Thank you all for your comments and critiques so far, I truly appreciate it.
What does the game play like?
You said it was a beat 'em up so are you taking a standard approach to it?
The idea is you choose four characters out of a roster of 10 to potentially 14. There are things being worked out with how control of the characters would work, but ideally you will be able to control all of the characters you chose in single player mode.
The combat is still being worked on, though there would be the familiar combat like in most beat 'em ups, but ideally the combat would be somewhat faster than most in that there will be no walking. There is still testing that needs to be done, but being able to run up to an enemy without having to double tap to dash has the potential to keep the over all combat moving and feel alive.
Additionally there is work to be done on making the eventual roster of enemies diverse so that you don't feel like you're getting matched up with the same thug or robot over and over again. The setting for this game is not limited to just the street or city you see in the back ground. As a design choice, it was decided that being able to go to different locations as means to change the scenery also offered a chance to play with different themes. Playing to Bob_the_Hamsters comment, I did take a lot of inspiration from cartoons and anime when coming up with this idea. Shows like Dragon Ball or even Mighty Max never really stay in the same place, but explore and travel all around from city to jungle, and even outer space.
Some other random ideas I had that might contribute are:
-about half the characters (starting with the blonde guy) don't strike me as fighter characters because the look like highschool kids in sweatpants etc?
- the scene looks like you have melee based humans (mostly) against gun toting robots... I haven't played it so maybe you have a plausible reason for it.. But wouldn't the robots just kill everyone from afar with guns?
Aka give me a visual reason (power shield bubbles etc) to believe sweatpants wearing kids can resist bullets!
So in terms of teenagers getting matched up against lasers, ever character is stronger than the average human, plus I wasn't going for realism. This however doesn't mean redesigning characters looks is out of the question, though it was a choice to keep the roster diversified so it wasn't just a bunch of bulky guys running around punching stuff. Think how in X-men or Naruto that characters don't need to have the "tough guy" look to demonstrate they're strong. How on Earth would someone like Scott Pilgrim have the power to take on thugs, robots, and love issues
My only suggestion is to add text to the players' stats. I see the green, blue, and red bars and I have no idea that they represent. (I'm guessing the red one is health in stereotype.) Also, showing the name of the player on the player's avatar would be a nice touch too. The screen looks a bit naked without text, unless that is what style you are trying to go for. If not text, try placing symbols to the stat bars.
The green is for health, the pink is for XP, and the blue is for ability/special. I may try to make this more evident with some modifications like making the health bar go from green to yellow to red, and with the XP bar maybe have "XP" indicated in the bar. Though I completely agree with the names over the characters stats bar. I'm not too found of having it over the actual character because when playing castle crashers, it added a little too much extra visual noise for my taste.
Now, to everyone mentioning color, is the issue that it looks too bright or too soft? Just looking to clarify. My personal preference is to keep it colorful, though I don't think this is what the issue is that everyone is bringing up.
Again, thank you everyone for your input. It really helps!
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