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[TitoOliveira]

Nice art and cool concept.

[danielgoffin]

This man (me) stumbled across a weird trick to make drawing backgrounds easier

And welp. Again, how much time has passed.... Eeek!1!

Anyhow! In this tutorial I will tell you the secret of how I stumble through the current design process (incomplete) of Perlinoid's backgrounds — weird ellipse following.

Step 1, Confession: I feel like up until a few weeks ago I a have had a lot of trouble drawing the backgrounds for the game. Or rather, I was biting more of than I could chew. It is not that I have problems with a full page illustration. But combining a (admittedly weird) grid based game layout with image composition techniques is unexpectedly difficult. It is my horror vacui or am I just using that as an excuse? Possibly. I still made some nice drawings here and there.



Step 2, Realisation: One day I was staring at our current set of levels for the thousandth time when it dawned on me that there are certain patterns to the platforms. I realized I could use these patterns to guide me along the way. Make it easier for me to design the various environments of the game. Oddly enough, I did not think of platformer videogames (Hello, Daniel! You are making one! ^__^) but rather of the modular approach that conceptartist Thomas Scholes uses for many of his images who, like many of his kin, incidentally works on games. Digressing, my specialty.



Step 3, Process: I draw these platform modules. We implement them into the game and then I take a screenshot. And voila! My crutch gives me a suggestion how to complete the picture!





Step 4, Result: Remains to be seen because I am currently drawing a lot of different platforms based on my analogue sketches.

Afternote: David developed an algorithm that analyses the platform patterns in our levels and displays them. We can also dump that analysis into a spreadsheet. Now I  have a handy guide which platforms I actually need to draw and which I can ignore... Also, levels that have a big cluster of one type probably need a bit more work and variation.

[danielgoffin]

Another display of the great work our animator Zach Cohen is doing for this game. I love how the colour swapper both sucks and showers the characters with paint.

Also, four screenshots of platforms and decoration items in the work. Next step: colour!

[JLJac]

Love this so much 

[danielgoffin]

Thanks, JLJac. ^_____^

[Franklin's Ghost]

Just found this over in the Saturday Screenshots thread and have finished catching up on the devlog. Looking great and think the move from 3D to 2D has paid off. The game has such great unique style and character already have personality in their movement which is nice to see.

[lithander]

I like the color based ideas for the game mechanics but am a bit confused by the many different visual styles in this thread. The gameplay video is from 2014. Do you have a more recent capture to show?

[danielgoffin]

Franklin's Ghost, thank you. I am honored that you've read the whole thread. ^___^

I like the color based ideas for the game mechanics but am a bit confused by the many different visual styles in this thread. The gameplay video is from 2014. Do you have a more recent capture to show?

Hi Lithander,

I am not surprised that the various changes of the visual style is confusing. This has been (is) a difficult project for me to realize. Lots of imposter syndrome and second album woes at their best. On one hand I am super lucky having met/found an incredibly cool publisher  (Ysbryd Games) and on the other hand I am putting way too much pressure on myself to get everything perfect/right. So that is the reason why the style changed so often. Looking back at all the concepts I have created I am  puzzled why I didn't stick with any of them because quite a few of these are valid and beautiful ideas. It is my own insecurity that has kept me from developing them any further...

BUT, what I have posted above is the final art direction. That is decided. And since I have made that decision I am having a lot of fun drawing everything. Should should should have done that a lot earlier. Lesson learned.

We are working on a new gameplay video.

^____^

[MereMonkey]

Congrats on deciding on an aesthetic, I'm sure that wasn't an easy task to complete. Saying that, the aesthetic you have went for is gorgeous! 

[danielgoffin]

Congrats on deciding on an aesthetic, I'm sure that wasn't an easy task to complete. Saying that, the aesthetic you have went for is gorgeous! 

Thanks, Connor. That is good to hear. I am happy.

[_bm]

Really lovely looking game! Just wondering, though, how would you deal with colorblind players? Just a thought. 

[MereMonkey]

Just wondering, though, how would you deal with colorblind players?

They all seem to be shaped differently as well 

[danielgoffin]

Just wondering, though, how would you deal with colorblind players?

They all seem to be shaped differently as well 

Hi, _bm. Thank you for the kind words. Much appreciated! <3 and MereMonkey is right: ^___^


Each colour (characters as well as obstacles) are associated with a certain symbol. That symbol also translates into the shape of the interactive items. Theoretically the game should be playable for anyone with a colour deficiency (me, slightly at least), and even a true colorblind (achromatic) player. You could probably play the game in greyscale.



However, maintaining readability is actually really important in this case. It is not hard to tell all these things apart but as soon as they are mixed with the backgrounds it gets a lot more difficult. I am still working on that part.

Here are some test screenshots with notes.

The majority sees this:


The most common colour deficiency "deuteranopia" will turn the image into this:


A rare colour deficiency is "protanopia" and that will turn the image into this:


Very seldomly people will have "tritanopia" and for them the image will look like this:



Cheers.

[benjkers]

This is really exceptional. Both in design, and the realization of an incredibly inviting world. I'm getting pleasant shades of Pikmin and Katamari-ness in the surreal and naturalistic characters/environs. But it's way beyond that in mechanics. Definitely feels... unique in the truest sense.

I'm not a big puzzle player lately, but regardless I just want to be in this world and figure it out.

Following and spreading the word!

[danielgoffin]

Thanks for the good words, Ben. I am honored to hear that from you!

You are right, I have studied both games designs and both have very memorable and distinctive designs. Katamari has a single protagonists (which I love) but served me only to a limited degree as there is no competition from other player controlled characters. Pikmin is a lot more interesting in that regard because each character has a specific skill and that needs to be identifiable visually. Perlinoid differs from this because the design does not explain the relationship of the characters with the obstacles. The shapes (and symbols) merely show that they are related. Sort of like a dysfunctional family where the members look similar but that does not mean that they all enjoy the others the same way...

[danielgoffin]

And, quite overdue an update with some screenshots of the game as it looks currently. The aesthetic is about 90% done. It needs some polish in a few places but the most important parts have been covered. I am unsure about the clouds in the city setting. In comparison to the earlier forest swamp levels the clouds seem too realistic in their depiction.

Nevertheless, I am very happy with the results. All this is based on the above approach. If you look closely you will see that I have removed the spotted blacks from the line drawings. The style is now a bit more ligne claire and closer to the line weight of the characters and obstacles.

[Jasmine]

It makes no sense how beautiful this game is. I fall in love with every screenshot. Any news on a demo? 

[danielgoffin]

@M4uesviecr, thank you so much for the big compliment. At the moment we haven't got a publicly playable demo for download available. I am sorry.  

[danielgoffin]

Here are two more level screenshots:





I am currently working on the next set of modules for levels 13 – 16. I have a set of placeholder modules that I use as reference to draw the line work over.

[ashtonmorris]

This looks so unique, I love it!