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[FoldedPixels]

Finally got the screen recording software to cooperate. Here's one of the buttons in action:



The only things left are cutscene work, decorating and adding an NPC or two.

[FoldedPixels]

Mostly tweaking things, including a new bullet/orb that disables the player's movement for a short while.

[FoldedPixels]

I keep on adding and fixing things. Latest minor addition: a new NPC.

[FoldedPixels]

The level is practically done. It took much longer than I expected. Onto the next one...

As for things to showcase: the new addition is an information-displaying panel.



I like the decorative lights on the right, though you can only see them for a moment in the GIF.

[FoldedPixels]

Started working on the second level. The layout was pretty easy to do, it's connecting all the parts that will take most of the time.

[FoldedPixels]

Here's what it looks like when the parts are connected. The new level still needs more work, but at least this puzzle part looks like it's working as intended.

[FoldedPixels]

I've been adding new enemies and polishing the level design. Most of the mechanics were worked out in the first one, which saves me some time.



This one's quite small - which means hard to shoot - so it's best to jump over it.

[FoldedPixels]

Most of the work on this level revolved around getting all the things working together. It's the non-romantic part of development.

[Beyond]

How is for music in the game? There are probably a couple composers keeping an eye on this (me included).

[FoldedPixels]

The music part is already in good hands - I know how I want it to sound, but certainly don't feel comfortable enough to tackle it on my own.

By the way, I should thank everyone who contacted me about making music for this game - thank you.

There's not much to do for this level outside of decorating and testing. I wanted it to feel damaged in comparison to the previous one, without it being completely wrecked, so I added some parts that stick out or have dents in them.

[FoldedPixels]

I think I can call the second level finished for now. Onward to level three...


Also, I added a falling trap that breaks up into pieces.

[FoldedPixels]

Currently working on the general layout of the level.

[FoldedPixels]

I think the backgrounds make this level look much more finished.

[Pixel Noise]

Yeah! Looks like a deteriorating chip or something. Haven't commented in a while, but I've been following and enjoying the updates 

[FoldedPixels]

Thanks for the feedback and following. 

I'm prototyping the design for the next boss. It's hard to do with pixel art-sized graphics (especially with moving parts), so I might try doing some larger scale tests first and convert them later.

[FoldedPixels]

I think modelling some of the characters in 3D first could greatly reduce the time necessary to do animated sprites. It's much easier to test and change poses, and adding some decorations by hand shouldn't be too time consuming. Here's a base mesh I rigged:

[FoldedPixels]

Posing, animating and tweaking is definitely easier with 3D once everything is set up. Still, I tweak polish things up manually after rendering.


3D -> render -> post-render

[io3 creations]

Overall, I like the style.  Reminds me of some of the Commodore 64 games that I played.

At first glance, it seems like that the boss has "too much" detail (especially in contrast to the hero).  But looking at the previous images where the background has lots of detail, it may work.  So, I'll wait to see the boss in action. 

[FoldedPixels]

I agree that the boss graphics look sort of busy. I think it's a balancing act to catch the character without adding too much noise. At least I got the renders to be properly lit automatically.

[FoldedPixels]

I managed to get the low-poly cloth to render correctly, including limited palette flat shading. This is a huge time saver given the amount of frames this boss has.



The actual animation looks fine, but it requires some timing tweaks in post-processing.