O..MY..GOD...toomanyassets!

[8bitRainbow]

I am overwhelmed. It's my first time creating any assets for my game.. and I thought it'd be hard. I want side images for my characters. I thought "how am I going to make enough for each character to give them a broad range of emotional expressions?"

With the help of ArtRage, layering and the lack of a discernible bedtime, in one night I'm up to about 98 different expressions for my MC.

I'm.. I just... I don't even have a good categorizing system. Eyes are in different states of open or shut, brows range from happy to evil, I have shouting mouths and kissy mouths and.. it all just got out of hand. x_x These are all with one hairstyle and no change of outfit. I think I need an intervention.

Has ANYONE experienced this particular problem? I know I could shave them down, pick between the p_cry_enraged and the p_cry_mademberrasseder because they look kind of similar.. but one is really angry and one is just dying of embarrassment while being slightly angry and HOW DO I CHOOSE?? Is having more than enough a good thing or will it be my death? Advice welcome!

[n0tgin]

The odds are, unless you are doing hyper-realism, your audience won't notice minor changes in expressions, I say just cut it down into a handful.
Furthermore, mouths are actually not that important unless you want to animate your sprites to fit voice acting, especially in the grand scheme of things. Does every single mouth convey a special, unique thing that is core to the expression? If not, pass. The same goes for brows, often, brows of different emotions can overlap/pass for another one, for example, brows are wrinkled when you are angry or disgusted and they lift when you are shocked or smiling. Eyes really only need to be in 2 states, open, or shut, and you don't need open AND shut eyes for all emotions.
Outfit variations actually depend on your project scope, but most VNs I've found to have 2-3 outfit variations.

That was an objective commentary, so far.
Personally? I'd say just cut your expressions down into 6-9, do away with the variations and just draw set expressions. Much more time efficient and much more visually appealing too, due to the fact that it's repeating appearance (similar to repeating colours in art) makes a nice pattern instead of just have dozens of unnecessary emotions through out the game and not have any repetition.
As the saying goes, "less is more". ^-^

[SundownKid]

98 sounds like way too many assets for your own sanity. You should only really need 10 maybe 20 maximum for a game. Just pick some basic emotions.. for my game I used the basic 5, normal/happy/sad/angry/surprised and then I did more drastic versions of those 5 (annoyed/joy/crying/rage/fear) Anything additional would be based on whether it was necessary (like if there was a plot reason for crying and angry at the same time, or embarrassed and angry)

[Renmiou]

The VN I've done with the most expressions had around 23 per character and, even then, you do end up using similar features combined in different ways, really.

The real question is: do you already have the script? If the character really is supposed to have such a broad range of expressions, I guess go for it. But if they don't or if you don't have the whole script yet I'd consider starting from just a few ones that you can expand later and use for testing purposed for the moment. Go for neutral (which for me changed based on the general demeanour of the character), happy, sad, angry, surprised (which can double for scared at least at first). Insert those in your script and, when you do your first round of testing, see which ones really need variations. I think you'll find that 98 is really way too many.

The other reason for this approach is that it's usually a good idea to work on the essential first and expand things later: if you draw 98 expressions for each character, how much time will pass before you draw all of the characters and their outfits and then the CGs if you have those? I found that making myself a list ordered by priority helped a lot in this sense - it will also help you feel motivated as you cross out the more important tasks and get onto the less essential ones.

[Googaboga]

Haha, I'm right there with you. The MC of my current project (XOXO Droplets) has a bunch of different eyes and mouths that can be paired up at will creating over a 100 possible expression combinations. Her blushing effect is a toggle so that can be attached to any expression increasing the possibilities even more. The main NPCs are about the same. Having more than enough expression options is my philosophy since I'd much rather have some combinations never used than have to settle for an expression that only sort of fits the situation (even though that means spending a looot of time assigning expressions when programming).

I personally find games that stick to a handful of basic emotions to be understandable, but disappointing. Having a character statically staring with the same expression for half a conversation because that's the only suitable face they've got is a big issue for me. It makes it much harder for me to see it as a character rather than an image with some writing. A character definitely feels more alive when they're constantly reacting to things in new ways. It's also just really fun seeing all the different ways a character can react, in my opinion at least.

Of course, if you're doing everything yourself you really need to watch how much work you create. A finished project with fewer emotions is certainly better than an unfinished game with more.

But at the end of the day if it's an element that's really important to you I wouldn't suggest compromising because it's not something that matters to everyone.

[8bitRainbow]

Thanks for all the advice guys! From both sides of the fence, very very helpful! n_n Still haven't decided what I want to do yet... though realizing I wanted to upgrade the style of the base of my MC means I now need to compile my expression assets all over again. Sooooo that's one vote on keeping it to a minimum, at least until I'm sure I have the final render of my character profile lol!

[Ghost of Crux]

1) As someone who has 7 different pose sprites for one character in the first 15 minutes of a game, I know how that feels
2) Don't ever go beyond the base expression until you know a style is set for the entire project
3) SERIOUSLY THOUGH be careful with too many expressions because a) this means you will have to draw the other characters long after you finish the ones you're already working on and b) your art style might already change.

Be careful-- don't burn yourself out before you even start.

[Mix]

I can definitely agree with the sentiment that you don't wanna put all your eggs in one basket until you've got the style down for the project as a whole. I can understand having a larger then normal amount, especially if a character is super expressive, but at some point you do have to ask yourself if each sprite is actively contributing to the story (or if it may end up too distracting).

I'd say ultimately in the long run though it is still up to you- maybe that can be a talking point when you're getting feedback on things after the project's progressed a bit more. "Is the number of sprites and expressions a problem/did you notice it at all/does it distract or take too much away?" etc

[Klawzie]

A bit late to the party but I thought I'd post regardless. ;D

Ultimately, if you're having fun and learning new things that's great. The more you draw a character, the better you get to know them and the more consistent they'll look. And now you're more familiar with how sprite-making is done and may have learned some shortcuts that'll help you out.

If you only have limited amount of time or energy to devote to the project, though, then you might be better off waiting until you have a list of essential expressions and "man, I'd love this too" expressions. Doesn't stop you from continuing to work on character designs, though, until everything is nailed down. Everyone else has already said it - you have other characters too. No need making assets that you aren't going to use. By the time you get through this project, you can easily have "leveled up" and earlier assets might not match the later... especially if you're doing more work than is needed!

As for what to keep... I mean, after you have a list of all the major emotions the script calls for, you can also add in any more subtle expressions that would bring nuance to the situation. I've read many VNs - some of them commercial! - where what they were saying didn't really match the sprite. For example, a character looking as if he was about to punch someone through a wall - straight up furious! - while their text showed them as confused and a bit suspicious, but at least on the surface pretty understanding. I don't remember anywhere else in the script where he really displays this sort of emotion, so I guess they just settled for what they had, but all I could think was, "Wow dude - chill."

I'm envious, though. xD I haven't got to the point yet with my current project where I can play with sprites yet. I'm still drawing sketches to get familiar with the characters while I work on the script.