STEALER - cyberpunk puzzle-platformer

[winged doom]

moddb page
tig devlog

[infinitegames]

Looks very promising. I really like the way you've used the sky offwhite color to outline the buildings. It's a cool effect.

[FRAWG]

It's looking mighty impressive so far. So long as the game screen won't always be that crowded when actually playing the game. My eye tends to drift on the upper skyline whereas I think that the player and platforms should draw my eye a bit more... Overall it is nice!

[winged doom]

Looks very promising. I really like the way you've used the sky offwhite color to outline the buildings. It's a cool effect.

It's looking mighty impressive so far. So long as the game screen won't always be that crowded when actually playing the game. My eye tends to drift on the upper skyline whereas I think that the player and platforms should draw my eye a bit more... Overall it is nice!

=)

[pistachio]

I like the art direction you're going in, pretty unique, and somehow rather minimalist. At the same time it's both like an old city in ruins, and something futuristic. Don't change the style, or differ from it too much.

My only problem was stated by FRAWG; it might be too crowded for an actual in-game scene. Maybe separate each layer of buildings more with various levels of fog? (Lighter as they get further away.)

I'll definitely be watching this thread for updates to see where it goes. Sorry if you don't understand everything I'm saying.

[blumunkee]

Cyperpunk is always in my book. Keep it coming.

[winged doom]

My eye tends to drift on the upper skyline whereas I think that the player and platforms should draw my eye a bit more

My only problem was stated by FRAWG; it might be too crowded for an actual in-game scene. Maybe separate each layer of buildings more with various levels of fog? (Lighter as they get further away.)

Maybe, ok i try it!

Sorry if you don't understand everything I'm saying.

I understand you  But yes, i have some problems with correct formulation of answers 

[winged doom]

Stealer inside building

[pistachio]

Hey, the latest update's looking pretty good. The ones on your blog (thanks--now I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight) are looking neat too. Before I begin, I'd like to know, which system will the game be on? PC? Mac? Linux? iPhone? All? Sidescroller games are pretty much always something I want to play.

However there are a few problems (with the latest update) I'd like to discuss:

I think the player character isn't very noticeable. But you don't have to make him larger, of course, being a midget is probably part of his character. There is something you could do however...

The scale of the building seems pretty large. If so, then the shaft of the building is probably too thin to support it. (This is assuming that we're not looking at the whole thing, and that it's as long as I think it is.) It would probably fall over... Or split in two.

Edit:



The amount of detail located in such a small spot--the building's shaft--keeps forcing attention to it, I think. Especially considering that everything else is pretty much a blank space. In this edit I tried to spread more of the detail around more evenly (so that the eye doesn't get fixed in one spot as much, which is at least a bit better), lower the contrast and tweak the building's design so that it makes more sense, hopefully... It's still unfinished and very rough.

Added a band of bright color around the player character; note that the only appearances of the color used there are the player and the building's lights, nowhere else. Remember, having the player distinguishable is important, especially if he's in front of many buildings, which I imagine will be happening often.

Another topic: since the background seems unfinished, I tried to come up with an idea. Maybe it could be your city-empire at night, which, as you can see, can be accomplished while keeping the main background color more or less the same. I kept the contrast low and the design simple. And I added some dots for lights; it makes sense, don't you think? Unfortunately, I don't think it matches the style you were aiming for, and the low number of colors creates some problems with the illusion of depth. But you get the idea, and it might look better with some clouds. (If you're interested, however, here are the buildings I used, as well as some additional, smaller/"lower-level" ones that didn't make it in entirely. They could be used to illustrate one of my points about fog mentioned in my last post, though, now that I think about it.)

This is probably the longest edit I've done to date, but it was certainly fun to do, and I think it was worth it. Might make more buildings in my spare time.

EDIT: More lights; should probably be brighter/more evident, though (except the one on the roof, it looks okay).

[Mathias]

Oh yayuh, 'stachio. That is an inspiring edit! Love the building designs. Nice application of principles.

Though I still want the actual playable area (mainly the light grey bg of the tunnel) to be more functional, more obvious, and also any walkable ground to be way more evident that you can jump on and walk on it.

These things should not be ambiguous in a game! Otherwise you're making the dreaded Form Over Function mistake, which although prioritizing looks, ends up undermining it's own visuals/gfx because the end-result - the game, is not "usable" enough to make players go until they beat it. Gameplay irritation will trump great gfx almost every time.