Hi,
My friend and I were thinking of making a game with unity. Since its our first “real” game we decided to use 2d graphics. My question is: What 2d graphic software do you recommend? The game will most likely be a simulation game. Even though its 2d there will be perspective so it looks “3d”.
examples of the graphics style I want/Like are: http://www.greenheartgames.com/ (scroll down to see all the pictures)
Hotel tycoon, clash of clans and plants vs zombies.
Someone suggested illustrator and photoshop. Do you agree with that?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks
(I have this thread in the teaching section but it has not gotten many replies)
Illustrator and Photoshop are both great tools but they aren’t cheap. The new rental thing Adobe does makes it much more affordable for short periods of time so it may be an option.
Even something like Paint.NET or GIMP would do, they are essentially the same as Photoshop except for a few minor features. Both are free.
Thanks for your reply! Does illustrator and photoshop have any major advantages to gimp or paint.net? We can afford it but I would rather use the money to buy unity pro or a feature.
Thanks
If you are new save your money, only spend it on things you need, Gimp will do everything you need for this game. The GUI in Unity sucks, they are working on a new one but it may not be out for a month, or a year, or possibly some time after 2050. I recommend NGUI from the asset store for now, there are others to choose from as well.
Thank! I think ill go with gimp, once we have more money and more experience we might migrate to illustrator/photoshop. Anyone know any good tutorials? Also since its unity “3D” will it be hard to make a “2d” game?
Thanks
as a 2D graphic artist myself i can say that Photoshop gets the job done best for me, and ive tried most. It just so flexible and leaves very little to be desired.
One thing to consider is the players movement and camerangle. My game there is stricly 2d, using a perspective camera to simualte parallax. If u do a Isocam like those examples u posted the characters instantly becomes harder to make since u need to have noth and south movement aswell, wich means, more textures for him. Front and back, and sides.
Lemme know if ur wondering anything else, glad to help!
As a photoshop and illustrator user. I have to say. the ONE tool you want, is Illustrator, by far.
The game that you have used as reference has definitely been created in illustrator. Either that or it is 3d rendered out to 2d. I wouldn’t say it has been done in photoshop.
Codewise, if this is your first foray into game dev, you might want to drop the $65 on the 2D Toolkit in the Asset Store - I rolled my own sprite system for my current project, and it’s working well for me, but I also write code for my day job. Using a framework will let you focus on the design; when you have a few spare moments, you can always peek behind the veil and start understanding what this stuff actually does (or, as you discover the need to understand what’s going on, which you undoubtedly will at some point.)
Thank you everyone for the replies! About photoshop/illustrator: are they worth the $50 a month? We can afford them but we don’t want to spend that much money unless its necessary. Also how much would unity pro help? Worth the money?
ok here’s the thing. The images u posted as examples are most likely, like charlie said, 3d turned to 2d wich i kidna doubt, or its simply bitmap graphics scaled down like u would see most isometric building artists do.
Illustrator is a vectorbased software,meaning alot harder to learn since it isnt really “painting”. personally i prefer bitmaps since vectors has a tendency to look “childish”, but thats really up to the games theme to decide.
If i were to make those graphics i would go with photoshop, alot of lasso tools,gradients and some perspective setup. Its easy to “fake” 3d nowdays if thats what ur looking for.
Both are worth the money for sure, but u also have free programs u can try. Serif is a free vectorbased program, Painter is a free bitmap based one. And theres tons more around. I use Photoshop everyday and havent really had to do something photoshop wont let me do, u can even make vector graphics in photoshop. not as good as illustrator and it isnt resolutionindependant, but it looks exactly like vectors aslong as they are 1:1 in scale.
The graphics in Plants vs Zombies is bitmaps, the characters has details u cant get with vector tools. They might be vectors for their base but the shading is definitly done in photoshop or something simular.
For strictly hand painting, I highly recommend tablet(ipad or android) and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro($5 app). This setup is wonderful, you draw directly on screen with quick tools access and clean interface. Best part it’s mobile, so you can draw anywhere.
go on, you know you want too.
I’ll try both and see which I like better. I may use both…