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[Gainsworthy]

Look, I can't make up my mind. Thankfully, I also don't have time to work on much this week, so I can muse. I may as well get my foot in the door, though!

I'm tossing up between two*:

2 Inhabitants of Zinge, over whom the star Canopus rises every night, are always gay and without sorrow.

A colourful, hopefully grim exploration platformer. Wouldn't be traditionally Lovecraftian, though.

and

221 Insects or other entities from space attack and penetrate a man’s head and cause him to remember alien and exotic things—possible displacement of personality.

A point and click adventure game on an icebreaker. Slightly more traditional.


NEW: Decided on #2: Inhabitants of Zinge. Puzzles and art and atmosphere and etc for #221 strike me as tricky for such a short period of time. Maybe later!


OLD: due to inexperience, I'm unsure which would be harder to pull off, though both strike me as interesting. I'll keep you posted when I make up my mind! And please, if you were going to use one of these ideas, continue to do so. I love seeing multiple interpretations of a topic.

*Actually, I have strong, distinct ideas for "14+146+186", "23", "90", "96/206", "127", "128", "136+137" and "172/175". However, the ideas are a little too complex, or undeveloped, and I really must focus if I'm to finish anything at all. I'll keep them for later. Like creepy, creepy acorns. Thank you Mr. Lovecraft!

[William Broom]

For what would be harder to do - the platformer would probably require a bit more coding, but the point and click would require more content (puzzles, graphics, dialogue)... I think.

Personally, I prefer the first one, though I do generally enjoy platformers more than adventure games. I think the first one would stand out more amongst the other competition entries.

[Gainsworthy]

Short on progress, but Long on exams. Hope to get some actual work done on it after Thursday. Just posting this here image as a colour test - if ya'll could give me some tips as to whether the colours work, and if they don't what to use instead, that'd be swell.

Personally? I think they're kinda nice this way. I'm leaning towards the Yellow Astronaut, though I may purple up their gas tank. Though, uh, I'm looking for a somewhat eerie main character - getting "eerie" and "pleasant looking" with the NES palette is giving me some trouble.



Told ya it'd be a little different. Hope that's in-keeping.



EDIT: All critique wanted and welcome, at any time through this thread. I'm new to this stuff. 

[Wilson Saunders]

I like the dark blue one on the far right. Hopefully the will constrast well with the background. Maybe give him the purple tank against an overly sanatized white background.

What are the intricate patters below the astronauts for?

[brog]

Looking great.
My favourite's the white one, mostly because he has the strongest contrast.  Yellow's my least favourite of the four, but he might look a lot better against a different background and with the detail on his chest in a darker colour.

[William Broom]

I like the dark blue one the best. The white one looks like a better-drawn version of the character in my own commonplace game 

[Gainsworthy]

The intricacies, they are tiles. Except I was lazy, and made TWO. I now have more. I'm a little obsessive, I'll admit.

Oh, also, I'm thinking of a day/night cycle.

Still trying to get my head around "over whom the star Canopus rises every night". I didn't even notice it at first, just thought to myself "oh, Canopus, that's nice". Now it's bothering me. In a good way.

Currently juggling two ideas - one is a game with conflicting and mutually exclusive goals. Rather exploration based, not much else. BUT it comes with a unfortunately Hamfisted moral message. Big Hams here.

The other would lead it into some convention, and add Survival Horror to boot. Also take full advantage of the above statement.


Hrmm: Looks like it's either Blue or White. I think! I have an idea.

NEW/EXCITING: Day/Night Fashions. Feel free to tinker.




EDIT: Oooh, the colours look totally different on this computer. Less subtle, more Fluoroescent. Still kinda swanky.

[Chaoseed]

It's looking good so far, and your ideas are intriguing. Y'know, it's not like it has to be perfect the first time. If you can get a cool idea going with the side effect of a hamfisted moral message...then maybe later on you can get it working with a more subtle message, or maybe you'll inspire someone else with your idea. Either way, we make progress, right? Well, that's just my take on it.

[Gainsworthy]

UNSATISFACTORY UPDATE:




Yeah yeah yeah, exams and such. I've also made lots more tiles and a lousy game maker platform thing. I could post them too, I suppose, but, really.

BUT: I'm looking for critiques on this here walk-cycle. Ignore the red string dangling down at the top. Does it look too jerky, or shuffle-y? And, if so, how may I fix that?

 

[Synnah]

I like it; the upper-body movement is great. The legs look a little odd, though. The main problem I can see is that the back leg (His left) disappears rather suddenly when he moves it forward. Instead of having that foot move further back for that frame, you could try drawing it further forward than the preceding frame (I haven't explained that very well.. Basically basically, the left foot should swing forward a frame earlier).

[William Broom]

It looks good, except that the front foot doesn't ever go back as far as the back foot.

[Chris Whitman]

Typically you would want the head to make a gradual arc with every step. The head here seems to jitter a bit. Also, the elbows maybe don't move enough, and those things make it look a bit dancy.

I mean, I actually like it, because it gives the impression that he is bringing the funk, but maybe it's not what you intended.

The backpack also seems to jitter a bit in a way that looks a little weird.

[Gainsworthy]

MORE OF A BUMP, TO BE HONEST:

Um, so, I've done a *little* more, my pace shall truly pick up after tomorrow. No more tests! Huzzah! So, for now, have a mockup. There is, of course, one problem - not exactly getting a Lovecraftian vibe from my work. I can't stop! I mean, I enjoy it, but it's a tad out of place. Kind of a cheerful fluoroescence. And my monsters look more likeable than hideous (no offense har har har I made a joke). But, yeah, impressions? Likes, dislikes, etc. Not like there's much to go on.







MINOR UPDATE ON AFOREMENTIONED UPDATE:

Hmm, should have edited the above post, but, you know.



Thanks for the advice, all! Much appreciated. Anonymous Astronaut: Bringer of Funk. Didn't do much with the shoulders or head though. I'll... look at him further. But not too much. Got more to toy with!

Anyhoo, I'll try injecting some more interest into this little thread soonish. Three Weeks, is it?

[brog]

There is, of course, one problem - not exactly getting a Lovecraftian vibe from my work. I can't stop! I mean, I enjoy it, but it's a tad out of place. Kind of a cheerful fluoroescence. And my monsters look more likeable than hideous.

Well, the text does say "gay and without sorrow".  Kind of implies a different mood to HP's usual stuff.  I'd think you shouldn't worry about it if you're happy with the feel you're achieving.

I like the blue star/orb/thing.  Are those little space invaders flying out of it?

[Chaoseed]

First of all, I don't think the competition rules said anything about a "Lovecraftian atmosphere"; they just say "based on one of the things from the book". So, really, no one's going to tell you you're breaking the rules.

Secondly, Lovecraft himself had what you might call a happy side; some of his stories talk about things that are more beautiful than horrible. "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" has a lot of that, although it also has a fair amount of horror-ish stuff. I seem to recall that he said once he had both beautiful and horrible dreams, but he was disappointed in the fact that he was much better at making stories out of the horrible ones. He was also a great admirer of Lord Dunsany, who was into that kind of thing.

ANYWAY...My point is: Don't worry about it, just go with it.