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[Aloft]

Some Beach tiles. Should look pretty cool when we get the shore animated later:

[Aloft]

More Overworld studies:

[Arkana]

I really like the visuals, but I have quite a lot to say about this, mechanically! I'm only just trying out that "Latest build" on the first page, it seems like that build is quite old so ignore if I'm talking about anything that's been changed.

Since you are making a game like Zelda, I think it's fair to compare it to something like Link to the Past, even if this is just in development.

First of all, you can't move diagonally, this makes things feel very rigid, whether you're on keyboard or gamepad. Even Link to the Past had diagonal movement, and it felt quite fluid. If you want to stick to this 4 way though, I suggest mapping the D-pad of controllers by default too, because only 4 directions on an analog stick doesn't feel too great.

The way the sword is handled isn't great either I think. It just jabs directly in front of you. This makes it tough to hit moving targets, and puts the player in a lot of risk. In LttP the sword had a quite wide swing to it, so you could safely attack an enemy diagonal to you. I think it's much better than poking straight ahead for combat of this style, unless your weapon is long like a spear.

I have some issues with the enemies as well, the bats for instance actually have quite a lot of invincibility frames. Which is okay, but when you're in such tight spaces it's hard to handle. They can also knock you into places you shouldn't be like this:



Some rooms are just too small with too many enemies to avoid taking damage, or you enter the room right next to an enemy where you can quickly get damaged. Also going along with that, you need to ease players into the enemies or mechanics of the game. Showing them off in a safe environment first, before putting them in a dangerous one I think.

That's why the fire room of the dungeon feels like a huge difficulty spike. You are introduced to directional fire traps, arrow traps, and timed switches all at once. It's a bit much.

I hope the development of the game goes well, because I love how it's going so far! I'm looking forward to playing a more recent build of it.

[Aloft]

You may not have played the first Legend of Zelda.

While I think I would easily regard Link to the Past as the best of the 2D Zeldas, there are several things about the original LoZ that are virtues that are never really revisited in the series. You will find that a lot of the mechanical design choices are meant to evoke the techniques that made that particular game very memorable.

LoZ featured only 4-way movement, and in order to borrow from its combat style, we need to have 4-way movement as well. Likewise, the simple basic attack we have is also like that for the same reason. Character controllers are defined by their limitations. Precisely beacuse LoZ link can only move in 4 directions, and can only attack directly in front of him, certain opportunities present themselves in the enemy design that are not possible in LTTP. I think a lot of people are viewing it as a step backwards, rather than exploring a paradigm that hasn't seen a lot of other attention.

The combat of LoZ is distinct insofar as it relies on very small spaces that are quite heavily filled with enemies, and the player only has a few choices of the right way to walk to avoid damage. The small rooms are themself an enemy in LoZ. LoZ combat is extremely punishing to a new player, and mistakes quickly add up to failure over the longer dungeons, and we would like to evoke that kind of challenge ourselves.

You are right to say that the elements in the long room to the left would be introduced one at a time ideally; the prototype we present was more about testing systems than testing design progression, and for that reason was pretty full of elements. The dungeon demo that will come out in some months will feature a full dungeon that is built from a level-design perspective.

We indeed reduced the invincibility on the enemies a hair, as well as made the attack longer in the newer builds; the characters also blink in a way that allows the player to more easily visually track them when they are hit.

Thanks for the interest, and we look forward to bringing you gameplay updates in the future!

[PsySal]

Some Beach tiles. Should look pretty cool when we get the shore animated later:

Hio!! I am /really/ enjoying following this project, the screenshots are gorgeous

Do you have a twitter account you post these screenshots on? If not is it OK to repost the screenshots to my twitter, linking back to this thread? I just wanna send you some more people!

[Aloft]

Haha, do both things, by all means!

https://twitter.com/AloftStudio

Pretty decentish overlap in content, minus of course the dicussion.

[Aloft]

A concept for a major site in the overworld:

[Aloft]

A lot of firsts in this gif:

First time we show the Monova enemy in a game setting, first time the new character controller in same circumstance, and a new approach to dungeon tilesets!

[Pixel Noise]

Cool concept image!

I really like the two water ducts coming from the center on the lower level - if you animated those and made that a sort of fountain, that could be really nice.

I'd like to see a bit more space on both sides of the upper level, where the arches at the front sort of obscure the doorways(?) behind/underneath. And then more space between the main staircase and the pool in the upper level. Would maybe make it feel more expansive.

[Aloft]

Forest tileset scene:

[Cakeprediction]

absolutely gorgeous

[Aloft]

Feedback on our Color Study Helpful!

Any preferences? Important criteria are readablity, clarity, depth, perspective, color variation, layering, and ease of gameplay recognition of critical elements, such as hazards, boundaries, and characters.

[JonasDelima]

Stunning pixel art and fluid animation! I love these colours!

[Thaumaturge]

Personally--and I'll admit that I haven't studies the images in great depth, nor seen them in motion--I think that I prefer the top-left version: The brighter or more-saturated backgrounds seem to me to draw the eye a little much for backdrop elements, and I suspect that the darker, low-contrast floor results in the active level-elements (enemies, etc.) standing out a little more.

[oddcat]

I prefer the top-right one, because the brightness of the top of the walls to the bottom makes it appear to have more depth. I also like the green hue to contrast with the reds of the main character, but the floor tiles(or the lowest parts of your palette) could be shifted more towards blue, or have lower value to make the enemies "pop out" more(such as in the top-left, and bottom right). Amazing work on these tiles though.

[lobstersteve]

that looks sweet af. glad i've noticed this

[SolS]

I really like the art. So much detail and the colors are really nice

[Aloft]

Thanks! Sorry for the lull in updates guys! Had a work project that went a bit over, but more to come soon!

[Phonetic Hero]

This is looking great, some of the art and character movement reminds me a little of Secret of Evermore.  Never a bad thing!

[Kouban]

This game looks fantastic, to the point where I had no choice but to register for yet another messageboard :p
I've always wanted a good Zelda-style game on PC, and this definitely looks like one!
One thing I wanted to say: A few pages back, there was an animated cap of a bomb with a shrapnel effect; I think that maybe the shrapnel should be part of an upgrade, rather than included with the basic version of the bomb.