fwiw I fully support the ultra low-res version. Right now if you stick with the art direction you have already, you'll have something very unique on your hands, which is better than having mindblowing illustration quality, at least in the indie world.

That is very sweet of you.  I like to think of the lower resolution loud color palette as a deterrent from people who probably wouldn't like the game anyways. :3

I really like the art! All that white might make my eyes hurt after a while though. Keep it up!

That's fair.  If I ever decide to make this more of a commercial release I might consider doing something different with the graphics.  I wish I was educated enough to release it in a format that I could easily do palette swapping, unfortunately I am a programming novice who is leaning heavily on Construct 2 for game design.

I do have the ability to add filters, so I might be able to allow like... brightness filtering at the very least... I dunno... will leave it on the list of "later down the line if it becomes too big a deal".

Extended or non-extended, both styles look great!

Thanks! :D

I love the concept and aesthetic!  Reminds me a lot of 90's era VGA games with people influenced by the demoscene (and vice versa), but obviously way higher resolution.

ah yeah, i tried offsetting B as well but didn't like it very much...perhaps you (and everyone else) is right that A is just better .__.

there will always be a place in my heart (and possibly somewhere else in the game) for B though

RIP "B" fence

Great opportunity for an easter egg fence. :3

Maybe you'll have a close friend named Eric inspired by a childhood friend of mine named Eric who died a few months ago.



R.I.P. Eric.  You saved my life in high school and I wish I had done more to save yours.

oh Fuck i love the extended palette

ACK!

Glad everyone likes more colors and resolution but I must keep my eye on the game design prize first. D:

Quick and dirty edit and I realized too the back fences could benefit from a little darker shading for contrast.  Sorry for the weird scaling artifacts... so if you don't like the rickety up and down look, maybe just add that darker shading on the back ones?

Though I think fence B would look nice if it was more organic looking, like the posts were offset from each other vertically a tad.

I like fence A.  Fence B feels too busy.  That's my gut reaction.

> DEVELOPMENT GOALS
     ^L MECHANICS
           ^L basic movement
           ^L energy bar + buffs / debuffs / damage
           ^L basic combat
           ^L basic farming
           ^L pet system
           ^L potions
           ^L dialogue system
           ^L emote system during dialogue
     ^L NARRATIVE
           ^L world factions
           ^L world conflict
           ^L faction leaders
           ^L companions
           ^L mini bosses
           ^L side quest characters

Added this handy list to the main post and will update it there as I move forward with all this stuff!

If you are seeing this in the future, hello in the future!  This stuff has been updated on the main post and this information is old!

Also fun fact.  I'll be using the branching story narrative / companion system from a magnum opus space opera I wrote years and years and years ago called Pirates and Privateers that still has an embarrassing (awesome?) teaser trailer online here :




^{(omg TIG finally has embedded youtube videos! D:)}



My first big plans was to raise $100k with my pedal biz and do a Mass Effect style demo with full 3D and all kinds of amaze-balls stuff... but that was when I was a bit too manic for my own good and there was no way I could raise that money reasonably at the time (nor now for that matter, so please don't think that I am loaded!)

Then I realized maybe I'll just do a point and click adventure or some such, thus the first simple pixel art designs above from a few years ago when I first seriously got into pixel art.



I never had the discipline to really move forward with the game in any form and in its final incarnation I was going to do it as a classic NES Final Fantasy style game using RPG Maker, but I'm keen to adapt the story for this witchy game instead!

Custom hair options?

NO.

It's your family.  The wicked witches of the various important places...

You?  Well, you're the wicked witch of a tiny town no one's ever heard of.

The extra curly pixels on her hat are adorable. I want the double resolution!!  

BUT ALSO WHAT IF IT WAS IN EXTENDED EGA or NES COLOR PALETTE?!

I'm glad you like, but truth be told I need to keep it to the lower resolution to keep me from getting too caught up with the graphics.  The higher the detail the increasing magnitude of time I'll get stuck on graphics rather than everything else.

I'm definitely not against the idea of redoing all the graphics down the line if it's a make it or break it deal for getting funding for a commercial release or something, but for now I just want to focus on keeping it fun to develop and moving forward at a relatively quick pace.

... but what if this was in double the resolution?

But what if instead of simply using CGA... we added a slightly darker shade of cyan for ENHANCED graphics.

Don't make me upgrade! Just toggle the intensity bit fast enough...

See!  The game is canon!

There will definitely some form of crafting...

LOTS of farming.

There will definitely be farming!

Loving the look, and your killer responses to the haters. I'm ready to be a witch! 

Aw thank you and I'm excited for more people to be a witch!

Those trees all have an angry face on the bottom and the roots are his fists, but also there's another face on top and he's happy and holding the foliage up. Glad this tree can be multi-emotional and multi-talented.

Ha ha.  I actually tried really hard to keep them from having faces and eventually conceded with the final design pictured below in the iterative process of making the perfect tree.

art direction is pretty slick so far!

You are incredibly kind! :D

I like people who are kind!

But what if instead of simply using CGA... we added a slightly darker shade of cyan for ENHANCED graphics.

The future is open wide!

I like the concept, but don't understand the CGA graphics. It will turn many gamers away. You have this ultra fancy HD screen with 1920x1080 pixels and then you gotta look at 4 colors. It's a shame.

I never thought about it.  You know what, you're right.  Papa keeps saying the future is EGA, but I keep ignoring him.  I guess it's time I wake up and smell the ENHANCED graphics.