Guys, thank you for all your feedback!
Take a second look, the green stuff is an environmental element, not a weapon. At least I believe. Edit: I do like those ideas though, and they could still work with the way it's currently implemented.
And pLaw, I'm excited to see any direction you take this game. I thought of a more eloquent way of describing what I meant to say. I'm attracted to a good pixel game more than a 3d styled game, but I still thoroughly enjoy both. I'm by no means a purist. Also thanks for the compliments on my game, it means a lot. I'm really happy with my progress, and look to other pixel artists (including yours) for inspiration.
Yes, the green growing tiles are an environmental feature and they react on bein "damage" and grow instead. Persistent (not 'player grown') green tiles are destructable with the flame thrower. Well observed
I understand what you mean. Prefering pixel art does not make you dismiss other artistic directions, of course.
Until now I just had the time to admire the screenshots of Dash & ATLAS. I'd like to take my time and read throgh the thread before I start to talk about the concept. The art definitely improved over the iterations and the current state of the character and the vehicle look pretty good.
Ohhhh my these design sketches look lovely
I think there's someone on these forums who runs a site dedicated to game design sketches like these? You should definitely submit these.
Oh, I didn't know such a thread existed. I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!
I like pixel art and i like your aliased characters and the high res tiles, too. But in case of that GRAIL screenshot, the individual parts look better than the combination, imho. I think pixel art lives by it's limitations. For example, different pixel sizes look wrong to me. On the other hand, i would like to see more games combining pixel art with an anti-aliased font, i'm weary of big-pixel-fonts. (For example: Swords & Sworcery used an aliased font. FEZ used a pixel font for dialogue, in combination with sub-pixel kerning.) Interestingly you already broke exactly that rule in your gate interface.
I'd love to see a complete hi res mockup. The 3D approach with 2D tiles and normal map lighting sounds interesting. And obviously you have the skills to use 3D for characters, too. You should not stick to pixel art for the sake of nostalgia.
I have similar thoughts on consistency regarding pixel sizes within a scene. I wouldn't go exactly for the GRAIL style because of the inconsistent 'resolutions' of the different parts you pointed out (there was a time restriction, so I decided not to put too much work into this
). As for fonts within a pixel art styled game, I rather prefer the fonts to fit into the raster prescribed by the pixel art. I know, I broke that rule in my gate room
but I considered it to be a work in progress and I'm still uncertain of the current art style. Swords & Sworcery did not convince me interface-wise. The pixel art in this game is so gorgeous and well-crafted but the non-pixel-UI with vector graphics, gradients and fonts in a few places broke the spell for me. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great game. Same thing with Freaking Meatbags or Dungeon of Endless. Both unquestionably great games, but the UIs somehow do not fit with the rest imho.
I think I'll be working on some mockups first to get some ideas on the art direction.
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