Attention CPC graphics artists

[mr_lou]

Ohoy graphics artists.

It's been 6 years now since I created IndieGameMusic.com
A few months after creating the site, I wrote a post on a pixel-forum suggestion that someone made a similar site for graphics. I described a lot of my ideas, and many people thought it was a great idea, but no one ever picked it up.

So now, my girlfriend and I will probably start-up this project in the near future; a site like IndieGameMusic.com but oriented around graphics.
More details here:
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19412

We would like a ton of feedback and ideas, so if you have any, please post them here.

Thanks

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Ah, so like OpenGameArt, but specifically targeting retro graphics creation? 


Edit: No, not like that, more of a retro graphics request for a graphician at varying rates site.

[mr_lou]

Ah, so like OpenGameArt, but specifically targeting retro graphics creation?

It's been a while since I looked at OpenGameArt. It was launched about a year after I first posted about this idea on http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=7127.0

I was visiting OGA a lot when it was first launched, because I thought it was great, and I also had some chats with the guys behind it. I gave them lots of suggestions, like including a lot more search options, and allowing artists to sell their stuff.
I don't know what the current status of OpenGameArt.org is, but back then they weren't interested in any of my suggestions, as far as I recall. Because that was not what OpenGameArt.org was about. It's simply a different scope. And that's fine.

Some of the primary differences between OGA and this idea:

   
• This site focuses on letting artists sell their stuff, while OGA (afaik) was mostly about the open source, creative commons licenses. (hence the same of the site).
• A lot more search options! I feel that game-developers should be able to search for tilesize, viewpoint, number of colours in what palette, outlines etc etc. In order to only see results that'll fit the attributes they've chosen for their game. This will significantly reduce the time needed for the game-developer to find what he's looking for.
• This site will let game-developers buy single sprites from many different artists in one go, and the site will then deliver a sheet with all the graphics the game-developer has selected. The site will keep track of graphics bought, allowing the game-developer to put more sprites into his sheet later.

So no, it's not quite the same as OpenGameArt.org.

See the thread I linked to in the first post, to see the pixel-artists discussions.

It could be interesting hearing their explanation of why OpenGameArt.org isn't sufficient for them. Maybe I'll ask them.

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Thanks, yes, I think that there should be a marketplace for these things (both re-created tiles as well as a graphician marketplace) as well as the open license sites.  Good luck!

[Trebmint]

I wonder if there is a market of programmers willing to pay for retro graphics, I doubt it. Are you talking specifically CPC mode 1 and mode 0 pixel art or the more generic pixelated art that appears on mobile games now?


There are a few seriously good artists around looking for coders to turn their art into code... Carnivac for instance. So this seems a good idea if it brings the media together to create a complete project

[mr_lou]

I wonder if there is a market of programmers willing to pay for retro graphics, I doubt it. Are you talking specifically CPC mode 1 and mode 0 pixel art or the more generic pixelated art that appears on mobile games now?

Well, first of all I wouldn't call it "retro graphics". It is pixel graphics. And sure, pixel graphics can be retro.
But I also consider the graphics in Pirate Diamonds - a simple mobile arcade game to be pixel graphics, and I don't find them particular retro.
Maybe bitmaps is a better term. Because palettes can be anything from "4 colours from the Amstrad CPC palette" to "256 colours from the 24bit palette".
And tilesize resolution can also be... well... anything basically. "16x16" or "64x64" for example.

I imagine that specific retro graphics using the CPC or C64 or ZX Spectrum palette, will probably be difficult to sell. (But never say never).

There are a few seriously good artists around looking for coders to turn their art into code... Carnivac for instance. So this seems a good idea if it brings the media together to create a complete project

Since I created IndieGameMusic.com I have received quite a few e-mails from artists thanking me for making the site, because it helped them establish contact with game-developers that they now work with on a steady basis. That's not why I created IndieGameMusic.com though, and it's not the primary focus on this graphics oriented site either.
The idea is to have a lot of graphics artists upload a lot of pixel graphics, and then allow game-developers to browse and buy what they want - not forced to buy a whole sheet from a certain artist, but rather be able to pick 3-4 sprites from a certain sheet (without even knowing that it was originally a sheet). And after having selected the sprites he's interested in, the site will then assemble a sheet for him.

THEN... if the game-developer later needs more, there is of course a chance he'll contact one of the artists who made the graphics he already bought, and ask the artist to make more for him. That'll be good too. 

[Carnivius]

Well, first of all I wouldn't call it "retro graphics". It is pixel graphics. And sure, pixel graphics can be retro.
But I also consider the graphics in Pirate Diamonds - a simple mobile arcade game to be pixel graphics, and I don't find them particular retro.

Not sure what you mean by 'pixel graphics' but that game certainly doesn't use 'pixel art'. 

[mr_lou]

Not sure what you mean by 'pixel graphics' but that game certainly doesn't use 'pixel art'.

Well, generally you can only go for pixel graphics or vector graphics (or 3d stuff, but that's out of the scope).

So, this is a site for pixel graphics.

The term "Pixel art" belongs in the retro department indeed.

Tell me, if the graphics in Pirate Diamonds aren't pixel graphics to you, what are they called then?

[Carnivius]

Don't know if there is a right term but they look much more generally digitally painted to me.  Basically painted like regular digital pictures are with no worries about colour limitations or anything like that and are often resized to whatever size needed.  Whereas pixelling (for pixel art) is done zoomed in and bit by bit with care and control over every pixel and colour index, often with interesting hue ramps where colours have had to have been re-used and cannot be easily resized without having to simply redesign the entire graphic from scratch.

[mr_lou]

Don't know if there is a right term but they look much more generally digitally painted to me.  Basically painted like regular digital pictures are with no worries about colour limitations or anything like that and are often resized to whatever size needed.  Whereas pixelling (for pixel art) is done zoomed in and bit by bit with care and control over every pixel and colour index, often with interesting hue ramps where colours have had to have been re-used and cannot be easily resized without having to simply redesign the entire graphic from scratch.

Yes, I think we agree on what "pixel art" is.

The site we're creating will be able to handle both "pixel art" and "general bitmaps", because the artist can define tilesize and palette.
This simply means that the site will attract more game-developers, since they'll find graphics there for many platforms.
Just like IndieGameMusic.com contains MIDI, MOD, XM, MP3 and OGG files. Even WAV and FLAC was added recently.

The vision is that the site will scan uploaded graphics, and categorize them automatically with "number of colours from palette x", where 2 examples of palettes can be:
"Amstrad CPC"
"24bit palette"

So, if you create a 16x16 sprite, using 10 colours from the Amstrad CPC palette, this piece will be marked as being compatible with
"10 colours from palette Amstrad CPC" and
"10 colours from palette 24bit palette"

Then it's up to the game-developer to select tilesize and palette in his search criterias. That way the site will have room for the retro pixel artist and non-retro pixel artist, as long as everyone is doing bitmaps and not vector graphics.

The artist will also be able to create palettes. You could for example create a palette you call "Carnivac's awesome CPC MODE 1 palette number 7" e.g. consisting of 4 colours from the Amstrad CPC palette (of course). Other artists can then choose to use your palette, if they wish to do so.

Once you've created this palette, the site should be able to automatically map all uploaded graphics to be compatible with your palette, as long as the same colours are used.

I was thinking of calling the site "IndieGamePixels" since it's all essential pixels, regardless of palette and resolution.
Do you think maybe "IndieGameBlits" is better? Or "IndieGameBitmaps"?

[Carnivius]

The artist will also be able to create palettes. You could for example create a palette you call "Carnivac's awesome CPC MODE 1 palette number 7" e.g. consisting of 4 colours from the Amstrad CPC palette (of course). Other artists can then choose to use your palette, if they wish to do so.

Would never  happen.  I never describe anything I make as being awesome.   And I think every single combination of Mode 1 colour schemes (good and bad) has always been done long before me.   I couldn't really claim ownership of any Mode 0 palette.  There just aren't enough combinations to come up with that looks good aaand hasn't been done before.  I just call it the CPC palette and leave it at that. 

I was thinking of calling the site "IndieGamePixels" since it's all essential pixels, regardless of palette and resolution.
Do you think maybe "IndieGameBlits" is better? Or "IndieGameBitmaps"?

What's a blits?   And Bitmaps may confuse some people in thinking the images are in the old BMP bitmap format which isn't really used anymore since it's so bloated and cruddy when compared to PNG.   Maybe IndieGameGraphics is a better generic word if it hasn't already been done.  I would suggest resources or assets too but that would probably need to include all sorts of things such as sound, scripts and other non-graphic things.

[mr_lou]

Would never  happen.  I never describe anything I make as being awesome.   And I think every single combination of Mode 1 colour schemes (good and bad) has always been done long before me.   I couldn't really claim ownership of any Mode 0 palette.  There just aren't enough combinations to come up with that looks good aaand hasn't been done before.  I just call it the CPC palette and leave it at that. 

Well, then it could just be called "CPC MODE 1 number 1".
In any case, I'm thinking that the site will create a default name for any palette it doesn't already know about.
So the artist might as well rename it to something telling what it is. If such a name was to be: "CPC MODE 1 INKS 0, 4, 15, 25", then that's fine.

What's a blits?   And Bitmaps may confuse some people in thinking the images are in the old BMP bitmap format which isn't really used anymore since it's so bloated and cruddy when compared to PNG.   Maybe IndieGameGraphics is a better generic word if it hasn't already been done.  I would suggest resources or assets too but that would probably need to include all sorts of things such as sound, scripts and other non-graphic things.

Originally the idea was to call it IndieGameGraphics. But there are two problems with that.
1) "Graphics" can also be vector stuff, which won't be included in this site
2) Someone bought that domain not so long ago.

That's why we thought "IndieGamePixels" instead.
Then maybe later, "IndieGameVectors" could be created.

[Carnivius]

Maybe but pixels to me suggests pixel art only like Pixel Joint for example only deals with pure pixel art.   It's why the term 'pixelling' refers only to pixel art rather than any graphics (at the end of the day every graphic uses pixels of course but in the art-form this is not what it means).

[mr_lou]

Maybe but pixels to me suggests pixel art only like Pixel Joint for example only deals with pure pixel art.   It's why the term 'pixelling' refers only to pixel art rather than any graphics (at the end of the day every graphic uses pixels of course but in the art-form this is not what it means).

Vector graphics aren't measured in pixels. It has no resolution. So all graphics aren't pixels.

On a camera, it also says "12 mp", although you're not shooting pixel art with it.

But I'm very open to suggestions for other names. Hit me. 

[Carnivius]

Vector graphics aren't measured in pixels. It has no resolution. So all graphics aren't pixels.

But a pixel is a small block of colour on a screen.  Every single image you see on your monitor is made up of them therefore vectors are constructed from pixels as are photographs as are all 3D graphics as well. 

[mr_lou]

But a pixel is a small block of colour on a screen.  Every single image you see on your monitor is made up of them therefore vectors are constructed from pixels as are photographs as are all 3D graphics as well. 

If an artist renders his vector graphics to pixels, then it becomes pixel graphics.
But file-formats like SVG and AI cannot be called pixel graphics.

Maybe we should call the site "IndieGamePNGs" then? 

[MacDeath]

Vector graphics aren't measured in pixels. It has no resolution. So all graphics aren't pixels.

well, as the screen on which it is rendered uses pixels, it is pixel in the end... 

but yeah, the way those graphics are conceived makes the difference.

I guess Vectrex had no pixels... this wastrue vector.

otherwise, wasn't Another World almost fully vector graphics ?


www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTb6zX7Hd5I

ANOTHER WORLD - Site officiel