Well, I used to obsess with sprite comics a while ago. Then i got a scanner so it was pencil pushing for me. But I still want to work on my pixely creations. Then I thought, “why not make one big sprite comic with a whole heap o' people!!” What I'm asking is, is there anyone who would like to work on a sprite comic?

Sounds interesting. What kind of sprite comic?

I was hoping we could work that out. I'm leaning toward classic NES Mario World sprites but I'm game for just about anything.

Y'know, for a while now I've been interested in getting help for The Shy Experiment. It's a comic I made a few months ago as a way of seeing what it's like to make a sprite comic (and to see if I, personally, could make a good one).

The basic premise is something of a “day in the life” story about a small group of Shy Guys, each identified by their respective colors. They're your standard fare as far as archetypes; Red is the angry, Moe-like character, Blue is polite and well-knowledged, though a bit sarcastic, and Green is delusional (he believes he can grow up to be a Pidgit) and more than a little stupid (he also possesses a wealth of obscure Nintendo knowledge that never has anything to do with what is actually happening).

The story, as far as it's progressed, is that the trio spend their time in search of 1ups which are apparently very difficult to acquire for the less-than-graceful shyguy race (they can't jump high enough to hit the blocks that contain them) so they go on long, convoluted journeys that might possibly have a 1up at the end… maybe.

Thats a very nice plot. And I like the idea of having the story not focused around Mario or Luigi. The only problem is that most adventure sprite comics end up looking choppy or very thrown together. Everything would have to be top notch for it to really work well but I like a challenge. To sum it all up, I'm very intrested in The Shy Experiment.

Personally, I think that I've seen too many sprite comics where the characters muddle around aimlessly or try to live together etc., so for me an “adventure” story is what the medium really needs. That's not to say that I think the search for 1ups storyline would be able to hold the series afloat indefinitely, but I think that any major story arcs should, in some way, be built around an overall goal.

So, what part of the working process would everyone involved be asked to do? I've basically dropped the series at this point out of a combination of factors; I don't have enough free time to do decent sprite editing, I'm having trouble writing without seeming cliche, and I just really don't have the time to cut, paste, resize, etc. all the little bits and pieces that have to be rearranged in each panel (faster than drawing, still a pain in the ass). At this point the most I could handle would be writing and doing backgrounds (which I consider to be a very important part of the series).

Your Backgrounds are very nice. I like that you've givin a photoshopy look to the original bg's from the game. (looks like baby mario to me.) I'm pretty alright with story lines and dialogue myself. I can't do any actuall comic making, sprite manipulating, etc. The reason is that your comic is so high caliber, so detailed, so…how would you say it…good, to put it bluntly. You see, I'm currently without flash or photoshop and don't have the intelect make decent work using Gimpshop.

(out of fear of double posting, I will go on.) I believe I could come close to, or match, your writing in The Shy Experiment. I could pq you an example of my work.

Well, if you can match the writing that would be fine; save me some trouble. Then I can just work on backgrounds and story concepts from time to time. Still, my big problem is lack of time to do the “grunt work” of the comic, which I guess is the same boat you're in too.

You should try something like my sprite comic ‘Enter the Duck 2’. All sprites custom jobs and the story is an original attempt (Virus attacking this site, nobody's ever done that). In fact, it's probably the most original sprite comic on DD (Except for Screwball Islands, although that is technically pixel art. In any case, it kicks a bucket load of ass)

Getting back on track, just go with something different. Makes people more inclined to read your work

And, (Remember, this is just a suggestion) you could try what I do. I take screenshots with my emulator, then make them say things/Rip the sprites from that. And, if I could, I'd be happy to do a sprite project with you.