In this game, the character is exploring a village and talking to the characters who live there. The main graphics in the game are a map, the individual buildings in the village, and some smaller character and object graphics that will appear in-line.
In this post I show how I created the starting location for the game, Sindrella’s house.
Pixelating the Basic Shapes
For this project, I used Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, because it offers so much more flexibility… and I have to get my money’s worth out of my Adobe subscription 💀 But for simpler projects, I love using simple pixel art software that keeps me from getting carried away.
I start out by making the basic shapes in Adobe Illustrator, where it’s much faster to make changes and move things around until I’m satisfied with the overall look.
I create a fairly small (180×180 pixels) document in Adobe Photoshop, then paste the Illustrator shapes as “Pixels.”
Now I’m ready to start adding outlines and details. I save the background for last!
Adding the Details
I added a few darker specks to the “mortar,” some lighter lines to the top/top-right of the bricks, and some colorful shading make the wall more dynamic and lively. Â
The vines on the side, and the windows, are very simple and only use two colors. Same with the bricks on this turret.
I added some purple flower for pops of color, but I’m not sold on the overall effect of this window plant, because it has such a different look from the vines.
This super simple brick style allows you to leave most of the wall blank. Filling in the whole wall with bricks looks too cluttered and busy.
The chimney has a similar style as the base of the building, but with square blocks and added contrast.
Chimneys always look better with a puff of smoke coming out of them! It’s summer though, so I only added smoke to the kitchen chimney.
Adding the Background
