[Spearor]

I noticed that in most rpg's the sprites are seperated from the rest with a black line surrounding them, is this to creat an effect of difference between background and sprite? or any other idea? i'm curious why, coz i like mine sprites more without it.
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Creating a World.

[Ninkazu]

without a black outline is best. To get the best explanation, look at Tsugumo's pixel art tutorial. http://tsugumo.swoo.net/tutorial/

[grenideer]

yes, it's to separate the colors of the character from the background. I started doing all my sprites, tiles, and art without the black outline because I thought it would look better, but 2d pixel art is a lot clearer with black outlines.

If your sprite has a green hat and is walking on grass, it'll be hard to see the hat, you know? Your sprites tend to not stand out and even blend in the background sometimes.
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Diver Down

[Ninkazu]

Sure the black outline can do that, but it's very unnatural. You'll never see professional games have black outlines.

[DarkDread]

Sometimes, imo, a black outline looks better than selout, and coloured shading... this is really true for smaller sprites (think sub 64x64) when you truly need defenition. Plus, impropery done selout can make a sprite look very washed out, and pastely if done wrong.
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"Goth is a way for ugly people to be interesting."

[ThousandKnives]

[Ninkazu]

Fine, those may have black outlines, but even Tsu isn't a professional.
http://tsugumo.swoo.net/tutorial/chapter9.htm
Sprites from SFA3, no black outlines. If you submit a piece of artwork to pixelation with black outlines, they'll tell you to get rid of 'em. I mean, who walks around IRL with a black aura besides George Bush?

[Locrian]

Black outlines aren't absolute evil, but yeah more often than not you can get the sprite to look better without them. Even with small sprites. Take a look at the IGN challenge thread at pixelation. They are all 32x32 and many of the best ones do not have black outlines.

[ThousandKnives]

[DrV]

[grenideer]

heh, I agree with almost everything you said, ThousandKnives. I just didn't wanna put forth the effort in saying all that :) . I did want to point out that there are a great many good artists on Pixelation who love black outlines.

I'm sure we can all agree that it's a matter of style and preference. Black outlines are used to differentiate characters from the background. 2D art has almost always used them (comics, games, whatever) because it makes things clearer when there is no depth to do that for you.

Like I said, I tried to do my game without them because I wanted a more realistic look, and I thought without black outlines I could squeeze more character out of the pixels I gained. In the end, I chose to go back to black outlines. If you don't have problems and you think they look good without them, more power to you.
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Diver Down

[DarkDread]

Actually, mine is more of a purplish-red colour. :p

[Ninkazu]

[DarkDread]

Sure, something like that.

Now.. where, oh where did I leave those double-jump boots?
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"Goth is a way for ugly people to be interesting."

[Barok]

bah, i always get to my favorite type of topics too late. now my input is pretty much worthless. ;)
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Adosorken: I always liked slutty 10th graders...
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