AuthorTopic: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup  (Read 39887 times)

Offline moket

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 52
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • human hacks

[WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

on: April 25, 2010, 05:39:16 pm
Hi, lurking for quite some time, really impressed by the interesting thoughts I've read here.
I started a 16x16 mock up for a platform game, with a minimal palette not to get lost into, also a quick playable proto done with the Flixel framework in order to test the graphics in game. Sound FX made with SFXR and background wind mood picked up on The Free Sound Project.
Don't specifically want to get retro but it made things easier to grasp for a first try.
I will update with vegetation and some sky elements but didn't want to wait to much/forever so I could have some basics to start the next tiles.
Gameplay wise I was thinking of having the ground made mostly of quick sands with a few places where you could walk without dying.
So it will be mostly aerial acrobatics. Basically trying to cram in a lot of the typical movements you could find in platform games (wall sliding, double Jumps for example).
Also some pickups because japanese food is fun to draw. :crazy:

Anims are pretty rough, quite difficult to work within a few pixels (animation is hard for me whenever the size). I would like to have detailed ones in the end.


running
sliding against walls
falling
pick up
tileset

« Last Edit: April 27, 2010, 12:17:06 am by moket »

Offline infinitegames

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 130
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #1 on: April 26, 2010, 06:06:43 am
I really like this. My only suggestion would be to reduce dithering as much as possible.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2010, 06:10:55 am by infinitegames »

Offline JaJitsu

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 33
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • JaJitsu.com

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #2 on: April 26, 2010, 07:48:40 am
wow this is wizard. i would love to see more.

Offline Jakerpot

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 51
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #3 on: April 26, 2010, 08:34:09 am
I love the colors *-*

But that angel is too white, i barely can see it.

Offline rikfuzz

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 427
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • twitter @hot_pengu

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #4 on: April 26, 2010, 03:56:09 pm
Wow this looks great!  Fantastic work, I've been meaning to learn Flixel for a while. Good stuff all round. The "Ninja Jam" logo could do with being a bit taller, it's very hard to tell it's text.

Offline moket

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 52
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
    • human hacks

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #5 on: April 27, 2010, 12:05:49 am
infinitegames <> Thanks. Yes it's tempting to dither, I should perhaps add more colors to the palette instead. I can't figure how to add texture without doing it.
JaJitsu <> posting here gives me motivation, even if it's frightening at the same time ^^.
Jakerpot <> I really should add one more color then before the brighter one, I could use it also for background stuff. Thanks.
rikfuzz <> wow thanks a lot ! I doubled the logo size now, dirty practice but it will be a reminder. I wanted to have an Asian font feeling while still being occidental it might take time to find the right way.
Flixel is pretty easy to learn and has a nice helping community behind. I've waited so long to find a way to get myself at game making. I must resist not to put the nice pixel work of this forum into it ;)

Made a third theme, now I will focus on refining each part while testing the game. Mainly having a scale chart instead of the messy one and conform the graphics to the grid.
Added a second title to help me going forth with a little bit of context.

« Last Edit: April 27, 2010, 12:07:53 am by moket »

Offline robotacon

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 222
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • robotacon
    • View Profile
    • It Got Dark

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #6 on: April 27, 2010, 09:52:11 am
I really like this. My only suggestion would be to reduce dithering as much as possible.

I disagree. Stones and trees and most things organic looks great with dithering.
Stay away from dithering on shiny and smooth surfaces though.

Offline Jakerpot

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 51
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #7 on: April 27, 2010, 02:59:16 pm
I really like this. My only suggestion would be to reduce dithering as much as possible.

I disagree. Stones and trees and most things organic looks great with dithering.
Stay away from dithering on shiny and smooth surfaces though.

Agreed.

Offline Arachne

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 309
  • Karma: +3/-0
    • View Profile
    • Retinal Eclipse

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #8 on: April 27, 2010, 04:05:31 pm
I love those clouds! :D

I would stay away from dithering as much as possible here. Texturing is fine, but with such a limited palette and small object sizes, I think it gets too noisy in this case. Single pixels don't really say much on their own. If you try to add texture with lots of single pixels, you'll end up with varying flavors of sandpaper. Sandpaper trees, sandpaper grass, etc. I think it'll be nice for rust, with the two darkest shades, and of course for the sand, where I suggest adding more of that dithering to make it look more like sand. For other surfaces, I think you need more information than that single pixel. Putting a few together in a line will indicate cracks, a few in a tiny cluster makes a leaf, and so on. That way you should be able to add some interesting details without making it too noisy.

The thing I'd worry more about, however, is where you use your colors. By adding highlights and the dark shadows to everything, you lose depth. Everything seems to be on the same level, and nothing really stands out as more important than anything else. You've done well with the forest area where you have the faded, blue background elements, but I think the color usage in the ground tiles could use some adjustments.



I managed to misinterpret your sand as grass, but oh well. :crazy: It makes for one more texture example, I guess.

For instance, you can cut down on the use of black lines to separate brighter areas. If another, brighter color serves just as well, there's no need for such dark lines. I would save the use of bright and dark colors together for things that are really important, like the player, enemies or power-ups. I also removed highlights from tiny things like the smallest bricks to make it look a little cleaner and most of the highlights on the darkest ground tiles as well, since I thought they were attracting more attention than their purpose is worth.

I also decided not to mirror any tiles since I think it's well worth the extra effort. It's easier in some ways since you don't have to worry about the direction of the lighting being inconsistent.



Here's some sand too. I recommend adding some kind of sign of danger to the sand tiles, like some skeletons or skulls or something. It's not easy making them read well at that size, but I don't think much is needed.

I hope that's useful. :)
« Last Edit: April 27, 2010, 04:09:20 pm by Arachne »

Offline Jakerpot

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 51
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: [WIP] Ninja Jam platform game mockup

Reply #9 on: April 28, 2010, 01:01:36 am