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[Madrick]

hey everyone, this is my first post here. i've been around for a while, but i decided to go ahead and ask for some opinions on what i've got brewing myself. the project i'm working on is a survival/horror/action platformer, set in a space station (i really love the metroid games).

here's a collection of images from about a day or so ago - just rough snapshots pasted hastily together:

currently the game has no HUD to speak of, as the player has few items and dies if sneezed at. this may change later on.

i've reworked the main character's design slightly to allow for more lively animation:

...been playing a lot of super crate box lately.

here's a space zombie:

this is my favorite animation so far.

some character portraits for dialogue:

these are what i'm least proud of.

and finally, the clusterfuck of the tileset:


tell me what you think, what you hate, what you think i should change, what i should wear, whatever! i'll love you forever if you say SOMETHING about what i'm throwing up here! thanks guys.

[Ichigo Jam]

I did a quick edit to show some things you could change:


The main thing I changed was the colours:
* Tinted the background cool colours and the foreground warm colours to help readability - the pipe in particular was sinking right into the background.
* Reduced saturation on the darker reds
* Some hue-shifting on the reds (they go slightly purple in the darks, which makes them look more interesting)
* Changed the lab writing to be much lower contrast, since it's just background detail
* Brightened up colours on characters - these should usually be the highest contrast things in a scene.
* Added shadows on the background next to the ceiling - you could take this a lot further, if you want to make the place feel less super-brightly lit.

I also did a variant with a dark background; I think would be more suitable for dark areas where you're using the lighting effect.

Hope that helps!

[Madrick]

I did a quick edit to show some things you could change:
-snip-

wow, thank you! it's incredible what some contrast changes can do for the scene. and even that little shadow line makes everything so much more "readable," as it were. i'm going to get to work on the tileset right away.

EDIT:

progress!

[QOG]

It looks pretty good actually, especially after darkening the background.
My main issue is that the player is a very different style.
Anyway, my revision addressing that and other minor stuff:

[SundownKid]

The text seems ridiculously big compared to the sprites. I think you would be better off making/using a pixel font in the same size as the "LAB" text on the wall, and enlarging the whole thing 2x.

Also, to save space, you might consider removing the portraits (they're a bit iffy) and just putting a dialog icon on top of the dude who's talking as well as their name in the textbox.

[Madrick]

It looks pretty good actually, especially after darkening the background.
My main issue is that the player is a very different style.
Anyway, my revision addressing that and other minor stuff:
-snip-

i'm applying the minor background tweaks you suggested, but i'm a bit iffy about the character design you proposed. if you really think it sticks out against the background, though... i'll try out fleshing out the arms and legs a bit more, but i'm still liking the small arms/legs look i've got going so far.

The text seems ridiculously big compared to the sprites. I think you would be better off making/using a pixel font in the same size as the "LAB" text on the wall, and enlarging the whole thing 2x.

Also, to save space, you might consider removing the portraits (they're a bit iffy) and just putting a dialog icon on top of the dude who's talking as well as their name in the textbox.

i had been bugged by this ever since i added the dialogue system, but was unable to change it due not understanding how to properly change fonts. i fixed this the other night, though. here's what it currently looks like (with small fonts 7, may end up using a more unique font later on):

the textbox can be re-positioned to not block the view of the player.

i'm planning on working on some new tiles later today, so i'll post whatever i come up with plus any more changes to character designs.

EDIT:

started work on a new style of border tile, was not liking the repetitive grey boxes.

EDIT 2:

stairs, inner corners

[Madrick]

i'm starting to go through the game's actual levels and revamp them, adding tiles as needed:


also, i'm changing the game's resolution to 160x144.

[Plasticware]

This is looking pretty nice. However, those stairs are massive compared to your characters. Consider scaling up the character sprites, now that you've increased the resolution.

[green]

Those new tiles are your best work so far. I did a little edit on how I think you could improve certain things.


The most significant things I changed were the colors "mostly contrast issues" and the outlines for better readability.

Use my edits as you wish, I hope you can learn something from it.

[Madrick]

This is looking pretty nice. However, those stairs are massive compared to your characters. Consider scaling up the character sprites, now that you've increased the resolution.

thanks! i think i'm just going to scale down the stairs, rather than the characters. i'm pretty happy with the 16x16 size.

Those new tiles are your best work so far. I did a little edit on how I think you could improve certain things.
-snip-

The most significant things I changed were the colors "mostly contrast issues" and the outlines for better readability.

Use my edits as you wish, I hope you can learn something from it.

i agree, i'm pretty proud of my little wall/floor tiles. i went ahead and overhauled quite a bit of my tileset with your outline suggestions, though i'm still not sure about the colors. for now, i'm keeping the original colors, but the background tiles you gave could still be used for a different area of the station.


as for the character sprite, i love it! i did some tweaks, however, to better match him up with the idea i had for the character (and his ridiculous tetris-block hair):

i don't know if i've broken any fundamental PIXEL RULES in my edits, so let me know.

the biggest issue i'm having is developing a walking animation for this type of character. several twitchy abominations that i'm not going to show were developed over two hours last night, and i'm still not getting it. does anyone have any links to walking animation tutorials, preferably for small characters?

[Madrick]

i'm having trouble on the character design. as much as i love your redesign, green, i can't seem to get the design to fit the ridiculous character i have for the game... so i've been monkeying around for a while. i'm trying to make the character a bit thinner, as he's supposed to be a pretty tall and skinny dude. i just-- oh fuck it, have some shitty drawings:


and here's a mockup of the HUD and dialogue system:

[Madrick]

I've been pretty busy working on the programming/audio side of the project, but I managed to make some new tiles today:

[Madrick]

just some concept art for a couple of supporting characters that i love to draw:


and their abilities:

[C]

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it looks fantastic like this at the gameboy resolution
i also dislike the texts that were/are originally used.  like in this mockup i think it looks better with the text omitted - like that map.

as for the character sprite, i love it! i did some tweaks, however, to better match him up with the idea i had for the character (and his ridiculous tetris-block hair):

erm, the tiles are fine.  the red blocks i especially like.  the new/different grating, though, looks terrible compared to the original.  i really like the look and shapes of the different lights too but in this particular pic i don't believe they work too well with the brightened background.
love the protagonist's hair! gotta keep that

[Byth]

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it looks fantastic like this at the gameboy resolution
i also dislike the texts that were/are originally used.  like in this mockup i think it looks better with the text omitted - like that map.

as for the character sprite, i love it! i did some tweaks, however, to better match him up with the idea i had for the character (and his ridiculous tetris-block hair):

erm, the tiles are fine.  the red blocks i especially like.  the new/different grating, though, looks terrible compared to the original.  i really like the look and shapes of the different lights too but in this particular pic i don't believe they work too well with the brightened background.
love the protagonist's hair! gotta keep that

I like the grating. It looks like it really has some depth. However, it doesn't transition into other tiles all that well.