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Messages - Ninja Crow
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41
Pixel Art / Re: RPG stuff [WIP]
« on: March 27, 2010, 05:55:12 pm »
Hi, KFM!

Hope you are enjoying your time here at Pixelation.

If you want to make a female sprite in the cute style you have going there, my advice would be the following:
  • make the shoulders not as wide
  • make the arms point away from the body like this: /U\ - rather than toward the body like \U/ as you have for the men
  • move the waist to be closer to the chin, which will make the legs longer (which you also need)
And of course, a female hairstyle.  And that should be all you need for the sprite to read as female (if you want to put a skirt on a female sprite, there's room for that with the arms angled out away from the body).

Believe it or not, one of the most fun sci-fi RPGs I ever played was "Secret of the Stars". It was deep and fun and satisfying, yet had simple graphics (compared to what we're used to today) proving that game play was king.  I mention this not to imply that your graphics are too simple, but only to help take the pressure off if you are worried about the strength of your graphics - I think they are strong and cute so far, so you should be able to do just fine!

One tiny critique, though is that the guy's head with the red hair, is too flattened (no room for skull before the hair starts).  I hope that this isn't because you ran out of room for your sprite - you'll need some space for certain animations anyway, undoubtedly, so please think about leaving some room (I'm sure you could make them shorter by removing a line from their shirt).

And I like your signature - even though there is a sad face, I see it as a very positive thing to have the percentage numbers, which can only go up, right? I really look forward to seeing them rise and rise!

Thanks,
JD

42
2D & 3D / Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...
« on: March 27, 2010, 04:49:43 pm »
It's beautiful Howard, though I have to use my task manager to kill it (and is there any way to have a full screen with bars at top and bottom for the proper aspect ratio?).

I can't believe that nice blue planet - I have never seen such interesting and lovely patterning.

I'll try to make this a useful post by saying that the text tends to blend with the background, making it somewhat hard to read, and on the line where it is mentioned that the GunApe is returning, the word "returning" prints on the second line and then gets bumped to the third when it doesn't fit (a paragraph-ending character could be put just before the word with no detriment to the meaning, I feel).

But these are little little things, and do not affect the fact that it functions which is the important thing. In the interests of rapid prototyping, I would never fix anything that doesn't keep the game from functioning until the game is completed, because it is all too easy for a project to stall - even indefinitely - while fiddling on trivia.

Thank you for the update - again, I think it was beautiful and had a great atmosphere.

43
2D & 3D / Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...
« on: February 19, 2010, 09:25:56 pm »
The new heat HUD is awesome, and really goes with the style, and really gives a feel for how much is left before meltdown!  I also am looking forward to seeing if an always-on HUD is better (the fade in/out was a little distracting).

Let me just say immediately here that this time playing through the level, it wasn't just a salivary visual tour, I was having a blast!  And, since the addition of bumblebot, it's the first time I've made it to the end of the level, so I'm building up playskill for the game, and that's always a rush - I'm grateful!  (Danc from http://lostgarden.com/ commented on the fun of learning game skills in a post on 'Soul Bubbles')

I love how the clusters of bumblebots ambush you.  BTW, do you have a name for your rolly-polly-bug-bot yet?  May I suggest pillbot?

I love the ground level change midway, and I love that plank you walk over at the end - it may not require any special balance, but it activated the same thrill areas of my brain anyway.  Sweet.  In fact, I was hoping to mention that I want to jump up onto things, but wasn't sure if it would be appropriate - now I just can't help but hope for small buildings and scaffolding platforms (&c) to be in my way!

44
2D & 3D / Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...
« on: February 17, 2010, 07:23:54 pm »
This is darn sweet.

But I need a health refill item to make it to the end of the level!  (a 'mission complete' when you reach the end would also be fun.)

If you walk off the left edge of the screen, you can't walk back (this is probably just a nitpick that doesn't need immediate addressing).

I'm also interested in your thoughts behind the jumping - what is the philosophy behind speed/gravity/height, &c.  What drives the 'feel' of the jump?

45
2D & 3D / Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...
« on: February 16, 2010, 08:37:23 pm »
Oh man, a broken link!  (and I been starvin' myself all week so I could splurge)

If you don't mind something fiddly, I noticed in the previous build that the exclaimer in the 'Mission Start!' is hard to read, because the diagonal stripes hide the break between the bar and the dot.

Can you specify a bit more about your troubles with the monkey?  Is it how to animate (as in, where should the arms be in each frame) or a technical issue (something in your 3-D modelling programme) or is it design (legs aren't the right length/shape/colour/whatever) or what, exactly?  Is it the face?  That monkey face is pretty small - I don't think you could read its expression unless it was exaggerated like a Mario character anyway - the devil is in the details, and this would bedevil me if I didn't save it for last.  How explosive are you imagining the final movement abilities of the monkey?  Can he leap around like in a comic book?  Yeah, I guess you could say I'm really interested.

Speaking of jumping, I'm also interested in how that will work.  Will there be a variable jump height?  Air friction?  Air drift?  When he reverses direction will there be turn friction?  (I consider these things to be the essential platformer elements, and demand them for platformer engines, but I don't know how much of a platformer you're looking at this being.)

Thanks.
[chants 'fix link, fix link!']

46
2D & 3D / Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...
« on: February 11, 2010, 06:27:56 pm »
Jad:  Thank you :)

Howard Day:  The new intro rocks (love that developer name) and the idea of the floating fireflies is also nice (you see, it's thoughtful details like this that convince me our relationship will be a good one!) but I couldn't tell whether they were being sucked into the words or being bug-zapped on them.

Bumblebot is such an awesome creation - a triumph of design and animation - and he's way fun to obliterate, too!  I just noticed, though, when you're shooting at enemies that those amazing explosions are too big against their bodies, and should be smaller so you can see what's going on - until they blow up, of course, which requires the biggest bang you can find!  (oops, it's only for large groups - when they're on their own there is actually an awesome-looking pulse for hitting them.  Sorry, man!  :-[)

I don't know if you noticed, but the 'T' key makes an explosion under the reticle.

These observations are mostly just to show I'm paying careful attention - they're certainly not show-stoppers - so please ignore them if you think they'll get in the way of your momentum.  Just about any tiny detail can be fixed in 'post' after the rapid prototyping stage where enough work is done that no one doubts it can be wrapped up easily (I wish Christmas presents wrapped up easily...).

Speaking of the game, I hope you keep a PC version, because I don't have a PSP!

47
2D & 3D / Re: Bitten by the sidescroller bug...
« on: February 08, 2010, 07:23:58 pm »
Hi HD!

I was linked here from http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9818 on the Pixel Joint forums, and just about had a heart attack!  I don't know if I've just been leading a sheltered life, or what, but this is probably the most impressive stuff I've ever seen.  Without the probably.

I didn't even notice the link to the movie clip that inspired this until after I had fallen into complete love with this project.  Thus, I have no qualms whatsoever with any of the conceptual decisions you've made.  I instantly read the environment as a colony on an alien world and was rather gobsmacked by the visually arresting look of the orange and white concrete and paint style, garnished so well with the great foliage.

And then, to add to this feast, came that wonderful player character!  A vision in blue and white to perfectly complement the red enemies.  How did you know that the gorilla was my favourite primate?  They have such power, grace, and soul - and are far more lovable and sympathetic than, say, chimps, even though they aren't as closely related to us.  And decked out in that full rig of armour - I tell you it's hard to come across something that really stands out when you get bombarded daily with countless amounts of visual information online, but your PlayApe stopped me cold, cleared my buffers, and made me take notice.  (though I really miss the shoulder armour that balanced the design style, and helped the character read as some kind of transorganic living vehicle - there's just not enough blue and white on the body without it!)

I love how the rendering, and resolution, give this all the charm of a classic sidescroller (I'm a SNES and Mega Drive guy, I have to admit, and pine for the 'glory days' of pixelled gaming) but with the eye-popping benefits of modern 3-D graphics (though having to chase down those dratted orbs every time they pop is a little annoying...).

Most of all I'm impressed by how quickly the project has advanced, and the dedication you've shown to it (I'm all too familiar with the endless stream of unfinished mockups posted all over online that never even progress to a playable demo).

My only regret is that I'm not yet accomplished enough for my praise to be as significant as I want it to be!  I'm just a writer, artist, and game designer trying to learn pixelling so I can branch into making my own games - but now I know it's people like you I'm trying to become as good as!

Love love love this!
Please please please keep it coming!

Hotly Anticipating in Eagerville,
JD

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