CAP 3 - Sprite Submissions

[Elevator Music]

Wyv edit:
Do not post animations of your sprites here.

This thread is for the submission of sprites for CAP 3. As much as the art is critical to what makes our Pokemon a real Pokemon, the sprite is what makes it an entity to contend with on the battle server in the playtest. Many battlers will identify with a CAP based on its sprite, so this is in every way as important as the art design itself. Keep that in mind as you develop these sprite sheets!

Rules:

Failure to follow the below guidelines will result in the submission being disqualified and the final submission post deleted.

• Sprites should be inspired by the winning design from the Art Poll. It does not need to be an exact rendition of every detail of the design; "artistic license" is granted to all spriters. However, drastic deviation from the selected art design is discouraged.
• All sprites (front and back) can have a maximum size of 96x96.
• All sprites (front and back) must have a complete, unbroken, distinguishable outline. It does not need to be a black outline, but it must be clearly distinguishable from the adjacent interior colors of the sprite.
• No action effects, move effects, environment effects or additional objects can be rendered on or around the pokemon.
• Sprites must be in PNG format.
• Use 8-bit truecolor (aka 8-bit RGB) or less. This does NOT mean 256 color mode.
• Use transparent backgrounds.
• Fusions of other sprites are not allowed. All sprites must be scratch sprites.
• Do not alter, fuse, recolor or otherwise modify another spriter's submission unless the original artist explicitly gives permission.
• All sprites (front and back) must use roughly the same size and pose when compared to each other.

Sprite submissions for the sprite poll will be selected by the Topic Leader, based on preference and feedback in this thread. There is no process for overturning the Topic Leader's decision. If you are not comfortable with this stipulation, then do not make a sprite submission. Do not post any complaints here or in later threads.

There are 8 possible sprites:

• Front Normal Male
• Front Normal Female
• Front Shiny Male
• Front Shiny Female
• Back Normal Male
• Back Normal Female
• Back Shiny Male
• Back Shiny Female

In most cases, spriters submit a Front Normal sprite first. Once feedback comes in and the poll nears, they make the other sprites. Animations are not required and will not be used as part of the final product; however, it does add to the "appeal" aspect of your submission. You do not have to make different Male and Female sprites. Since there are only minute differences between most in-game male and female sprites, it’s not very hard to tweak the sprite for a different gender. Some spriters have made noticeable changes between genders, which is also fine. Shinies are just recolors, so that shouldn't pose too much issue.

Please look at your transparent sprites against different colored backgrounds, not just white. In Pokemon Online, the sprite will be displayed on multiple background colors in the Team Builder and in battle.

Most importantly, have fun! Good luck to all spriters!

CAP 3 thus far:

Concept: Extreme Makeover: Typing Edition

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Originally Posted by Fat Theorymon

Name: Extreme Makeover: Typing Edition

General Description: The idea here is to create a Pokemon who's typing, while normally considered poor defensively and/or offensively, becomes a strong selling point of the Pokemon itself via help from an ability, stats, and/or movepool.

Justification: There are a lot of typings we scoff at on a daily basis because of their serious flaws, often forgetting about their strong points. For example, Poison is a really terrible offensive typing, but a decent defensive typing, while the Ice typing is good offensively, but awful defensively. Instead of just accepting that some typings will just ruin a Pokemon, this CAP concept aims to take that "terrible typing", and find ways to fix it (usually via ability, movepool, or stats) to the point where the formerly terrible typing becomes the CAP's strong point! The reason this CAP could benefit OU is because a Pokemon who makes a "bad typing" into a great one could find many unique offensive and/or defensive niches that aren't currently found!

Questions To Be Answered

-What does it take for a Pokemon to overcome its "bad typing" so much that its typing becomes good? Are the stats the biggest contributer, is the ability the thing that saves it, does movepool make it a force, or is it a combination of the above?

-How does the typing makeover effect the Pokemon's playstyle? Does the Pokemon become a unique wall that uses its makeover to overcome its typing's normally fatal flaws, does the make over make a terrible offensive typing into a fearsome sweeper, does the makeover make it into a formidible combination of deffense and offense to a typing that brings it neither, or does the makeover bring forth something none of us see coming from the typing?

-Which resistances and immunities are the most relevant to the metagame? Sure, this concept is aiming to have a "bad typing" become good, but part of that will require the bad typing to have some key resistances and/or immunties to certain typings to defend against or set up on, while still having a very unorthodox competitive typing. This works the other way around too, what are the typings most relevant to hit super effectively or at least neutral?

-How will the rest of the OU metagame react to this extreme type makeover? Will Pokemon start carrying moves they normally wouldn't carry to break through a new defensive threat, will some Pokemon take on new defensive roles due to resisting the unorthodox STABs CAP 3 may carry? Or will This Pokemon, despite being a very real threat, not have many "custom made sets" to beat it, being more of a Pokemon that is a reaction to the metagame than causing a metagame reaction?

-Finally, how will this effect the teams CAP3 is on? Will this be the kind of Pokemon who needs a lot of support to become a threat, will this Pokemon be more of key team member to execute another strategy, or will this be the kind of Pokemon that's part of the glue that holds the team together?

Typing: Fire / Poison
Base stats: 95 HP / 45 Atk / 83 Def / 131 SpA / 105 SpD / 76 Spe
Abilities: Dry Skin / ??? (No Competitive Ability) / (???)

[Quanyails]

(image somehow deleted, so replaced w/ newest rendition)

15 colors + transparency. Male/female differences = size of lamps. I think the shiny colors are a bit intense but nice.

I had started out with a much smaller sprite, before figuring it's too small.



A bunch of guided and non-guided edits later, including moving the image to one eye and back to two, got me that thing above.

[Deck Knight]

Thou shalt follow the rules laideth down within this thread, or suffer great and terrible wrath.

That is all.

[DrOfla]

heres what I got so far. i will most likely redo the back side because it just looks awkward to me.

Edit:
About how big is this pokemon?

[Arkeis]

I didn't submit anything for the art poll, but I'll definitely try to submit a sprite. Here's something for a start:

[Gun6]

Just what I have so far.

[Wyverii]

As usual, style's mimicing generation 5 sprites from gen 5. I can put a glow in the lava lamp if people want but I felt that was above the complexity normally seen. Neutral pose to help with animation down the road. 16 colours.

Comparison in size to other sprites

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Looking at the size of my sprite, it's actually pretty close to Shuckle and Magcargo sizes, it's the same width but it's taller, mostly due to the large lamp and generally taller head. It wouldn't be too big a problem to scale it down further but I'm pretty comfortable with it at this size.

I actually think of this 'mon as rather large, something you could ride on, but sprite size rarely correlates fully to actual size so it should be fine for fans of both large and small versons of the snail.

Also, I'm going to guarantee the winning sprite a full front and back animation.

[bluemon]

i dont have any sprites but i wil give out my free opinions :)

my favorite so far is Wyveri's. it seems perfect.

@Quan: the shell seems awkward and too small compared to its body. very cute tho.

@Drofla: the whole thing looks too smaland the colors dont pop out (mostly the outlines)

@aragornbird: i like it but the shell seems wonky

@Gun6: i like the pose with the tentacles alot, but that seems more animation worthy, also too fat of a shell?

[Dogfish44]

I'm seeing this closer in scale to Krilowatt myself, most of these look large for my personal taste. Not saying that large is wrong, ti's just a concept I won't like for a while.

I'm not a high ranking spriter (Although I used to be competent), but I'm apparently good at this sort of stuff.

Quanyails: Nice and neutral, although the head looks a bit twisted (The eye on our left feels like it should be obscured? Wait on others though).

DrOfla: The neck has a large part sticking out, and the backgrounds feel incomplete.

Aargornbird / Wyverii : Sorry to group you 2 together, but the pose here is similar and the sizing the same. They're nice neutral and similar designs.

Gun6: Probably my favourite in the thread atm, it's an interesting and active pose which still retains the cute features.

[tea_and_blues]

I think of this Pokemon as being Shuckle-sized. Any chance of trying to sprite closer to those dimensions - even if just to compare?

[Quanyails]

Small, Shuckle, Large. I also fiddled with the mouth since my first post.

Comments for everyone!

• DrOfla: I'd suggest you darken the outlines, smooth the curves, make the mouth more prominent, figure out what direction the leg is curved on the backsprite, and un-skew the backsprite's lamp. Maybe try an individual pose. :P
• aragornbird: The sprite looks like it's leaning back or almost falling over! The pose needs to be slightly more balanced. I think you should remove the highlights on the edge of the lamp, as that has precedent in-game, even if it's shading-wise correct.
• Gun6: While I do like your style and lines, I suggest you make the sprite a little more vertical, and make the legs symmetrical, rather than awkwardly alternating. Remember that the 'foot' for each leg ends in a bulb, rather than tapering off.
• Wyverii: The head is the thing that's throwing the rest of the sprite off for me; it just looks like too much of a bulge out in front. If you fix that, the rest of the sprite follows nicely.
• bluemon: Artistic license'll be my excuse--that, and that the lava lamp was that thin originally. Also: how is it awkward? The angle? The shape? The colors?
• Dogfish44: Just remember that neutral is good for 5th-gen sprites. We're not striking a pose, but instead, allowing for a solid position to stay with while animating slightly. As for my sprite, personally, I tried one eye, but it'd always look like it's turning its head; hence the angle and shape needing definition.
• tea_and_blues: There y'go!

[xephslayer]

Hey guys, heres my submission for the CAP 3 Sprite so far.
I was wondering, does anyone else use MS Paint, cause this is my first sprite and I don't know what program I should be using.


Also, any tips for making the stripes stand out?

[Arkeis]

Note that Shuckle's shading is an anomaly in pokemon sprites, as there's a layer of highlight many other sprites don't have.

That's not entirely true. If a Pokemon has shiny and smooth skin (like CAP3 does), then it's fine for there to be a spot of highlight.
Here are some examples:

...

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Porygon2 and Porygon-Z


Frillish


The entire Solosis line


Quagsire


Chimecho


Groudon


Regigigas


Cranidos and Rampardos


Rotom and All of its forms

There's many more, but the point is a simple little highlight goes a long way to show what kind of texture a Pokemon has.

[ikasu]

Here's a start for my entry. I'll be working on the back sprite, as well as gender differences and a shiny sprite while I look forward to comments to make this sprite better!

[Tetrinity]

Everyone in IRC keeps talking about how these sprites are too large. I couldn't disagree more; the sizing works nicely for him. I particularly enjoy Wyverii's and Quanyails' large sprites, though I do think Quanyail's smaller one looks cute too. Overall some very nice work being put out here; keep it up! :)

[Lord Jesseus]

A lot of good looking sprites here already. I think Gun6's is my favourite so far, but there are plenty of other good ones.

Originally Posted by Fat aragornbird

I didn't submit anything for the art poll, but I'll definitely try to submit a sprite. Here's something for a start:

Why didn't you? You had some cool designs...

[tea_and_blues]

Everyone in IRC keeps talking about how these sprites are too large. I couldn't disagree more; the sizing works nicely for him.

The large sprites make me feel like I'm looking at a Pokemon the size of a Blastoise, but with proportions that suggest it's much smaller. Perhaps, before spriting, or as part of the art process, we should establish the size of our mons? I think it might help a little to avoid these subjective concerns at this stage.

[DougJustDoug**]

Here's my first pass at a front sprite for our nifty cone snail lava lamp:

I'm going with a "looking back" pose. We haven't had a lookback pose for a CAP sprite since Cyclohm, and Mos' design is very malleable so I figured I'd give it a try.

[Nyktos]

The head overlapping the lava lamp makes that one look weird to me.

[Dusk209]

I am not completely happy with this yet but I want to post it here so I can get some feedback. Also, how do I make an image 8-bit truecolor? (I'm a bit new to this :U)

Quanyails: I like the large one better.
Xephslayer: Your sprite is a bit too small. Making it larger will help you with your stripe problem.
Ikasu: It looks a little flat IMO, and the difference in shades inside the lamp is too drastic even with dithering.
DougJustDoug: This looks way too shiny.

[GreenWailord]

First attempt at spriting in my life, I think it turned out alright. Its a little pinker than it probably should be and the lamp's cap is too big. Haven't figured out how to make a clear background yet. I'll continue to work on it. Advice is welcome, particularly on lighting/shading effects.

[wdistance]

Wyverii: Your sprite is just a tad too big in comparison to the others, but besides that it is perfect.

EDIT: By "others," I mean the other pokemon in your post.

[Wyverii]

Since so many people asked for it. Smaller sprite. Shading's been altered to fit gen 5 more and the head's been changed to be smoother. Changes to the inside of the lamp and highlights as well. Here's a size comparison:



IIC: It's fine, you can take shading practices from me. You might want to invest in a different pose. There's already a few of the design pose.

[Ice-cold Claws]

Konichiwa



I lack originality. :(

Hey Wyv, while some parts may seem stolen from yours, I assure you that this is made completely by scratch from me.
I shaded the lava lamp like yours because it would otherwise exceed the color limit.
Still, if you don't like me doing that, I can change it.

Besides that, is this ok?

EDIT: Gave it smaller legs and made a quick shiny. (EDIT2: oops, don't mind the stray pixel there)
Thanks much Wyverii, I'm just still thinking how to position the legs better.

[Mos-Quitoxe]

ICC you've made the shell turquoise rather than grey. Of course that could fall under "artistic license", I dunno.

other than that it's pretty good!

Wyv: I'm not sure what to say here; I preferred the original and didn't see any size issues, but if more people want the smaller one then that's what we should have! I do miss the original's shading practices though, especially concerning the outlines.

DJD: shinyyy <3. Though I think you may have to skimp on the dithering inside the shell.