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[AxezDNyde]

My concern with the black-outlined style is that it could be harder to notice enemies since they share some colors, but the translucent style could make everything look too samey. Would appreciate any opinions!

I think with black-outlined style it could be harder to notice enemies
and the translucent style could make everything look too samey.

Yes, I know. My point follows:
Use the black version if you want the enemies to be hidden, blended, covered or similarily.
Use the translucent ones if you want the furniture to not be part of the gameplay mechanics (and you already have the models lying around because you know, they are kinda unobstrusive then)

[TinyAngryCrab]

I think it should definitely be coloured slightly diff to the walls - for the purpose of cool player feedback some of it can be cover/destructible, and that means it serves a different gameplay purpose to the walls. Not to mention the flat graphics style rewards a bit of extra contrast, I think!

[JobLeonard]

How about trying out something in-between and creating dark translucent furniture?

[Canned Turkey]

Or you can see slight silhouettes of enemies through the furniture?

[nicotuason]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I decided on slightly translucent, dark colored furniture because it stands out more from the walls and doesn't completely obscure the objects behind it.

This past week I've turned my attention towards making Lithium City feel like a real, living place... which scares the shit out of me. Backstory! Lore! Environmental Storytelling! Gaaah!

I've never been a writer, and up until now I've only done relatively short and abstract games. Highscore games. How do you go from that to building a believable world for the player to inhabit?

I decided to keep it simple and start with genre tropes and stereotypes. If I can't flesh those out, then there's no point in trying anything more complicated.

So you're some kind of Law-enforcing android (gynandroid?). The first thing you'll need is a base of operations.


This is the Command Center. From here, you receive missions and equip yourself before battle.

floor plan (pixel art in photoshop, which is parsed by the game into a full sized map):



In-game (logo on the floor is WIP):




Of course, a command center needs to be staffed! (shit). Fortunately, it doesn't take too long to mock up some characters using the game's vector art style (just like the guns). Animation will be another matter, but I feel happy about this assortment of character sketches:



Hopefully you can tell a bit of their backstory and personality just by looking at them. I don't plan on having a lot of exposition, so distinguishing features on characters will probably be really important.

[JobLeonard]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I decided on slightly translucent, dark colored furniture because it stands out more from the walls and doesn't completely obscure the objects behind it.

Aww yeah, my advice was useful!

Love the new screenies

Hopefully you can tell a bit of their backstory and personality just by looking at them. I don't plan on having a lot of exposition, so distinguishing features on characters will probably be really important.

The chief feels like a old-fashioned sexist bastard, NOLF style.

[marcgfx]

There are a lot of weird glitches happening in the rotation animations (the hair is really bad), are you not using 3D models? or are these clipping errors? I must say, it really confuses me. looking great otherwise and I like the choice for furniture color.

[nicotuason]

@JobLeonard - Haha yeah! Interesting insight on the Chief... might help me shape his personality later on :p

@marcgfx - Nope these aren't 3D models, they're composed entirely of 2D quads. Here's some gifs I made a while ago that help illustrate the idea:






The clipping happens when one quad group is shuffled in front of another quad group during depth sorting, and I agree it looks confusing. I've been trying to minimize it but the only way to remove it completely is use only one color for the entire character. Or to switch to a 3D engine :c

I'm planning to do another pass on the main character's hair so it doesn't clip so much.

[nicotuason]

Okay, I feel like I've spent enough time dicking around with concepts and mechanics and character designs. It's time to start building the damn game!

The Main Menu is probably the first thing the player will see, so I got started on that:



Hopefully those look like flying cars in the background. I couldn't actually put them down on the road because that would require they be depth sorted with the buildings... and that would kill the framerate O_o

[marcgfx]

thanks for your explanation about the character build-up. I hope you can resolve the clipping issues, the characters look great overall.
the flying cars going over the buildings look wrong, as the "roads" seem to be what they are flying above. but on the other hand, why do you even need roads if you have flying cars? maybe the roads could be above the buildings?

If you had not mentioned the issue, I probably would not have noticed.

[JobLeonard]

Love it! Any cool transition animations planned for selecting different menu options?

[Fenrir]

Wow I just realized that you're not using a 3D engine for this!
Btw I love the main menu!

[Mya]

That there...is a lovely looking menu.

[nicotuason]

@JobLeonard - Thanks! For now I'm just going to do a simple sliding out animation for the menus. If I have more time later on then I can experiment with cooler transitions.

why do you even need roads if you have flying cars?

hmmm... that's a good point. I decided to remove not just the roads, but the entire *ground*.



Now we're so high that we can't even see the ground! I like it... it makes the city feel dense and unfathomable.


Also worked on an additional character today: the SWAT bot



Will they be on your side? Who knows? :p

[nicotuason]

Been playing around with Starling's Blur filter for a "stealth" mode:



This is done by setting the blur filter's resolution to 0.1 and tweening the blurX and blurY value from 0 to 1. I also made the entire sprite blink between normal and additive blend modes to get that glitchy effect.

When in stealth mode, enemies line of sight will be drastically reduced. You will also be able to see their cone of vision so you know what to avoid.

[marcgfx]

the city with cars looks great now, great change! the blur/blinking looks pretty interesting, I like it! two thumbs up

[JobLeonard]

Nice, I think you can exaggerate the difference between horizontal and vertical blur even more!

[Petey]

Love the mood and atmosphere of this, your title screen looks amazing!

The blur/stealth ability is cool, seems like there's a lot of room for sick player abilities.

[Thranx]

Created an account here just to say, looks awesome!  Will keep an eye on this project.  Love the visuals... really looking forward to this now. 

Keep up the good work!

[Christian]

@JobLeonard - Thanks! For now I'm just going to do a simple sliding out animation for the menus. If I have more time later on then I can experiment with cooler transitions.

why do you even need roads if you have flying cars?

hmmm... that's a good point. I decided to remove not just the roads, but the entire *ground*.



Now we're so high that we can't even see the ground! I like it... it makes the city feel dense and unfathomable.


Also worked on an additional character today: the SWAT bot



Will they be on your side? Who knows? :p

That menu is awesome. i love it

Any plans for a hacking mechanic? Would be cool to be able to force SWAT bots onto your side