Nu Smilies for the Compendium

[hiddensquire]

Problem: The current smilies used on this forum are, for the most part, unoriginal, and thus boring.  Given that the compendium is supposed to represent the Chrono series in everything it is and does, it is only fitting that the very smilies used on the forum should be themed after something from said series.

Solution: The closest graphical thing to a big face for expressing oneself in the Chrono series is the Nu, since it is basically just a giant walking head with arms, legs and a tuft of hair.  Therefore, I give you:

Nu Smilies

Very Happy:

Smile:

Sad:

Surprised:

Shocked:

Confused:

Cool:

Laughing:

Mad:

Pissed:

Rage:

Zzz:

Scared:

Panic!:

I'm fairly pleased with my work for the most part, but I still consider myself an amateur spriter and there are definitely a couple smilies here I just can't get right.  The "Rage" one, for example, is right out, since it's about 9K - way too big with 40 frames and no real way to optimize it.  I mostly left it up there because it's fun to look at, even if it's not worthy to actually make it to the smiley bar.  The "Laughing" nu also bugs me; he looks just a tad maniacal.  While I'm sure plenty of people could find lots of opportunities to plug such an expression, that's not generally the way one laughs.

Constructive criticism is welcome.  I am also making an open invitation for anyone to edit these sprites, but only for the purposes of dedicating them to the Compendium's smiley bar - no using them for your own thing.  All of my working image files (a lot of them .xcf GIMP files) are in the zipped folder attached to this post.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[teaflower]

... amazing. They are super cute and awesome. You should make a little Nu facepalm one. I'm sick of seeing Picard...

[Chocobo_Fan]

Wow, looks great! I never use smilies, but they're still nice. The only problem I have is that they look too small -- they aren't nice an big like the current ones, so the expressions are a bit difficult to see...

Great job, though. I would indeed like to see a facepalming one, that would be humorous. :)

[V_Translanka]

They're so small it's hard to tell a lot of them apart (or at least the happy, smiling & sad ones)...and the laughing one is kinda creepy...I like the confused & 'cool' ones...and I guess the panic one is ok too. The Zzz one doesn't show up for me...

EDIT: Oh wait, there it goes...

[hiddensquire]

The only problem I have is that they look too small -- they aren't nice an big like the current ones, so the expressions are a bit difficult to see...

Here's the thing with that, actually.  With a couple exceptions, every single smiley of mine you see up there is 15x15 pixels, which is exactly how big most of the currently used forum smilies are.  What makes them look smaller is that I have to fit the nu's entire body in that frame, whereas the current yellow smilies are purely faces.  There's pretty much no way around this, since making the frame taller would make every smiley used offset the line of text it was used on.  Currently, any given smiley used will blend in seamlessly with a block of text pretty well, minus the Picard and Naruto ones.  So, unless you have a better idea...

@V: I agree, the first three are too similar.  I should animate some of them to make them more distinct, but I haven't had the time yet what with all of the other ones I've made.  There's also only so many positions you can pose a tiny nu in; it can be tough figuring out how to make every single one original.

And, again, ya'll are totally free to edit them yourselves.  I must have killed at least 10 hours on what I have as it is.

[FaustWolf]

Hiddensquire, just don't let Triforce see these. He's bound to go nuts with them. Hahaha!

[Shadow D. Darkman]

Nu Smilies... How fitting. I was wanting to ask someone to replace the PicardPalm with a RikerPalm, but a Nu FacePalm works, too.

[utunnels]

Yeah, they are great. Just remind me a Final Fantasy forum uses cactus smilies. The Nu smilies fit here quite well.

[HyperNerd]

Those are epically awesome. We should certainly use them.

[Acacia Sgt]

Those ones should definetly be used instead of the current ones.

[Shadow D. Darkman]

Agreed. Someone get an admin in here so we can get them set in!

[V_Translanka]

Someone Pink Nu Spekkio edit 'em & then we'll talk...

[tushantin]

Those smilies must definitely be used!  But like the others said, they seem to small especially since you've inserted the entire body in it. This can indeed be solved in two ways:

1) Close-up on Nu's face. That much is required.
2) Make the smilies larger and sacrifice a few bytes of everyone's bandwidth.

  Of course, we could also have some smilies similar to DeviantArt style, in which Nu features his full body and does something, like dance with a Pink Nu or something.

[FouCapitan]

These are freaking awesome!

[idioticidioms]

I like these, but like people are saying, they're a bit small, and I don't think cutting out the body is going to make them better, because a Nu is pretty much all body. I think maybe if you just increase the size to 25x25 or 30x30 that these will become much easier to see the expressions on.