I WANT IT!
Where do I throw my money!?

What platforms are you targeting? It looks like it would make a great touchscreen game.

NO!
Don't listen to this guy! No more fucking touchscreen games!!
Please don't rape this awesome-looking game with touch controls!

Played for a bit.
Music and graphics are absolutely lovely!

That said, it could benefit from a little more variation, but what I think would really make it a great experience is if you make a somewhat open world, letting the player explore and live out the adventure himself, rather than just trudging through linear dungeon after linear dungeon (not that the dungeons were bad in any way; I just want to discover them myself ).

Also, the spear's hitbox seems kind of off at times... Might be mistaken.

Sweet idea!
I could write some game reviews, if you want

Looks fucking amazing.
Want.

I'm trying to make something similar myself, but in 2D.
Love this artstyle, though.
Keep up the good work!

Okay, okay! Having reread the thread I realize my post was a bit retarded.
I just came from /v/ and I guess my mind was kind of fucked up by what I saw there, and I got the impression I was reading the same hate-spouting shit here.

Case point:
I read this...

So true and applies to so many things.

It applies to anything anyone played when they were young. Old games are consistently and vastly overrated.

...as "All old games are shit, lol. You just think you like them because of nostalgia, faggot. Only Halo 54 Man on Duty: Modern Shooter Tacticool is good now."

Wow, you guys are starting to look like the shithole /v/.
I thought you had more class than this.

Seems there's no depth behind the buildings.

What do you mean by that?

I think the artwork is astonishing, by the way!
What kind of strategy game are we talking here; Is it some kind of fantasy-Civilization II?

Horrible interview, but the game mechanics and visuals look amazing! :D

Dude!
Congratulation!

I feel almost nostalgic, having tried this during early phases of the development
You're living the dream, man!

Now, don't take this the wrong way; I'll just try and explain why you're not getting any replies.

1.
First of all, it doesn't seem like you know what you are talking about.
"8-bit" has become slang for "retro-looking", but what it actually means is processing restriction that forces developers to make do with chip sound, a pallette of maximum 16 colours and tiles no bigger than 16x16 pixels. Usually, anyway.

2.
Though your engine might play great for all I know, there are some jarring things in your screenshot. Now, I'm not referring to your artwork in general (you are looking for an artist, anyway, right?), but the horrible composition of high and low resolution images.
If you want the game to have so-called "pixelart" graphics, you need a consistent frame of pixels, and a steady 1:1 pixel-size ON ALL TILES AND OBJECTS.
Had you been using high resolution images (not pixelart) this wouldn't be such a concern, as it would be hard to spot, but on lower resolutions it's all about imagining lines that aren't necessarily there (because everything is made up of distinct squares), and so consistency is of absolute importance.

I just slapped this together to show you an approximation of how extreme the differences in resolution in your image are:



Now, I might have sounded strict, but I really just want to help.
Remember to use consistent resolution and your games will look and feel much better!

Just tried the new build (you've got to tell me when you release them, man! :O)!

The bigger areas really let you explore the jumping mechanics, and it's giving me a Super Meat boy-feel. Which is a very good thing!
I just can't get over how delicious the grass looks when you touch it...so smooth 

A downside with having such huge ares visible at the screen at one time, is that those previously mentioned pixels don't get the visibility I feel they deserve, and also, it slightly removes the feeling of exploration..., though that could probably be fixed through just making huge fucking dungeons!

What I'm wondering most of all is, what approach will you take from here?
Will you make a metroidvania, where the focus is exploration and combat, or are you going with the Super Meat Boy speedrun-gameplay which seemed to get spotlight in this last build?

You could of course go in the direction VVVVV took; with a big map to explore, and areas that required precision-platforming to pass.

I, for one, vote for much explorations. My fingers are tingly from hunger after more of this world; I want to see more, and I want to to be a world, and not just an arrangement of skill-based arena maps.

Just my opinions, anyway

Looking forward to seeing more! Let me know!

[NOT THE LATEST BUILD. SEE FIRST POST FOR MOST RECENTLY UPDATED BUILD.]

Dig anywhere (press Z)
Bats in the house
New slimes in the cellar
"Select" in the inventory (now looking slightly better) with Z and X

Zack is busy building an engine from scratch (which he promises to share ), so I suppose there might still be long before we see anything revolutionary on the functionality of this game.
BUT! Jamie is working hard on his bleeps, and I'll upload a version with his amazing tunes and sfx as soon as we can slap it together! Really looking forward to seeing/hearing it in motion!

http://www.2shared.com/file/3Ty4K714/BlueGuyAlpha01_06.html

In other news, I just had contact with Jasmine, and we're starting a more arcade-oriented little dungeon game! I'm pretty excited about it, but it is currently my second priority, so I won't work less on this here project because of it, I promise

AND yes, I know this is not my personal blog; Just to clearify that before some of the stricter of you tigsourcers stomp all the joy of life out of me.
I'd gladly have this thread moved to Development, if that is a more fitting place, yet we might still require a coder who is willing to commit fully to this (Zack's contributions have been absolutely fantastic, and a wonder to behold, but he has his own projects, school stuff and a portfolio to further load his work. A true gentleman that I'd love to work more with, but also a pretty busy gentleman)...

EDIT: NOT THE LATEST BUILD. SEE FIRST POST FOR MOST RECENTLY UPDATED BUILD.

I began working on an inventory (press "I" to open/close).
Pretty much just placeholder stuff as of now, and I'm aware of the stray pixels in the animated header...Will fix soon.
Closing it will bring you back to the starting position again...because I'm a reterrd.

http://www.2shared.com/file/v5nDjipc/BlueGuyAlpha01_04.html

Made some new tiles, animated ones at that...

Slightly updated build:

http://www.2shared.com/file/DU_rUuCl/BlueGuyAlpha01_03.html

School tomorrow..., mother have mercy

That actually sounds like a pretty neat idea!

I'll PM my email, so you might spam me with what tiles and stuff you want

@Jasmine
All the flattery! Makin' me teary-eyed, I tell you

Sure, I'd love to try and draw some pixels for you; Just now I'm kind of buried in this here project, but I'd be happy to make more stuff if you're willing to use it and don't mind me being a little sluggish (as I'm prioritizing this at the moment, and have heaps of school work coming up ).
What kind of arcade game were you thinking?

Reminds me of Kirby
Looks great!

@jamiebell

I absolutely LOVE your music; It's exactly the kind of music I imagine this game should have!
If you're interested in joining this project, I, for one, would be delighted to have you aboard!
I'm actually quite honoured by the proposition!

As you undoubtably understand, this game is far, faaaar from even thinking about concidering the possibility of being done...
Even so, I'd love to start adding some sound effects and background music, to test the feel of it all along the way

Send me a PM with your email, and we can start corresponding at once!

OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHI-
THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!


Here's the latest build, everyone:
http://www.2shared.com/file/Rrvx2VD9/BlueGuyAlpha01_02.html

Zack has been a little busy, and so the code isn't very much updated (seeing as I don't know what to do about that voodoo hex), but at least there's some new tiles and sprites to look at, and the collision of some objects are slightly improved.
Also, you can fall now... Into the ground, rather than the actual holes, on some occasions, but still...

The player movement issue is because the player changes facing before it checks that you're checking multiple keys. That is fixed now, as well as the animation issues while standing.

I bow before you in reverence

EDIT: This may have to be moved to devLogs or feedback if we all keep commenting on the in-game aspects rather than the collab aspects of this post. 

Indeed. I never imagined that we'd get this kicking along so soon! 
How do we call on the attention of the mods?