New Station Bounced Radio Sprites

[Sparky_hotdog]

So a long time gripe of mine has been the current station bounced sprite. Maybe it's just me, but personally I think the sprite is a bit messy and dated, not to mention the fact is barely looks like a radio at a glance (And not in a "Oooo, future radio" way either). If I'm the only one who thinks that, then sure, guess I'll suck it up and use the current sprite.

However, I have drafted a few alternatives and wanted some ideas of what people think. They're all based around the same shape, which I aimed to make look more like a handheld radio.

Spoiler

Sprite A is the current sprite.

Sprite B is a darker colouration, more like most modern walkie talkies

Sprite C is something somewhat similar to the current sprite's colour. I found the super bright green a little jarring to look at when given as much surface space as it has on the design, so chose a more muted colour.

Sprite D is a personal out of nowhere idea, but I felt that given station bounceds are effective emergency gear (At least I don't see folk using them outside of emergencies), the bright orange colour made sense.

C&C is more than welcome, as spriting is really not my strong suit.

 

Edit: PR is here.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Sparky_hotdog

[Captain Gecko]

I wouldn't say no to new sprite for these. I've never minded the bright green on the original, as a heavy user of these damn bricks, but new colors, especially this new mint-like green on the C is certainly better anyways.

[Marlon P.]

I really like the ones with color. Gray imo is not the best color for items like this.

C is my favorite since it lets people quickly associate it as a radio since it matches the same color as the base sprite.

[MattAtlas]

C looks great, but you need to add some shading, I think. Particularly around the edges and on the inside.

[Owen]

I've never really thought much about the current radio sprites, but seeing the suggestions you put forward I would be happy to see any of the three new ones implemented. C is probably my preferred choice out of them all. Do agree on the need for more shading though

[geeves]

i like D

[OffRoad99]

I like C and D, though I'm not a great fan of the HUGE buttons.

[Sparky_hotdog]

So I've added more shading to design C, given that seems to be the most popular. I also made the buttons smaller (though I added more of them, because I thought it looked nice), and put a border around the screen, though this might be TOO chunky.

Sprite E is the modified version of Sprite C.

Sprite F is an attempt to use a brighter green closer to the original Sprite A, as the shading made the bright green less jarring.

As I personally preferred Sprite D originally, I do wonder if having different coloured radios for different departments would be cool, even if they would probably all function the same as each other.

[Marlon P.]

I really like F, and also think i like different colored radios.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Marlon P.

[Captain Gecko]

F is great overall, and yes, different colored radios for each departments, at least from the start (keep in mind that we can still print new ones with an autolathe, perhaps that's where the grey ones would come), would be good... I mean, we have GPS with different colors already, so why not colored station-bounced radios?

[Carver]

I very much like E. Very subdued, a tasteful mint. I was originally going to argue for keeping the current sprite, but the added shading helps your sprites stand out well.

[Billy Mays]

I'm a big fan of the F sprite, it looks great with all of the shading. Maybe departmental station-bound radio colours would be beneficial.

[The Stryker]

I like the subdued look of E, but it'd be interesting if you could experiment with getting something between E and F since the difference between the left and right halves of E might be too much.

[Sparky_hotdog]

So, I went back a shaded a few of the other original sprites, and came up with some new colour variations for different departments, and this is what I came up with.

Stuck with Sprite F for the generic one, as that seemed to be the most liked, and I couldn't get the shading on Sprite E to a point I was happy with.

Edit: Also, will be adding a couple of the science ones to Research somewhere, as it seems they don't have any at the moment, I guess because they can print them, but then they'd be green.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Sparky_hotdog

[Billy Mays]

These departmental variations are looking really slick, I can't wait for them to be merged.

 

[Captain Gecko]

looking good enough, although the science ones look a bit too dark... A more pale purple could be good. You might even take the colors from the GPS sprites to keep the whole things coherent!

[Sparky_hotdog]

1 hour ago, Captain Gecko said:

looking good enough, although the science ones look a bit too dark... A more pale purple could be good. You might even take the colors from the GPS sprites to keep the whole things coherent!

I took those colours from the headset sprite, but I'll try a version with the GPS colours (if they're any different) to see how that looks. Failing that, I could always flip the white and purple on it.

[Sparky_hotdog]

Brighter version of the science radio, and probably the one I'm going to go with.

[Marlon P.]

Theyre very cute. Love the shading and brightness change. Merge them NOW

[Captain Gecko]

2 hours ago, Sparky_hotdog said:

I took those colours from the headset sprite, but I'll try a version with the GPS colours (if they're any different) to see how that looks. Failing that, I could always flip the white and purple on it.

Oh yeah, earpieces is good too!

 

Also, this lighter shade of purple is already MUCH better.

[canon35]

I like these a lot! Good work on them. 

[TrainTN]

I think the Med and Sec ones look a little too similar. Maybe for Med, you copy Sci and add a white stripe? Or invert it and make it white with a blue stripe?

Edited January 21, 2022 by TrainTN

[ryder]

Adore the departmental radios. Med might be distinguished by a white stripe of it's own, as well. The shade is different enough to tell it apart. Or a red "+" so you can break the geneva convention.

[Sparky_hotdog]

I meant to post here, but obviously forgot. The sprites are now slightly shorter (1 pixel top to bottom) and the medical one has a white strip.

[TrainTN]

Sounds great. Would love to see them merged.