And the problem is, I want to have some animated characters for a fighting game I plan to make when I get good enough with programming. I've dealt with pixels before, trying to copy over 128x128 images from a computer image to a game for emblems/logos. And when it comes to dealing with the different shades, it makes my head/eyes hurt, and its time consuming.

Is it THAT difficult to make sprites/backgrounds? I can't draw a human by hand very well, and even so it takes hours and hours. So I don't know what i'm going to do when it comes to making the characters.

If I didn't have to learn programming I wouldn't, I mainly want to be in the design spec, but the only way my ideas will come to life is if I do them. So I guess I have to do this all myself >_>.

Anyway, is making person sprites/animating them all that difficult on a pc if you suck at art in general?

You could use something like Poser (http://poser.smithmicro.com/) to create/animate your characters. Once you have a character animated then do a side view and export the frames. It can export every frame as an image file and from there you can create your sprite sheet.

You could use something like Poser (http://poser.smithmicro.com/) to create/animate your characters. Once you have a character animated then do a side view and export the frames. It can export every frame as an image file and from there you can create your sprite sheet.

I take it poser has pre-made models that I can mess with easily?

Yes. Here is a snipit of the features:


Vast Content Library

• 8 new human figures with advanced rigging.
• Over 2.5 GB included content.http://poser.smithmicro.com/p_features.html
  
  
  Here is a preview on youtube as well:
  

"Difficult" is relative, of course, as it depends on what you're trying to achieve.

If you're trying to match modern hand-drawn 2D fighting games (like Guilty Gear or BlazBlue), then yes. Those can use hundreds of large, detailed images per character, and often feature a dozen or more characters. That's a lot of work even for professional artists...

Since the artwork is more a means to an end in your case, I'd suggest starting with "placeholder" art--simple colored rectangles representing the hitbox of each character. That will let you focus on the design and programming aspects of the game instead of the artwork. If you can make the game fun with rectangles jumping around, then you know you're on the right track. After that, I'd suggest going for a pixel-art style as it's much easier to achieve yet provides just enough detail to tell what's going on.

Alternatively, you could find an artist to work with...

As I said though, doing pixel by pixel drawings is impossible for me, and it's a major pain in the rear copying even 128x128 images, considering all of the different shades.

But I guess I can give Poser a try. I just want to make a simple Mortal Kombat 1 engine type game (7 characters, a couple bosses, 1 secret character, no special moves though). Thats going to be my "big" project as I continue learning C#.

Here is a 30-day trial for it. See if it will work for what you need. http://poser.smithmicro.com/trial.html

As I said though, doing pixel by pixel drawings is impossible for me, and it's a major pain in the rear copying even 128x128 images, considering all of the different shades.

But I guess I can give Poser a try. I just want to make a simple Mortal Kombat 1 ripoff type game. Thats going to be my "big" project as I continue learning C#.

Here is a 30-day trial for it. See if it will work for what you need. http://poser.smithmicro.com/trial.html


[quote name='GraySnakeGenocide' timestamp='1300808299' post='4789143']
As I said though, doing pixel by pixel drawings is impossible for me, and it's a major pain in the rear copying even 128x128 images, considering all of the different shades.

But I guess I can give Poser a try. I just want to make a simple Mortal Kombat 1 ripoff type game. Thats going to be my "big" project as I continue learning C#.

[/quote]

I'm trying to download it but it keeps taking me to the credit card/checkout screen. And I thought FREE meant you didn't have to fill that mumbo jumbo out.

You could get MakeHuman or Daz3D for free. Much better than Poser. But that won't do you much good. Real artists use a wooden pose mannequin for that.

Go tot he book store and grab some books on drawing figures. There is a method to doing it, and just like programming, you have to start from scratch and learn and practice.

http://www.petesqbsi...mo/chapter9.htm

I highly recommend this author, and his books.

http://www.amazon.co...00809177&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co...00809177&sr=1-7

http://www.amazon.co...0809202&sr=1-13

http://www.amazon.co...0809202&sr=1-14

Hang out at GameArtisans, Polycount and Deviant Art, and learn as much as possible. Buy a Wacom Bamboo (or an Intuos, but that may be overkill for you) tablet. My large bamboo tablet is the best thing I've ever bought. I'd be lost without it now.

Hang out at GameArtisans, Polycount and Deviant Art, and learn as much as possible. Buy a Wacom Bamboo (or an Intuos, but that may be overkill for you) tablet. My large bamboo tablet is the best thing I've ever bought. I'd be lost without it now.

I'll second the recommendation for the Wacom Bamboo. It's inexpensive for what you get, and has a slightly textured surface like paper so it's easy to draw on. The newer models (like this and this) can act as multi-touch touchpads, too, so you don't always have to use the stylus.

Even if you don't wind up drawing with it much, it makes a great input device for click-fest games like Torchlight and FarmVille/FrontierVille.

(I have an older Wacom Bamboo without the multi-touch feature, and wore out one of the stylus nibs playing through Torchlight.)