SingSong

Those are exactly the same reasons I thought something like this would be beneficial. Anyone else have an opinion on this? This would be better if at least 5 or more people were involved in the discussion of each game.

Retracted ~

I can appreciate all the work that goes into something like that, Hare. Nice layer count! Haha. I am working on a preview for HellKeepers, but I can't say more or show anything yet, because that will make it less exciting when it comes out. I'm going to do my best to finish it in a few days.

Hello! What got you into pet sites in the first place? And don't you have a site in development (if I'm remembering correctly from the other forum site)?

Okay, awesome. And would there be a thread on the forum that shows people all the different evolutions and appearances or would this be somewhat secret, and people would have to wait and see for themselves (or figure it out by looking at people's evolved pets on the board)? Makes sense. Are we going to be able to input names and have them show below our pets? I like naming my pets, because it makes them feel more unique to me even though other people have the same art. Yeah. I agree. I don't want to limit how many submissions come in, but as an adoptable "shopper" I don't want to wade through a bunch of sloppy sketches drawn on paper and uploaded. Maybe we can have a thread of some sort for tips on getting your adoptables accepted? Because amateur art and multiple styles should still be acceptable, but the images should need to look complete. I would like it, too, if TGL had "official" adoptables done in a set style. That way if the favorite adoptable artist stops uploading stuff on TGL, there are still quality adoptables to buy. I don't like the idea of the adoptable system being completely in the hands of members, because what happens if no one posts new adoptables for a couple months? Then there's nothing for people to get excited about. But it sounds like this is something you were aiming for, Digital, because you said some may be premium?

Yeah, that's awesome! I'm proud of this little forum for moving in the right direction. I will respond to the other forum topics later, but please enjoy the emoticon set I just sent you as a celebratory gift! I hope everyone likes them.

I'm right-handed. That's interesting what you say about drawing things facing left, Hare. I've been doing that for years (I have to force myself not to), and I recognized it but thought it was just a personal thing. Sometimes I try to write with or use my left hand just for fun. (I used to want to become ambidextrous, so I could write letters back and forth to myself with different writing.) I suppose my writing skill with my left hand is at second- or third-grade level.

My idea for this is that every 2 weeks or maybe every month for longer games (because I know a lot of people don't have that much free time), the forum chooses a game to play through together. I know of quite a few online sites of games and retro games on individual websites that can be played for free. A lot of these are shorter, so members won't have to invest a tremendous amount of time. Some are not even made with full stories or levels involved but with just a few short things to accomplish. In this way, there's a variety to experience without needing to spend weeks on each one. In the future, we can expand this to the more popular games (such as the latest ones on consoles or acclaimed indie games on steam) that would need to be paid for. The purpose would be to have a set limit of time to experience the game and then discuss it with everyone else in the community. What was the most fun part about it? What was the biggest design flaw? We could even have a specific page on this site dedicated to our "community reviews". So each person that participates in the playthrough can respond with: Time Spent: Played to Completion: (Yes | No | N/A) Rating: (Between 1-5 Stars) Comments: The page on this site where community reviews are stored would show the game's name, a screenshot of it (or a few), and a description below it. Then it would includes these stats. Average Rating: Reviews: (The total amount here) Lastly, the most recent review would be shown with the link to view all community reviews for the game. To make this more interesting, maybe some exclusive adoptables could be provided specifically for members that take part in these playthroughs? I suppose I wouldn't mind drawing some. Maybe there could be an attribute underneath user avatars titled "Reviews" and the amount that person has left on this site (for both playthrough games and otherwise). If this community had something like this (essentially a book club but geared toward games), I would be more inclined to stick around, because then members would have a common goal and all get to discuss one game they're playing at the same time. Every so often (if requested or desired), a playthrough may be opened up a subsequent time, allowing new members to have the "game club" experience with that same game. Their reviews would be taken into account on the game's page. Who would partake in this?

I think I get what you're saying, but would you mind rewording that, please? What it sounds like you're getting at is that this system would be automated in some way? I'm a little curious about how that would work entirely. Do you plan to award users points here or even link those points to the actual game site in some way? When I envisioned this, I figured it would all be done manually (i.e. a member needs to make 5 posts in the game's preview thread for 10 points, game owner checks that member has actually made 5 posts when they say they have, and if that is true, member is able to buy the exclusive human avatar apparel in the game owner's shop for the 10 points earned, and the game owner adds it to the member's account on the game site).

Some questions: 1. Do all pets gain the "power" needed to evolve from rep points and posts? I still would like to see some pets with unique ways of evolving like "this pet requires you to post 5 guides in the game development forum before it can evolve". I suppose unique pets would need to be given points manually, but I think it would still be worth the extra effort, because then users might complete those required activities which help the forum out in the long run. 2. "Users can see all your pets on your profile." Is there a possibility that we would be able to select our favorite to show beneath our avatar? I know I could just put the image in my signature, but I know some people like having large gifs or banners in their signatures instead (and I may do something like that in the future as well). 3. Is there a chance that some species have rare outcomes (meaning their evolution cycles are not just linear)? Ideally, it would be nice if some pets had random outcomes (within the set three images or whatever) and if some pets had ways of that the owner could "choose" a specific outcome by doing what was necessary to get that one instead of the others. I actually like the idea of everyone being able to submit creature art. But what will make this type of adoptable set-up better than what's offered on Squiby? I know the forum is still the main thing, but I think it would be nice if there was something unique about the adoptables, too. I think there have to be some kind of quality standards, such as a specific size for all adoptables (and maybe higher evolutions are allowed to be bigger) and all creatures should need to be transparent (especially if backgrounds may be a thing in the future).

You'll get it! If you do another sprite like this, I can let you know what you've improved upon and what still needs work.

Thank you for doing a Pokemon I actually like, because I wouldn't have wanted to spend so much time on one I don't like looking at, haha. Unown is a bit of a tough choice, because the Pokemon itself is dark which limits the options with shading. I decided to make an Unown sprite the same size as yours, so I can talk you through the steps I took and give you some pointers about your image. Step 1: The sketch creation stage. Some people use a brush tool to sketch and then draw over the sketch with the pencil tool to get the pixelated lines, but I just draw my sketch with the pencil tool on MS Paint when making pixel art. I get a general idea where I want everything to be on the canvas and move on. If you're working on a specific canvas size, you want the image to fill as much of the empty space as possible. Step 2: The line art stage. This is probably the most time consuming stage for me. I make sure every pixel is exactly where I want it to be (otherwise I'll have to change it later, and that will be more time consuming when I have multiple colors in the image). You say this is a "quick attempt", but I'll critique you as if it wasn't. Because the Unown character is dark, your line art is somewhat hidden. But in removing the color, I can see that your lines are messy, and if your character was done in lighter colors this would show up and lessen the quality of the final product. From the actual-size image, you can see that there are areas in the line art that are dark groupings of pixels where there shouldn't be (on the feet, on the right side of the round "head" and eye, and around the hole of the A). There are ways to get the shape you want in pixel art without having the image appear so jagged. If you even just cleaned up the pixels that connect that shouldn't, that would be an improvement already. I included an image of the comparison of your lines and an edit. I did not change your lines in any way (I only removed pixels), and as you can see it already looks more polished. So I would recommend working on that in the future as well as making an attempt to lose some of the roughness in your shapes. In order to improve that, you need to add in more of a transition between some lines. For example, if you have a line of 10 pixels in length and then you place one pixel beside that, you're going to end up with a shape that doesn't translate well on a smaller size. Typically, pixel art requires "steps". So you can go from a 5-pixel-long line to a 3-pixel-long line to a 1-pixel dot and create a diagonal line. But if you go from a 7-pixel-long line to a 1-pixel dot to a 2-pixel-long line and go back to the 1-pixel dot, it won't create the smoothness that you're probably looking for your shape to have. There are also times when you can use an alternating pattern to get the angle you need. If you look at my line art on my Unown notice that its legs are done by using an alternation of 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1. Going with all 2-pixel long lines or by 1's would not result in the angle I wanted for the line. Step 3: Flat colors. I like the colors you chose, though if you did want to add shading, I would suggest using a lighter color for the base. My image is pretty self-explanatory. I want a blue-ish gray for my base and a gray with a light blue hue. Step 4: Shading. Your image slightly confuses me, because the eye has a highlight coming from the upper region, yet the section we recognize to have depth on the Unown (the edges of the A and the circle head) are done in a purple, gray color. We know this part of the Unown's body is not naturally the color purple, so instead it makes this area look lit up. This could function as a backlight (or light coming from below from a second light source), but I think if you want to accomplish that appearance there need to be comparable (brighter) highlights hitting the opposite side that's actually being hit by the light (according to your Unown's eye). On mine, I did a shade around the letter and the right edge of the head. I also did a shade on the eye, because the eyeball protrudes which means a small portion of it will be hidden from my upper left light source. There is also a very tiny width of shade I added on the left side of the eye ball on the Unown's base. This is to make the Unown's shape appear to have depth around the pupil. Step 5: Adding highlights. I think highlights are important in sprites, because at such a small size you need something to make the image pop, and you also will find highlights useful when you want to show depth. I added a highlight to the left portion of the base and the eyeball. I also added some clusters of pixels on my Unown's eyeball with my highlight color to show where the light may be hitting it. Step 6: Blending the highlight. I added a second color (darker than the highlight but lighter than the base) to put between the two as a transition of sorts. You can see that extending this lighter portion of my base starts to give my Unown a more three-dimensional appearance. Step 7: Finalizing the image. I put a lot of little details into this last step. So I'll just lay them out: -The eyeball was shaded. I used three different shade colors. The lightest and darkest shades have dithering applied to them (pixeling that resembles a checkerboard and helps blend two colors). I don't usually dither, but it worked fine for this piece. -I increased the size of the pupil and used blues and purples around the iris to blend it into the black and make it less blocky. -I added even lighter touches of highlight spaced out on my existing highlight. And I added a backlight on the thickest dark shaded parts. This is just a lighter color on the edges. Both of these things help give more of a glow and an eye-catching appearance to my Unown. -Lastly, I changed the colors of my line art. Pure black was too harsh, especially around the pupil. I used three different colors: the darkest around the shaded portion of my base, the second-darkest around the highlights and left side of the eye, and my lightest around the right side of the eye. In conclusion, I think your pixel work could benefit from cleaner line art and distinctive line art (as it is now, your image does not have line art that is visible to the average eye). Shading and highlights will give your image more depth and help it pop. I added a picture that includes both our Unowns at an increased size, so you can see how they look zoomed in. I also put a comparison of what colors we used and how many for each area of the image. I hope some part of this helps you out! Sorry, have to link images, because the quality reduction when uploading makes it hard to see details. Step-By-Step Image Clean Line Comparison Unown Comparison Large

I'll respond to this as if this forum is already super big with a large amount of members (because the fact that this is a new forum is a deterrent as we all know). I will critique your plans as a former aspiring freelancer and as a buyer: 1. I'm trying to understand... is the marketplace going to be separate from the main forum? When you say "they may set a price that they want for the piece", I'm assuming that this is inputted into the system and not just written in text? 2. So you are taking "3% + $0.30, because you are accepting the initial payment (thus incurring the Paypal fees)? Then you gift the money to the artist, so they're not hit with fees? But in the end, it evens out? I just want to say that the original reason I joined a forum (you know the one) was to buy something from the marketplace. I may have forever remained a lurker if I didn't have interest in something I saw. My assumption is that if people want a piece of art enough, they will make an account, so I wonder if you're only benefiting the lurker-types with that feature and if it will lose the forum some members along the line, too. I don't have anything to back that thought up, but it's just something to keep in mind. In general, I find this system to be too complicated to be worthwhile. As a seller: From past experiences, I'm thinking I'll probably have to end up having to deal with the buyer anyway, because they want something changed or want something else, too. I also don't see the benefit of having someone transfer the money to me if the fees are the same. As a buyer: I do like the idea of receiving the image immediately after payment, but I also am pretty patient, so I don't need that feature. But I do like the thought that images could easily be searched through by tags (assuming you'd add a feature like that), so the marketplace would be better organized. What I could see this feature being used for is to sell asset pack licenses (meaning multiple people can have the same one), and then artists get a cut from every one they sell. And that would work well with this type of forum. I don't like the thought of this type of marketplace being used for every small sale, because I just think selling individual pieces one time is something artists can manage themselves, and a forum marketplace functions well enough for that.

I personally don't like entering contests. I don't like being judged on subjective things like art or writing. And I think the artists you pinged all have very different styles, so it would be hard to say which art piece is best.

Okay, great. I'd love to see them when you're ready. P.S. My favorite Pokemon are Beedrill, Cloyster, Kadabra, Charizard, Mr. Mime, Unown, Houndoom, Lunatone, Solrock, Gothorita, Chandelure, Ribombee, and Rockruff, *hint hint*

Oh, wow! That's a perfect movie for you all to watch together then. I hope you enjoy it. And your son is about the same age as my daughter (9 months).

Oh interesting! Because I find myself getting really competitive during games (mainly during console games). I get really get sucked into them. I swear too much during first-person shooters and other fast-paced games. I just swear at the screen though, and I just really have a fun time with it. I guess in a way, that's one of my ways of getting some kind of release from the day to day stresses. I try not to be mean while playing though, and I don't get upset much if I lose, because I'm actually really used to that.

This is really cool! Thanks for sharing. I never played the old Spyro games, but I love messing around with things like this, because it can result in some good laughs. I also like that there's a skateboard. That seems fun to use as well. I will put this on my to-play list.

When I think of intelligence I think of the kind of people that are able to both take in and recall all kinds of information as well as understand the deeper concepts within that information such as the relation between things, the cause and effect, and details about how things function. Although there are different kinds of intelligence, that is the kind I think of when someone brings up the term, because I personally assign other types of intelligence different titles. I definitely appreciate intelligence in other people, but like most people I stay with people around my level of intelligence. Some people can easily get into discussions over my head. As far as picturing unintelligent people, you know what I think it is for me that makes people stand out, it's the ones that have no intention or desire to learn. They get stuck at a certain level and are content with it. Unfortunately, I'd say that the cause of this is usually parenting styles that don't put importance on expanding one's mind. School can kill the desire to learn as well. But a lot of people are given the opportunity and just don't try. Adding to what Digital said, I also think we do judge the intelligence of people by their abilities (or inabilities) to communicate. A low vocabulary (and by that I mean using the amount of words a five year old might use in conversation) tends to make someone look less intelligent. There's no need to be highfalutin, but being so limited in the way you choose to express yourself (even though there are so many more options) shows, once again, that you don't put much value on learning. Therefore, you appear less intelligent.

I wouldn't bother altering portfolio images just to avoid art theft. The purpose of a portfolio is to show off your skill, and if you change your images you won't be able to reflect your true talent. If somehow your skewed images still look good, then what stops people from thinking those are worth stealing, too? The truth is, if someone wants to steal your art (or trace it), there's no real way to prevent that. I think the best thing to do is just be confident that your art will be better than any imitator's, and in that way it will be clear that you are the original artist. From the stories I've heard about art thieves being unmasked, the person is usually found out to be a liar because the real artist has a strong online presence. In the cases I call recall, it was usually fans of the artist that made the distinction between the phony and the artist. If you develop a following on some kind of website, that will help you have people backing you up if another situation like this occurs.

Everyone plays games for different reasons including using them as a way to connect socially, playing them to escape the real world, and enjoying succeeding in the challenges presented by them. What draws you to games (and by games I mean everything from duck-duck-goose to Blackjack to Half-Life)? I personally gravitate toward each game medium for a different reason. I play games in the real world (like cards, board games, and sports) to have something fun to do with other people, and the bonus with some of those games is that there's exercise involved or an excuse to go outside. I play console games typically to burn time or, again, socialize with the people I'm around. I don't play mobile games often, but I definitely just use those as a mindless thing to do when I just want to relax. And I usually join and play browser games because they fit to my desire to procrastinate. I typically use them as a way to reward myself between unrelated tasks, and sometimes I just have some free time, so I use the characters or world in browser games as inspiration for something else like writing or drawing.

Eight years ago? Seems like we're both due to watch it again. I also liked Ponyo, and Kiki's Delivery Service was cute. But as far as imaginative worlds in film go, I found Avatar and the Croods to be sources of inspiration. When it comes to darker themes, I liked Mad Max and that waiting room scene in Beetlejuice (I don't know why that always comes to my mind, but it's an interesting twist on the idea of the afterlife).

Honestly, successfully imitating RPG Maker's style will be very difficult, because you're just starting out. I think the best way to get into pixel art is to copy the style of easier types of pixel art and move on to a higher difficulty each time you get the hang of it. I found these Pokemon sprites that were made by user bensabeans on DA. Maybe something like this would be the place to start? Pixeling Pokemon characters is an easier task than creating something from scratch, because you know how they are supposed to look, which will help you see any flaws in the images. Also, speaking about these sprites specifically, they each only have one shade color for their main colors and they also have messy lines, so you can complete them quicker. I included an image I found on google that compares cleaned up pixel lines and the faster, blocky style some people use. If you try doing some Pokemon characters in this style, I can give you tips on how to improve them. As far as your pixel piece goes, I'll just be straight with you. I'm kind of having difficulty seeing what it's supposed to be. I think it is some kind of flag in the ground. Your color choices on the red are not doing you favors. I don't mean this to be insulting, but that is something to work on. If you're serious about getting better with pixel art and it's not just a fleeting interest, try out a Pokemon sprite like I suggested, and I'll help you out.

Ha, Boss Baby seems kind of cute. How old is your son? I'm thinking of watching the new Beauty and the Beast movie and Snatched (it's coming out on Mother's Day, so I may watch it with my mom for the dumb laughs). I couldn't really think about anything else, so I looked up movies coming out this year, and oh my. Trainspotting 2? What! I will be watching that with my husband. It's either going to be a great follow-up of the first or pretty bad, but I'm looking forward to it either way.

Oh awesome! I love looking at art for sale, haha. The ones that catch my eye are 1. Lizardly Dragon, 10. Puffy Cat, and 15. Snailifly. But I'm waiting to see if a paying gig I'm trying out is going to go anywhere before spending any money, so I'll just watch your thread for now.