[Art update] The annual Grand Sprite Cleanup(TM)

So at this point, it's probably not that big of a secret that 13.5 is turning out to be about as substantial as a whole ass version. Sure, it's no V13 tier of copious amounts content mind you, but still plenty substantial in both content that's being added and content that's being updated as well. And with old content being updated comes the tradition of the per-version session where I go absolutely fucking off the shits with cleaning up the sprites because I've come to realize that stuff does not look as good as they could be. It's a fun time! And there's more updates to sprites to come, but I figured I'd show off some of the stuff that's been cleaned up during the first day I sat down and worked on a bunch of the sprites.

thank you github fork for making the comparisons far easier to show off because of the old/new comparison display. god bless

Starting off with Keta, as I've previewed one of the sprites before on twitter!

His sprites were in need of cleanup on several fronts. The first one needed a correction on the hair to be less round and more accurate to his official art, as well as the torso needing to be angled a bit better. He also actually has a neck in the sprite now LMAO

As for his bad future attire, the sprite as a whole just seemed entirely inaccurate to what his other sprite looks like, so it's more drastic of a makeover. in crim's words,

and frankly, i think that's an accurate assessment. He's also taller and like with his other sprite, his hair has been resprited to be more accurate as well! As a whole, it looks more appropriate for him. nice

Next up, Ren! Specifically, his outcast sprites.

Nothing too special going on here, just minor cleanup on his coat with the hood up and his face in the second sprite where the hood's down, as it lacked additional shading. Also, the lighting is consistent in the first sprite now!! which it wasn't on the hood!!!! and it was BOTHERING ME TO NO END. so i fixed it. yaaaay

Next up is Agent C(rawli)!

as you can see, he is fucking MINISCULE in the old sprite. Which isn't entirely inexplicable, because he was a child in earlier iterations of Rejuv. That's a remnant of the past though, and nowadays he's an adult and taller at that so I fixed his sprite to be taller and properly reflect those changes.

Erick is next!

Both his battle sprite and his vs portrait were rather dated compared to the other sprites. A lot of the detailing felt messy, as well as his face being very round in his portrait compared to his official art, so I elongated it a bit! The horns also look more defined and the sleeves and shirt have slightly cleaner shading. Colors are also accurate across the board now!

Next up, Neon & Magenta.

Like Erick, these sprites have barely gotten touched at all since they were first made, so I felt after V13 now's as good of a time as any to clean up these sprites. The masks look more accurate to the Puppet Master's overall design, and the colors of the sleeves match the official art now as well. Also the shoes look like actual jester's shoes now!! Honestly for me it also took a little while to get used to the mask looking different, but it deffo looks better regardless.

Next up, everyone's beloved *cough* sky grandpa, Souta.

His sprite has always been a bit of an awkward one, what with the pose being tilted and the robes being rather detailed. This sprite kinda become more of a rework rather than a simple cleanup, and the difference is pretty palpable if I say so myself. It also includes the change in his staff's design which i still need to fix on the official art for both him and eldest, but w/e as well as a general reshade of the robe to have more accurate lighting and colors.

i still hate spriting that robe, by the way. it has no right to give me as much trouble as it does

ANYWAYS.......... Next up is Ryland!

So while his first sprite actually goes unused as of right now, I wanted the cape to be more dynamic. This was in order to match the second sprite's rework, as I fixed the shadows colors to be less... blue? purple-ish??? it shifted very much towards blue on the color wheel, too much to actually look good, so now it's a bit less saturated. The second sprite I actually made from scratch during V12's dev cycle, but ever since later on in V13's dev cycle, that sprite has started to bother me with how much it stands out proportionally compared to other sprites. It didn't feel right, so I felt a rework was in order for 13.5, and the result you can see here! I like this version a lotttttttt better, feels more dynamic imo

Next up, Nim!

It's really just her vs portrait that needed a cleanup. Her face felt very small in comparison to the rest of the sprite, as well as the hand feeling too big, so I fixed both alongside with the hair being more clean looking and not as overly detailed! It's the same thing Erick's sprite suffered from, which is the result of a sprite becoming dated over time compared to my current spriting style.

And last but not least, Melia.

Her first sprite just got some overall cleanup to make her pose feel less static, as well as her hair color being accurate to the other sprites now as well since I hadn't fixed that yet! For the second sprite, I made her taller because this sprite always has felt kinda small compared to the other ones she has. It still feels like she looks small in it, but she's also bent forward slightly so it's like............................. whatever

Though the biggest thing that's changed is this third sprite; her outfit that she wears on Terajuma.

Along with V13.5's changes comes the total overhaul of Terajuma, and along with it comes an outfit change for Melia. We've felt like her current outfit for Terajuma doesn't really fit her that well, especially compared to her other outfits later on in the game, so it got a redesign, along with a change to the official art to match!

I won't quite be uploading the full sized version of the art to the sta.sh archive yet (I'm writing this post on a small amount of time LMAO), but I will later.

That's all for now though! I hope people find it interesting to see the before and afters as per usual, hehe

I'll maybe do another one of these a bit further into development, depends on how much else I end up doing. I do have another post I'll have up in a couple of weeks, but that's in regards to the survey we held, so it won't be about the graphics. So for now this is all you'll be getting!

see y'all later o7