Three Blind Mice game project [WIP]

[knivel]

Hey guys! I'm obviously new to the board, but I was hoping to get some critiques on the art I've done for a small game project of mine. Here is a screen shot that contains pretty much all the sprites in the game:


Here's are the frames in the main little mouse character's animations:


If you like, you can also check out the WIP game itself, but it's buggy and has no in-game instructions:
http://patkemp.com/stuff/ThreeBlindMice.swf
 - To play, select Time Trial or Endless.
 - Tap out a sequence of arrow key presses. When you stop pressing keys for a second or so, the mouse will pop out of the hole and move according to the keys you pressed.
 - Avoid traps, try to pick up cheese, and make sure you safely finish your movement on a new hole.

Any feedback on the sprites, palette or animations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Jim16]

Holy saturation!

You might want to bring that down a bit and up the contrast slightly. Something like this perhaps?


I also played the game, pretty neat. I'm going to look through your website, you look like a promising indie dev
The cats ears looked like eyes the first time I saw it.

[Blacklight_Studios]

Welcome to the Boards! 

I agree that the contrast and saturation are off a little, but i think it's fine, really. Are those black parts supposed to be stones of some sort? I'd edit those to look more like rocks.

[knivel]

Thanks guys! Yikes, I don't know how I didn't notice how bright and saturated that image was when I working on it last night. Well, I've tweaked the palette to be a little more subdued and upped the contrast. Not too much though-- I'm kind of going for a pastel look. Here's a new screenshot:

I feel like the blue tiles and brown grout still aren't right, so I'll probably play around with them some more.

I've also changed the cat ears and the mouse holes to hopefully read better.

Thanks for checking out the game, Jim! I'm actually not that crazy about this one, but I'm taking it to completion so I can practice the finishing stages of development.

[Lukkas]

Pastels are fine and dandy, but even if your textures and palette are supposed to look subdued and mild, shadow is still supposed to be shadow. Your mouse holes are being subject to the same lack of contrast as everything else in your tileset, and unfortunately that just doesn't look that good with things that are supposed to represent a "void". Try upping your contrast on your mouse holes so they read better.

I also recommend doing the same with your cat, or perhaps giving him a bit of a bluish-purple hue. Right now he reads poorly against the holes.

I like the concept and the pixelling is well done, but you really should reconsider your contrast and saturation in a few areas.

[knivel]

Good points Lukkas, Thanks! Here's another take where I've upped the contrast and gone more bluish with the darkest areas:


I'm not really concerned with how the cat reads against the holes because he flies across the screen pretty quickly anyway. I appreciate the feedback guys!

[knivel]

Here's the title screen I've thrown together for the game:


Again, any feedback is appreciated. Thanks guys!

[Jeremy]

The newest saturation is looking good

To make the cat look more imposing, it might pay to make it take up the entire width of the tile, giving you more space to work with at the same time


I love the title screen too, very stylish. You should probably go all or nothing with the AA on the mousehole. The dark line forming the front mouse's chin looks a bit like a mouth. Eyes as spots of light is a bit distracting, doesn't read very well.

Edit of general stuff, spotted bits of banding, added a tail to make them more mousy :L

[knivel]

Thanks for the edit and critique, Jeremy! I've adopted some of your changes and I think I've arrived at a version I'm happy with:


I've opted to keep the yellow eyes, but I've toned them down some and I feel like they read better now. Also, the lack of tails was intentional in keeping with the nursery rhyme ("cut off their tails with a carving knife.") Your AA edit on the mouse hole was especially helpful.

Thanks again, everyone!

[Jeremy]

lack of tails...cut off their tails with a carving knife

Oh yeah
Your pale eyes are a good compromise too, even makes 'em look blind