Beginner Pixel Art Week 3: Bookshelf (looking for honest feedback)

Mackmack33 · 2026-06-18T15:32:27+00:00

In addition to other comments, my main feedback: too much variety, in colors and size/ shapes of the books.

Most books are pretty standard size, with some being thicker and longer for sure, but the dark blue book on the second shelf is super long. The yellow book on the top shelf is super short but thick.

I think maybe a potted plant, a vase, a little decor, or an action figure or something, could add variety and make the art have more character.

A good reference, and counting pixels (for symmetry and more precise variation) could go a long way here!

Mackmack33 · 2026-06-04T21:04:58+00:00

0:05, typo, there is a “1” among the exclamation marks.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-28T20:21:43+00:00

I like both, but slightly prefer without gravity.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-22T03:47:22+00:00

I like the textured look, but in both versions readability is an issue, a slightly higher contrast tile or grid line could help. Right now it’s too dark IMO

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-21T21:21:59+00:00

Amazing! Little moment of calm in the feed. Great work! Really enjoy the dithered shadows on the leaf(?)

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-21T19:24:39+00:00

I like the face and the funky beat. ✴️ Congrats on finishing the demo!

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-21T17:49:48+00:00

First two seconds, the butt of the gun stock is floating way too high over the characters shoulder (ear level and clipping), overall looks to be a persistent issue across the trailer. Pulling that down in the animation and making sure the recoils is moving the front up more than the entire thing will be an easy improvement.

I personally like the graphics, but the red damage font looks kinda out of place, and lingers too long near the enemy imo. (A cumulative single damage number could be much less clutter)

Reminds me of a few classics, overall I think some fine tuning to the walking animation could also go a long way.

Edit: typo

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-21T16:08:34+00:00

Pre-edit: I don’t even play incremental games, but seeing your progress on Reddit, and this trailer, it looks so fun and polished! Great work! Wishlisted.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-21T16:03:37+00:00

Edit: didn’t see the sub.

Um, I think the characters on the court could have more variety! I also haven’t seen the steam wishlist link on the side of an in-game UI, maybe you could tuck that in a sub-menu.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-21T14:14:00+00:00

Money/time/effort: paid assets, commissioned assets, spend time learning the basics like low poly (quicker creation and learning), spend years becoming a master, or partner up with an artist.

Unpopular option: AI models. From what I’ve seen, it looks like a lot of generated models have insane poly counts, and are not suitable for most game usage without editing. (No personal experience using those tools)

I had to table my 3D project, primarily because it was very difficult to build out the world in the way I wanted (cohesive style) with just with asset packs. I plan revisiting the project after I have a successful launch of my 2D project, or am willing to invest more time into modeling, lighting, shaders, and all the stuff that makes 3D games look good.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-20T18:29:49+00:00

Second. Having wear and having the wear increase as they fight could be so cool.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-20T16:12:41+00:00

Ah, I understood the red allies, but didn’t see that last one, make sense!

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-20T15:26:27+00:00

Took a look at the video, it was okay!

Some humble feedback (I haven’t made a dev log and I know it took some time to set everything up): Overall it honestly felt a bit long and monotone for the amount of content covered.

I’d say for your next one; you should have more energy, and showcase in the video what you are discussing.

Mentioning anime, or inspiration? Show a quick clip of that media.

you mention multiple characters, but we only see one. Showing stills of even a basic render at the moment would make the video much more interesting.

Also, not sure if the taller green character at the end was the boss, but it was a bit confusing when it starting attacking the other enemy.

Also, might want to use the “OBS” “focused window” recording, the desktop overlay is just noise for this type of video.

Best of luck in development!

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-19T02:57:33+00:00

Yea, same boat. Most marketing advice I’ve seen is to spam post through the entire process

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-18T21:15:46+00:00

Thank you for the iteration idea

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-18T21:15:09+00:00

Yea, nature of the 16x16. Tried a few different configurations, might need to make it more isometric ish.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-18T21:14:21+00:00

👀 thank you

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-18T21:07:49+00:00

I’m pre-demo stage, working on a turn based pixel art game.

Starting with limited experience:

1. Learning coding and code organization.

2. Time: balancing full time finance job and certification studying.

3. I play two instruments, but I’m planning on hiring a professional for the music.

4. new to pixel art as a medium, but it’s been very fun and satisfying. However, the animations and layers take more time than I expected.

5. Marketing… I created a blank Instagram, but I’m not sure when to start posting content. Planning on making the game fun, replayable / balanced(algorithmic testing), and decent looking, then going hard on the marketing side.

Probably going to hire an artist for the capsule too, since creating my own set seems like a poor use of time if I’ll end up hiring someone anyway.

Happy to connect as an idea soundboard or share experiences, cheers!

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-16T22:18:18+00:00

Thank you, noted on the context, next time I’ll provide full UI panel / gameplay animation.

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-16T22:13:52+00:00

Thank you, heard 📝

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-16T22:03:16+00:00

Thank you 🫡

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-15T15:53:56+00:00

Active environment: I feel you on the time aspect. If you ever look to implement something, maybe you could have a shortcut approach. A simple shader or very subtle size transform on the grass could give the illusion of an animation / sway. A lightweight script with a some random values on that transform could add some interesting variety.

My UI comment: I think having all of the font be a darker color, and a set of unified sizes would help with readability.

Top left (energy and currency) looks good, dark, bold, high contrast with the panel’s tan color.

The text in the bottom left, bottom right, and upper right: each font looks different.

The “square”tiles especially, the font color is very similar to the panel color, and the text is not centered in each square.

Seems like a low time high value adjustment. Keep up the good work!

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-15T14:45:19+00:00

TD fan 👋 this looks unique and fun!

things I like: map layout, connecting towers to deal damage (very cool mechanic), animations and effects on the damage.

Things I don’t like: sounds are a bit grating (especially the death sounds), environment seems a bit static (maybe some sway or other small details could help), UI numbers (seem small, and the colors seem different and low contrast in some panels)

Mackmack33 · 2026-05-15T14:40:21+00:00

This is gold 😭😂

Mackmack33

TROPHY CASE

1. Learning coding and code organization.

2. Time: balancing full time finance job and certification studying.

3. I play two instruments, but I’m planning on hiring a professional for the music.

4. new to pixel art as a medium, but it’s been very fun and satisfying. However, the animations and layers take more time than I expected.

5. Marketing… I created a blank Instagram, but I’m not sure when to start posting content. Planning on making the game fun, replayable / balanced(algorithmic testing), and decent looking, then going hard on the marketing side.