next »

[Baobab]

So, I am by no means an extraordinary artist. I've been looking at this game for far too long, and I'm mostly numb to it by now. I think I have the design in a pretty good state. It's fun to play, and I'm happy with it. But it's not a very pretty game. I think it needs a lot of polish. But I have no idea what to do. Any suggestions at all are very appreciated. Thanks.

http://youtu.be/_3pLE_zdEbU

[eyeliner]

I think your game is "almost there". I have a few questions, though.
Does it have any sound/music?
Does it have a clear definite objective?

I'd just add a background layer, something that would change occasionally, to symbolize level changes (it could just be a change in color), sound (if not present), on selecting the piece, play it and when there would be a collapse. Not much else, because minimal in these kind of games works well.

Take a look at Kurushi, for instance.

[Baobab]

Thanks for the reply. This game doesn't really have levels, it just has timed modes and an endless mode. But yeah, the music is finished. The SFX is in the process.

[Paul Eres]

you'd have to be more specific than a trailer if you want detailed suggestions. especially regarding what engine you are using

but in general i'd suggest doing this:

1) find games similar to yours, visually (e.g. games about blocks)
2) try to figure out why those games are prettier than your game is
3) try to do some similar things to what they did

example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o3-hl3nr0Q

this game is visually similar to yours, but prettier

some of the reasons it's prettier are:

- the level moves around, rotating, it isn't static
- the background effect is cooler
- the gui is more professional-looking
- it has sound effects
- it has a points system too, but in that game, the points jumping out at the screen whenever you get them
- when blocks disappear, they don't just vanish, they explode into pieces, with the pieces flying apart off the screen

and this is a game from 1997 for the n64 (actually it's a port of an unreleased but finished 1995 atari jaguar game); surely you can do better today on modern computers!

[Baobab]

Thanks Paul. That gave me a lot to think about. I might steal some of the visuals from that game, like the blocks exploding into planes. I'm not sure if moving the camera would be a good idea, but I might try it.

[screwtape]

If you haven't seen this, it's a really interesting talk on adding 'juice' to your games, making them more appealing and polished with minimal effort
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy0aCDmgnxg
Watching your vid, you could definitely try using some of the tricks from it.

[Danmark]

Fix the banding in the background gradient with dithering.

Use brighter lighting, and adjust the angle so there's as much contrast between the 5 visible sides of blocks as possible.

Make an ambient occlusion effect. In your case, you can dynamically bake it into vertex normals, if necessary.

Think about ways to make the blocks more interesting. Don't have a specific proposal here, it just looks dull because they all stay the same solid color.

Sort out the indicator of the structure being dropped in. It's hard to see when the YouTube player is minimized, which roughly corresponds to a phone display size. IMO, it shouldn't even respond to lighting in the world, because this only makes it harder to see the shape. It at least needs very high contrast against everything else (perhaps you could choose a better color).

By the way, I love the look of your game, and the concept is ingenious. What's it coming out on?

[Baobab]

@screwtape: Thanks, I hadn't seen that. Lots of good simple tips and things to think about.

@Veracity: I really do need to fix the banding. I wasn't aware of the Windows Phone 7's 16bit display before starting.


I didn't understand what you meant by "Sort out the indicator of the structure being dropped in." Are you referring to the inventory of blocks? If so, they are 2d images. I decided on giving them isometric 3d to help differentiate between the 2 and 3 wide blocks. Is it visually confusing?

Thanks for all the ideas, and I'm glad you like the game.The game is made in XNA and will be releasing on Windows Phones as soon as possible. If I have decent results, or enough requests for other platforms, then I hope to port it later. It definitely deserves a Windows, Mac, Linux version.

[Danmark]

Consider this a request for a Windows version.

I didn't understand what you meant by "Sort out the indicator of the structure being dropped in." Are you referring to the inventory of blocks?

No, those are fine. I meant the yellow cuboid edges (sitting on a row of 5 blue squares) in the actual world.

[randomnine]

Everywhere something moves, show it moving. When a new block appears on the bottom bar, can it slide into position instead of just popping into existence? Can the blocks move and rotate from the bottom bar into position rather than snapping? Can they fall and thud satisfyingly into place in the track? Can they be transparent instead of wireframe while they're waiting? Can they stay yellow after they've dropped into place? When a line's filled, can it be shown to fuse solid in a way which carries positive connotations of success?

This continuity, physicality stuff isn't just "polish" - it'll make the rules and mechanics of your game much clearer to new players.

[VortexCortex]

I agree with the other folks.  What you need is some interpolation effects, sometimes called "tweening" or making things Juicy (15min presentation about the benefit of adding cheap effects).

Edit: Oh, and try adding some fill transparency to the blocks that are outlined, to help distinguish them.  When you have a stack going it's easy to lose track of what's a block and what's a void.

[John Sandoval]

Juicy

petri purho is my indie jesus

[Graham.]

Everywhere something moves, show it moving. When a new block appears on the bottom bar, can it slide into position instead of just popping into existence? Can the blocks move and rotate from the bottom bar into position rather than snapping? Can they fall and thud satisfyingly into place in the track? Can they be transparent instead of wireframe while they're waiting? Can they stay yellow after they've dropped into place? When a line's filled, can it be shown to fuse solid in a way which carries positive connotations of success?

This continuity, physicality stuff isn't just "polish" - it'll make the rules and mechanics of your game much clearer to new players.

Holy shit. Yeah, do all of those things. That's where the magic happens.

[JWK5]

Watch your clip, and then watch this clip. What your game is lacking becomes pretty apparent.

[Baobab]

Everywhere something moves, show it moving. When a new block appears on the bottom bar, can it slide into position instead of just popping into existence? Can the blocks move and rotate from the bottom bar into position rather than snapping? Can they fall and thud satisfyingly into place in the track? Can they be transparent instead of wireframe while they're waiting? Can they stay yellow after they've dropped into place? When a line's filled, can it be shown to fuse solid in a way which carries positive connotations of success?

This continuity, physicality stuff isn't just "polish" - it'll make the rules and mechanics of your game much clearer to new players.

Holy shit. Yeah, do all of those things. That's where the magic happens.

My thoughts exactly. Thanks a lot randomnine, I like all of your ideas.