he said he hasnt done any programming yet. This is a good project for you. And yea i do like the pixel art.
As for suggestions:
What exactly is the point of the game?
What is the goal?
Where is it located?
What is the character like, who are his friends / enemies?
You really need to write up your script (not the coding, the basis for the game) before you start doing artwork. A detailed storyline is something that will make your game PLAYABLE, and FUN for people. Moving a character around to just talk to people is kinda boring.
And if your planning on making it a multiplayer world, you'll need to invest alot of time in XML sockets and php backend programming.