I'm working on a "Space Burger" for a pixel art game I'm working on called Platinum Kill. I use an artist for much of the game, but I'm trying to work on some small pieces myself to both improve my skills and save myself money

In one level, your player can stand on a floating burger that travels through space. Below is my work in progress version...



The top needs to stay about as flat as it is now so that the player can use it as a platform, but I'm pretty open to other changes. Can someone give me some tips on how to shade this better or anything else I might want to do to make it look better? In game it will be scaled up 4 times its current size. The game has a sort of silly, cartoonish look, so I am not looking for realism here.

Here is a video of the game if you want to see how it fits with the rest of the style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y99it7PAmUg

Artwork isn't done, but we added a giant Moai head to the first level. Thought this was a sort of memorable enemy you could face mid-level.

Sorry for the lack of updates... no updates doesn't mean no progress (it really means I've been playing a lot of Destiny 2 in my free time instead).

The biggest update I have is work on the level 4 boss. This floating toilet floats back and forth shooting one of three patterns of shots and then spawning little floating poops that target the closest player. The below animation gives you a good idea of this (doesn't include the toilet lid opening and closing as poops spawn, which was something I finished after making this gif).



Just lots of bug fixes and tweaks here and there as well and a new croc enemy. The croc walks towards the player and when he gets close, shoots fireballs from his mouth in a random spray pattern. These fireballs die out after a short distance... effectively the croc is really dangerous if you get close but you can safely dispatch him from a distance.

eishiya,

Sorry for the delayed response, I was off camping for a long weekend and doing my best to disconnect from technology This is really, really fantastic feedback, exactly what I was hoping I might get posting on this site. I really like what you did with the background tiles on that mock image, I think it resolves a lot of the cluttering / busy issues and the less-saturated particles is a really nice touch too.

I don't think I will be changing the existing characters too much from what they are now, but i want to introduce several other characters for the player to choose from, which should give me some opportunities to go the more creative route like Bro-Force, which is a parody of just about every action movie ever. I am planning to start with these more generic characters unlocked immediately and then have several others unlocked as you play / complete achievements.

You are right that I wasn't directing the artist on any specific mood, it was more "I need a jungle theme". Those are good ideas to keep in mind when i ask for my next set of artwork and as I plan out future levels myself (I have two more to do from scratch plus rework on existing levels needed).

The sewer level is my newest level and has the benefit of myself learning more about what looks good and what is needed over the jungle level, which was the first level I worked on. Also the scope has increased a lot since I did the jungle level. Cliffs or something as you suggested is needed for background artwork rather than the dark/faded trees it uses now. I probably should give it a serious face lift given it is the first level of the game and can really make or break a player's opinion of the game.

It might take me a little time to make these artistic changes as I am in the middle of getting artwork for the sewer level still and it takes time to go back and forth with the artist, who tends to be rather busy, but I intend to implement several of your suggestions and I will follow up on this post as I go with improvements. I can do some of them myself but stuff like major backgrounds are beyond what I can do well.

Thank you again very much,

Kris

Latest image from the sewer level I am working on...



Also if anyone would like to playtest the PC (Steam) version of this, send me a message and I can send you a beta key.