Pixelblog 61: building isometric mecha tactics sprites at 32x32
One of Raymond Schlitter's Pixelblog tutorials from this spring tackles something I have always found tricky: a turn-based mech game in the style of Front Mission, drawn on an isometric grid. It is a concept for educational purposes, not an actual project, and it cross-references his earlier posts on isometric projection.
The mechs are drawn at roughly 32x32 pixels, smaller than his usual 64x64 and up, which means details have to be abstracted into very few pixels. His method is to start from simple geometric shapes for each part and build the body first. The torso should project forward like the front of a tank, the shoulders are bulky and set higher than the head, and the head stays low and sleek with just one or two bright pixels for the optics. Feet are designed for stability, borrowing from talons, claws and hooves, because plain humanoid feet look awkward in this style. Accent stripes come last and only where they strengthen the shapes.
He sketches three unit types, infantry with rounded shapes, artillery with a giant cannon fused to the head, and fighters with sharp triangles and reverse-jointed legs, and gives each a short tactical note.
The environment half is just as useful. The base tile is a 32x32 cube whose top diamond has 2px corners, and adjacent tiles must be layered in a consistent order so textures sit flush. Natural tiles start from a dirt tile with varied grass textures on top, water sits at about half the height of a normal cube, and its animation loops over 16 frames by shifting a line texture down 1px per frame while the highlights alternate.
My favourite line is the reminder that repeating tiles must look good when repeated across a whole map, so it is worth testing the layering yourself.
Source: SLYNYRD Pixelblog
The mechs are drawn at roughly 32x32 pixels, smaller than his usual 64x64 and up, which means details have to be abstracted into very few pixels. His method is to start from simple geometric shapes for each part and build the body first. The torso should project forward like the front of a tank, the shoulders are bulky and set higher than the head, and the head stays low and sleek with just one or two bright pixels for the optics. Feet are designed for stability, borrowing from talons, claws and hooves, because plain humanoid feet look awkward in this style. Accent stripes come last and only where they strengthen the shapes.
He sketches three unit types, infantry with rounded shapes, artillery with a giant cannon fused to the head, and fighters with sharp triangles and reverse-jointed legs, and gives each a short tactical note.
The environment half is just as useful. The base tile is a 32x32 cube whose top diamond has 2px corners, and adjacent tiles must be layered in a consistent order so textures sit flush. Natural tiles start from a dirt tile with varied grass textures on top, water sits at about half the height of a normal cube, and its animation loops over 16 frames by shifting a line texture down 1px per frame while the highlights alternate.
My favourite line is the reminder that repeating tiles must look good when repeated across a whole map, so it is worth testing the layering yourself.
Source: SLYNYRD Pixelblog
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