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Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] Crystals and undead geologists! (EGA mockups)
« on: July 04, 2010, 08:24:44 pm »
I love the little sparkles, but forgot to mention them - they're cool!
I also like what you did with the waterfall edges.
I also really like your crystal animation mini-tute - very clever process!
I assumed when the letters were gold that it was narration or the player character's own thoughts. When you put the page behind, I realised that it was the words of the lost anthropologist (which is a terrific idea - not only does it add character, it alludes all the way back to Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth!). The gold letter effect is cool and moody, and if I had picked up a page, and clicked a button to read it, and the letters appeared, I would have had no issues whatsoever with understanding that the words came from the page.
I like your idea of having an icon appear up in the corner of the screen that would show that you have an unread page (that way the player is always in charge of when the action pauses). But if the pages only hold a short gameplay hint, especially if context sensitive, they maybe should pop open automatically.
As for making them look like they are on a page, I think the idea is cool, but it is too jarring to pick up an icon that looks like a page and then see an object that looks like a torn strip from a page. Any way to make the two more equal? (e.g. blurred top and bottom edges to suggest that only part of it is being seen?)
A background layer probably should be quite subtle, to prevent your focus from shifting from the foreground, but I don't know if a midground layer has to be too subtle because the drama created from the occasional sudden pass-by of near objects adds a sense of depth, as well as visual interest (such as a shipwreck coming into view on an otherwise flat seafloor). The trick would probably be to have the midlayer be sparsely populated (just the occasional statue, say, as in a game with a city level having a lamppost or a tree scroll by).
Gulp - bigger monsters?
As for game play, is puzzle platformer too cliche? When not a straight Sonic or Mario experience, my favourite excuse to move a character across a screen is surely epitomised by the GBA game, 'Klonoa: Empire of Dreams'. A jumping block-puzzle game would seem a perfect fit with the keys and idols and so on that you've shown so far. And lots of exploration and collecting, please!
I also like what you did with the waterfall edges.
I also really like your crystal animation mini-tute - very clever process!
I assumed when the letters were gold that it was narration or the player character's own thoughts. When you put the page behind, I realised that it was the words of the lost anthropologist (which is a terrific idea - not only does it add character, it alludes all the way back to Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth!). The gold letter effect is cool and moody, and if I had picked up a page, and clicked a button to read it, and the letters appeared, I would have had no issues whatsoever with understanding that the words came from the page.
I like your idea of having an icon appear up in the corner of the screen that would show that you have an unread page (that way the player is always in charge of when the action pauses). But if the pages only hold a short gameplay hint, especially if context sensitive, they maybe should pop open automatically.
As for making them look like they are on a page, I think the idea is cool, but it is too jarring to pick up an icon that looks like a page and then see an object that looks like a torn strip from a page. Any way to make the two more equal? (e.g. blurred top and bottom edges to suggest that only part of it is being seen?)
A background layer probably should be quite subtle, to prevent your focus from shifting from the foreground, but I don't know if a midground layer has to be too subtle because the drama created from the occasional sudden pass-by of near objects adds a sense of depth, as well as visual interest (such as a shipwreck coming into view on an otherwise flat seafloor). The trick would probably be to have the midlayer be sparsely populated (just the occasional statue, say, as in a game with a city level having a lamppost or a tree scroll by).
Gulp - bigger monsters?
As for game play, is puzzle platformer too cliche? When not a straight Sonic or Mario experience, my favourite excuse to move a character across a screen is surely epitomised by the GBA game, 'Klonoa: Empire of Dreams'. A jumping block-puzzle game would seem a perfect fit with the keys and idols and so on that you've shown so far. And lots of exploration and collecting, please!
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) like in old NES games where they didn't have a choice. Please disregard this if you have no such issues!