Very new to drawing in Aseprite. I understand the tools and have become familiar with drawing at a novice level. I made a few houses so far, but I don’t get how to know what size I need to make them, or how to fit them on a canvas?
For ex, I drew a medieval house on 128x128, and only filled 3 tiles wide 3 tiles tall including the roof. So is that good? I plan on making my first indie game, I have no idea if this is the right size, or how to know the size I need!
Generally speaking there is no ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ size. Unless you’re making a game according to restrictions for certain retro consoles, size restrictions for sprites aren’t relevant anymore. Basically any PC, phone and console can handle tons of images of any resolution. Only once you start using thousands and thousands of images of resolutions above 2000x2000 or more, you might start to notice some effect.
Pixelart generally speaking does well with small resolutions and somewhat limited colors, which already makes any art in the format a lot less hefty to use/process for any game. All this to say, there is no need to worry about the size from a performance perspective.
As for how to find the right size, that depends a bit. Here’s some things you might wanna keep in mind:
The bigger the size, the more work it becomes. You’ll be tempted to add more detail, to fill the space. Which often means a lot more time making art. Bigger art is more work to make, and also more expensive to purchase, if you ever go that direction.
If the size is extremely small, conveying what you want to convey becomes harder. If you want your game to have characters that show a lot of emotion in their face, doing that in 16x16 pixels requires a lot of skill.
Try to think about the smallest asset you want your game to have. Do you want little mice running around your villages? How about little bugs? Or is your game at a way larger scale, and the smallest object is a sheep? Make this smallest object at a small size, at a quality that you’re happy with, and work from there. That way you’ll never have an issue with not being able to include an important part of your game, because it’s too small to properly convey in pixels!
Think about/experiment with style. Different styles might require different sizes and levels of detail. After all, 6 pixels is all you need for a sheep, but that doesn’t mean it fits any game or any style.
Look at asset packs for tiles and buildings, and see what sizes those are made at. These are often tailored to be easily usable for a variety of games, and therefore have pretty standard tile sizes, such as 32x32, 48x48, 64x64 or 128x128. That might give you a good idea of what’s possible at the different sizes, and what you’re looking for!
I hope that gives you an idea of where to start! Best of luck with your game creation, and have fun!