaboration from @blawnode and @wroi2006 from Twitter.
Fanart: Pixel kiss
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Monthly Archives: February 2019
New Phone
Hey guys, after using a Galaxy Note 2 for 6 whole years, I’ve just replaced the old dinosaur with a Note 8, and I’ve got mixed feelings about it. The specs are nice; internet browsing is fast, games run smoothly, and the camera looks good (see the photos below). But a lot of the hardware design decisions are really questionable! The main speaker is at the bottom of the phone, so when I’m playing games, it’s always covered by either my hand or my stomach. This wasn’t a problem with the Note 2, since the speaker was on the back of the phone. This seems like a major oversight to me!
I also feel scammed by the advertised 6.3 inch screen size. The Note 2 screen is 5.5 inches, so I’d figure it would be an upgrade, but it’s not! The Note 8 screen is just longer! Videos and games aren’t even designed for such a long screen! And some of the screen space is wasted on reflective curved edges. So if anything, the screen looks smaller than on my old phone! Questionable design indeed.
Annoying hardware aside, it’s nice to have a phone that doesn’t crash when I try to open basic apps like Google maps. I’m still happy I got a “flagship” phone, as it’s partly for market research. Speaking of which, I’m trying to play a lot of little indie games on it – the kind of stuff you’d see on Kongregate a few years ago. Looks like a lot of browser game devs have moved to mobile, and I’ve got some catching up to do. It’s a shame that the mobile market is poorly curated and saturated with garbage, so finding those gems will be tricky. Feel free to recommend some wholesome, non-exploitative games. So far I’m enjoying Super Dangerous Dungeons, Monument Valley, and Cat Bird. I was sceptical of on-screen keyboards, but they work okay if there’s only 3 buttons.
Also I’m really liking the EBF5 Foe Competition entries so far. I thought maybe the rules were too specific this time, but it looks like most people understand what I’m looking for.
Above is me and Ronja doing a bit of gardening. We don’t actually have a dog, but I do indeed use a pickaxe to till the earth. Below is us crunching before the launch of EBF5. We forgot to change out of our outdoor clothes, apparently.
A Breeze From Home contest results
Fanart: Valentine’s Day
Hi Folks!
Love is in the air on this Valentine’s Day so make sure you show it to your special someone be it your SO, yourself, an important friend, or a family member. Here are five special Valentine’s by Jay to help you express any and all of your feelings today.
EBF5: Pixel Art Foe Competition
Hey guys, it’s time for a second Epic Battle Fantasy 5 foe competition!
As you all should know by now, the game released on Steam a couple of months ago, but I’m still working on additional dungeons and secret areas. The first foe competition had artists submitting designs for enemies, and then I would animate them and put them into the game. The Voodoo Dolls, Haunted Mirrors, Fallen, and Bomber Cats were all created this way.
This foe competition is similar, but a little different. This time I’m looking strictly for old-school pixel-art. The final foe animations will look different from the usual EBF style, and because of this, I won’t need to redraw the art you submit, like I did in earlier competitions. Here’s an example of what your submission should look like:
And here’s an example of how I will animate it:
Flash Version / YouTube Version
Requirements
• Art must be submitted in .PNG format, and must include a normal-sized and zoomed-in version, as shown above.
• Art must be your own work, and original. No recolored Sonics!
• Art must include several sprites (animation frames), usually including:
◦ 2 alternating “idle” sprites, that will make the foe look like it’s walking or dancing on the spot.
◦ 1 “hit” sprite, for when the foe takes damage or dies.
◦ 1 or more “attack” poses, used during attack animations.
◦ “Skull” and “bone” particles, for the death animation.
◦ Any projectiles or accessories that may be needed.
• I can add any sprites that are missing, and may edit any that don’t work well. You can write a description of how you think your foe should be animated, if you wish. Animations don’t have to be like the ones shown in my example – I can animate completely different death and attack animations for new foes. So the sprites listed above are flexible guidelines.
• Sprites should be small. Mine are roughly 16×16 pixels, and I recommend staying under 50×50.
• You don’t need outlines for your foes, they will always appear on a black background.
• Your image background should be transparent.
• You don’t need to arrange your sprites in any particular way. It’s nice if you keep things compact, but I’ll be cutting the sprites out anyway. Canvas size doesn’t matter.
• I prefer creatures, not humans. But I won’t rule out humans completely if they’re creative.
• Winners will be chosen for style, creativity and uniqueness! I’ll be aiming to animate a huge diversity of foes.
Ideas
The goal of this competition is to make retro-themed enemies that will remind players of earlier times. This is not essential, but I encourage you to base your art on that of early games consoles, like the NES, Atari, or SNES, taking into account their color and resolution limitations. You can cheat a little if you wish, or just make up your own pixel art style.
My designs are based on Zelda 1 monster sprites, with the battle background being in the style of Final Fantasy 3. You too should refer to old games that you like.
You should also consider what elements or status effects that your foes might use or be weak against, so that they fit nicely into the EBF battle mechanics. Try to design monster types that have not appeared in the game yet.
You can discuss this competition in the Foe-Competition channel on the EBF Discord.
I encourage people to share work-in-progress and pixel-art advice there.
Submission
Please post your finished art on either:
• Your DeviantArt (I’ll add it to my collections)
• The Newgrounds Art Portal (use the “ebf” tag)
• The Foe-Competition channel on Discord (type “finalArt” in your post so I can search for it)
Make sure it’s public and please send me a link to it. If you post it anywhere else there’s a risk it will get lost. If you can’t do that, you can email your art to me at kupo707 at hotmail.com.
You can submit as many designs as you want.
Prizes
You’ll get to see your art come to life in a popular game series!
You’ll have your name in the credits.
You’ll get 2 free copies of EBF5. (or my other games)
Legal Stuff
By submitting your art you agree that I can use it in Epic Battle Fantasy 5 and in any possible future games, on all platforms, forever (if you win the competition). I will not own your art and you can still use it in whatever way you like. You will not own any part of the EBF games and will not receive any compensation except for the prizes listed above.
Deadline
The Pixel Art Foe Competition will run for a few months. I’m not sure exactly how long, but I’ll end it when it looks like I’ve got enough designs to work with. Winners will be announced on my blogs as I animate each foe.
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!