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[David Stanley]

I've taken some time recently to add a few props/effects to the sewer area.  Cold, dripping water and rats are the order of the day.  Kinda hard to get a perfect gif loop with all this overlapping motion, but you get the idea.

[Superb Joe]

i like the skeleton and the bat and the environments but i feel that your human characters have less charm than they do and almost look like theyre from a different game

[David Stanley]

If you find an odd blue torch, you'll come back to life nearby if you get killed. Always a good idea to light these magical torches so that you don't lose your progress!  I updated the flame animation today, as the last version was a bit lazy (for testing purposes).

[Silkworm]

Looks cool! What does the bat do?

Thank you!  The bat is your pet/companion, who knows pretty much every nook and cranny of this large dungeon.  The bat will have things to say depending on the situation...some of it is humorous conversation, and other times it will be helpful things or help lead you to a secret area nearby.  I was actually building that dialogue capability today, and with a button press you can have a bat chat whenever you like, but at the same time if you don't want to be bothered, you can play the entire game without these conversations.  I want to be careful not to pull the player away from the action, and just give them a choice.  I'm personally looking forward to writing the bat's dialogue, but that won't come until the levels are all figured out.

Neat! I agree, writing dialogue is fun but it's good to have a way to not force it down the players throat. My game features a companion as well and I'm definitely stealing gonna do something similar. Whether it's exposition or just funny stuff, making it an option is a good alternative to frequent cutscenes.

[David Stanley]

Neat! I agree, writing dialogue is fun but it's good to have a way to not force it down the players throat. My game features a companion as well and I'm definitely stealing gonna do something similar. Whether it's exposition or just funny stuff, making it an option is a good alternative to frequent cutscenes.

Haha go for it!  I've been playing with dialogue stuff in recent days, and I am doing that with NPCs you meet as well. The game has a plot, but isn't dialogue-heavy...so I'm definitely gonna be able to get by with this light and easy system where technically, you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to. 

Do you have a blog for your game where I can check it out?

[Silkworm]

Haha go for it!  I've been playing with dialogue stuff in recent days, and I am doing that with NPCs you meet as well. The game has a plot, but isn't dialogue-heavy...so I'm definitely gonna be able to get by with this light and easy system where technically, you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to. 

Do you have a blog for your game where I can check it out?

Not yet but I will start a devlog here in the near future.

[David Stanley]

Concept art for a new enemy, the Fire Spellcaster. I’m really looking forward to animating this enemy’s attacks!  Spellcasters always have the worst armor, so if you can get close without getting scorched, it should be an easy fight.

[Davi Vasc]

Awesome art! Love the cartoony style 

[David Stanley]

Awesome art! Love the cartoony style 

Hey, thanks Davi!  I'm trying to walk the line between cartoony and gloomy, hopefully it works well 

[David Stanley]

Here's some more progress on my Fire Spellcaster enemy.  I love the feeling of drawing in Flash, even after all these years.

This is the final promotional art for him!  I'm really happy with how it turned out.

[David Stanley]

Animation Process #1

Once my Fire Spellcaster enemy was designed, I needed to animate him.  Here is a glimpse of my process to animate his attack. Using basic shapes, I sketch out the movement. Once I'm happy enough with it, I refine these lines on a new layer, making sure to keep proportions and volume accurate.

[David Stanley]

Animation Process #2

Next, I go through and draw each major body part individually before moving to the next. This keeps my mind on task and helps me stay on proportion. I must pay attention to shadow tones as well once I begin coloring. At this stage I'll notice timing issues and start to fix them to create a more fluid animation.

[David Stanley]

Animation Process #3

If steps 1 and 2 are done properly, things should really be shaping up. I complete the rest of the body parts, and fix any remaining timing issues (this includes doing more in-betweens if necessary). Then I work on the fire effects. I know this character will throw a fireball at you, so I create a nice power up effect, then get rid of it as he waves his hands toward you. The fireball itself will be a separate object created during the game, so no need to animate it now. With time and patience, a full character will emerge.
This is just for one attack...he needs other animations for idle, getting hurt, and dying. I'll show you those another time!

[David Stanley]

The companion dialogue function in Skelattack is referenced in the code as BatChat.

It’s going quite well! Using invisible triggers, I can make brief situational dialogue prompts (if you stand in a certain area, the bat will try to tell you something about an obstacle, but if you walk away, the chat reverts to the standard text). I can also have certain triggers that activate a certain message that will not be turned off, no matter where you run (”I think that final door requires a key”).

Of course, the bat will never stop you mid-run and start chatting. It’s all optional, and just another layer of interaction for players to explore if they choose.

[David Stanley]

Tonight I re-worked my Companion's text box to draw itself dynamically, according to the text I put in.  It reads the length and height of the string to make my life a bit easier.  Previously I had to type out the dialogue, test the game to see if it all fit in my static box, then go back and edit.  It's not perfect yet, but it's very close to what I want for this game.

[johanbrodd]

This looks pretty slick!

[brantkings]

This is looking great! Looking forward to see something about the mechanics!

Oh, and thank you very much for showing up your animation process. Everything is looking great!

[David Stanley]

This looks pretty slick!

Thank you for stopping by!  It's quite an adventure, even for me.  I can't wait to see where development takes me in 2016

[David Stanley]

This is looking great! Looking forward to see something about the mechanics!

Oh, and thank you very much for showing up your animation process. Everything is looking great!

I appreciate the kind words!  Art/animation is my bread and butter, and I love being able to talk about them. Programming is much newer for me, but it's working! In my next few posts I'll start showing off more of the mechanics of this game. Probably nothing groundbreaking, but still really fun for me to figure out and implement in my own way.

[tanis]

Man, your animations are so sweet! I love the look of the characters.. you're right, very similar to 90's cartoons :D