Hello.

EDIT/ This post has been updated to house WIP animations

I'm working on a set of 1-Bit flash games... a compendium really. One file with 3 or so games all built on the same core game engine.

I'd like to try an open work flow and see how it goes... Basically designing, building, playing, designing... All in little chunks

Dev log:

-One button gameplay. UPDATE: Basic keyboard movement.  UPDATE: Mouse movement - spaceship has inertia.
-Single screen. Wrapping game environment UPDATE: Side-scrolling with parallax background layers. UPDATE: Single screen & scrolling with parallax background layers (level dependent).
-Basic gameplay abduct people. UPDATE: abduct and avoid projectiles. UPDATE: abduct, avoid, destroy, move objects

Game play mockup:


You'd be amazed what a different the larger spaceship makes - so much more fun... you feel all powerful.

Characters/Objects:



Everything is  inspired by games of my youth - played on a Mac Plus. Dither patterns are mostly the ones I played with years ago in MacPaint...

I don't know if it'll tickle anyone fancy but here's what I got up to over the weekend http://www.kongregate.com/games/PixelBeard/money-in-the-horses-mouth

Thanks Evil-Eye. It looks like Tsunade! I've tried to shade the face a little more delicately and tried a slight palette edit too. I think the forehead might be working.
I hope its not the male face otherwise i'll be forced into some rather long nights *_*

Does anyone else see a man-woman with a beard?

Anyway what do people think of the 4 above at 300% which is more feminine and in a neutral/happy expression.

The hero sprite looks good and has some nice/fun design aspects.

Some things that you should consider:

The use of black outlines is very inconsistent - it does not relate to the lighting on the rest of the sprite.
Some of the internal lines of the sprite need a bolder approach to really distinguish volume and depth - particularly the arm.
You should start to think about a game palette that will be used when creating all the assets - this doesn't need to strict but should at least givea unifying feeling. maybe some colours could be strict so that you can give all art and sprites a some colour unity.
The detailing around our left eye is lost.

Anyway I made a quick mockup using your sprites. it illustrating the outlining issue on the enlarged sprite and hopefully shows you that so far the palettes of the background and hero don't mix too well. * the sprite loses priority to the backgound. maybe it'll give you some ideas? ^_^ wouldn't suggest this palette i just used brightness/contrast to alter yours

i'm more than a little frustrated with this now. i think this perhaps stems from the fact that i've never been able to render the female form well -probably because no ladies ever volunteered for life drawing... anyway

here's the basics of what i'm trying to achieve: i need to produce a female character's face in a style matching an earlier work, the male character. intended use is 300%.


i just can't seem to get it looking female in an attractive way...

also just started work on a background (quite wip but construction pointers really appreciated). i'm hoping its about ready to go in with details. eg posters, table legs, wood textures?



ps hello, i'm back from 3 months on the transsiberian!