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[barneycumming]

Cheers guys!  It's great to get such positive feedback for the animation- it does make me feel like I really have to lift my game with the overall art direction for color composition and environment stuff tho- the individual pixel anims up close feel like they're more exciting than full screenshots or gameplay footage at the moment

I'm definitely much more confident animating characters than thinking about composition... I'll post some full screenshots some time soon to see if anyone has some good advice

I've been designing the upgrade system to allow unlocking new armies and monsters and upgraded versions of monsters after each game... I like to doodle the GUI elements to help me think out the ramifications of different designs and not miss all the edge cases, so here are my latest working doodles for the system

I'm realizing this is a potentially useful system for difficulty balancing.  I want to give more skilled/experienced players the ability to "handicap themselves" in-game, in exchange for bigger upgrade rewards at the end if they win, and possibly offering some form of the reverse...

seems like a good way to keep it accessible and "arcadey" while catering to a variety of skill levels, and it's something you can do dynamically and organically, so you can just keep sacraficing a little bit more here and there if you're still way ahead of the other players, to even the playing field and increase your reward

Purcy yeah it would be fun to do that some time

JasonPickering thanks, your relic rush looks awesome!  I love seeing stuff so low res- so crisp and clean and the colors are great

Dayvi thanks, glad its useful!

InvisibleMan hmm yeah the arcade cabinet look is something which I think we haven't actually nailed... YET... because it's mostly in the GUI and onscreen indicators and stuff... things we haven't really put much time into so far...  Things like that classic "GO" arrow with the hand pointing to continue to the next screen and the way you handle GUI text (so much flashing!) and power bars and stuff... that seems to be where all the arcade feeling comes in.

here is a fairly low fps capture of our old title screen where we had a handful of arcadey GUI details:

this was before we shortened the name obiously

all of this stuff is getting redone for a graphical overhaul since we changed the name and developed the style quite a bit, but there are lots of arcadey elements, with the screen being divided for 4 players and the 3 letter names and stuff...

I'd really like to do a super-arcadey "attract mode" semi-animated cut scene thingy that loops if you leave it on the menu like an arcade cabinet

DanielSnd pwei Aquanoctis happymonster hube Seiseki Sc00bz thanks heaps guys :D

[Purcy]

That title screen gif reminds me of glitch art and I love glitch art :D
But yeah forsure make a video pleeeeeeeeaaaase

[Tuba]

Yep, the glitch art is awesome!

[zeh]

The art and animation look so amazing. Jaw dropping gorgeous.

[Z_guy]

I'm so tired of pixel art! Yet, you manage to pull it off, especially with those amazing animations.

[dhontecillas]

Well, I actually love well done pixel art. And in this case, I must say that you are doing an excellent job in both the art and the animations. And it seems you do it easily. You have lots of different characters. I expect to play the game as soon as you release some demo.

  

[psheff]

This might be the greatest thing I have ever seen, ever.
The pixel animation is sooooooo juicy. Crazy talented!

[barneycumming]

not sure exactly which of these run anims i already posted, so here is a big monster run anim dump of the guys i've done so far









thanks for the support guys!  not much new to report- mostly working on really boring business stuff to try and get some funding so we don't burn through all of our savings too fast!  working out a budget to show these people is making me feel nauseous!

[jO]

 

I love your pixelwork.

[Dom2D]

SO GOOD 

I'm really looking forward to this. So smooth.

[barneycumming]

thanks so much for the compliments for the pixel art! definitely helps to have so much positive feedback when I've got to wade through all this boring business stuff

as for the glitchy stuff- my plan is to build everything as if the game is being played on an old arcade cabinet, but the cabinet itself is some arcane artifact...

so along with all the wiring and circuit boards inside the cabinet, there are like wormholes and throbbing crystals and dark energy beams kind of allowing the cabinet to control these messed up creatures in the alternate plane of the game... but all this magic stuff is really unreliable and is kind of frying all the circuits, so the whole thing is kind of stuttering and glitching out when big things are happening onscreen...

so its going to be kind of: gothic/lovecraftian fantasy, as realised through a stuttering malfunctioning demonic arcade machine

[Purcy]

Stutering demon arcade machine? Awesome

[JackMenhorn]

Really good sound design in the trailer.    to whomever is doing that

[dancinLion]

Just wanted to say that this project looks really awesome. Keeping an on it .

[aftslash]

Oh my lord those animations are beautiful.

[barneycumming]

I haven't had any new art to post for a while, but last week i finally got to make a whole load of new monster animations


here's a few run anims:

I've got 50 monsters running around in-game now, though only 15 or so have their attack anims and special moves hooked up

Thanks for the encouragement guys and KomradeJack- the music in the trailer is by a guy called Zen Albatross.  His music is great, and he was completely cool to deal with when I asked if I could use it in the trailer.  The sound is chopped up bits and pieces taken from a live set of his at Blip Festival

[premonster]

I'm so tired of pixel art!

[Purcy]

Still following. Those animations look soooooo smooth I love it.
Remember to teach me how to do pixel art like this at some point

[terri]

animations. beautiful.

[barneycumming]

thanks guys!