GR#014 - Tobe's Vertical Adventure - Sideview Game Art

[Tobe]

08 Jan Update
I know what you're thinking... it's along the line of "WTF IS THIS THREAD DOING HERE AGAIN".
But believe me, it's gonna worthwhile this time... because the Tobe Vertical Adventure is now live, on XBLIG

Like I said before, this is where the project started, so there's no reason why you guys should not be informed, despite the fact that nobody ever buys a XBLIG, lol.
But seriously, after this long, I'm glad I've completed the game - full pixel art ... well, except for the cutscenes.

Enough of talk, here some giant screen shot (available only here on pixelation





We've received complains about the lack of thumbstick support, and has plans to fix that. But I hope you guys still get to try and give the game a shot.
You can download the demo / purchase it from the link here...
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585503f5/

Or visit our website here...
http://tobesadventure.squarespace.com/
We gonna have quite some stuff on the net which I presume would be interesting for artist especially. Here's a sneak peep...


Ultimately, if you like it, do drop us a message because it keeps us a live.
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21Nov Update
The game is finally done after so long! It is currently sent for review on XNA club, and we're expecting to release sometime in Decemeber. You can read more about the game at http://tobesadventure.squarespace.com/ or see page 2 of this thread for some brief update.


3rd Oct Update
Hi again! So I've been MIA for a while now, working hard to finish the game. We're almost there. And here's a actual screenshot and in-game clip
Screenshot


Video(I was using a crappy screen capturing software, so the framerate seems pretty bad)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMf8rrw2sD4&feature=player_profilepage

Also, I've decided to take down some of the later level images, so not to spoil the fun for whoever gonna play
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So... here's a quick and dirty teaser I put up together for the game...
It doesn't really say anything... just fancy visual put together like you seen here... except that... they now moves.
But yea, do check

http://www.youtube.com/user/rayteoactive#play/all/uploads-all/0/QvTIc2xw6sU

Somebody's in a working mood... Updates!


Here's another world, another theme. Obviously, this Ice zone is sort of a direct contrast from the pyramid.
The layout of the platform is kinda messy in comparison. But I like how each tile looks. My main concern here is probably the limited colors. What do you think? too dull?

Horay~! More Updates!


Here's an updated version of the original level. The background was given more saturation, and there's more "black" then wall now, to keep consistency with the desert/pyramid level. Also, I finally remove all the white line from the character, added monsters etc.

One thing I need special attention with... the holes in the far background... they're empty. Is it bad? I was hoping to leave it as it is due to the time constrain, but just in case I manage to finish things earlier then I can, any idea what I can do with it? Or perhaps I should remove it once and for all?

Character Update (5July)



Tested the sprite for player2, Nana. Oh, and I've decided to drop the white line. I hope it's not the wrong move though

Level Update (3July)

Hi guys, here's some minor updates.

1) slightly desaturated the sand fall (if that's what it's called)
2) some tiles with hieroglyphics
3) better spikes... or needles
4) included lady Nana (changed the outfit for readability... which still don't look fantastic)

I might not work on the pillar though, since I have to hurry and move on to the next level.
As for the white outline, it's a real pain. There seems to be more negative then positive comments about it, but I can't seems to get the character to stand out without it.

Oh, and lastly, the veins are meant to be interactive - hence the outline



Level Update 2 (2july)
I took more time to finally finish up the level. I think it looks better now... though the "Egyptian" theme still didn't seems as strong, but I guess it's passable. What do you guys think?




Level Update (2July)
Hi guys, I'm finally working on VA again. I started working on the mock up of a new level, this time with a Egypt / pyramid theme.
I realized a few element changed throughout the process, as I find it hard to implement the original  style (like the repeated pattern BG) to suit the different theme of the levels.

I'm working with many reference too, but I still feel very much block as in the element to build up the mood and theme. If anyone have anything cool in mind I should take a look at, please advise.


 
Animation Update (15 May)
I've left the project for quite a while(working on some vector-base games instead).
The game is ongoing, working out on the game design, and the programmers have started with place holder for now.



Anyway, for some reason, the programmers needed the wall climb animation 1st, so I had to start working it on. This is my 1st attempt on animation, so serious C&C is much appreciated. I took a whole day long working on this as I was drawing in PS, bring it over to Flash for viewing, and back and forth. All that, and the fact that climbing animation lacks of reference didn't help... But I did found 2 awesome thread here.
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=6653.0
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=4427.0
Grateful to the comments inside 

Btw, I do realize the animation looks.....robotic and lifeless. I do wish to redo it again when I have the time.

Small updates again


I did some messing around with the character outline and the design... sort of a cat ear and a blue/yellow raccoon tail. I'm kinda lost here, so some opinion on this will be very helpful.

As for the background, I mange to create some cave holes (not sure what you call that), anyway the pattern on the wall makes this extremely difficult for my level, I have to ignore the tilings. I need some suggestion though... should I..
1) leave it empty?
2) add another layer like I did for the center hole or
3) add something going on in the far



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UPDATES!!!
Finally found time for this. It's still WIP, but I think I manage to establish the rough look and feel.



A few more things to do from here...
1) I still need to add more variety of items, objects and traps(like the spike and stuff).
2) need to make a 3rd layer of background
3) some cute monster
4) the user interface
5) Player 2 -"Nana" a tribute character to ice climber and nanakostudio(Annabelle Kennedy)
I'm pretty sure I missed something else. Do fill me in.

Anyway, I changed the character to something more colorful... and even gave him a "sticker look". What do you call that anyway. I tried everything to make him stand out but failed, so I gave up... sigh. But hey, it's still sweet in a way and it serve it's purpose. I'm also looking at giving the character something more significant to make him more then just any guy... maybe a fox ear or a monkey tail. Fashion accessory are way too common. What do you guys think? I will be posting some of the character sketches soon, so you guys can help judge. The sketches are here. Just scroll

And before I forget and get ban, I took reference from sonic for that waterfall. I thought it was beautiful and couldn't bear not having something similar.

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Hi guys, I'm working on a new game mock up screen-shot.
(it's late, so I'll fill in the game design description next time around)

The visuals are inspired by Cave story and Underside, but using much bigger sprite (the character is 32 x 32, I think).
Anyway, I created the character first, so I guess he turns out a little too flat in comparison to the background. I'm hoping to make him stand out more, but I refuse to add dark outline, so to maintain the intended art direction. Any suggestion?

As for the background, the character is actually inside a cave. In this case, I didn't want the rocky tiles to looks like real rocks. Instead, I go for more graphical representation... which I think I've got it right. but not entirely sure either.

Also, I'm still working on the platform tiles. I've placed them below the character art. Do let me know which is better.

I like what I have at the moment, but I guess it's still early to tell... something do feel amiss though.




Btw, the game is plan for X-box live arcade, which I'm absolutely unaware of any restriction. Any information on this, I will be very grateful. Curently, I'm working without any color / grid restriction. But I find it a pain without the restriction. Colors combination tends to get too much to control, and without the grid, the workload just keeps expanding. I'm looking at sticking to a system color palette... probably GBA, since it looks like the most colorful palette at the moment. Or should it be NDS?

[hotnikkelz]

Personally given that you don't have much restriction, i do believe that you can probably add 2-3 colours to the character since as it is right now, it looks very flat compared to the very beautiful backgrounds.  Everything looks adorable so far imo.

[Hydronium]

It looks nice so far - do the different kinds of rock tile do anything different?

I'd suggest adding more detail to the character, especially to his hair. If the the back of his head is has defined locks of hair, I think the front should too. He blends in a little with the background, especially the orange one. Maybe a lighter shade of blonde will be in order?

[Tobe]

A small update on the character - I flush up the hues and add just a bit more details (hair glow and stuff). I think it looks much better, though I'm not sure if it's good enough. The other 2 in the front was just messing around, lol.



Anyway, the multiple tiles and background were just different tryout. My preference at the moment would the the blue background (top left) and probably mix around for the land tiles.

[Kazuya Mochu]

I dont see why you can't use all the tiles and all the backgrounds you created. they would definitly add loads of variation.

as for the character, maybe a bit more contrast to have him stand out.

why do you call this vertical adventure? is it just the projects name or do you mean like A vertical scroll adventure game or something like that?

Kaz

[Tobe]

Well, you're half right on the title. The images right now doesn't show anything about the game, but it's really a platformer that requires the player to travel down, then up again.

As for the contrast issue, I felt the latest update was good enough... but I guess I can give it another shot.

[Tuna Unleashed]

The old hair colours were much much better.

[vierbit]

The main character is quite cute, reminds me more of keneth fejer than cavestory though.
What I donīt like about him is his angry emotion. Any reason for that?

And no, your background donīt resemble a cave at all, even if you go for more abstract visuals.
Maybe draw a few tiles with cracks in it. And also the background needs something different than a bunch of squares.

Oh, I donīt think xbox live has any real restrictions, atleast not for "simple" 2d graphics.

keep it up.

[Kazuya Mochu]

I dont mean to say the character doesnt have contrast. What I mean is that the background really is juicy and colorfull and I sort of wish that the character was also as contrasting and eyegrabing as the background. but also I should consider your color choices.

I just ment to say that the background is really catchy. so catchy that its competing with the character for attention. maybe if its moving it wont happen as much

Kaz

[Tobe]

I just ment to say that the background is really catchy. so catchy that its competing with the character for attention. maybe if its moving it wont happen as much

Yea, I get what you mean. I did the mistake of creating the character 1st. But when I started working on the background, the background turns out much better then intended. Now the character just looks pale in comparison. I have been messing around with it for hours, but nothing good came out of it.

The main character is quite cute, reminds me more of keneth fejer than cavestory though.
What I donīt like about him is his angry emotion. Any reason for that?

And no, your background donīt resemble a cave at all, even if you go for more abstract visuals.
Maybe draw a few tiles with cracks in it. And also the background needs something different than a bunch of squares.

I'm surprise! I was refering to Keneth Fejer at a point of time... but largely, I was also inspired by the art of nanakostudio. As for the background, though I mentioned I was inspired by cave story, I did not want to create something that is just my edit of cave story. I looked and studied and grab what I believe was useful and work on it as my own. Pretty much the same for the character.

lastly, I did some alteration with the hair color as an tryout, but I'll post them later for a bigger update.

[Jakten]

I'm really loving this and really hope you do eventually make this into a game.
For the edit, I like the idea of the outlines on things to make them stand out but I think its too much. If you were going to outline them I'd choose a light orange probably, so it stands out but still looks like it fits into the style of everything.
 Also the water currently looks strange, I'm sure once it's animated it would probably look pretty neat.

[Fuzzyleaves]

Yeah, for some reason I don't like the waterfall, maybe it just stands out too much, I just don't like it 

But, I love the idea, of when he climbs a ladder he crawls after the last step 

[Tobe]

The update earlier was an edit, so the thread wasn't bump.
Anyway, here are the sketches... it quality is kinda bad, but bare with it.



There's a preview of player2, Nana for you

Fuzzyleaves & Jakten
I sense that the waterfall was a little too much, but I sorta convince myself it's just me. Guess we should always believe ourselves huh, lol
I will try some colours for the sticker...maybe a skin tone. Oh... does he look Asian or Caucasian, by the way. I edit so much I sort of lost track.

[Jakten]

He comes across as Caucasian to me. Nice sketches, I always love seeing preproduction stuff.

[PypeBros]

very good work ... that promise fun game.
I just regret your switch to that "white outlined sprite", which completely break character/environment integration imho.

[Tobe]

Hmmm....I'm leaving updates by modifying the top post btw. Let me know if it's an irritating thing to do.

[Tobe]

Oh...erm, I'm not sure if I can bump this thread since I updated it. I checked the rules and regulation, but bump wasn't mentioned. Let me know if it's not the right practice though

[hsn2555]

amazing, just amazing ..
keep going man, we'd like to see some more stuff

[Shrike]

Am I the only one noticing the very close relation to Fez?  No problem, just something I noticed.  Very nice pixels.

Shrike

[Jad]

Broad-square-head-large-eyes-super-small-body is more of a TIGsource native 'style' popularized by Cave Story, Annabelle Kennedy and Phil Fish, haha : D

[Tobe]

Haha, I didn't realize there's a specific Tigsource style, but now that you mentioned... yea, there's definitely a trend there. I have been in tigsource for a while (by the name , rayteoactive), so yea, I probably got influence unconsciously. And I'm also a fan of Annabelle Kennedy's artwork.

[ndchristie]

That sounds like an unfair credit; the design style you've described isn't very original or even unique .  These characters give off a very, very different flavor as well.  Personally I find these more appealing, tbh.

Ps how did this thread come back to life?  And without new art?

[Tobe]

I believe Jad was talking about the artwork from Tigsource artist like Annabelle Kennedy and insignificant studio. You can find the artwork here http://attractmo.de/blog/annabelle-kennedy/ and http://www.insignificantstudios.com/
In this sense, then I guess some can see the similarity since I was referencing Annabelle Kennedy painting at a point.

As for Phil Fish, I thought his style looks slightly different .

btw, the thread got revived because I finally started working on this again. The very 1st animation (guy climbing) is the one. Its a very small update, so if it's a bad idea, let me know, and I will update future animation in a new thread.

[robotacon]

Hi Tobe, awesome stuff.
I agree that it looks very Annabell-ish but it's all good, I don't think anyone can trademark big heads. I saw that you referenced my old thread on climbing a ledge and I have to say that I've just done a new iteration on my game engine and that climb that I have in that old thread does not look good in-game. Several of the animations does not carry themselves that well when they are played out in an actual game. My suggestion to anyone doing game animation is to get a running prototype as soon as possible so you can tweak the animations.

[Arne]

On my old CRT I wouldn't have seen this, but now I'm on an mac with a better screen. It might be a calibration issue, but your darks (cave holes) (28,28,28) (26,20,34) (25,21,26) looks kinda of light, with the dark grey being lighter than the purples. I had to curve the image a bit to make things pop, but I have a preference for popping things.

Anyways, if you can't see the difference between 0,0,0 and 10,10,10 on your monitor you may have a calibration problem.

Edit: or is the dark grey just marking a parallax layer?

[Tobe]

Thanks Arne and robotacon.

Like robotacon mentioned, I suspect my animation will suffer the same fate, though I can't be totally sure for now. When I start working on it again, I will probably want to come up with another set of climb animation. Hopefully faster and more agility.
As for my monitor calibration, Arne is right too. I checked the difference between 0,0,0 and 10,10,10, and I could tell the different until I zoom things up to 3200% 

Everything is still a mock at the moment. So I will see how I can implement the C&C when I start again. Thanks again guys : )

[Tobe]

Hi Guys, I finally updated again. Image as above.

[EvilEye]

Your not gonna like this, but I think it looked way better with the outlines.

[Ben2theEdge]

Get some hieroglyphics in there!

Not a fan of the white outlines... it is a very heavy-handed method for making your character readable. If there are readability issues you should try adjusting the contrast of the character and background or giving the character colors that stand out better against the primary background colors... hue and value are much more tasteful ways of directing the eye than bright white lines.

[Dusty]

I think the sandfalls could use some desaturation. I think the spikes also have some readability issues; they don't really scream DANGEROUS, especially when they almost blend in with the pillar behind them.

[ndchristie]

the spikes definitely need some help with clarity, etc.

i like the sand i think it actually pulls things forward a bit in a way that i enjoy.  I wish that it would pile and drift up on the regular tiles so that we can see even more of it in the composition.

I'd love to see some proper egyptian capitals on your columns, it's one of the strongest and most ubiquitous design elements 2800-460 BC and still makes a very nice impact.  If you google image egyptian columns, 99% of them are either blossoms or buds with the *occasional* un-adorned (usually from Hellenistic times or in the oldest sites and usually where they ae so numerous that you couldn't really think of sculpting all of them) so references are easy .

[Tobe]

Your not gonna like this, but I think it looked way better with the outlines.

Do you mean with or without the outlines? Because everyone here seems to prefer it without the lines (and I assume you're talking about the character?). Personally, I'm okay with both, but its so hard to get it right without the outline. I'm hoping to get some advise even if I'm not using it this time round.

I'll definitely fix up the spikes too. I think I went too far with the AA there.
Depending on the time, I'd like to redo/add the hieroglyphics or at least the pillar.

i like the sand i think it actually pulls things forward a bit in a way that i enjoy.  I wish that it would pile and drift up on the regular tiles so that we can see even more of it in the composition.

Could someone explain/simplify this sentence? I didn't quite get it (I'm not too good with english), but if its something I do right, I like to know so I can make better use of it so I move on

[EvilEye]

Your not gonna like this, but I think it looked way better with the outlines.

Do you mean with or without the outlines? Because everyone here seems to prefer it without the lines (and I assume you're talking about the character?). Personally, I'm okay with both, but its so hard to get it right without the outline. I'm hoping to get some advise even if I'm not using it this time round.

In my opinion it looked better with the outlines. The newer version gets lost in the background.

I am not saying the white outline was the perfect choice, but something needs to be done to separate the sprite from the tiles.

[Mathias]

Oh man, you could do so much better with the egyptian theme. I had no idea it was egyptian at all. Had to scrutenize for a second to find the sarcophagus sprites in the bg, which is a great touch, love 'em, but I vote to greatly increase egyptian indication. I don't feel the need to advise on exact ideas, there's so much there. It's just a matter of stylizing what you choose to depict; make it fit in with this style of platformer.

And right now those platform blocks are nice, but they don't feel like cave/catacombs/temple/inner pyramid platforms. More like outside tiles.

Can you climb the vines? Right now their contrast/saturation puts them directly in the foreground as something interactive.

Hatin' the character's white oultine. It's such a cheap gimmick.

. . . oh now I see some heiroglyphics in there, too, ok . . .

If you could get yer coders some real art, they'd probably be even more motivated. That tends to be the effect.

[Tobe]

Bump for updates (see thread starter)

[ndchristie]

the white outline is killing things, btw.  integrate, and use other real ways to make characters live against the backgound!

[PypeBros]

Oh, and I've decided to drop the white line. I hope it's not the wrong move though

I tried moving around your character on your mockup without white outline, and it seems readable everywhere (including on very black areas). You might want to lower contrast on the pilar, though (right now, i'd be unsure whether it is foreground or background object.

Gems can easily get rid of the white outline as well if you animate them to make them "blink to white" from time to time.

depth in your brickswall : i love them
skeleton skull : it looks oddly horizontal, and should rather "fall backwards". It might have larger "eyeholes", though it is cute this way.
the vines : they still require some work, imho, maybe an alternate palette.
the spikes: they are hard to read over the pilar, surprising for such a dangerous thing.

But i love the overalllook.

[Tobe]

UPDATE BUMP 

[hsn2555]

the tiles' colors are overcloyed now comparing to the sprites' , and don't fit the background , it's a bit too dismal though.
Balance Colors ?
overall, i like it. 

[LoTekK]

While the fore/background separation is much clearer now, the tileset has lost almost all of the charm of the previous one. It currently feels completely generic and, imho doesn't convey the egyptian theme at all. Additionally, the highlights on that waterfall tile are way overpowering; they're drawing my eye away from just about everything, and glimmering in the corner of my eye even when I'm looking elsewhere. One other thing is that while the purple is presumably light coming in from the background, they're currently pushing into the foreground, instead of receding "behind" the black.

I positively adore the character sprites, though.

[Atnas]

LoTekK, I believe there is more than one level, hence different themes.

There's actually an interesting effect going on which I hadn't been able to pin down in the past. Some of the outlines actually produce banding against the dark background. I guess you could say that where selout is AA against a dark background, whatever you'd call having a tone between the sprite color and the background color wrap all the way around a sprite, is actually banding against a dark background. What you did is great for light backgrounds, because the outline doesn't act as an intermediary. But anywhere I look in this, there are mid to dark backgrounds and some "selout" would help.

with some light outline coloring on frame 2: (It doesn't need it as much as later examples but I think it makes him look more dynamic as a sprite and less eh static straight lines. Sort of regains the flair you lost when you took away the white outlines and harkens back to your first image.)

I only added lighter shades to the outline. It should still be okay against lighter backgrounds like the sand waterfalls. Just makes your sprites plump. o3o

also, some other places you might want to look at

Though you could easily get away with not fixing it and still have a beautiful game. You mentioned time constraints and this is pretty low priority if you have new content to make. But if you have time I would lovelovelove to see some going-over of the outlines. Anyway, very handsome!

[LoTekK]

LoTekK, I believe there is more than one level, hence different themes.

Doh, reading comprehension fail. For some reason I didn't see the earlier pics with the tileset.

That said, I still feel like the diamond tileset doesn't have half the charm of the egypt tileset, despite being currently easier to "read." The egypt tileset conveys atmosphere, a hint of location. The diamond tileset, while nicely-executed, doesn't convey much other than "generic game environment."

[Tobe]

LoTekK, I believe there is more than one level, hence different themes.

Doh, reading comprehension fail. For some reason I didn't see the earlier pics with the tileset.

That said, I still feel like the diamond tileset doesn't have half the charm of the egypt tileset, despite being currently easier to "read." The egypt tileset conveys atmosphere, a hint of location. The diamond tileset, while nicely-executed, doesn't convey much other than "generic game environment."

Actually, the generic theme was intentional as the diamond tiles are meant to be a "tutorial" / "beginner" level. Btw, I saw from your profile that you're from Singapore. So am I! Hope to see more of your stuff soon : )

Atnas:
Thanks alot for the edit. The reason why I kept the AA minimum was because I wanted to  keep the colors down.
But now that I see your edit, I guess I should just ignore the whole color thing, lol. The effect was really nice. Thanks again.

[Atnas]

I actually didn't introduce any new colors! You have an abundance of light browns which I employed on the hair, and yellow+blue multiply to green on the balloons, which you used on the vines. Unless you mean, per sprite. But I'm of the opinion that sprites will still retain a low color feel if they're shaded cleanly, AA really doesn't go against that effect. Glad to have helped. :]

[LoTekK]

Actually, the generic theme was intentional as the diamond tiles are meant to be a "tutorial" / "beginner" level.

Ahh, gotcha, it all makes sense now.

After you mentioned Singapore, I took a look at your site since your name sounded familiar, and I realised why. You're one half of Explosive Barrel, right? Small world. :p

[Tobe]

After you mentioned Singapore, I took a look at your site since your name sounded familiar, and I realised why. You're one half of Explosive Barrel, right? Small world. :p

So you were there at the IGDA when we spoke? Man, that's crazy. lol.
It's good to see local developers here too. I kept thinking I was the only one.

Oh, and Galactic Commandos (Game we presented) is out, and you can play it http://www.e4.com/game/galactic-commandos/play.e4.
(Sorry for pimping my game here.)

I actually didn't introduce any new colors! You have an abundance of light browns which I employed on the hair, and yellow+blue multiply to green on the balloons, which you used on the vines. Unless you mean, per sprite. But I'm of the opinion that sprites will still retain a low color feel if they're shaded cleanly, AA really doesn't go against that effect. Glad to have helped. :]

Yup, I meant to keep the color down per sprite. There's no actual restriction to my game, but I did it so that the workload doesn't goes out of hand. But now that I see the effect... I guess it's too nice to ignore, lol. I saw you stuff on your blog too. You're a wicked 16 year old!

[LoTekK]

Hehe, I was actually sick that day and missed the meetup. :\ My boss was talking about you guys the next day, though (I'm currently at Ratloop).

[Tobe]

Ratloop! Sweet~
Sian Yue(with pizza and cigarettes) is awesome, lol
Do say hi for me.... that and I'm still waiting for his game.

Anyway, I added you to MSN for more non-gay game artist chit chat

[Atnas]

New icezone is very nice. Can not find much to crit. The lack of color adds to the cold, frozen feeling, I think. I can't tell what that object to the right of the character is supposed to be with certainty.

[Tobe]

Wao, you do hang around here all day huh
Glad you like the ice zone. That object there is meant to be a transparent ice cube where the player can push. I had a lot of problems with that, so I guess it's not entirely solved.

[Randommonkies]

I'm loving the work here so far. The Ice level looks nice, but I've encountered the same problems with snow/ice levels not having enough colour.
Maybe add bronze or gold or statues or something just as an excuse for colour? I'm just guessing, but it still looks great even without non-snowy colours.

[Atnas]

Another possibility might be to have a few of the larger ice blocks containing a frozen creature. The icecube does not read as ice because of the more prominently established blue color for that material.

[PypeBros]

Fury of the Furries had a quite nice use of cold-browns for rocks in its "ice levels". Same for "prehistorik 2" and "fire & ice".
reference pictures here

Donkey kong country levels in ice cavern could also be a good inspiration source. Iirc, a larger spectrum of cold colors (from magenta to cyan) was used. Maybe ground spikes could use that magenta shift.

Btw, you're really doing good progress on this. The whole stuff is über-cute and itches both my player's thumb and coder fingertips. I push my 2 cent into an edit.


throwing bonuses and monsters might bring more colors too.
I tried to 'smooth' the snow on the block just below your character. I have the feeling that your current snow is too much like white grass (and it could sure be done better than i did.

Gameplay-wise, i'd question snow on icecubes. Wouldn't it be better to have them "naked ice" that would be slippery (and visually distinguishable from snowy-rocks-that-you-can-easily-walk-on) ?

[HughSpectrum]

You should have both ice on snow blocks and snowless ice.

Snowless ice: Slippery slip.

Snow on ice: You can walk on safely, but then the snow will collapse under your steps and if you have to backtrack, suddenly the trip back is more dangerous.

[Corsair]

THe ice cube's shape doesn't make a whole lot of sense, as it sorta looks like it might fall over forward.

Granted tehy're not *great* edits but they get the point across. Ice cubes generally have air in them... Even better if you could portray something as being frozen inside of them to make them stand out a litle bit more.

[Tobe]

Hi Guys, sorry I had to leave the thread to die because.....yea, I had to work on the other aspect of the game.

But anyway, thanks a lot for the edit they are extremely useful. Especially the one from PypeBros.
I have to give more thoughts to the ice cube though. But I do like the idea of a fish inside it.

Also, I know its ice, but it's not gonna be slippery because the timeline is too tight for the programmers 

P.S (Teaser is on page 1, but for benefit of those that just click in direct... http://www.youtube.com/user/rayteoactive#play/all/uploads-all/0/QvTIc2xw6sU

[Tobe]

Hi again! So I've been MIA for a while now, working hard to finish the game. We're almost there. And here's a actual screenshot and in-game clip

Screenshot


Video(I was using a crappy screen capturing software, so the framerate seems pretty bad)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMf8rrw2sD4&feature=player_profilepage

[Randommonkies]

looks fantastic, great preview on the video. The balloon drop into the level reminds me of Kickle Cubicle for NES which was a sweet game.

[infinitegames]

I like it a lot. Especially the way after you think you won the level, it falls apart and then you have to go backwards, but in a different way. How did you go about programming that, out of curiosity?

[Tobe]

Hi Guys, I feel kinda guilty updating the thread since it has been dead for so long.  

The reason of absent is because I've been busy with other aspect of the project (I work on everything other then the programming), and most of them were not pixel art related. But the game is now completed (up for review on XBLIG), and I know there were some of you guys here who likes the project, gave in lots of help, and I didn't want to leave things hanging as it is, especially since pixelation was where I started.

Well, here's the official website now, so I hope those who love it back then would come in to say hi
http://tobesadventure.squarespace.com/

Here are some final artwork screenshot.

[jackal27]

Awwwww crap! I've been working on a side-scrolling action platformer that stars a character named Obe! The way he's proportioned is similar to yours as well... Looks like I'm going to have to change my character's name. Crap.

[Monochrome]

Looks rly nice, but graphically reminds me a bit too much of Spelunky.

Anyway good luck with it.

[Tobe]

BUMP!

Tobe's Vertical Adventure has finally been release on the XBLIG.
Got get a copy today!


http://tobesadventure.squarespace.com/

Check out Page 1 for the actual comments as this reply is mainly to bump the dead thread

[JaJitsu]

I NEED AN XBOX!

[twodayslate]

Oh XBLING is Xbox Live Arcade/Indie Games. That confused me. How much is it?

[Tobe]

XBLIG = Xbox Live Indie Games
It cost only MS 240, so that should be around  3 to 4 USD

[twodayslate]

Nice. I should have that much

Now I just need to get my xbox back

[7321551]

It's a lovely looking game. Though, I was wondering why the game appears to be resizing & interpolating the graphics? The artwork doesn't suffer too badly, but it sort-of undermines the sharp, clean quality that pixel-art provides.

Congratulations on your success. I'd buy it if I had a 360.

[Jakten]

Oh man, I saw the mock genesis box and thought it was real! I was so pumped to buy that since I don't have an Xbox to play it on! (Also I miss new games for old systems :\)

It looks fantastic though, I;m gald to see you went all the way with it. I'll definitely pick it up i f I ever get the chance. Was it easy to program for the XBLA?

[Tobe]

7321551 : Oh yea... I just checked again. The screen was actually sharp and all, but the post here got shrink down by photobucket. Dammit.

Jakten : I wasn't the programmer, so I wouldn't know. But the programmers were going really crazy by the end of things, so... yea, it didn't seems easy to me. lol

[bitterbug]

Looks like a nice game. Love the main character.
Do the Xbox Indie titles actually sell at all? Have you looked at the PS3 Minis?


We put out a game on the iphone and it got great reviews, but only managed to sell enough copies to cover the Mac mini and the app store license. Not a complete failure though

[smiker]

just lovely. it is beautyful and preserves the arcade old school style. very nice work here, A+ from me

[JDog053]

As a developer in XNA C# I can respect the work aswell as from an art perspective (which looks devine, very clean and crisp and super readable!) a coding perspective, where everything seems to be in the right place and nicely organised, not too sure of more though as I haven't seen it in motion.

But yeah, ***** 5 stars from me!

If you need any code for another project you're doing, fire me a PM

[Tobe]

Looks like a nice game. Love the main character.
Do the Xbox Indie titles actually sell at all? Have you looked at the PS3 Minis?

We put out a game on the iphone and it got great reviews, but only managed to sell enough copies to cover the Mac mini and the app store license. Not a complete failure though

Thanks for the love Sadly, the game didn't sell as much as we hope, even when we weren't expecting a lot, lol. I guess that's just the case for XBLIG, the userbase is really small, and game just get flush out of the "new arrival" really fast. I'm not too bothered though, since we manage to snatch some pretty decent reviews from reviewers and players. The obvious next move would be to bring the game to PC, but honestly, I don't have a programmer to do that now and I'm still trying to figure that out :/

If you need any code for another project you're doing, fire me a PM

I'm currently hoping to work on other platform, like....flash, Iphone, window mobile(which uses XNA), but who knows. If you're interest, we can work on a port?

Smiker : Thanks! The idea of the game was to create a tribute for the games I played as a child

[Elk]

Very nice pixels you have there =)
Didn't play it but looks very cute so far!

Keep up the good work

[bitterbug]

You could always submit it to BigFish, Steam, and company
And if I heard right the cost of PSP dev kits was dropping to $250.

BigFish has a page right on the site for submitting

[Scuba Steve]

No kidding. I had never put 2 and 2 together and realized that the demo I played was the same one from Pixelation. Don't I feel stupid.

I played the Demo a little while ago and was pleasantly surprised by the visuals. I enjoyed seeing high quality, pixelated images compared to the usual slop found on XBL. I wasn't keen on the decision to only use the d-pad (the 360 directional pad is garbage), but it was a fun romp. Now that I know the game was made by a member of the community... I'll have to pick it up... if for no other reason than to support acquaintances Excellent work.

[Edit] Looks like there was an update since the last time I played that includes analog support and fixed button colours? Excellent, will be downloading it again (and buying it.. and convincing others to buy it, too).

[Tobe]

Thanks a lot guys I believe a big part of Tobe's sales actually come from forumers of Pixelation and Tigsource , lol.
Also, the game is patched for a while now and it supports analog stick and fixed a few bugs.

Ans yes - do support acquaintances... because it's a nice thing to do 

[9_6]

If you guys are all like "this is a sega genesis game"
why
on
earth
do you take low res pixel graphics and put them into a high res game that is then being displayed on a tv screen? That's pretty awkward you know.

FYI the resolution of the genesis was 320x224 yet you went with somewhat twice that size.
I'm not even going into how the cutscene graphics clash with the game graphics.

Also the sound. Wouldn't it make sense to use genesis-ish sounds in a game that claims to be on a genesis?
Some 8-bit arcade-ish sounds would've fit much better than those generic piles of blandness that are in it right now.
That's also my main gripe I had with pixel. The sound was generitastingly sleep-inducing. Oh don't you dare to excite me too much.

And then there are the awkward controls, my guy sometimes just not climbing ledges if I just hold the directional button, insta-slowing down when running and jumping and choppy motions for example when you climb a ledge (you instantly teleport yourself forward a bit).
You know if I feel like I can code the controls better myself using as much as gamemaker, that kills the game for me.

Combine that with the underwhelming concept of "run around and collect stuff" and the "meh"-ness meter climbs to the max.
Judging from that youtube video, all levels even basically follow the same scheme of "collect stuff and get away".
This is a bit too basic, you know. Where's the exploration part of platformers? Where's the variation?
Mario wasn't all about collecting coins and neither was sonic only about collecting rings, they were about running through levels.
Exploring new areas, you know.

Sorry, not impressed.

[Helm]

Critique is fine and all but your tone is pretty harsh.

Jad infiltrates helm's post to not clutter up: Yes, I even posted a reply but then deleted it again because you actually offered useful critique. But what's up with sounding so whiny and angry? Are you seeing how unnecessarily harsh you sound? Plastering your game promo graphics onto the cart (for fun ...?) and then your game not adhering to genesis standards is usually not something that one would get all worked up about? WHY ON EARTH? well because it happened the other way - graphics first, box art later - obviously for fun. That's pretty awkward if you think about it. I'm sure Tobe does. Stop sounding so angry. Over and out.