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[Kadoba]

Hello. I've started working on the Untitled Story's nightwalk stage. It's a WIP right now but I wanted to show what I have so far to get some feedback. Also, I'd feel pretty bummed if I got half way through and someone else made the stage first.

latest WIP



original reference:


Honestly I'm not sure if people will approve of the visual style. I'm not sure if I should keep going the way it is or if I should adopt the original's more siplistic style or if I should just add thick outlines or what.

Anyway, feedback please!

Actually it would be great if Matt himself came along and said something.  

[Plasticware]

I think a thick outline would look nice, not only as a reference to the original, but also because of the thick outlines on the characters.

Very nice work so far, though.

[Soulliard]

A thick outline isn't necessary. The thick outlines of the characters are designed to make them stand out from the background, so you can understand why they wouldn't be as important for the backgrounds themselves. A thin outline wouldn't be a bad idea, though.

It's good to see you working on the graphics for this stage, since I know a lot of people are really looking forward to some reference to An Untitled Story.

The graphics need to have a more cell-shaded appearance, though. Such smooth blending doesn't fit the game's style, nor does it suit pixel art's strengths. You should not need to use more than 3-4 shades for the entire stone structure. You ought to up the contrast, too, so the details really come out.

The stage needs to be at least 384 pixels tall, but should preferably be a bit taller. Give it a higher ceiling, and a bit more space for the floor. It looks like you should be able to stand on the structure's roof, so there needs to be enough space to see any action going on up there.

As a minor note, the pots look like they're viewed from an isometric angle, rather than side view.

Finally, this isn't strictly necessary, but it would be nice if the level stuck to a 16x16 grid. Jumping is balanced around this assumption.

Again, it's really good to see some progress on this. Keep up the good work. 

[shig]

I think we should stop jumping to make stages and charcters like this without making a poll or something first. Especially since we probably won't redo things or discard/replace stuff that we already started working about so easily in this project.

I'd like to have a thread more or less like the character ranking one, but this time talking about wich stage we should do next.

[Karuvitomsk]

I agree -- although this is a very nice idea for a stage.

[Soulliard]

I'm glad that you think my characters thread worked out (I do too!). But that was only for marginal characters. Since An Untitled Story is so popular, and doesn't contain any fitting items or characters, a stage is the best inclusion. So I wouldn't call it marginal.

[Kadoba]

any better?

[Soulliard]

Here's a really quick and dirty edit:


All I did was change the colors and clean up the outlines a bit. The shading still needs work, though. In particular, too much of the image is made up of highlights.

[Inanimate]

I was about to suggest lowering the amount of shade colors, but Soulliard beat me to that. I agree with thick outlines too, but maybe a bit more faded into the sprites, to still let the main characters pop out?

[Winterous]

That looks great man!
Needs anoutline, but not necessarily a thick one.
Planning to make the stage move to the up-higher bit?

[Kadoba]

sheeeeeesh. I'm really not use to working in such a crisp style.

overhead lighting + cell shading + hard contrast = headaches.

Dammit I'm going to get this down. 

[it_is_coming]

oh yay my music might get used.  did anyone ever listen to it?

[William Broom]

Pretty sure I did, and it was good.

This bird statue is looking good too!

[Kadoba]

It's getting there. Not completely happy with it but it's shaping up at least.

[Plasticware]

The shading's inconsistent - you've got highlights on both sides.

A quick edit:

Not entirely happy with the highlight blob on the chest/stomach area, but you get the idea.

[Kadoba]

yeah I wanted the light to come from directly above and so I was having a hard time decided where to put highlights. they ended up all over the place. But I tried to make it look more like it was coming from up and behind the statue instead and I think it looks a lot better.

[Thewaether]

About outlines: would it work if they were thick, but a slightly darker grey than those around the characters?

[Soulliard]

It would have to be a paler, less saturated outline. Character outlines are black.

[medieval]

I think it needs more shades

[Yigguth]

I have a suggestion for the level, how about if the top platforms are unreachable normally, and have those red things that fling you up on each side?