[wip] Bilou's school : Pendats goes marchin' in [c+c]

[PypeBros]

After defeating the assaults of angry apples in the green zone, Bilou is now back in the school zone where spidey-sponges, ink-throwing pits and bored sharpeners get into his way. I'm still looking for advice on how to make the art better. There's a playable demo level available. And a small arcade-like rush game under construction (but already fun to play).

Bilou animations


monsters revamp
pendat
-- inkjet
dumblador (in-engine capture)

Latest updates:

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<-- ink pit animation

[PypeBros]

^ mockup initially submitted for C+C (NPA-placeholders ink and background)


Update: now with pixel ink. Am I heading in the right direction ? When building the mockup, I've got the feeling that waves of the ink should be larger.

[Redshrike]

Just out of curiosity, is there something I'm missing about the sponges?  they seem kind of out of place in a book/ink-themed zone, and they don't really fit visually either; compared with your other elements, they look kind of rough and unfinished.  The bindings on the books also look a bit unusual.  They're quite thick, and seem to extend over the pages.
I actually kinda like the look of the sea of ink as you have it now.  It's definitely worth experimenting with larger waves, but these do a pretty good job of conveying the look simply and effectively.
One thing that might be fun (or you might already be doing) would be to have bookends occasionally appear in the walls.  That could add a bit of texture and diversity as well.
Anyway, crits aside, I really do like the way this is going.

[PypeBros]

Just out of curiosity, is there something I'm missing about the sponges?  they seem kind of out of place in a book/ink-themed zone, and they don't really fit visually either; compared with your other elements, they look kind of rough and unfinished. 

First, thanks for your comments. The theme is "an old (197x?) school", where the sponge was hanging by a thread near the black board, with the water container just beneath. I see it as a "natural" odd-and-round-shaped sponge, compared to those synthetic-and-squarish sponges *I* have used during my childhood.
But yeah, I do agree that they're still very rough and need to be polished. Gameplay-wise, I've inserted them in that "ink pit" level because I believe it's interesting to have elements that can float for a limited amount of time, and sponges are just like that: once soaked, they sink.

The bindings on the books also look a bit unusual.  They're quite thick, and seem to extend over the pages.

Aha... Yeah, I think I see what you mean. I'll hunt for some references to see if I can come with something else. The "justification" would be the perspective: the book is not 90° with the eye, but rather 75° or so, so you see a small part of the binding and a large part of the pages. I'll try and see whether I manage to render that better.

I actually kinda like the look of the sea of ink as you have it now.  It's definitely worth experimenting with larger waves, but these do a pretty good job of conveying the look simply and effectively.

^_^

One thing that might be fun (or you might already be doing) would be to have bookends occasionally appear in the walls.  That could add a bit of texture and diversity as well.
Anyway, crits aside, I really do like the way this is going.

I hadn't thought about bookends yet for this vertical level ... I'll brainstorm about something interesting to come with.

[PypeBros]

Tried to fix perspective, volume and shading on the books.

Here's also a 32x32 tile for the ink animated ... somehow, it doesn't work that well once tiled 

[Wes]

The problem with those water tiles imo is that the peaks look like they slush forward then back again. instead try to make them move—one should fall into the next to create the illusion that each peak is sliding across the screen. that breaks the obvious tiling.

Also once that's nailed down, I think you could really make the animation a lot subtler—and a lot slower. maybe it shouldn't have those kind of wavey peaks at all. when I think about ink or oil vs water I imagine it being all goopy and sticky rather than pure liquid. even closer to a tar pit kind of thing.

as for the sponges, the 197X school setting is clever but the problem is that people just won't really get it. it doesn't fit in with the modern image of a classroom and people won't naturally think that way at all. can you replace them with more modern chalkboard brushes? i do think they could totally work as maybe a sub-boss or something but as a regular common enemy it makes people question.

[Elk]

Hehe cute attempt at the rayman style props for that! I think youre focusing way too much on using techniques right rather than the objects itself




Ref yourself next time !

[PypeBros]

The problem with those water tiles imo is that the peaks look like they slush forward then back again. instead try to make them move—one should fall into the next to create the illusion that each peak is sliding across the screen. that breaks the obvious tiling.

Note that I'm aiming at a stationary wave here, like the one you can produce in your bathtub. Not propagating waves like the one you'd see in a river or at sea.

->
Here's an improved version. Two more frames and (hopefully) slowed down speed ... but setting the speed with gimp is still much Trial/error :/ . I hope I managed to break the "teleporting peak" artefact.

Also once that's nailed down, I think you could really make the animation a lot subtler—and a lot slower. maybe it shouldn't have those kind of wavey peaks at all. when I think about ink or oil vs water I imagine it being all goopy and sticky rather than pure liquid. even closer to a tar pit kind of thing.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had no intend to have "oily" ink so far, but I'll investigate that.

can you replace them with more modern chalkboard brushes?

this is the kind of sponge I'm talking about. Chalkboard brushes would not make sense for the desired monster design. They're just too heavy. Plus, I've never seen any of them in a school here, only in Simpsons Cartoons.

Hehe cute attempt at the rayman style

Well, clearly, Ubisoft shoot our originality in the back 15 years ago with Picture City, but the school zone design even predates that. That being said, it's clear rayman on PSX *did* have an influence, although I'd credit Lewis Carol, Zool and Coolspot equally high for inspiration. I've indeed peeked a few colours on Rayman screenshots to see whether it'd be neat to have some hue shift in ink highlights, but that's basically all. I intentionally went for something much simpler that rayman's ink sea.

Now, if it's still close enough, okay, I'll lower my "this-is-a-ref" threshold and put a notice next time.

Mind to detail a bit more what you mean with "I think youre focusing way too much on using techniques right rather than the objects itself" ? What technique ? what am I doing wrong ? how would you proceed instead ?

[PypeBros]

Took the time to re-pixel the SpongeBop with my favourite editor ... and also retrieved (leftmost) "Dumblador", the pencil sharpener, which I have to reworked (rightmost) for better readability.

any thoughts?

[ABC]

The lines of the circles in the binders are really weird.

Do you have a limited palette?
I think it would work better if you re-used a least one color from the books in the background.
The colours aren't very harmonious right now.

Maybe try to make the waves in the ink more like hills than spikes, since it's more like the liquid is slowly moving than actual waves.