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[Alec S.]

Heh, nice to see an expert on the topic, not to mention one of the characters!   

For Brighella, I think the plan is to make his goal to cause as much havoc as possible, mostly by the methods you said, although he'll probably take at least a slightly more sinister role than that at least for gameplay's sake.  Although, from what I've heard, he is a rather malicious character in some situations, so it should work out.

There will be slap sticks.  It wouldn't be Commedia Dell'arte without slap sticks.  We figured Arlecchino and Colombina should be NPC just so that they can jump in and cause some chaos/help out one of the players.

[Zest]

Yeah, it's definitely cool to hear from experts on Commedia. I actually did consider a black mask for Arlecchino, but I figured that he would look better with a brightly-colored mask (like the other characters). So, I ended up designing a mask vaguely resembling classic clown make-up, red nose and all, as kind of a way for people to identify his personality a little easier. I noticed that a lot of the characters are supposed to have red masks, but I figured it'd better for variety's sake that Dottore would have a blue mask (also reflecting his supposedly noble nature).

As for the slapstick, I was actually planning on having Arlecchino pull it out from nowhere (or hammer space, if you're familiar with the term), and then pull out random objects from his bag a la Felix the Cat.

Actually, Arlecchino, would you happen to have any suggestions for Commedia resources? As you've probably noticed, it's a little tricky to
research something like this when there sources tend to disagree with one another- like Brighella's exact nature, for example. If you have any websites or databases you could link us to, that would be fantastic. Thank you all for your support on the project so far!

[Arlecchino]

Ah, yes. I agree. It will be simply fun to have Arlecchino and/or Colombina pop out of nowhere, wreck Pantalone's big money scheme, and toddle off. But I am still wishing I can play those two as well. Perhaps, to cater both our needs, we can make them unlockables later in the game?

Musing about this game gives me a sudden question: what, exactly, are Dottore's and Capitano's goals? To babble as much humbug as possible? To brag about his exploits to everyone three times without getting a concussion? It is fine to make Brighella a tad bit more malicious for gameplay's sake, though, as he is a perfectly malleable character, ranging from a scoundrel to Arlecchino's heroic elder brother.

When I search for Commedia dell'Arte resources, it's usually these two troupes' websites:

www.isebastiani.com and http://filer.case.edu/org/commedia/

The first (I Sebastiani) is where I get my naming system. Mind though, that Colombina is not generally present in her current form in their canovacci. The latter link (I Verdi Confusi) offers many Mask descriptions and a few lazzi.

[Zest]

Thanks for the sources! If you don't mind me asking, which character is your signature quoting?

To explain the gameplay some more, Capitano's goal is to simply keep his Pride up as much as possible, helpfully depicted by a meter on the HUD. His Pride can be raised by performing (or attempting to perform) acts of greatness, or at least boasting convincingly enough to passers-by. Dottore, meanwhile, is looking for Respect- in our version, he wants to show everyone how smart he is, and although the lectures are supposed to be terribly dull, I'm thinking that we could provide some incentive for the other players to listen in, so that Dottore has at least a chance at achieving a "win" state- but that's just me thinking out loud.

So, to keep things straight, each character has both a traditional health meter and a Desire meter that they need to fulfill to "win" the game.

Innamorati- Love (for each other, of course)
Pantalone- Money
Capitano- Pride
Dottore- Respect
Brighella- Chaos

Malec and I are going to play around with the dynamics of the characters as we go along, so that we can naturally create checks and balances between the masks. My current thinking is that we start off with building one or two of the characters, and then work on introducing more of them in each new build. I know I compared this project to Team Fortress 2 earlier, so let's compare it to the character class updates. By "building", of course, I mean working on their individual animations, special abilities and commands, character-specific lazzi, and so on.

Hopefully that answered all your questions, although I'll be happy to answer any more you guys have.

[Alec S.]

I read that list of Lazzi.  I'm now determined to get ladders in the game as interactive objects. 

[Zest]

Me, too- I personally would love to do the Hunger and Interruption bits. We definitely need to have the Tooth gag in there, too.

[Arlecchino]

And I am glad the links proved helpful. The lazzi listed at the second link is, I must admit, very much entertaining. In case you still want more lazzi, I have a document listing some of my favourite lazzi from where I can send you some.

My signature is basically a made-on-the-spot piece of dialogue in an imaginary setting. In my mind, it was Arlecchino trying to scheme with the Innamorato.

I have been thinking about a certain common plot scheme we might be able to use occasionally. Sometimes, identity confusion occurs at Commedia dell'Arte. Perhaps, you can make a shrouded, mysterious sprite which is the standard "Character in Disguise" sprite? The disguised character can then wreck more havoc onstage, especially with misidentified people.

[agj]

I love the idea for this game.

Theo, your sprites don't match the dimensions that you say they have, you should be aware of that. In Photoshop just go to the resize dialog to see their size in pixels.

It's a good attempt, but there's too many inconsistencies. Here's my stab at the first few characters, while trying to fit your style:

[aeiowu]

Theo, are you working at 72 DPI? Make sure that's the case. That's the only thing I can think of that could possibly cause that kind of inconsistency with pixel dimensions.

[Zest]

Shoot! I've been making everything at 300 DPI. Silly me- I have it automatically set at that rate for my illustrations so that they don't look jagged, but I suppose that's why the pixel sizes are wrong.

The more I think about it, the more I think that using a pre-made pixel font will save us a lot of time/effort. I can work on pixel typography later- right now the basic movement animations are what I'm focusing on. I know someone had a link to a couple of fonts that looked kind of pixelly, but does anyone have a file of an actual pixel font they'd be willing to lend? I imagine Malec could really use it for the prototype.

[Alec S.]

Actually, I could, for now, just use the pixel font I downloaded for Dadaists Gone Wild.  It seems pretty basic and functional.  We can choose a new one later on if we want.

[Alec S.]

Just an update, I've been working on a list of various Lazzi, objects and interactions to incorporate into the game.  This is definitely not a game I want to jump into without doing a lot of planning first. 

Theo, if you've got any ideas for Lazzi/abilities that you want me to put in the game, make sure to write them down in some sort of list and send them to me.

[agj]

but does anyone have a file of an actual pixel font they'd be willing to lend?

One which you might like.

[Zest]

Developing more assets, including basic walk cycles and HUD elements.

[shig]

Would the character get points for making the crow laugh?

Actually, will there be a crowd?