Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Mystery
Pages: [1] 2

1
Devlogs & Projects / Calzone's Adventure - 2D Pixel Platformer
« on: April 26, 2019, 07:46:52 am »
Hello, hello :)
I wanted to share my first game with all of you and hope to get some feedback.
Here I want to mainly focus on the art side of the game. I'm still pretty unexperienced when it comes to pixel art. While I've always been interested in making 2D graphics, I never put in the time to learn and improve, which I regret today, but I guess starting late is better than never.
           
The graphics in this game are the result of a few pixelart tutorials I've watched and after that I pretty much dove straight into making the game.
I made four tilesets, one for each of the zones. The game was made in Unity and I've mostly used Pyxel Edit to make the graphics. It's not 100% pixel perfect, but as close as I could possibly get it in Unity without going completely insane.
           
Everything together took about 1000 hours, including most of the coding and all the level design and of course the graphics. (I didn't make the music though). That's probably way too much time for such a game (maybe not?), but I had to figure out most of the stuff as I went through development, so hopefully the next project will be a bit faster.
There's so much more that I wanted to do with the graphics and so much more I could've done, I'm sure. But I set myself a strict time limit when the game should be done, so I quickly realized I had to cut corners as I had to do basically everything by myself.
           
The only graphics I didn't make completely by myself is the cat sprite (although I modified it a lot), some of the cat animations (which I'm sure look a bit weird as they're based on a different sprite) and the first boss sprite.
           
I used the endesga-16 palette (https://lospec.com/palette-list/endesga-16), which was chosen because I had to restrict myself to finish the game in time. Also because I'm a beginner and working with so many more colors seemed really daunting. So starting with a simple, premade palette was hopefully the right choice for a first project like this.
           
If you want to check it out for yourself, here's the itch.io link where you can download the full version for free: https://floppytapegames.itch.io/calzones-adventure
Here's a quick gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TxmH2ic868
And some more screenshots:

The last screen (map) isn't pixel perfect, because of Unity and the different camera settings I used in menus and gameplay. It looks fine ingame.

Thanks for looking :)

2
Challenges & Activities / Re: Mockup Frenzy #3: Game Boy De-Makes!
« on: September 30, 2007, 05:46:53 am »
Quote from: baccaman21 on September 28, 2007, 02:29:22 pm
Without going off topic, the actual technique that was employed on GTA when it first cam out all thos years ago... was the same principle that was used in Id's Wolfenstein and ulltimatley DOOM... strictly speaking it's NOT 3D as we know it today... it was indeed (contrary to what robotriot suggesting and agreeing with Locust's initial observation) a scaling technique and NOT polygons... this is why in DOOM, WOLFENSTEIN & GTA and other games of it's Ilk - you never got circumstances where the levels crossed over themselves forming sections UNDERNEATH or OVER other sections... think back to playing DOOM, there's never any instances of a corridor cutting across or going over another... all the levels were projections vertical - this was a limitation of the technique... a technique also used on the GBA in ECKS vs SEVER and some other FPS games...
Just to throw in some more info on this:
The technique is called "raycasting" and while you're basically correct about its limitations, later engines like the 3D-Realms "Build" engine used for Duke3D, Shadow Warrior etc., allowed crossing level sections on different heights.

Sorry to interrupt this great Mockup Frenzy ;)

3
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] 32x32 Tileset for top down action/adventure, need cc
« on: September 29, 2007, 04:57:32 pm »
After I worked on some other furniture tiles and other stuff, I've been doing some more experimenting on the lighting and I've come up with this:



This basiaclly uses just one shadow tile in numerous variations. So by adding more tiles there'll be more flexibility.
Ignore the window for now and also the white square in the door, as I've just slapped it over and didn't do more work as I'm not sure if this approach works.

In theory this is a lot less work as my second try, and looks almost as good.
Unfortunately I've got major problems working out tiles that are believably lit and still widely useable.

This is part of the shadow tileset:


So this is more or less just a variation of my first approach, as can't find a way to simplify the second, manual, variant (which I still think looks best).

4
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] 32x32 Tileset for top down action/adventure, need cc
« on: September 27, 2007, 03:55:05 pm »
Ok, I've been trying to create some lighting-tiles, but I'm really having a hard time getting the desired results.




First tile: regular brightness
2nd + 3rd tile: won't be used in game, I just made&used them to create the last two tiles
4th tile: darkness
5th tile: transition from light to darkness
6th tile: same as 5th but dithered

I'm somewhat pleased with the current results...at least it looks much better than the transparent tiles, shown above. But maybe it can look better ;)


The main problem is the amount of time it takes to create such a tile...I don't know if there's a way to speed things up. It took me a while to find an appropriate solution, so now I can do it at a somewhat bearable speed. It took me more than half an hour to create these two test-tiles and if I imagine that I'll have to do multiple versions of each tile, that'll increase the time I need to create one basic tile immensly...but maybe I'll be able to do it faster with more practice in the near future. After all, I've just started pixeling *g*

5
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] 32x32 Tileset for top down action/adventure, need cc
« on: September 25, 2007, 07:46:41 pm »
Thanks for your time :)

I'm using GameMaker for prototyping, testing and mockups.

The actual game engine is a custom engine using DirectDraw, written in BorlandDelphi. I'm not the programmer, I'll have to ask him about it, but it shouldn't be a problem...might be a reason for him to finally get some stuff on the engine done *g*



So, if I got your last paragraph right, you suggest to slightly reduce the amount of detail and colors when objects/tiles are in bright light or dark shadow (which would also reduce the amount of work a little bit ^^)
Do you have any games/screenshots I could use for reference?

I'll create a few objects to fill the room and start experimenting with the lighting.

6
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] 32x32 Tileset for top down action/adventure, need cc
« on: September 25, 2007, 03:45:54 pm »
Hm yeah, I was afraid that tiles would be the best solution. ;)
So I'd need a lot of variations of each wall and floor tile...full/medium/no-lighting and partially lit from different angles etc.
I'll give it a try tomorrow.

The only downside to this approach is, that the main character isn't affected by the shadows...how to solve that?


In the meantime I've been working on some basic elements, so here's an update:

Don't mind the boring room layout, it's just to test placement of the elements. Plus I've not begun working on decoration or furniture...will do that tomorrow, too (in addition to the new lighting method).

7
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] 32x32 Tileset for top down action/adventure, need cc
« on: September 25, 2007, 08:34:10 am »
Ok I tried some different approaches for the light/darkness aspect and added a small window to the tileset.

The current solution is a transparent layer that'll be put on top of the whole scenery.




Some light sources (candle light) could be animated.
What I don't like in this solution is the lack of different light levels. I don't really know how to implement a zone with medium lighting while keeping the tile based approach. The only solution I see right now is a custom lightmap for each room/level, which would eat up a lot of time. Any suggestions?

I just recognized that I messed up tapestry-print on the upper middle parts...just ignore it ;)
And don't mind the current lack of details and objects...they're next!


Edit:
This is part of the tileset I made for the light sources:

8
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] 32x32 Tileset for top down action/adventure, need cc
« on: September 25, 2007, 05:12:37 am »
Thanks a lot for the reply!

The survival horror part won't be a major aspect of the game, but I want to catch the dark atmosphere and use some elements of the gameplay.
There will be quite a lot of puzzles and an interesting storyline, too. The survival-horror gameplay will feature really hard combat. There won't be swarms of zombies, but there will be single enemies, that will be quite powerful, so the rusty kitchen knife-wielding character will thing twice before attacking one.


Yeah, I didn't really think of lightning yet (besides adding a few windows), so your input is greatly appreciated. Hiding in the shadows (won't work with all enemies *g*) is a great idea...I hope we can implement it.

I thought of adding color not through the basic tiles, but through decoration. Carpet, framed pictures, a vase etc. and the more the player progresses in the game, things like blood on the wall/floor (splatters, symbols, writing), damaged basic tiles...

I'll try creating a light/dark version and adding some light sources today and report back :)

9
Pixel Art / [WIP] 32x32 Tileset for top down action/adventure, need cc
« on: September 24, 2007, 06:24:17 pm »
After my first attempt on a tileset for a game (which is on hold right now) I'm currently working on another game.
The setting is supposed to be pretty dark (we're going for a slightly survival-horror themed game) and I hope to achieve a more "serious" look.
I've included the first tiles and progress I made. It's not much, but I'll add more tiles regularly, as the game needs to get done.


I'm not that happy with the door and I don't know if the wood looks alright.


Everything is done in Gimp...and I'm getting more and more used to my Wacom tablet for pixeling *g*



first version, not much, just getting the basic colors right


added more details and tiles to make a test room


removed the thick "frame" around the room, added more details

As soon as I've got more tiles and a character sprite, I'll work on the GUI and create a quick mockup. Till then, I'm just posting the tileset.
Anyone have a better solution for horizontal exits? I'm somewhat struggling to find a solution...
The exits don't need to connect to anything, as each room will be a seperate map and the game will run at 320x240 with 224x240 available for the actual game.
The playersprite will be a 32x32 sprite, possibly using up about 16x32 to fit through the doors and to give it a less cartoony look.

If I'm missing any basics, please point them out, too, as I'm still new to pixeling :)

10
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] First try on a 16x16 tileset, need some help
« on: May 19, 2007, 04:14:50 pm »
Yeah, the color count is through the roof. I'll have to work on that as soon as possible. Thanks for pointing that out, Atrophy, I knew there were lots of colors, but I didn't really pay attention just how insanely many there were. No, it's not 100% hand-pixeled, just partially and then I used some tools that also increased the color count.

First thing I'll work on, is reducing the color count to 10-20 per tile. Seriously, what was I thinking? ^^
Maybe I'll re-pixel the whole tileset.
What's a good tool? I'm using GIMP (windows) currently, but switching between colors seems quite painful. I also tried pixelstudio, which is nice, but keeps creating errors on my computer, so it's not very useful.



Schu:
Ah yes, Castlevania. In fact, I'm playing the three GBA titles a lot, because they've got such beautiful 2D graphics. I'll definitely play them again and take a closer look at the visuals.

The darker bricks help a lot in your sample picture...I'll try that and also add highlights for the torches/candles.
The windows are really hard for me to do, as there's not much space to work with (probably more than enough for an experienced person, but I'm just beginning to learn), so I've got trouble to add more detail to them.




dreamisle:
Thanks for the pointers. I'll try darkening some elements and put in highlights for the light sources.




Thanks to everyone for the comments and hints. I'll do my best to make good use of them and post here again when I've made some progress :)

Pages: [1] 2