[Question] Pixel based movement & unusual graphic style

[griever7x]

Hello all, while browsing deviantart for interesting pokemon stuff I found the work of an artist that really caught my eye. Here is an example: https://siraquakip.deviantart.com/art/Hoenn-Shoal-Cave-343913843?offset=10#comments
More images like that can be found on his page. In my opinion, they look so much better than most graphics I've seen for a pokemon game.
The characters are bigger and look more human, while the environments look much more detailed ( thanks to the overall increased size, probably? ).
Now, whether graphics like these could actually be implemented into rmxp and essentials is another thing, and one I can't answer myself due to the lack of knowledge on the matter, so I am asking you!
Reading some of the comments, the graphics seem to be meant for a pixel based movement. Would this be possible to make in rmxp and essentials, and to what extent ( if it really is too much, let's say it's still tile based and you can move in decimals, for example move from tile 10 to 10.2 and so on )?
About the graphics themselves, do you know exactly how they are made? Do you just scale the overworlds and tilesets accordingly? I suppose if everything is bigger just like in those images, everything will also take more tiles to fit in the maps afterwards.
Hopefully I have been clear enough... If not, simply point out what's unclear to you about my questions and I will try my best to explain myself better.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Kyther]

So, I have looked at the image and also read the comments. So Siraquakip did state that this would be used for pixel base movement if it were to be made into a game. The movement is easy as there are a few scripts around that allow for 8-direction movement, as well as free movement. Cogwheel's Pixel Movement, is an example. Found here. Although you can find others by searching.

Creating the graphics for this, as far as I know, are going to be a little harder. Siraquakip said that his individual tiles are 16x16, where as normally tiles are 32x32, which RPG Maker XP uses (what a lot of the games around here are made from). However, the way that these tiles would be used, would still be in the 32x32 format, it would just have 4 tiles joint together to make one. Just the placement of the tiles on the tileset and the passability of each tile would effect the movement of the character.

Hopefully all that makes sense

 

[griever7x]

Hmm... Since I don't have that much experience with tileset creation I am struggling to understand. For example, does that mean one of the stalagmites in his image that would normally take 2 32x32 tiles would instead take 8 16x16 tiles with this method? Since the overworlds in that image looked bigger than the official ones, if anything I had expected them to be bigger in size...

 

[Kyther]

So, let me try to explain this. I am terrible at explaining stuff.

For this, I am going to use the two brown stalagmites on the left, next to the speech bubble, while assuming you were to map in RPG Maker XP.
So this set of tiles in the 16x16 format, is 2 wide and 3 tall (in pixels - 32x48). Placing this into 32x32 format as it is would turn into 1 wide and 2 tall (in pixels - 32x64). This keeps the current detail of the tiles.
Most graphics are doubled in size, so the tile in 32x32 would now become 2 wide and 3 tall (in pixels - 64x96).

Again, hope that makes sense.

 

[TBM_Christopher]

First of all, that art style is gorgeous and would look great in a game. Secondly, I've heard that it's doable to do pixel-based movements in RMXP, but have not seen it executed and would imagine that it would be have a high performance cost(Take that with a grain of salt because again, I haven't seen it). And subdivided tiles would essentially be the same thing, just with larger "pixels." I'd personally recommend looking into another game engine, such as Unity or Flash, for more flexibility. The tradeoff, however, is that you wouldn't get all the prebuilt stuff from Pokemon Essentials, so you'd have to weigh the two options.

 

[griever7x]

Yes, I think I understand now, thanks to Java's Missingno, also.
I've read something about that as well and pixel based movement does seem like it has a considerable performance cost. However, I also read of a more reasonable option that would be tile based, where you supposedly move by decimals of a tile or so.
I have never delved too deep into scripting/coding, so I figure trying to achieve this with different engines with a steeper learning curve might prove to be too much for me... Could you perhaps give me practical examples of 'more flexibility'? At least I can get a general idea. Essentials sure does feel comfortable to me, and now that many animations are available it's even closer to official games... Any reasons I would be better off trying with another program?

 

[TBM_Christopher]

Yes, I think I understand now, thanks to Java's Missingno, also.
I've read something about that as well and pixel based movement does seem like it has a considerable performance cost. However, I also read of a more reasonable option that would be tile based, where you supposedly move by decimals of a tile or so.
I have never delved too deep into scripting/coding, so I figure trying to achieve this with different engines with a steeper learning curve might prove to be too much for me... Could you perhaps give me practical examples of 'more flexibility'? At least I can get a general idea. Essentials sure does feel comfortable to me, and now that many animations are available it's even closer to official games... Any reasons I would be better off trying with another program?

The simplest reason is that RMXP is fundamentally still a tile-based system, no matter how you work with it. You're fighting what the engine was originally built to do with each change. If you're more comfortable with it, use it, because it does have the majority of the Pokemon battle system emulated, and emulated well. However, if you'd like to try making a game with fundamental differences to a Pokemon RPG (such as non-grid movements, or a new battle system) you may want to consider Unity's 2D tools or another engine entirely.

 

[griever7x]

No, I'm not really looking to change things like those in my game, since what I like the most is the battle system!
I was just curious about movement in general, as I would like the game to include big maps and many chances to explore and be rewarded to do so, and the movement as it is felt a bit dull... But I was especially curious about graphics; I've had a hard time dealing with the look and feel of the game, even if many tilesets are free and without a doubt really well done, I just don't like their small size... The graphics I linked on the other hand, are just what I wanted, especially the characters, that look more proportionate. So that's really all it bodes down to for me, in which case I think I will stick with essentials!
Do you have any tips regarding the creation of graphics like those ( would it be the same as making a normal tileset or not, for example? )? Where would I start?
Thanks for your advice.

 

[FL]

The simplest reason is that RMXP is fundamentally still a tile-based system, no matter how you work with it. You're fighting what the engine was originally built to do with each change. If you're more comfortable with it, use it, because it does have the majority of the Pokemon battle system emulated, and emulated well. However, if you'd like to try making a game with fundamental differences to a Pokemon RPG (such as non-grid movements, or a new battle system) you may want to consider Unity's 2D tools or another engine entirely.

To do connections, better priority tiles and some other stuff, Essentials rewrite the way of drawing and moving in tiles, so is totally possible to edit this for moving in decimals. Take a note that you need to understand and rewrite complex and big scripts. This is veeeeeeeeeeery far for being a easy task.

Just please note that the RPG Maker XP editor (and systems) only supports 32x32 tiles.