Just to add some stuff: if speed is important to you, then it helps to watch some tutorials on how to use things like keyboard shortcuts. For programs like Gimp or Photoshop, this might not make a huge difference, but for something like Blender it definately does. I would recommend Blender Guru's channel on youtube.
EDIT: BTW, if you're doing pixel art, don't get frustrated if your stuff doesn't look like the works from people you admire. This applies to everything actually, but I feel like it's especially true for pixel art. Despite first impressions, getting really good at pixel art is insanely difficult. Heck, scratch that, getting somewhat decent at it is difficult by itself. Consider a game like Battle for Wesnoth. I can make some decent 3d stuff in Blender, but I have never been able to make a single sprite that even comes close to Wesnoth's quality. Pixel art is deceptively sophisticated. It is often taken for granted, as if it was a "simple" style. It's really not. But it's worthwhile to pursue it as a goal. At least it's one of my goals.
I honestly don't miss Windows one bit. If I need to run something that is Windows-specific, I'll just use an emulator, like WINE for example. At least that's how I run Baldurs Gate / Icewind Dale / Planescape: Torment, etc on Ubuntu.
In that case, I would recomend starting with a small mod, instead of a full-featured game. Use already exiting free / open resources, from engines to 2d art to music and sound. This will allow you to focus entirely on what is arguably the most important aspect of a game: that it's worth playing.
I'm using Blender 2.79 for the creation of each individual tile. Then I use ImageMagick's montage tool for assembling them into a single .png image.
I don't use Photoshop. I did use it for many years way back in the day, but ultimately I replaced it with Gimp, which is the free software alternative to it. If I need a painterly effect, I'll use Krita, which is also free software / open source. But I only use these programs for making more illustration-type stuff. For making tiles, it's entirely Blender.
Hi. I would say both. It also helps to watch some general Blender tutorials so you get to know the main keybord shortcuts and how the settings work. It can be daunting at first, but there's great stuff on youtube. I would recomend Blender Guru's channel.
If you're planning on hiring someone, that's great, but in my opinion that shouldn't hold you back from diving into asset creation yourself. I mean, these aren't mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, it could also be very beneficial for the person you're hiring: if you can show them more or less what you want, as opposed to simply describing it, communication between you will be more efficient and you'll get things done much quicker.
Alright, here's an update on the room tilset, together with a separate file for the stairs, since they're 128 x 256. The room now has plants, counters, a crystal ball, some more variations on the walls. I'll upload the Blender source files in the next days.
@reefcrazed: Thanks! Yeah there's a lot to add/fix, including the things you mentioned (another direction for the door, decor on the rugs, etc.). I wanted to finish this tileset before christmas but that's not going to happen, there's still a lot of work to do. In the meantime, here's what a herbalist shop might look like (I still need to add aloe veras).
Just to add some stuff: if speed is important to you, then it helps to watch some tutorials on how to use things like keyboard shortcuts. For programs like Gimp or Photoshop, this might not make a huge difference, but for something like Blender it definately does. I would recommend Blender Guru's channel on youtube.
EDIT: BTW, if you're doing pixel art, don't get frustrated if your stuff doesn't look like the works from people you admire. This applies to everything actually, but I feel like it's especially true for pixel art. Despite first impressions, getting really good at pixel art is insanely difficult. Heck, scratch that, getting somewhat decent at it is difficult by itself. Consider a game like Battle for Wesnoth. I can make some decent 3d stuff in Blender, but I have never been able to make a single sprite that even comes close to Wesnoth's quality. Pixel art is deceptively sophisticated. It is often taken for granted, as if it was a "simple" style. It's really not. But it's worthwhile to pursue it as a goal. At least it's one of my goals.
Making a swamp tileset, still a work in progress
Ah, cool. Thanks for the link, I'll look into it. I'm following LazyFoo's lessons on SDL but I haven't gotten to multithreading yet.
@rubberduck: great stuff, as usual.
@dorkster: would that imply multithreading? If so, does that mean that c++11 will be allowed? Specifically, std::thread
I honestly don't miss Windows one bit. If I need to run something that is Windows-specific, I'll just use an emulator, like WINE for example. At least that's how I run Baldurs Gate / Icewind Dale / Planescape: Torment, etc on Ubuntu.
In that case, I would recomend starting with a small mod, instead of a full-featured game. Use already exiting free / open resources, from engines to 2d art to music and sound. This will allow you to focus entirely on what is arguably the most important aspect of a game: that it's worth playing.
I'm using Blender 2.79 for the creation of each individual tile. Then I use ImageMagick's montage tool for assembling them into a single .png image.
I don't use Photoshop. I did use it for many years way back in the day, but ultimately I replaced it with Gimp, which is the free software alternative to it. If I need a painterly effect, I'll use Krita, which is also free software / open source. But I only use these programs for making more illustration-type stuff. For making tiles, it's entirely Blender.
Hi. I would say both. It also helps to watch some general Blender tutorials so you get to know the main keybord shortcuts and how the settings work. It can be daunting at first, but there's great stuff on youtube. I would recomend Blender Guru's channel.
If you're planning on hiring someone, that's great, but in my opinion that shouldn't hold you back from diving into asset creation yourself. I mean, these aren't mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, it could also be very beneficial for the person you're hiring: if you can show them more or less what you want, as opposed to simply describing it, communication between you will be more efficient and you'll get things done much quicker.
Hope that helps!
Cool. You might find Clint's tutorial useful, if you haven't already seen it:
http://clintbellanger.net/articles/isometric_tiles/
Alright, here's an update on the room tilset, together with a separate file for the stairs, since they're 128 x 256. The room now has plants, counters, a crystal ball, some more variations on the walls. I'll upload the Blender source files in the next days.
@reefcrazed: Thanks! Yeah there's a lot to add/fix, including the things you mentioned (another direction for the door, decor on the rugs, etc.). I wanted to finish this tileset before christmas but that's not going to happen, there's still a lot of work to do. In the meantime, here's what a herbalist shop might look like (I still need to add aloe veras).
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