Spritework Experiments | Patreon Weekly #240

Hey Patrons! In this weekly I’m showing off some spritework experiments that I previous shared in some Shattered Secrets posts earlier last year.

This weekly also includes an audio Q&A! Go and give it a listen if you’d like. You can find audio timestamps at the end of this weekly.

Spritework Experiments

After I posted ‘Shattered Pixel Dungeon in 2023’ I got a few contacts from Pixel Artists, and two of them did produce some art while experimenting and doing concepting for how redesigned sprites may look. Unfortunately, I am not currently actively working with anyone on new pixel art, but the concepts were very helpful in exploring how new in game art might look.

Given that I’m about to release ‘Shattered Pixel Dungeon in 2024’, I’m thinking about possible spritework improvements again, and so thought it was a good idea to share these concepts again to get a bit more feedback. Who knows, maybe this is something that I’ll be able to pick back up in 2024.

Firstly, both artists did some experiments with the hero sprites (pre-duelist), one artist on the left, another on the right:

Each also did some experiments with item sprites. Here’s the first picture:

And the second:

Lastly, one of the artists also did some experiments with changing up environment art! Firstly, here’s a little study on changing walls (old on right, new on left):

..and a bigger image showcasing a bunch of possible adjustments and additions to a typical sewer level:

I want to emphasize again that I’m unfortunately not currently doing anything with these concepts, but I still think they are extremely useful for figuring out what sort of changed art works well for the game, and what might clash with the existing style a bit too much.

Please let me know what you think!

Audio Timestamps

This month there were 17 questions from 6 different patrons.

• 0:13 "how was your holi-day?" - radiantchaos
• 1:07 "How likely would a fancy challenge mode where you take some character trait from each hero and roll it all into one run? Probably not the identifing traits but maybe the Huntress's trample, the rouges extended range, the Warriors seal that sort of thing." - Chewyou
• 2:37 "what games have you been playing recently, or hoping to play soon?" - Depresbian
• 6:03 "is the secret "what are you doing here?" room at floor 27 still in the game's code?" - radiantchaos
• 7:17 "Will there be rare trinkets that cannot be made, like boss drops?" - Veek
• 9:23 "Could you add the remaining permanent allies to the surface screen (shadow, prismatic image, elemental, bee)? And perhaps show the one you managed to keep alive for the longest." - Block Vader
• 10:55 "what are your thoughts on games with high difficulty as a core mechanic? (cuphead, dark souls, etc)" - radiantchaos
• 12:33 "What was the most impactful unintentional consequence of a change you made that you kept?" - Zrp200
• 15:17 "do you have any new years resolutions?" - radiantchaos
• 16:38 "whats the worst thing you're ever eaten?" - radiantchaos
• 19:01 "(to the point you're comfortable sharing) what do your family and friends think about your career and the kind of success you've achieved?" - Depresbian
• 21:41 "Are you happy with 2 rare enemies per region or do you plan to offer more in Patreon pols." - Block Vader
• 22:27 "Since you're a fellow Canuck, what's your least favourite hockey team, and why is it the Leafs?" - Chewyou
• 22:37 "I hear all this talk of a sign, how do I get to the sign?" - Chewyou
• 25:30 "On that note, is there every going to be a further 27th level? Perhaps a bonus set of levels if you do the all the quests and beat all the hard bossed or something?" - Chewyou
• 26:25 "How far down exactly is the trolls underground? Because if I'm taking the ladder down further into the mines, couldn't I technically be able to mine vertically into the following floor? Or are the mine caverns several units deep and the mine exists in between? Would it be fun for a pitfall trap to exist in the mine and if you fall the Troll has a unique bit of a dialog telling you to watch your step?" - Chewyou
• 28:13 "how much time does a shattered run take place over? a run is long enough that the hero can easily starve to death, yet never needs to sleep, so it's rather hard to gauge" - Depresbian