But I also discovered the vertical symmetry tool. I then created a few more layers: a background layer that just contained a solid color, a uniform layer that was the same on every portrait, a base layer that roughed out a player’s basic head shape, and a detail layer where I drew the player’s features, hair, and shading.Īsesprite has all the tools you’d expect: pencil, fill, selection, eraser, shape, line, etc. I started by grabbing the player’s official portrait off NBA.com and creating a reference layer for that original image. By the end of the project, I could create a portrait in about 45 minutes. Unsurprisingly, the first portrait was the hardest as I figured out a good process. One of Aseprite’s benefits is that it allows you to very easily export 2x, 3x, 4x, and up. I was excited to see each player’s features and personality translated to a retro style. Let’s look a little closer at the process of creating the player portraits and running animations. Many of the shortcuts and conventions of Photoshop are used in the app, some of which I found by accident. The interface was intuitive and easy to navigate using shortcuts.

I found it to be a fun touch, and it wasn’t intrusive at all. At first I thought this would get annoying and distracting, but I was pleasantly surprised when I started using it. The first thing you notice about Aseprite, besides it’s affordable $19.99 price, is that the entire application UI is in a pixelated style. Aseprite is described as an “Animated sprite editor & pixel art tool,” which fit our output needs easily. At Ethan’s suggestion, I looked into Aseprite, which was a joy to use. But given the popularity of retro games, it seemed like there should be something out there built specially for this purpose. We wanted the graphics to have a 16-bit feel, so the question became which application to use. I was tasked with creating artwork for the game. One of our team members, Ethan Muller, spearheaded game design and development, and he wrote an awesome custom soundtrack for the game too. Players could pick one of 5 current players and run from the team’s broken down bus to the arena just in time for the game, dodging enemies that resemble other NBA foes’ mascots. We decided to build a runner game, much like Super Mario Run. It’s not every day you get to work with an NBA team. When the Oklahoma City Thunder approached us to create a retro video game, we were more than thrilled.

Aseprite art