First stab at pixel art/main character for 8-bit game.

Don't get down on yourself like that, it takes practice. :]

Remember, you're still a complete beginner. Trust me when I say that your first sprite looks better than a lot of first attempts I've seen through the years. <shudder>

Aaah thanks man, I have a new problem now.

I was going to originally give him a gun arm like Megaman but since Blobs re-colour and turned it into a hand I now think another way to "shoot" would be more interesting, such things as fire bolts or the like..

Oh, I didn't realize that was supposed to be a megabuster-like arm, I thought the grey was trying to shade it or something. Creatively thinking is the easiest part of game making, so if you do want an alternative to shooting, you ought to think of it yourself to keep your game personal.

~ Blob

(Note, this is assuming that you want to have some sort of story to your game. :])

Now we're talking about some very fun aspects of creating a character, and at the same time, the world where this game takes place.

A mega-man styled game doesn't necessarily need to be robots and energy shots and the like. It could go into a fantasy-like setting too. (Take note that keeping character in context to their world helps maintain a more realistic nature instead of, say, lightsabers from Star Wars in an ancient world of magic swords and whatnot.)

I think you need to sit down and think of concrete, principle ideas of your game first (like the main character and his powers, the setting of your game, the bad guy, power-ups, enemies, etc.) and then hop into creating it so that your vision remains uncompromised. Not to say that getting ideas from Blob's edit is bad, in fact, it's great to get inspiration from others ideas. You just need to know how much you're willing to change, and how much you want to stay close to your original idea.

I used to write short stories and comics for fun, I think that's what I first enjoyed about gaming as a medium.

So that shouldn't take me to long to get rolling.

As with most retro esc games story doesn't always need to be the selling point of the game, so simple outline of a story I think would be needed.

I think I'll go back to the mega buster type arm as I just enjoy that idea a lot more then say, "magic wielding dude", but I'll work on that tomorrow and post in this thread with whatever I scratch out.

Until then, thanks bros. You guys have made me want to stay here. .___. I just hope I don't seem too much like the little tyke.

No problem dude, glad to help! Also, feel free to make an official thread for this game once you've got it all worked out in the Game Idea forum.

This is a lot better than most first attempts! Just keep working at it.

It takes a LOT of practice to get good at pixel art, and you're already off to a good start. The key is to keep practicing and not to worry so much about how good it is relative to other people's art, especially pixel artists with years of experience. Your sprite looks a lot better than my first sprite did.

Right now he seems a tad bland, maybe give him something on his shirt or use a different kind of color scheme. A helmet perhaps?

Put A Little Dude On There

Aw, that was such a cool article!! n_n

I thought so too. I suppose that's why I remembered it so easily. Definitely worth reading! 

I know this seems noobish, but if the shirt must be red, you can always go with the angry version.