u/GeneralShinobi

Hi! This is my second of 2 entries for the Design-A-Sprite contest. (Here's my first, if you didn't see it!) Unlike my previous one, I've tried formatting the way the images look a little better (as the concept art style image might not catch the eye as easier as JUST the sprite for the thumbnail).

This one is based on how characters were rendered in games in the 90s. His body is a pre-rendered billboard texture using a basic phong shader, which means it will always face the camera, and his limbs are simple low-poly blocks. I wanted to make it function like, for example, the Bob-ombs from Super Mario 64, where it has modelled limbs but a pre-rendered sprite for the body.
Alternatively, you could go the early 3D shooter method and make him just completely a pre-rendered sprite that changes depending on view angle.

I also think giving him a basic circle shadow rather than using modern lighting techniques to render shadows would be cool, but I don't know how that would be done in UE as I haven't used it before for art stuff.

I mainly wanted to make him like this to make him unique to other "retro pixel" sprite designs, by making the actual design simple but utilising technical design choices that actual retro games had to use due to hardware limitations.

I hope you like this design as much as I did making it. :)

once again i dont know what to call this specific branch of alt-adjacent fashion but "goth" is a close enough umbrella term because of how watered down it is these days