Pixel Heresy

[lithander]

Hi there!

I'm reading this forum for a while now and it motivated me to pickup work on a project that involves pixel graphics. But after having spend some time here I learned that pixel graphic is more then low-resolution images and in retrospective my take at "bringing it to a new level" now seems rather pretentious. Breaking the rules deliberately requires to know them. So while there are other reasons that make it worthwhile for me to continue working on the game I'd really like to hear some opinons of pixel pro's. What aesthetic impression does the game have on you? Are there elements you think are interesting or even beautiful? What details annoy you? (Annoyance like in seeing an advertising using "Comic Sans" ^^ )



You can play a prototype here. Click the swf to give it keyboard focus and run around using the cursor keys.

http://www.swfcabin.com/swf-files/1266178842.swf

I've also experimented with different post-processing approaches to accentuate the pixels. (You probably need a decent monitor to see the differences)



General feedback & tips for (visual) improvment are very welcome!

[Mathias]

I like the game, though very slow-paced. (F5 doesn't work to refresh page, the embedded Flash movie object captures all keyboard input in FF) It looks very cool. I like all the colors. Those stupid iron golumns keep crushing me, though. No run key? Like SHIFT maybe.

Pixel purism is everyone's choice. I, for instance, am not a purist. I love pixel art however I feel like creating it. I don't hold myself to any certain "code of ethics" when creating it, such as using only the pencil tool and no layers. That's rubbish. For others, they love it. It's a challenging hobby. More power to them. If that's what they like, it's what they like. The trouble begins when such individuals push their ideals on others and reject the validity of others' work if not done according to their "specs".

So some here will think your uninhibited usage of alpha fading for shadows is ridiculous while others think nothing of it.

I seem to see your game's shadows as independent of the level graphics, on a separate layer. I think it works ok. But now what if your gfx were smooth computer AA'ed full-color graphics. I think it might work even better. Though it looks like you're scaling the flash 200%, so this means 2x the graphics you'd need to make. Could the shadows  be pixel art? Wouldn't nearly as shady and shadow anymore. That wouldn't work. You've got lots of layered blending occurring with colors and light sources and shadows. I don't think there's another way.

I don't like either of the post-processing filters you've tried so far. I don't think you need one. Most everything is already bathed in neat blending/color-shifting. Oddly I just posted about applying global filters to pixel art games in order to mimick old CRT TV displays. If you have anything on that, please lemme know.

[colinsick]

The masking works great. I like it!

Being consumed by darkness kinda looks like being consumed by bats though.  I would expect being consumed by darkness to be dark shadowy hands reaching out and pulling me into the shadows, kinda like in the movie "Ghost" with Patrick Swayze.

And I agree. the visual LCD/Printer post-processing is unnecessary, except to include as a nice gimmick in the options perhaps.

[lithander]

Great to hear that you like the look and my lighting/shadow approach!

Being consumed by darkness kinda looks like being consumed by bats though.  I would expect being consumed by darkness to be dark shadowy hands reaching out and pulling me into the shadows, kinda like in the movie "Ghost" with Patrick Swayze.

Problem is, that not all dark areas are equally dangerous. Some house monsters, most dark places don't. The player needs to be able to know a place is dangerous before actually running into it. So I need some visual cues like the glowing eyes.

Those stupid iron golumns keep crushing me, though. No run key? Like SHIFT maybe.

The slow pacing is deliberate. I try to create an atmosphere that is different from arcade, twitchy games that mostly test your reflexes. A sprint function (which I tried) makes you wish to sprint all the time and you feel punished when you can't. Moving a lot faster by default changes the gameplay considerably (it's harder to make sense of your sourroundings and react in time to things at the edge of your line of sight).
But I agree that the iron golems are not fun to interact with at the moment. I wan't to try to tweak their movement so that they are generally faster then the player, maybe even building up speed over time but turning slows them down considerably and when they lose LOS of the player they abort the chase. If that doenst work out they get removed.

But now what if your gfx were smooth computer AA'ed full-color graphics. I think it might work even better. Though it looks like you're scaling the flash 200%, so this means 2x the graphics you'd need to make.

I scale by 300%. The main reason is performance: Flash is very fill rate limited especially when blending is involved but creating a small resolution image with only 200x200 pixels and scaling it up is reasonably fast. And pixel graphics are just efficient - I can create 16x16 sprites reasonably fast and decent looking. But I doubt I could achieve the same quality with HD graphics let alone in the same time. But all this is mostly pragmatic reasons - if the constrast of "retro" pixel graphics and "modern" concepts of simulated light and shadow is a viable style is a different question. (which is why I posted and asked for opinions^^)

Two votes against the post processing... . But making it optional and allow the player chose is a good idea!

[lithander]

I'm planning to look for a sponsor for this game when it's done and I was thinking about the little thumbnail preview that most portals show alongside the name of a game. That's the only thing people will see when they decide to try the game or leave it. So I guess it should be as awesome as possible if I want players to play the game I put so much effort in. Sadly that means it's better not designed by me without help!

So, I thought I might just ask a real artist for help and pay for it.

But I've never in my live comissioned anything. How to approach it? Idealistic as I am I believe that a pixel artist should actually enjoy that kind of assignment - could I offer to host some kind of contest where the winner get's a price of X$ and I get to use his thumbnail? Or is it better to look on artist boards (like this but maybe also pixeljoint or newgrounds or deviant art) for people with good references and ask them if they want a mini-job? How can I make sure that the result is high quality? (because if it's not I could just make a collage of my sprites&title and be done with it)

I guess I'm confused. Opinions & Tips?

[NickZA]

My opinion as a coder and not-entirely-crap pixeller is that you should definitely, definitely do everything yourself. Because if I could do pixel art like yours, I would never have even thought about bringing someone else on board.

Never forget the management overheads in trying to have your artists create things exactly to the specs your game requires. In other words, the more you can keep in one head, the better. Communication is costly.

And P.S., if I could afford to hire you as pure artist for my game, and if you were willing, I would.

[NickZA]

By the way, how many colours have you used in your base palette? It's difficult to tell because of the overlays.

[lithander]

Hey Nick!

Thanks for the flattering comments regarding my artworks. I think I blushed a little. Especially when you ask about "palette size" and I'd have to answer that I don't know. I didn't use a palette. I picked colors from my image when possible and mixed a new one whenever I felt it was missing. And in the end I had way more colors then I needed to. Today there's no technical constraint to save colors. However, I have to admit, that my best sprites (which happen to also be the last ones I did) have a more constraint palette. Like 30 or some such and some are very similar and could probably be merged, too.
But keep in mind that the way I use them in my game to generate the final image is very undraditional and more inspired by techniques from the 3d world so the final color depends not only on the diffuse and ambient component of the sprite but also on the lights that affect the pixel.

As for my plan to hire an artist for the thumbnail. I commissioned an artwork to be used as a thumbnail and it was very interesting to go through that process. Also quite fun to tell someone what you want and see 'em making it real! That's usually my job... Anyway, I'm very happy with the result:



Only a couple of days and I'm gonna upload a beta-version on FlashGameLicense. Really excited how the "get your game sponsored" thing turns out for me and how it all works.

What kind of game are you working on, Nick?

[NickZA]

Hey,

That is great news lithander, I am really happy for you. I hope it gets good coverage -- I've been reading quite a lot about marketing recently and, at least for dedicated indies, they say you need to continuously find new channels to market and improve efficiency on your older ones on a regular basis if you want to maximise returns on the work you've already done. Assuming you're charging for the game (since you mention FlashGameLicense) that might be valid for you. Whether you're charging or not, I still think it would be a waste if a lot of folks didn't see your game, because it's really nice-looking and the play is straightforward, too.

Like the thumb -- that's super. Looks like you found the right person for the job. Where did you find them? DeviantArt?

Mine's a top-down action RPG, which is part of why I was excited to see your work, although mine's pure bird's-eye view for reasons of simplicity/time/money. Without the sort of oblique perspective that Rune Hunt has, it will be harder to make things look good -- lighting will be top-down, too, so that I can rotate the sprites. It's all about economizing... I'll find a way to make the art look good. This is more about the gameplay, since I'm taking the episodic approach -- sequels, addons will appear if the first game is well-received. And if so, then hopefully I can attract funding for an artist later on. The gameplay, aside from being similar to something like Gauntlet or Crimsonland, is based around the interaction of various elements in the world to create new elements to your tactical advantage, a sort of alchemy really. It's a little less action than a shmup, and a lot more tactics.

If you ever want to chat or anything, you can grab my email from my profile here... I am always keen to stay in touch with other indies, especially those who do some of their own art because I'm kinda in the same boat.

[lithander]

Assuming you're charging for the game (since you mention FlashGameLicense) that might be valid for you. Whether you're charging or not, I still think it would be a waste if a lot of folks didn't see your game, because it's really nice-looking and the play is straightforward, too.

I'm not charging a player, I'm charging a potential sponsor for the right to brand my game. He'll get to place a splash-screen infront of the game. His logo on the menu page and a "More Games" button that'll lead players to his website (which for most sponsors is some kind of flash game portal). The player is not paying a cent and is not (if I'm not getting convinced otherwise) even bugged with a pre-loader-advertisement ala Mochi-Adds. It's a win-win-win situation. I get cash, the portal gets site impressions and the player gets a free game. Cool thing for me is that a sponsor is not only paying me but also actively spreading the game to the bazillions of flash portals. And reaching a large audience is kinda important for me. At least that's the theory and I'm curious how it works in practice!^^

Looks like you found the right person for the job. Where did you find them? DeviantArt?

Aye, been browsing deviant art profiles and when I liked the work displayed there I just shot em a short message. Most didn't reply, some asked for 200$ per hour while I was looking for a fixed price. But lastly I found the perfect match. However establishing the contact and working out the details took hours (of my free time).