dillon-swiers - Tumblr blog

[dillon-swiers]

Project 8x by D. Swiers

I forgot to post here that I uploaded the main project 8x files onto itch.io. I released it as a work in progress as there is a lot of work to be done on it.

I have a small update to the dungeon tilemap coming this Friday. Adding floor spikes elevation, a start to the elevated tiles, and one new monster. I will be wrapping up the art tonight and getting ready to package it.

[dillon-swiers]

I dislike having ideas in the morning before work. Not being able to get them down before they are filtered through a day of stress is frustrating.

[dillon-swiers]

So project 8x is a passion project of mine.  I have been a game dev hobbyist for a while starting different projects and multiple platforms.  As a solo dev these required more time and energy than I was able to give these projects.  All and all I enjoyed most of my time doing these things and I learned many things while doing them.  But every time I would run into a wall where I needed to learn a whole new set of skills like making music, which is not one of my strong suits.  And projects would kind of die.  

I found that my favorite part of trying to make games was the art aspect, from the images to the fx. So I really want to lean into that and share with the wider game development community.  I started Project 8x about half a year ago when I had started yet another game.  I am still working on that game but more or less very slowly and more in the background of other projects when I have time.  The tileset has a very clear method for being made with its color pallets that allows me to make tiles and characters easily readable while in the game.  and is heavily inspired by classic Nintendo games.

The Project 8x tileset currently is being worked on as a top down rpg style tileset. But should be usuable for other projects and if I ever look for a change in pace I may try to do a few other things such as space ships or some platformer tiles that also work with the tiles.  I enjoy making new environments so  if things go to plan there will be many different regions that will be able to be made with this set.

I chose 8x8 because I enjoy the challenge of trying to represent something in an incredibly limited space.  Each pixel has so much weight that I have to think carefully of how to represent an object.  Its a great challenge and a lot of fun.  I have worked in the past with other formats up to 64x which at that point pretty much becomes less pixel art and more drawing for me.  If I can maintain this project and find a bit more free time I would like to do things in the other sizes as well.

There is already a lot done that I have yet to share.  I have found that the hardest part to this endeavor is getting everything rounded up to share this with others.  Seriously fell flat on my face on this one.  Creating a web presence, packaging the tiles in a way that is useful and easy for others, and keeping a structure in the project that I may not have if I was just tinkering around with on a game.  These things while not what I would consider a wall to the project were for sure a headache.  But now that the project is structured on my pc, I'm looking at the best way to share this project on itch in a reasonable way for people to find.  Currently looking at a single project page with multiple downloads for each of the regions and characters and armor.  Or breaking the project into tilesets, character sets, monster sets, and item sets. 

[dillon-swiers]

176 random tiles that I originally created for a minecraft texture pack to help me deal with the motion sickness the game gave me. While not fully completed there are a lot of tiles that could be useful for prototyping or game jams.

I lost the pallet I was using for this tileset so I wont be working on it further, but after I get my other large tileset project much further along I hope to get back to the 16x format with a redo and expansion of this set.

You can download the tileset at

tileset is CC-BY-NC

[dillon-swiers]

Another one of my favorite drawings. Trying to go for the watercolor look of sorts for my comic style characters. Unfortunately with as bad as I am of keeping track of the methods I use I am not sure I could recreate this at the moment. Next time I do it I am going to have to write it down.

He is a character from a comic I once wanted to write. But I am comically bad at writing so the story stays in my head. But the characters are free to find reality. :)

[dillon-swiers]

Sometimes I dream too big and am not able to complete what I set out to do. But that's alright, I always learn something along the way and am more prepared for my next journey.

[dillon-swiers]

Some of my favorite Illistrations I did last year.

[dillon-swiers]

An Introduction

So I have decided to set up this page as a central hub for the various things I do online. The platform seems like a really good way to set up a landing page and put myself put there the way I want. Though I have heard yhe community is interesting But I like that anyway.

So while I work full time and don't have much time I have always aspired to be an artist. Mainly I have been attracted to to comic art and retro video game art. While I found I am not good at making comics I have spent a lot of time trying to make games in the past. I have a bunch of art assets and some music assets and as I know making games solo is a big job. I really want to share a lot of work I have already accomplished. It is going to take some time to put together but I have a lot of odds and ends that might help others learn the ins and puts of video game making.

But I don't want to limit my page to that. I am not entirely sure the direction this page will take. But, it may just be a place for me to throw my brain against the wall. Watch out for the splatter zone.