The shading to the end of the pendulum gives it depth and makes it seem rounder rather than flat. The clock face, plaque and pendulum could all use a little shine to make them stand out, so we've added some highlights shining across their surfaces to make them seem quite reflective. The pendulum still follows the rules of the 'sun' coming from the top right! The clock face uses the tan, or bone, palette, whilst the pendulum and plaque both use the brass palette. Now we've added the clock face inside, along with the pendulum, and a plaque for decoration. Here, we've added lines that are all one shade darker to define lines where the panels of the clock may have been put together, to make it look really homemade. Our clock is wooden, and probably wouldn't have been made with a single block of wood. These areas would be quite dark, so we colour them with the third shade and outline them with the fourth. Here, we cut into the front of our clock for the actual clock face and pendulum to go in later. The fourth shade is used to draw an outline for the areas coloured with the third shade.Īll shading in Starbound is done with blocks of colours like this - no gradients or dithering are used!.The third shade is used for the side facing away from the 'sun' and as an outline for the previous two shades.This is the most common shade on the sprite. The second shade is used for any flat surface facing forward - It isn't directly in the 'sun', so it isn't highlighted.The first and brightest shade is used for the sloped surface that's facing the top right.The important thing to remember for shading in Starbound is that all sprites are drawn with the 'sun' coming from the top right. I'm using the wood palette for our clock. This is the step where we apply the colours from our palette. The front has been adjusted to add a slope, with a rim added to the top. Here, the bottom has been raised so feet can be added. Next we add detail, cutting into the shape of our square to define the outlines of our clock. This is 5 blocks high - one taller than the player character! First we will begin with a rough square shape of our Grandfather Clock, having it fit neatly into 24x40 pixels. Starbound takes place on a 8x8 pixel tile grid - Every block in the game fits this, and all objects need to comply to fit properly in the world. If you want to establish your own palette, try to pick colours that fit alongside these. Nearly all of the assets use the palettes listed to the right - And if you are aiming for creating pixel art that resembles 'official' assets, it is advised to stick to these colours. An image compilation containing most of the common Starbound palettes.įor the most part, all 'colours' in Starbound are made of four shades.

Starbound character editor after