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[Ashkin]

Yeah, he's asking for feedback on the art, not the game.
The title, I guess, is a pun on the Schrodinger's cat experiment.

[beestings]

Sorry, I forgot this was an art thread... I was just giving some opinions, Skull decide what you want for your game, because its obviously your game.

Platformers just lack luster so often to me, and I hate to see a game with such great art disapoint me aswell.. 

[phubans]

This game makes my pixels hard... I love the look of it so far!

[BomberTREE]

  Oh my, those are some delicious pixels. KEEP IT UP PLEASE (:

[impulse9]

I don't like Halloween too much but man do I like your pixels! Great work.

[Skull]

Hey guys! Heh, I didn't expect so much feedback when I first posted here, thanks!

Well, firstly, the sound designer working with me on this entrepreneur has recently started this topic looking for feedback on the bgm that should go with these graphics. Go check it out and give your opinion, please!

Now, I'm well aware of all of the HUD inadequacies, and I'm resizing and redesigning it all from scratch to better fit the overall feel of the aesthetics, and I might have an update for it soon. By the way, it's supposed to be (at least at first) a flash game, not a smartphone one, so I guess reducing the HUD is the way to go.

Also, I started this topic as an Art topic instead of a devlog because I currently have more to offer when it comes to graphical design. The game mechanics are currently either experimental or vague concepts, and I'll probably need comments on that soon, but just not until I get these graphics down.

What I do plan to do is to implement more colors into the palette by creating collectable items (I'm currently thinking about candies, any other ideas that go with the Halloween theme?) and placing more light-sources, as suggested by Shoryucas, about the levels.

So, not to keep you hanging, here's the current animation of the Cat in ghost-form:


Thanks for all the positive feedback and constructive criticism! I'll be sure to post here whenever there's an update!

PS: for the ones who guessed, the name really is a pun on the Schrödinger's cat experiment, and the idea of said cat being simutaneously dead and alive (hence the ability to assume ghost-form as a probable core game mechanic).

[Skull]

Hey, it's been some time.

So, I've been slowly making progress with this project, and I'd like some more of your opinion.

First, I've begun to make the whole design cleaner, replaced the individual pebbles from the ground by chunkier brick like things, redesigned the headstones, and some more stuff. Also, I'm experimenting with lighting effects for light sources, such as the pumpkins and the wisps. Here's a comparison:


Also, what do you guys think about this:


Thanks in advance.

[Quarry]

candy corn icon in the UI looks like shrooms

[EdgeOfProphecy]

candy corn icon in the UI looks like shrooms

Agreed.

Maybe try drawing it sideways, or at an angle?

[s_l_m]

Ditto on the candy corn icon, I really like the cat animation though

[Shoryucas]

Looks very good. The UI's got nice colors. Maybe put a bit more space between the x's and the numbers, or make it a different style of x so it doesn't run together with the numbers. I think the dirt tiles make more sense, being in a graveyard and all, but the bricks look nice too. Make the music note icon's stem 1 or 2 pixels higher and I think it'll read better.
The lighting in the second shot is bad. I think it would look nice to bake the lighting into the tiles (as in, draw it manually), though that would be more work. The Jack o lantern doesn't look lit anyway.

[Skull]

Hey, thanks for all the comments!

@Shoryucas Okay, too bad the lighting didn't work the easy way, I'll put some extra effort on it later down the road. I have ideas to make it more believable such as animating it with flickering and making its size fluctuate a bit.

@Everyone I've tweaked the HUD a bit, possibly making my candy corns look less like shrooms, and put together a new mockup, depicting part of the tutorial area.

Please, tell me what you think of it:




BTW, this project is getting bigger than I predicted at first, and I've been considering making a devlog here in TIGS to document my progress. Do you guys think it's worth it?

[Belimoth]

BTW, this project is getting bigger than I predicted at first, and I've been considering making a devlog here in TIGS to document my progress. Do you guys think it's worth it?

Yes!

[Quarry]

What about flipping the mushroom vertically so it looks like a candy corn?

[GhostBomb]

Is the candy corn thing really such a big deal?

I'd assume it's pretty clear that it's candy corn once you start collecting them on screen.

[Skull]

@Belimoth Alright! I'll create the devlog topic as soon as I get the 'programmer' portion of the game sorted out.

@Quarry & GhostBomb Well, thanks guys, but I'll be taking a break in the candy corn problem, an reevaluating my collectable ideas completely. Do you guys have any suggestion? More variety? Points instead of number of thingies collected?

Also, new mockup featuring spikes!

[s_l_m]

@Belimoth Alright! I'll create the devlog topic as soon as I get the 'programmer' portion of the game sorted out.

@Quarry & GhostBomb Well, thanks guys, but I'll be taking a break in the candy corn problem, an reevaluating my collectable ideas completely. Do you guys have any suggestion? More variety? Points instead of number of thingies collected?

Also, new mockup featuring spikes!

I ADORE that owl

[Skull]

Alright, I redid the last mockup in order to experiment with a bigger screen size to allow for more area for puzzles:


And I began testing using a filter overlay for ghost-mode:


Please, tell me what you guys think of it.

@s_l_m Hope you like it, bro:

[HyMyNameIsMatt]

Ooh.  I haven't had a chance to comment on this yet so I'll just cover the visual difference in the two modes.

The blur on the ghost cat picture is a visual obstruction, a minor one, but an obstruction nevertheless.  I'm not saying that as a bad thing, if actually offers some possibility.  Depending on how you want to play the game as that ghost cat that is.  If playing in that form is meant to be equal to playing in the other form, then I'd see about visually showing off the difference in another way, or just lowering the blur more.  But say ghost cat form is meant to be more difficult or more unpredictable or something in comparison, then I'd stick with what you have and adjust the alpha level on that blur until it's nicely polished.

This game has interesting art and certainly fits its theme nicely.  Hope to see more.

[DustyDrake]

I think mainly the ghost form is for swapping bodies.