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[Nonsuch Games]

I could go either way on the color depth question, but seeing a few other things in the style of the troll could push me off the fence onto that side.

Generally, this looks awesome. Good job on the map.

[oryx]

I definitely prefer the 1 bit style, feels more appropriate for the style of the screen you are simulating. Also I might consider having the UI float over the screen instead of a big bar at the bottom - actually i was kind of liking the old version with very little on screen UI to be honest.

[JasonPickering]

I would say limit the sprites to either 1 color or 2 colors. 1 would match the environment and 2 would match your hand.

[Inanimate]

I definitely prefer the 1 bit style, feels more appropriate for the style of the screen you are simulating. Also I might consider having the UI float over the screen instead of a big bar at the bottom - actually i was kind of liking the old version with very little on screen UI to be honest.

Maybe health is usually off-screen, but 'flashes' on for a bit when you get hit, to tell you how much you have left? And there could be a button to make it flash whenever you need it to. (similarly with map, except it doesn't auto-activate, of course)

[Xion]

the different colors for different areas of things is fine, I think, but the multiple shades for each color is what's so out of place. You could probably have something with like 8 or whatever colors, and as long as each color is distinct and separate it could maybe still be done in such a way as to fit in aesthetically.

[SolarLune]

Xion's idea sounds good. Also, try removing the black from the troll's image (there is some that's obscuring the area behind him). In addition, like Xion said, try removing the dark shade from the troll, perhaps using the color red, for example, instead. EDIT: At least, try red on his shirt.

[richy486]

I think the troll looks great to me because it stands out a lot more than the monochrome monsters.

[KomradeJack]

+3 on a Mac port.

First person pixel visuals makes me wonder what cool things could be done with retro chip sounds (which are traditionally mono) in stereo.  That could be fun.

[Pirate Hearts]

Updated ever! Well I guess it's only been about a week and a half, and I was out of town for PAX for like four of those days, but it feels like a while.

I ripped out my FMOD integration and replaced it with a custom audio implementation based on DirectSound and libvorbisfile. Not loving libvorbisfile for a number of reasons, but it works well enough for now. Don't really want to roll my own Vorbis decoder.

Thanks for all the feedback on the sprite color depth! It sounds like the general consensus is that shading is bad, but multiple colors are okay, which is pretty much how I've been feeling myself. I'm thinking the majority of the "grunt" critters can be a single color; it'll probably only be larger mobs and bosses that will need multiple colors. Now I'm obsessing over whether to have opaque blacks or just imply black with transparency like I was doing before.

[saibot216]

Wow, this looks REALLY freaking cool and I cannot wait for its release.

[Ichigo Jam]

I ripped out my FMOD integration and replaced it with a custom audio implementation based on DirectSound and libvorbisfile. Not loving libvorbisfile for a number of reasons, but it works well enough for now. Don't really want to roll my own Vorbis decoder.

Maybe take a look at stb_vorbis - it's a minimal ogg vorbis decoder in a single C file, and is public domain.

[Nonsuch Games]

Also I might consider having the UI float over the screen instead of a big bar at the bottom - actually i was kind of liking the old version with very little on screen UI to be honest.

Agreed. You should consider this, Pirate Hearts.

[Pirate Hearts]

I ripped out my FMOD integration and replaced it with a custom audio implementation based on DirectSound and libvorbisfile. Not loving libvorbisfile for a number of reasons, but it works well enough for now. Don't really want to roll my own Vorbis decoder.

Maybe take a look at stb_vorbis - it's a minimal ogg vorbis decoder in a single C file, and is public domain.

Ooh, awesome, thanks. I'll definitely take a look at that. My biggest complaint with libvorbisfile (aside from random annoyances trying to link it due to the CRT) is how it handles reading content from an arbitrary location in a packed file. It doesn't have any native support for this; it just lets you overload its read/seek/close/tell functions to work around it.

Also I might consider having the UI float over the screen instead of a big bar at the bottom - actually i was kind of liking the old version with very little on screen UI to be honest.

Agreed. You should consider this, Pirate Hearts.

I have mixed feeling about the UI bar. To some extent, I like it because it feels like a throwback both to early shooters like Doom and to many first-person RPGs, where the first-person view was often surrounded by many UI elements. But on the other hand, it's a lot of wasted space right now. I'm hoping that once I add more features (inventory items, etc.), it will make sense to have a bar there all the time, but I'm not averse to making bigger changes if it feels right.

[Lizardheim]

You could always have it be on the side, next to the simulated tv on a seperate "screen"

[SolarLune]

Hey, what if it was on something else that was simulated, like a controller? Say, when you got hit in the game, the 'player' would raise his hands with the controller up, and hearts would be on it? That'd be pretty funky.

EDIT: The map screen could be on a piece of notebook paper, heh.