Sprite Recycling

[planktheory]

I don't think I see it happen very often when people reuse their sprites from one project to the next.

I'm the artist behind my project, and I'm currently just building sprites while I reevaluate the story I want to write. And with all the time and effort that I was putting into them, I was wondering if people ever revisit their old sprites and continue them in another story--that may or may not be related to the first. Then my sleep deprived brain wandered over to the notion of having a meta-story in which the sprites were actors portraying a story, and during the credits I could have bloopers where they screw up their lines. But then be able to use the sprite again as though they were an Actor playing these roles out. Or would that diminish the effect of the story, since you'd most likely be less emotionally attached thinking that they're an actor? Or would suspension of disbelief save the day?

Anyhow, so, is there much in the way of recycling sprites? And if there was one, would it come as a hindrance in a non-sequel/prequel setting?

[MiSi]

I don't see sprites as actors, for me they are persons. So I would only reuse them if it was in a sequel of the game before and there isn't much time elapsed in the game's world between those two sequels. People tend to get older, don't they? (Well, vampires or angels maybe not, but... not everybody writes about them )
I also demand new sprites if my artist's art style has changed or approved. So... maybe the characters from the VN didn't get older, but the artwork could be better. (I wouldn't do it with backgrounds, though. Maybe, because they're hard to draw...) But I always keep the old sprites somewhere on my pc. I couldn't bare deleting them.

Anyhow, so, is there much in the way of recycling sprites? And if there was one, would it come as a hindrance in a non-sequel/prequel setting?

Honestly, it would irritate me to see the same sprite in two completely different games. I would go like: "Wtf?! This isn't Person A, that's Person X from Game A! How lazy is this artist anyway?!"
(Didn't mean to be rude... that's just my opinion. )

[gekiganwing]

I like the idea of the characters being actors. If that's true, we might get to see who they really are when they're not in-character.

Alternatives include:

* They're (live action) role players.
* They wear the same outfits and don't realize it.
* They look like other people because they're related.
* They're alternate-universe versions of the same people.

If you want to use humor about reusing art, unless your game is silly or surreal, put it in the extras section.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Having a contrast between real world vs actors is a concept that's explored from time to time in movies, books and other media. 'All the worlds a stage and we are but mere players' is also an interesting concept.

As for reusing sprites, no, I wouldn't do it unless it was a direct sequel, and even then I would want to redo them to keep them up to speed. I 'design' my characters, they are meant to be a very specific person. I want to communicate a certain personality, their backstory, their appearance. You will notice that the best actors and actresses put on masks for each role they play, their hair changes, their faces change their clothes change (Meryl Streep always amazes me). If you did the same with the sprites, you would essentially be recreating them, so what's the point? For me, designed characters are better than stock characters because they have been thought about. While reusing sprites might save time, they might not visually communicate as well as they could have.

[SusanTheCat]

I reused a bunch of my backgrounds and sprites for a make a "game in 48 hours" mini challenge. It became very surreal. My characters from one game were walking around the house from another. But I do that with actors too. There was a show I watched that had two actors from a vapire show. It made the shopw more interesting since I kept forgetting they weren't vampires.


Susan

[DaFool]

You just gave me a brilliant idea. People often say that the characters by Aoi Nishimata and Tony Taka looked like they just had their faces copy-pasted and their hair colors changed. Why not just literally copy-paste faces and a few different body styles, then the only thing different will be the costumes. I think the character artist for Curse of Slate Rock Manor and The Stolen Diamond Ring was using that technique.

[papillon]

The creator of the art for those games makes sprite doll sets; there are usually different layers for hair, face, costume, etc, so you can assemble them into semi-unique combinations for your own game. That particular circle made a lot of sets, so there's a good bit of stuff you can mix and match from if desired. Some other circles even break hairstyles down into multiple layers so that you can combine *them* differently and get slightly different hair designs.

Having some kind of dollmaker setup is certainly enormously helpful in populating a large cast of background characters.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Dolls are a good alternative if you want to save time. At least then you can make alternations so it isn't the exact same character. I think that could end up a little weird if you used the exact same sprites for multiple games, as long as people have played a previous one?

[fleet]

Reusing characters? I often do it. So far, nobody has complained.

[Pugfarts]

Osamu Tezuka used the same characters for different roles all the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezu ... tar_System
I think it worked really well.

[sheetcakeghost]

Even actors change their hair, clothes, and other overall things for a certain role. If you wanted to perpetuate the idea of sprites as actors in your games you'll need to give some hints to it in the game itself. Like after the credits the actor personas show up for blooper reels. Or the extras section in the game shows behind the scenes stuff. Like one would find on a DVD.

[LVUER]

I don't think I would really mind about re-using characters for different games (and roles) as if as those sprites are actors, not a different "person". But only if the sprite is re-drawn from scratch.

But then again, if it's a free game, re-using sprites is a common thing.

[sheetcakeghost]

I understand reusing sprites if the game maker is not an artist themselves. Also if they're stock sprites and that's just what you have to work with.

[Weakjounin]

How would you people react to sprites being reused as the same character in the same universe?
Let's say story one was about group A of people
then story two was about group B of people, but sometimes group B runs into people from Group A or events lead to them meeting each other.
and this helps build a deeper bond through the stories.
Would this still be frowned upon?

[Auro-Cyanide]

How would you people react to sprites being reused as the same character in the same universe?
Let's say story one was about group A of people
then story two was about group B of people, but sometimes group B runs into people from Group A or events lead to them meeting each other.
and this helps build a deeper bond through the stories.
Would this still be frowned upon?

No, the actual concept is fine. The problem would be with art discrepencies. Most of us here are constantly inmproving our art and so there may be differences, sometimes major between sprites. This problem is non-existent if you are using stock sprites, dolls or all the sprites were created at the same time. Though people might be willing to accept differences too, depending on what they are. People can be pretty lenient with that type of thing, especially with freeware games.