Rat King/Regal Rat Retexture

[Gul Dreggrod]

So I was playing Sybil the other day and playing around with the Royal Cheese recipe, turning maintenance mice into rat people. I really enjoyed the mayhem, but I don't quite like the texture they used. I'm having a go at retexturing the beastie, I'd like some thoughts as I go along.

Before:



After:

[wesoda25]

Kinda seems like a downgrade but that might work in its favor... can you show us how it looks in game?

[Armhulen]

The old looks so grimy, the new looks so clean... I'd have to see it in game ya

[Gul Dreggrod]

I'll definitely get some in-game screenshots once I figure out how to import the textures and Dream Maker in general. I can totally give the mob a gross color palette closer to the original.

[Armhulen]

if you upload the file (here with an attachment, or just ping me on the tg discord armhulen#9821) i can add the sprite in game and show how it looks. thanks for trying to make the game better!

[XivilaiAnaxes]

I like the tail and posture/body/limbs - more of a feral aspect to them, but I dont know about the head - the original head looks somewhat sinister but the ears and nose on the new one make it look kinda like a doofus (it looks too friendly and mouse-like).

[Armhulen]

yeah the old one is creepy as shit

[Super Aggro Crag]

[Gul Dreggrod]

I did some messing around with the color to bring it more in line with the original. I'm looking at ways to make the head look less derpy and more feral/scary.



and the in-game screenshot done up by Armhulen.



Two things I've noticed. First, I think the ears and tail look too pink and bright, I'll dumb down the colors for the next iteration. Second, I think the body can use more texture. Tufted hair and the like.

[wesoda25]

I like it more so far

[Armhulen]

I think the advantage of the new rat look is that it looks like an embiggened version of a normal rat, which is neat

[Iatots]

Needs fangs.

[cacogen]

i'd need to see it in-game beside the regular rats (aren't they mice) at a playable resolution to judge whether it fits or not

[Gul Dreggrod]

Doing front and rear views now. I'll try to see if Armhulen wants to slap them into Dreammaker at some point to get screenshots for you guys as well. I've added fangs and some other adjustments, couldn't quite make it scraggly in a satisfactory way. As always, comments are welcome!

Addendum: I have added a death sprite, thoughts are always welcome.

[XivilaiAnaxes]

I think making the ears smaller on the side profile would help - they seem to be larger than the face on view (and they kinda look like mickey mouse ears thinking about it).

The front profile nose connects directly to the fangs -maybe make it a little more distinct by moving the nose up a pixel. I feel shrinking the nose slightly on the side profile would be a good idea as well.

Other than that looks great

[Gul Dreggrod]

I think making the ears smaller on the side profile would help - they seem to be larger than the face on view (and they kinda look like mickey mouse ears thinking about it).

The front profile nose connects directly to the fangs -maybe make it a little more distinct by moving the nose up a pixel. I feel shrinking the nose slightly on the side profile would be a good idea as well.

Other than that looks great

Thanks for the suggestions! I've made the changes just so you can see, but I don't quite like how the nose turned out on the front view. It's a little too high up, makes it looks a little clownish. I might go back and brighten up the colors on the teeth to make it stand out more from the pink flesh. The side view, however, works a helluva lot more.

[XivilaiAnaxes]

Yeah I do sorta agree on the front profile nose - problem I think is that the teeth just aren't sticking out - you have a soft colour transition over the mouth (think how cats/rats/dogs tend to have more of an over bite instead of lips) and the teeth are a colour that sort of blends into the fur.

[Gul Dreggrod]

I think changing the color actually helps somewhat. I was going for the yellowed tooth look that most rats have, but it doesn't work well with the greenish fur. White teeth stick out much better, I've noticed.

EDIT: I've played around with orange teeth as well. It works well enough, but it would be nice to get a consensus. White or Orange?

[XivilaiAnaxes]

The greenish yellow isn't too bad, I think you just need to emphasise it more in just the frontal view - if you look at the old rat you have 8 pixels for teeth/nose

light pink darkpink
pink darker pink
fur green fur green
lighter than fur green fur green

Whereas the teeth in the side view are always lighter than the fur colour - I think if you make the teeth just a tad brighter you can keep the rotten colour you've used

[Gul Dreggrod]

After getting some feedback on Discord, I see a lot of people are having issue with the side view more so than the front and back as well as the head. One suggestion I got was to reuse the head on the dead sprite to give it a meaner look, and another suggestion was to give it a more hunchbacked appearance like the original.

Here's what I came up with. Do you guys prefer the old head or the new one?

[trollbreeder]

prefer the old one, having the mouth gaping open looks comical

[Sheodir]

I don't wanna be that guy but I honestly prefer the original in all senses but the tail being weirdly purple and discolored. Something about it looks creepier and I enjoy that.

[Iatots]

Probably because the older one has a more dynamic pose: its body is facing left away from you, but the head is fixated on you; it looks as if it only just now noticed you. Lots of potential action in the near future, but it works best in still images. New one is a more general pose, which will look better in motion.

[Space Panda]

how can i know it is a rat king instead of a regular rat if it doesn't wear a crown ??