WIP FridayWIP FridayWIP FridayApril 12, 2024April 12, 2024April 12, 2024

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Hey everyone, I’m here with a Work-In-Progress…. Friday?! That’s a new one! Long story short, life threw a few different things at me this week and as a result I’m still working on the explosions pack. So today’s going to be a WIP check-in day!

Upcoming Explosions Pack

The explosions pack is coming along well. I don’t want to rush it, because I actually want to really study and learn what makes these explosions tick. Above is a work-in-progress explosion which has the smoke puff and a shockwave, but needs some extra particles to tie it all together. This explosion is larger in frame 2 than it is in frame 3, after which it expands normally. That gives it a “punchy” feeling.

GUI Work

Above: Sci-fi UI: “Neosleek” WIP

I’ve been adjusting and improving my export process for the GUI packs to handle some new elements, such as scrollbars! Each GUI pack going forward will include horizontal and vertical scrollbars, which can be extended to any width or height respectively. At some future date I’ll also add scrollbars to the GUI packs that have already been released. More additional UI parts are in the works…

Above is a sneak peek of the next upcoming GUI pack: “Royal Crown.” This pack features a very ornate gilded motif, and the decorated window is designed to resemble a crown at the top. I’m looking forward to releasing it soon!

Zephyr Time!

Above: Me and Zephyr in springtime! She saw flowers for the very first time.

Zephyr is doing well! She’s high-spirited and full of puppy energy. She’s suuuuper teething right now though, which means everything is a chew toy. Unfortunately, that also includes my shoes, ankles, and pants when we’re out for walks! I think she’ll grow out of it. She lost at least four puppy teeth this past week, and you can see the new ones coming in. Hope they’re not as sharp as the puppy ones, haha!

Above: Zephyr, being a very good girl.

Busy month so far, but looking forward to filling the rest of it with awesome pixel art. See you soon, and happy Spring!

-Will

WIP WednesdayWIP WednesdayWIP WednesdayApril 3, 2024April 3, 2024April 3, 2024

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Hey everyone, I’m here for the first Work-In-Progress Wednesday of April! Here’s a look at what I’ve been working on.

Explosion FX Pack 1: First Look

Above is the first explosion I worked on for the upcoming explosion effects pack. There are still a couple things I want to tweak with it, but it’s conceptually done. This is one of the more symmetrical explosions that could be used pretty much anywhere. I’ll also be doing some more stylized explosions and some ground-based ones as well. Looking forward to doing a lot more of these!

Future GUI pack

I guess I mean “future” in both senses of the word! This work-in-progress user interface pack will be coming up later this summer. I went hard on the diagonals with this one to really try and break up the rectangular-ness we’re all accustomed to seeing in UIs. We just did a sci-fi UI pack though, so I’m planning on doing a fantasy UI before releasing this one! (I just really really like sci-fi.)

Asset Pack Workflow: Behind The Scenes!

This is a screenshot of a tool I’ve been working on in my free time to help speed up the process of making palette swaps of my assets. As you may know, lots of my assets come with multiple color themes. For example, the impact effect in the picture comes in seven total colors: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and white. What you may not know… is that that’s a lot of work! And it’s not the fun kind of work. The palette swapping happens after all the creative drawing parts of the asset pack are done, and while there is some creativity involved in color choices for the palette swaps, it’s pretty tedious.

Read on for more WIP goodness and pics of Zephyr!

New Asset Pack:New Asset Pack:New Asset Pack:Sci-Fi UI “Mechapunk”Sci-Fi UI “Mechapunk”Sci-Fi UI “Mechapunk”

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Hey everyone, I’m here today with the new user interface asset pack! Let’s dive in.

Like the other UI packs, this pack includes lots of different color themes for almost everything. It’s very flexible!
Read on for more awesome screenshots and a download link for patrons, or purchase below!

WIP WednesdayWIP WednesdayWIP WednesdayMarch 20, 2024March 20, 2024March 20, 2024

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Hey everyone, I’m here for a late-night Work-In-Progress Wednesday!

Here’s a quick look into what I’ve been working on lately, and what’s coming up next.

Sci-fi UI: “Mechapunk”

The next pixel art GUI is on the way! Above is a sneak peek at the main window theme. Expect a lot of windows decorated with heavy metal! Like the previous GUI packs, it’ll also include icons and controller button glyphs. Coming up later this year I’ll be looking to expand those common assets to include keyboard and mouse input glyphs.

Upcoming Explosion Pack

I’m just starting to work on a new pack of pixel art explosions, and I’d like your input on what kind of explosions you’d like to see! I’m currently planning a little bit of everything, but let me know if there are any specific kinds of explosions you want to see for this pack. Here’s a couple examples of explosions I’ve done for previous packs.

A very “video-gamey” symmetrical explosion:

A more realistic explosion (but still a little stylized):

A more cartoony explosion:

Let me know what you’d like to see!

Zephyr Time!

Zephyr, my new corgi, is doing very well and is starting to grow up a little! She’s about three and a half months old now.

Above: A rare moment where Zephyr’s sitting still enough to be photographed without being blurry.

We’ve been working on learning to go for walks with our neighborhood dog friends. She loves other dogs, and walking with them seems to improve her focus a little. We take lots of solo walks too, but there’s a lot more mischief involved! She likes to pick things up, but is very good about dropping them when I ask. An area we still need improvement on is her herding instinct- At least a couple times per walk, she’ll try and bite at my shoes, socks, or pants. I think that’s something she’ll grow out of as long as I keep redirecting her!

Above: Hanging out after one of our night outings, with special guest appearance by Lt. Commander Data.

Above: Finally relaxed enough to lie down and chill.

I still take her out around midnight or so each night, just to make sure she doesn’t have any accidents overnight. Afterwards, we often hang out and watch stuff. I think Star Trek helps get her to sleep, haha!

That’s all for now- I’ll see you soon with the new GUI pack and next week with our first look at new juicy explosions.

– Will

New Asset Pack:New Asset Pack:New Asset Pack:Impact FX Pack 2Impact FX Pack 2Impact FX Pack 2

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Hey everyone, I’m here today with a new asset pack! Thank you for your patience- I’ll make up for the wait with some of the best impact effects I’ve drawn yet! Let’s take a look.

Like Impact FX 1, there are ten new effect types. There’s more variation in this pack than the first one: It includes toon impacts, cinematic impacts, sci-fi impacts, fantasy impacts, and dust impacts.

The effect animations come in both large and small sizes, and in seven color themes each!

Read on for some awesome screenshots and a download link for patrons, or purchase below!

WIP MondayWIP MondayWIP MondayFebruary 26, 2024February 26, 2024February 26, 2024

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Hi everyone, I’m here for a Work-In-Progress Monday!

Once again my schedule has been thwarted, but this time by covid-19. I got sick last week and tested positive, and basically lost a whole week of work time while I recovered. I’m feeling like I’m around 90% better now. I was able to get the paxlovid anti-viral, which I think helped a lot. It was my first time with the virus after nearly 4 years of playing it safe. I feel very lucky that it wasn’t worse!

Anyway, this is a quick look at what I’ve been working on. Let’s dive in!

Impact FX Pack 2

The next asset pack is underway, although it’ll be delayed until next week due to me getting sick! Above is the first animation in the pack, a “toon impact.” It’d be perfect for a Kirby-esque game, or for a comedic moment in a more serious game. I’m looking forward to doing some dust puff impacts and more!

Continue reading for lots more WIP goodness + puppy pics!

Welcoming Zephyr!Welcoming Zephyr!Welcoming Zephyr!

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Hey everyone! This is part 2 of today’s DOUBLE-POST! Looking for the new asset pack? Check out part 1 here.

I’m very happy to announce to everyone that we have a new member of the family: Say hello to ZEPHYR!!

Above: Day one! So tiny!

Zephyr joined us on January 26. She’s about ten and a half weeks old and her ears just popped up recently. She’s a corgi, but has a fluffy coat, which is a first for us!

Above: This past Monday on a walk around the park. Zephyr’s waving “Hi!”

Read on for more pictures!

New Asset Pack:New Asset Pack:New Asset Pack:Sci-fi Props Pack 1Sci-fi Props Pack 1Sci-fi Props Pack 1

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Hey everyone, I’m here today with a new asset pack! This is part 1 of a special DOUBLE-POST today! Part 2 is here, with lots of puppy pictures of Zephyr!

Let’s dive in to some sci-fi goodness.

This asset pack includes a wide variety of computer terminals, monitors, gadgets, and industrial props that you might find in an evil laboratory!

Read on for some awesome screenshots and a download link for patrons, or purchase below!

WIP ThursdayWIP ThursdayWIP ThursdayJanuary 25, 2024January 25, 2024January 25, 2024

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Hey everyone, I’m here for a Work-In-Progress… Thursday?! Better late than never!

All jokes aside, I’ve been super busy this week with my family. For weeks now we’ve been adding to a memory project for Garnet, and this week we’re putting the finishing touches on it. We made lists of everything we love about her, everything she loved about life, and a list of all her tricks and nicknames. The amount of butt-related nicknames is off the charts! It’s bittersweet, and I’m finishing up a picture collage for her today before we put her on the shelf in my office together as a family.

That’s not all that’s kept me busy, however… I’ve got some very good news: I’m happy to announce that we’ll be adding a new spark of joy to our family tomorrow! She’s an eight-week old corgi puppy, and we can’t wait to give her a wonderful home and all the love in the world. There’s been a lot of prep work for her- We did a bunch of cleaning and planning, picked her out a collar and her first toys, and set up a pen area where she’ll have access to her kennel and pee pad, plus some space to have fun. I’ll share pictures and her name next week! (I’ve been keeping her name a family secret until she hears it herself.)

Pixel Art Progress!

Even with all the goings-on, I’ve been continuing work on the next asset pack. Here’s the latest progress:

Above is a view of some of the more industrial sci-fi props in the pack. There’s gas canisters, wire decorations, machinery, and more! The monitors I’ve been drawing all have a few different animations or displays, including (of course) the infamous blue screen. This pack is going to be very fun!

The pack is nearing completion, but with everything I still have to do before the new puppy arrives (she’s coming a day earlier than we first thought!), I need to reschedule the pack release to sometime next week. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can with puppy pics and the finished pack- See you then!

– Will

WIP WednesdayWIP WednesdayWIP WednesdayJanuary 17, 2024January 17, 2024January 17, 2024

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Hey everyone, I’m here with the first Work-In-Progress Wednesday of the new year! Here’s a quick look at the next pack.

Sci-fi Props Pack 1

Here’s the first look at some sci-fi platformer props! You’ll be able to make anything with this pack from a mundane office to a mad scientist’s laboratory. I started drawing a little bit of both- Oldschool CRT monitors and a tower PC, and a “supercomputer” straight out of the 70s or 80s. Next I’ll be drawing all sorts of machinery, crates, barrels, and several more computers and computer terminals. One of the challenges in this pack is color- So much of this kind of equipment is gray, so I need to figure out ways to add splashes of color without making it look too cartoony. I’m thinking for some of the props, a yellow/black caution pattern will be a big help in that area. Looking forward to completing the pack for next week- Stay tuned!

Poll Results!

Thank you for voting in last week’s pixel art poll! The results are in, and there’s a lot of love across the board for different kinds of art. The most votes went to platformer props, effect animations, GUI/HUD elements, and platformer tilesets. There’s also some interest in platformer heroes and monsters, as well as game items and looping backgrounds. I’m looking forward to visiting all of those art types this year! I’ll factor the results into my schedule and let you know what’s coming up this spring!

That’s all for today- Aside from art, I’ve been doing some pretty dry programming work on my game engine and code generator. I enjoy it, but there’s not much to show off! Long story short, remember last time when I mentioned saving/loading entity relationships in the engine? Turns out I only had it half working. Whoops! That’s why it’s a good idea to write tests…

– Will