Hey ndchristie, do you have an online art gallery? I'd love to check out more of your stuff.

Looks like the game is shaping up well 

Phil Fish was raving about it a while back, but your review makes me really want to see it, for real.

Looking at that map, it's ALL Europe and Northern Americas. Talk about Euro-Centric

This is an English forum. Does it really surprise you that the majority of users are from English-speaking countries?

By the way, does anyone want to play Portal 2 co-op with me? I am a lonely boy, but handsome

Scumbag hackers, irresponsible corporations, greedy lawyers... sometimes I hate our times  .

At least it's better than having barbarians coming across the river to rape your mothers and sisters and burn your house down 

My only qualm would be that I think his hand re-growth should be a bit slower.
It just kind of appears out of no where.

I agree with this - it's hard to read at first glance. The creature design is great though 

Archer: That man wot has them arrows.

You are a beautiful man.

I don't like Allegoria very much. Actually I dislike most "XXX"-ia or "XXX"-a names because it has been overused for the last 20 years.

The Allegarch sounds much more ominous and original. It has all my favors.

Yeah, that's a good point. I would have gone straight to Allegarch but Allegoria is more in line with the actual themes of the game, since the world is really important.

But I think you're right - I'm gonna go with The Allegarch for now.

I liked Archer.

That is the curse of working titles. They tend to grow on you.  

Wow, I love that style of pixel art. A really nice blend between realistic proportions and spelunky-esque stylized goodness.

Hehe thanks lads

Yeah, Moebius is the king. I had always wanted to read Arzach but never actually got around to buying it. I just read it this morning, and I was surprised at how potent it was. Definitely going on my shelf of god tier influences, next to Ico, SotC, and Ocarina of Time.

Speaking of names, I'm kind of torn between "Allegoria" and "The Allegarch," or perhaps "The Allegarchy." What do you guys think sounds better?

Oh and don't worry, you will definitely get to kill monsieur Lotus Eater

[DAY 41]

DAY 41 - April 29, 2011

• Made two sketches, one for the main character, one for a type of enemy that is in the first "dungeon". I recently picked up a copy of Arzach so the archer's new design is definitely influenced by that.
• Made another enemy sketch (wheyface), who lives in the third dungeon. Not very happy with the design right now as it feels pretty generic. Gonna make it more aquatic looking, like a dead fish.
• Made a third enemy sketch (lotus eater), for the second dungeon.
• Made a fourth enemy sketch (autocrat), for the fourth dungeon. Elements are feeling a bit disparate on this one so I will probably be heavily reworking it.

censored due to photobucket's apparent dislike of chodes



By the way, there is a game that goes along with these - it's called Spot the Phallic Symbols!

[DAY 40]

DAY 40 - April 28, 2011

• Finished Skulldude and wrote a bunch of notes.
• Figured out a better name for the game and made a temporary logo. I feel like a lot of my ideas are starting to weave together now.

I love when clients provide you reference material after you spend 6 days creating a design for them.

I got this after running a small program showcasing the leak during 13 minutes. Scary.

Hahahaha awesome 

intrinsic

[DAY 39]

DAY 39 - April 27, 2011

• Spent a couple more hours on the concept illo. One more session of polish should see it done.
• Had a nice chat with my homeboy Vlad

The graphic design work is becoming somewhat time consuming, but I just gotta power through it! I'm gonna write some history for this dude later today and post it up. One of my goals is to make the world that the game takes place in feel like it extends beyond the edges of the screen, so I'm hoping doing these kinds of drawings will help with that.

Gamification is just a way of bypassing boredom, so it can be used for good or bad. It's not inherently evil or anything like that. Kind of like J-Blo said, its like a surgeon's scalpel, just a tool. You can either stab someone in the fucking eye with it, or use it to bypass their natural defenses in order to fix a problem in their body.

I'll be happy to see it be utilized in education, and other positive ways (driving safely, energy efficiency, etc.).
what worries me though is that it's companies like McDonalds who are getting to it first.

This. I agree completely.

I would lighten the shadows on the face a little. The darkest parts of the face should generally be the line dividing the eyeball from the top eyelid, underneath the nose, and the corners of the mouth.

Hope you don't mind, I just did a little edit to show you what I mean:

Woooah this game gets epic fast. One thing I noticed, in the blueish area with the turquoise trees, I think the spikes should be a bit darker because I didn't even notice they were spikes until my balloon popped.

I wasn't being defensive, I was just

genuinely confused and trying to figure out what you mean - and trying to be clear about what I was confused about!

Also, I now see what you mean. It seems a lot of people can't figure out how to get through that room without first learning to balloon ride... but, you know, you can just let the balloon up separate from yourself and grab it on the other side of the narrow tunnel :3
edit, addendum: I think I'm okay with the order it's in now. Makes for an interesting variation in the sequence of when-things-get-figured-out.

Yeah, I actually just figured that out  

Now that I understand how to get through, I see that the main problem was me just being impatient. In the room where you have to let the balloon go and meet it up top, my initial reaction was just to proceed without the balloon, and then when I got to the picture I was confused. But it makes a lot more sense now - although maybe it would be clearer if you hinted that you need to separate from the balloon or something like that. But like you said, if you want the player to slow down and think about things, then I think it achieves that.

Gonna play through the rest of the game now  

Edit: By the way, I love the art style. Is this game gonna be like Fishbane's evil twin?

So...

teach the player an important technique in a situation where it isn't useful?

(I'm not really sure what you're trying to say >_>)

NOW WITH SOUND

I'm trying to say that in order to get to the picture of you standing on top of the balloon with the balloon, you have to stand on top of the balloon in the previous room. Unless I'm doing it wrong? I understand that you can get there without the balloon, and then go back and use the pictured technique to bring the balloon back, but I'm trying to say that that is counter-intuitive. It would make more sense to show them the balloon riding technique while they are actually holding the balloon.

Or wait, I just realized you can let the balloon fly up and then meet it on the ledge. Either way, it's a bit confusing.

Also, I thought you wanted feedback so why are you being defensive about it?