I am developing a Java game that uses sprites for the graphics. It's just a top down shooter and our ship sprites look like the following:
These work fine, but they're hard to create and the artist who created them is no longer working on the game. I could easily create a top down view of a ship in Photoshop myself, but I'm not sure how to get all the angles.
What do you think would be the best program or approach would be for me to create more?
It's a bit of a hassle to do it this way (I'm guessing there might be a simpler way to do it), but one suggestion is this.
Use any 3D rendering program that allows you to apply a texture to a surface. Even a tool for modding 3D games/content would work, as long as it allows you to view a model with your custom textures.
Make the simple top-down view, and apply it to an appropriately shaped surface of a 3D object. Adjust the position/angle of the object (or camera), and capture what you see.
Again, kind of a roundabout way to generate the shots, but the upside is they will look realistic (since they will be shots of that texture actually facing that way, instead of an artistic estimation of what that would look like).
