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[louisdeb]

looks good! some comments at this point, though i totally understand that this game is still in early stages.

i think the background art needs to be a bit more varied both in colours but also in details. it's pretty plain. i'm thinking of like whores smoking out of the windows and stuff (something to really set the mood of what you're going for, whores may not be it). in terms of the colours it's quite hard to differentiate the foreground from the background - maybe this is because the video isn't hd or anything.

music is really nice but wish it would transition into a more lead/synth thing.

sprites are a bit hard to see the details in them - maybe the vid quality again.

mechanics and stuff look really good, not sure about actually disappearing when taking damage.

though maybe that sounds negative at parts but really this looks impressive! just trying to give criticism to help out, though i know that some may be placeholder and all that. well done so far :D 

[Tazi]

Thanks for the reply! No worries, you're not harsh or anything, and I'm mostly agree with you in what you said.
The quality of the video definitely doesn't help in presentetion, for example the disappearence of the character happens due to framerate issues. I'll try to find a way to capture it in better quality next time.

i'm thinking of like whores smoking out of the windows and stuff (something to really set the mood of what you're going for, whores may not be it).

Yeah, I've got what you mean, there will be animated stuff in the background, and some people in the streets, to make it more alive. Also more background elemens basically, like different type of carwrecks, burning barrels, stay dogs eating from trashcan, etc.
Tho I will keep the windows for the enemies: They will jump out if it, attacking the player, or throwing molotovs at him. I think I will also create some buildings in this stage, that the player can pass trough, and there will be a ruined highway with viaducts and bridges at the beginning of the level, where the bikers will attack. (kinda like in Megaman X)

[louisdeb]

stay dogs eating from trashcan

yeah that kind of thing exactly! personally the setting and art makes me think of the game as more of a gritty downtown thing - hence the whores. other things like that that crossed my mind are like gun/drug dealers in alley ways (big black trench coats and hats exchanging money for items) or even like mafia drive by's on random people walking down the street.

I'll try to find a way to capture it in better quality next time.

whenever i record or stream i use OBS which is really good, easy to use, free and high quality. if you like the look of it and have any questions about setting it up id be happy to help

[Tazi]

Wow, this is so much better then the free version of Fraps, thank you! 
I'll make a better quality video tomorrow!

yeah that kind of thing exactly! personally the setting and art makes me think of the game as more of a gritty downtown thing - hence the whores.

Yup, I'm happy you got that association from the art, because I'm trying to do this "colorful 80's low budget sci-fi, with street gangs and urban decay" mood, especially for this stage.

[louisdeb]

No problem 

Yeah well, partly from the gameplay video, partly from the logo, and partly from those ealier pics with the subway and graffiti. It's all very much aimed towards this theme, which is exactly what you should be doing!

[louisdeb]

Hey just had a small design idea and thought of this game. You know the screen where you're at a subway station ? Well instead of having some still trains in the background have them moving but before they come play that really laser like sound that comes before them (what that actually is I don't know). And sometimes play a really pixelated honk as they go by.

[JLJac]

I love this. Those colors, those environments, that 80's/90's look. Wow! 

[Ruxar]

Really like the look of this, the video had a touch of shinobi about it. Art style is spot on.

[Tazi]

Hey just had a small design idea and thought of this game. You know the screen where you're at a subway station ? Well instead of having some still trains in the background have them moving but before they come play that really laser like sound that comes before them (what that actually is I don't know). And sometimes play a really pixelated honk as they go by.

Would be cool, and I've played with the idea in the past to have trains working in the background, but I decided to go with an abandoned station, it will make more sense in the story, I thought out for the game.
But since the whole game is set in an urban area... who knows, I might add a working station sub-stage for a level.


I decided not to update the last video. yet, instead, I'll wait until I have the first part of stage 1 finished, so it will represent more of how the it will be in the game for it's final form. Right now I have made some graphics for the highway/viaduct, which will collapse and fall under the player, (like in Megaman X) and programmed it too. I also have smoke clouds animated for that, and for possibly a lot of other events I will abuse them for. 

[louisdeb]

I decided to go with an abandoned station, it will make more sense in the story, I thought out for the game.

Ah well that makes a lot of sense :D

[Tazi]

I posted this already to the Screenshot Saturday section, but I figured I should add it here too, and write an update since months has passed.

So I finally made some effort in putting together stage 1-1: it will start with this ruined highway/viaduct thingie, and continues with the slum area at 1-2, and will be concluded in 1-3 with a single boss fight.

Actually, I can't really manage to work on the game as much as I want to, or as much as produces plausible results. I have enough money saved, so within a few months, I'll leave my job, and move to a cheaper city, and gonna do this full time.
I honestly don't even care anymore if this game will be a failure or a success, I just want to make it the best I can make it to, because I can't imagine my life any other way, then working on this. I've been doing different projects in my free time since 15 years at least, without ever finishing anything "big", and I had enough of that...

So... besides sharing here this boring personal stuff, my point ment to be: I will update a lot, starting from February 2014. I can't wait! 

[SolarLune]

This looks really weird (in a good way) and interesting. I like your art colors and style - it's looking really slick! I would only suggest colored lights for the subway. Otherwise, don't mind me.

[Tazi]

I don't think that's a very good idea... It sounds like you're about to make the same mistake I've done in the past, which is letting a project take over your life, more or less. You'll get burned out, like I did. I've been working on projects for over 20 years, but only finished half a dozen, and they weren't even any good in particular. My advice to you is: take it slow... let it take it's time. Don't quit your dayjob just yet. Work on the project when you have the time and when you feel like it. If you feel you don't have enough time, or things aren't turning out the way you wished for - maybe you need to re-organise your plan and schedule. Even if you only have an hour or two each day, you can still reach your goals if you plan things right. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! 
Actually it's more complex then the thing I want to work on the game: I have a job right now that takes away all my time with 11-12 work hours, and 2 hours of travelling, it's stressful and intense, and I'm already burned out by it, and I'm planning to quit since some years. I'm always tired, I try to sleep less to have more time, but even that is not really enough, not just for the game, but for meeting friends, going to places too. It hurts both my social life and creativity, which leaves me two choices if I want to change on this (and I really want):
A.) I leave my current job, and try to get a new one, while I try to stay positive, and hope for that it will be better, and it happens before my money runs out.
B.) I move back to my hometown where my life costs will be A LOT cheaper, so I can manage to stay without an income for a year instead of 4-5 months. Even if this game won't make enough for a living, I guess it will be an okay reference of my skills, so I can get some game dev releated jobs in the future easier. Even if not, I will still spend a year on doing something great.    (And I will still have a few months of cash to get a job, before I strave to death )
I'll go with "B" choice, besides that's the one I haven't tried in my life yet.

About burning out, you are right, it can easily happen, but I found a few things that can help me, like sports, or spending time with friends, reading, etc. things that I also don't have much time for right now. Doing dev crunch all week is killer, but I want to avoid that, and leave at least one of the weekend days as "free".
Another thing is I do both the coding, music, graphics, etc. in the game, so when I'm tired of solving programming releated issues, I can just stop, and work on the music, or adding some more variety to a tileset. I think this will help keeping the experience as fresh. 

Ah it turned into kind of a text dump, doesn't it? 

[louisdeb]

@Tazi

Wow, big decision. Best of luck to you in whatever you end up doing.

My 2 cents is this:
If you're really struggling at your current job (in terms of general lifestyle) then quit. But I wouldn't definitely jump straight into this game full time.
Say you end up doing this game for a month. That's been a month working by yourself on this one thing. Even if it's not labour intensive that could really easily tire you out, and then you would be less inclined to finish the game, and that's a month of time and money wasted.
Of course, maybe it doesn't turn out like that.
If I were in your shoes I'd quit the job, and start looking for another. In the meantime work on the game regularly. When looking for jobs try find something more local and better hours. At the same time don't jump into moving to your hometown (unless you're set on that). Maybe you find the ideal job not too local. Just move local to the job!
Also take a look at game dev studio jobs. When you've finished a project with them, why not offer up your game? (Of course if you're willing to let others work on it).
Your social life may also suffer if you're moving... so keep that in mind. Of course I don't know your social life, so maybe it won't.

All that being said, if you're really set on doing it your way, then you probably should do that! It'll be what you enjoy most, and if in the longterm it doesn't suit you, at least you're flexible to change (keeping money in mind...)

Looking forward to updates, and best of luck!

[Tazi]

So, weak before Christmas was a shortage of free time, and I kinda forget to reply (again), but then, it's still not late...

@louisdeb: Thanks!   Some good ideas there, but the problem is that I live in Hungary, and it's even harder to get a job here, like in most western-european countries. I live in the capitol (Budapest), and if I'm lucky, but only then, I can get a new job in 1-2 months, otherwise it can be half a year, or more, and I really have not much money for that long period. However, if I move back to my hometown, I don't have to pay rent there (rent is expensive in Budapest), and I'll have more time to cook for myself (no need to order, or buying expensive junkfood), so that can save many more months of living costs. I'm 27 years old, and currently without a partner, and it's a nice setting to start something like this, hovewer 5 years in the future, I'll might have kids, and a lot more responsibilities then just myself, so if I ever wanna do and try this... I'm not saying it's the last chance, but might be.
Even if it turns out to be a failure, I will be satisfied by that at least I did everything I'm capable of...  
Of course, there is that I have less friends in my hometown, and I can burn out, if I just sleep and wake up everyday with game-creation, but I think I can handle those issues.


Oh well, too much personal stuff, not enough screenshots, right?
Well, here's something I'm working on right now:


It will type text in a way you can see in different SNES games (Final Fantasy, Megaman X, etc.), and every character will have a portrait like this. Or at least the important ones, and all bosses.

[Tazi]

something new, this dude will be the first boss:


not walter white, from the future.

also, now I have evil facebook page, for those who enjoys telling Mark Zuckerberg what they like: https://www.facebook.com/neon.grey.the.game
(i'll probably post major updates there, when any of those kinda things will exist. yeap.)



@Manboobs: Thanks for the opinion!  You're actually not the first one who mentoins the backgrounds, I was just not decided yet about to what to do with them. They're technically low-res just as the other sprites, but they use a lot more colors (256 at least), and thanks to that it's so anti-aliased that it makes you think otherwise. (also, the scanlines) Inconsistency was actually what my plan was, I was inspired by 80s/early 90s cartoons (and Hotline Miami, and VGA DOS era games with the gradient BGs), which ones had simple celshaded characters, and super-dailed backgrounds, but I might went a bit far with it, I guess.
Dunno, it's hard to look at your own work objectively...
Anyway, it's very likely I'll revise them later.

[Tazi]

I actually use lo-res for the backgrounds too, and everything is scaled up, without antialias and in-game, but I make those gradient backgrounds with Photoshop (or GIMP, mostly) instead of real pixel art, which is might not be a good solution. But actually they as pixelated as the tileset and character sprites, if you look closely. They just stick out.
I tried to reduce the color debth with dither, but it doesn't look too nice, expecially since I use those scanlines. Scanlines + massive dither is not a good combination.

I guess I have to look at other games for examples, and figure out a way I can redraw them via pixel art. Dunno.

[lithander]

I really love the name... Neon Grey. Immediately made me think "Technoir" and *click* on the link!

[ekun]

This looks pretty neat.

Do you have any GIFs of gameplay? I'd love to see the art in motion.

[Tazi]

@Manboobs
No probs.
Tho, they're still kinda inconsistant, and I'm such a slacker when it comes to redoing something...  

@ekun
Thanks! It's just those lo-fi videos so far, but I'll definitely post some GIFs in the near future.