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[barneycumming]

no rush or deadline from steam or anything, just our own personal drive- it is encouraging to hear games like broforce and octodad taking a longer time, i guess we are concerned about interest falling off if we take too long... not sure if that is realistic or just us being nervous

[knifeySpoonie]

no rush or deadline from steam or anything, just our own personal drive- it is encouraging to hear games like broforce and octodad taking a longer time, i guess we are concerned about interest falling off if we take too long... not sure if that is realistic or just us being nervous

I think your right to be cautious of interest falling off, but you can rebuild interest quickly once you have a definite release date, by releasing a new trailer with the release date etc, also fans you've made now will wait and when you update in the future their hype will be reignited. So basically make the best game you can and give yourself 1-2 months of hardcore "marketing" before the release date.

[Bandreus]

I believe a finely crafted game can be successful no matter what, so definitely take your time with polishing CRAWL up until you feel the game is up to your standards.

That being said, I can also see why you might want to do things faster than originally envisioned in order to get the best out of all the media coverage. Though I guess you will agree an half-assed, rushed game can easily sink, even when you have the media pushing you.

TL;DR; trust your own guts. Whatever you plant to do, I'm confident you'll make the right decisions.

[barneycumming]

Finally got a chance to do some actual animation again!

I've wanted to revamp the dragon for ages- he's one of the first guys I animated on this project, when I was still figuring out how to do this pixel animation style, so he's been very stiff and blandly done...

and no fun to play! he's supposed to be a high level monster damnit, people should be dying to get to be him and feel like a badass!

here is the boring old anim set:


and here is the much faster and more dynamic new set:


the details of the run get a bit lost in the crummy gif capture, but you get the idea...

obviously I made him faster, but I also went to great lengths on all the key poses to make sure he doesn't look like a cute creature plodding along- trying to make him more like an animal- get some lion in there and lots of lizard

[Fervir]

It looks a lot better!
I like the change in the fire breathing animation. It makes a lot more sense and doesn't look awkward.
The dragon definitely looks like a tougher creature.

It also reminds me of a dog now, very energetic with a very obedient looking posture.

[karlozalb]

I'm in love with that little dragon!

[SafetySnail]

That's the most majestic yet somehow cute dragon I've ever seen. The animation style on this is just great. Really exaggerated and quick, lots of fun just to look at, can't wait to play.

[DarthBenedict]

A couple of yellow pixels in the flame might look even better.

[barneycumming]

cheers guys

yeah I've been meaning to update the flame effect some time, just haven't quite decided on it yet

[yaomon17]

Can't wait to burn my friends to death with the newly animation dragon   

[barneycumming]

cheers :D

a little more work revamping old monsters:



any thoughts on a special move for him?  I've got a few ideas to try out, but nothing really leaps out as perfect for him...

[karlozalb]

what about a super sword hit on the floor? with an associated area of effect or fire/magic flames line that you need to dodge

[Bada Im]

Oh, Man! it' looks like cool!

[Zav]

And what about digging his sword on the ground, then the other part is poping under the player. It doesn't have to be a very range attack.

[Whiteclaws]

[barneycumming]

thanks for the suggestions guys now it seems our website is crashed!

hopefully it fixes itself somehow!

karlozalb: cool idea, i'm already formulating how i'd animate the line of flame- i actually might use that for another character i have in the works

Zav: hehe thta is very close to the idea i have in my head for this guy- because he's melee and quite quick, it doesn't make an interesting choice to give him another melee, and giving him a projectile could easily be OP, but having a strike where it damages just a zone X units in front of him would make him have to use his speed to run away a bit and try to line it up perfectly before striking, making a different technique from his regular "get up close and melee"

Whiteclaws: hehe if he comes across any cute bees, believe me he'll be using fireballs on them :D nah actually i considered a projectile thing, but decided it would be too OP- it would have to have a long anticipate/tell where he's locked into his facing direction before the attack to make fair strategy... still a possibility

[barneycumming]

i really want to do this guy some time- the very top of the skeleton evolution chain

[Reilly]

When you scale your sprites up like that in Photoshop use the nearest neighbor setting.

[barneycumming]

cheers reilly i'm all about nearest neighbour!

the images might have come up weird/blurry because our website was down? all looks right to me now

[One-bit Punch]

Man.. so much animated goodness in here, I can learn a ton by just looking at them. That skeleton looks great and I friggin' love how the Beholder moves. Consider me a fan!