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[QuadrupleA]

Hey friends,

Fishing for a little help & feedback to make this better -

I've got a 2d engine set up for a procedurally generated Metroidy game I've been brainstorming - I want it to be a recognizable homage to the NES game, but with it's own distinct / unusual visual style - the early parts of the game would look more like the original, and then stray from that visually as it progresses.

Anyway on the uniqueness front I thought I'd try normal mapped sprites with specular maps and dynamic directional & point lighting - sort of a blend of 2d and 3d. I tried to do the "Brinstar" tiles in higher res to start:

No ambient light:

(click screens for full size)

Dim ambient:


Bright ambient (the classic look):


Big size with native-res tiles (probably too big for most screens sadly):


Let me know what you guys think of the tile and lighting styles - obviously the specifics would have to change a lot, I'm kinda in copyright-infringement land at the moment . But any feedback on the general direction would be appreciated.

[mono]

Looking good! You should vary lighting between fullbrigt and dark rooms. Maybe what depth you are at should factor in how dark respectively bright the room is.

[QuadrupleA]

Thanks Mono - light variation based on how far underground you are would definitely be cool, I'll play around with that.

[QuadrupleA]

One more scene test (click to view):



Any other feedback? Even "thumbs up" / "thumbs down" / "meh" would be helpful.

[BattleBeard]

I'm liking dis one

[Vince_Lawrence]

What are you using to make the game? Is it Game Maker?

Your lighting filter has a very high res, try to lower it to match the look and feel of a metrovania

[i wanna be the guy]

What are you using to make the game? Is it Game Maker?

Your lighting filter has a very high res, try to lower it to match the look and feel of a metrovania

i am very confused at everything in this post

[QuadrupleA]

Thanks guys.

What are you using to make the game? Is it Game Maker?

I'm using XNA for it.

[Vince_Lawrence]

What are you using to make the game? Is it Game Maker?

Your lighting filter has a very high res, try to lower it to match the look and feel of a metrovania

i am very confused at everything in this post

The tiles he was using is low-res while the lighting is high-res, you can see the smoothing effect on it which doesn't fit

[i wanna be the guy]

no... they're... pretty high res
did you actually click the images?
the tiles are fairly big

[Azure Lazuline]

The only weird thing I can see is that the acid/lava is cutting off very abruptly. Maybe applying slight bloom/blur to it would look better? The orange lighting on the tiles above it is really nice, though.

[QuadrupleA]

The only weird thing I can see is that the acid/lava is cutting off very abruptly. Maybe applying slight bloom/blur to it would look better? The orange lighting on the tiles above it is really nice, though.

Yeah, agreed - I might set up several edge tile versions to get it more like this (just a quick photoshop paint):



Thanks for the feedback.

[Azure Lazuline]

The problem is that now the edges of the acid are darker, yet still casting bright light on the surroundings. It does look better than the straight edges, but maybe it should be smaller and more random, or have it bleed into the surrounding tiles (which is why I suggested bloom).

[Alevice]

I suggest lava to be an underlay so the tiles black outlining doesn't make this awkward trasntiion

[QuadrupleA]

I suggest lava to be an underlay so the tiles black outlining doesn't make this awkward trasntiion

Cool - I like the underlay idea - will try that, maybe extend the lava 1/2 a tile into the surrounding floor in the background, with a gradient back to black.