GR#195 - Project Entropy - Gameart, Conceptart

[Ryumaru]

I'm currently in a class entitled " Alternative media exploration" the purpose which is for painters like me to explore other conceptual ways of relaying a message through photography/ film/ installation etc.  Over break I had been entertaining the idea of a game dealing with philosopy/ the universe with game boy color aesthetics- while also exploring paradoxes and illusions such as schrodingers cat and the impossible staircase as " glitches" in reality.

I had thought about creating animated " glitched" images of some bosses for the game as part of an installation when an online friend said he would be interested in programming a playable demo to be part of the installation; so here we are.

I have animations of the main character but I create them in game maker for mac which does not export as a .gif. I may post the strips later and anybody who wants can compile them for critique.

Right now everything is in gameboy green monochrome, but eventually the assets will get a pass of full color- the environment will progress through various palette limitations- from black and white to full ( 4 colors per tile) color.



Impossible staircase:



Schrodinger's Cat ( sketch):


Omega ( a recurring character of mine):


Void ( another recurring character that will personify black holes in game):


The installation critique is in 2 months so hopefully by that time there will be a playable demo including most of this content

[Facet]

Looks hella interesting Ryu, great rendering & pixel tech. I also love the gameboy aesthetic with an unhealthy passion

...the idea of a game dealing with philosopy/ the universe

I know hyperbole is a pre-requiste for these sorts of things sometimes, but narrowing your scope a bit might prove helpful

Is the game going to be essentially a dialogue-heavy RPG? are the screen-sized characters portraits intended for cut-scenes or similar? they don't leave a lot of room for the character or anything much else if you're sticking with standard GB res.

Some stuff that looks a bit strange so far:

• Omega's extra heads seem tacked on and not fully integrated anatomy-wise.
• Void's upper pair of forearms are very long and the bis/tris very short.
• Why are the former personified as giant bodybuilders and SD's cat so literally?
• The cat's eyes are very close together

As always I'd love to see a mock-up of how all this is going to work in-game

[Helm]

But what is the central theme you'll be trying to express? Philosophy/the universe doesn't say much. Visual illusions like the endless staircase and SD's cat have nothing in common, there's nothing illusionary about the latter.

[Ryumaru]

Looks hella interesting Ryu, great rendering & pixel tech. I also love the gameboy aesthetic with an unhealthy passion

...the idea of a game dealing with philosopy/ the universe

I know hyperbole is a pre-requiste for these sorts of things sometimes, but narrowing your scope a bit might prove helpful

Is the game going to be essentially a dialogue-heavy RPG? are the screen-sized characters portraits intended for cut-scenes or similar? they don't leave a lot of room for the character or anything much else if you're sticking with standard GB res.

Some stuff that looks a bit strange so far:

• Omega's extra heads seem tacked on and not fully integrated anatomy-wise.
• Void's upper pair of forearms are very long and the bis/tris very short.
• Why are the former personified as giant bodybuilders and SD's cat so literally?
• The cat's eyes are very close together

As always I'd love to see a mock-up of how all this is going to work in-game

To narrow things down, the game is a quest for enlightenment in a similar style of " Siddartha" by Hermann Hesse- and the more I learn about hinduism, it's time line is similar to how things would probably progress in game.
The game will not be using the GBC resolution, but the bosses max size are an acknowledgment of the reference.

Once the sprites go into the color stage I will deal with those issues, I believe the heads seem separated in part because of the strong shadow they are casting onto the neck structure and body, I may lessen it.
The characters of Omega and Void are giant bodybuilders firstly because thats how they were originally designed and they are from a different ( artistic) universe and are being put into this game. Think ff7 characters and disney characters in Kingdom hearts. Secondly I often use body types and anatomy to personify things- Omega is a special issue as he is a self portrait in some manner so the heads represent different states of mind etc; Void is suppose to be large and all consuming like a black hole, his multiple arms represent the strong gravitational pull that a black hole would have.

Helm: I may have answered that a bit in replying to Facet: The main character wanders through a personified universe battling or otherwise reacting to embodiments of time/ space/ gravity etc all the while discovering and dealing with " glitches" in reality or paradoxes such as the impossible staircase and Schrodinger's cat. They have nothing in common other than the fact that are somehow paradoxical in nature.

[st0ven]

really love the sketchiness of some of your larger characters (and what looks to be the main character, interesting design). to be honest i think id be more happy with this as a game concept (and even likely artistically) using this palette range.

I know youre trying to make void and omega big and scary and with some slight bit of perspective, but why are their arms always so massive on these types of characters that you draw? id rather see the mass placed into the lats and shoulders.

also, imo - you should keep your game loose and sketchy like this. i think focusing on going over detailed on the pixel tech could kill your project. its killed many a project for me unfortunately.

one last thing. i am not a fan of omega's middle face, likely because i feel like it should match the other two, which are far more interesting, or at least give it more of a jaw presence or something. maybe mandibles like an insects?

[Ryumaru]

st0ven: Thank you very much ( the main character is the one in the cloak that also appears in the boss sketches for scale comparison, is that the one you're thinking of?)
To be honest I really like this palette range too; However I originally intended for the map to start with lower restrictions and slowly increase the range as you branched out to symbolize creation from simple to complex. I guess we'll see how that goes.

Would you mind giving me an edit on those guys? They're builds are based on my aesthetic preferences and it would be nice to see your take on them. Edits like back in the old days ;]

Do you think that such a level of rendering could hold up in game though? and through animation. I don't want to add so much detail that things get bogged down but I don't know if I can visualize some of this stuff in game as is.

Omega's middle face is supposed to look bland in comparison. It's the blank slate from which persona's extend ( the other two heads) and signifies itself as the " main" head.

Heres a quick mock up for you guys. this part of the map would be in grayscale, following simple black and white and before a monochromatic scheme and eventual " full" color. Let me know your thoughts.

[Corinthian Baby]

Quite an interesting style. While the mini dither tiles contribute to the style, I'm wondering if it's overstated. I mean I guess it reads well, the environment is a desert with a big cliff formation to the right, giving the character color makes him readable too. I think if you toned down the dither tiles, or gave some more shape to them, it might help the rendering more, it looks a little too chaotic at first glance.

Your idea of the graphics getting more complicated as the game progresses, would that effect this chaotic dither, and forms would be more clearly rendered as you go?

[Ryumaru]

No it would not affect the chaotic dither- I can definitely tell it's pushing it as is. This mock up is just a tile test- in the actual map the graphics would become more complex through color limitations and the "amount" of environment there is. Beginning very sparse with loosely defined forms to the more abundant concrete ones found here.

In the final map I will most likely clear some areas up- it's easy to have too much fun with something like this!

[Ryumaru]

Some new tile tests:





Also, some sprites and weapons. Including:
- hydrogen shield
- helium daggers
- lithium/ beryllium/ boron swords
- carbon shield

[pistachio]

Few minor things: the "B" in beryllium and boron still reads more as a "D". Not sure how to fix that, I don't know much about subpixelling, but you could resort to a lowercase "b" if all else fails. There's also a large square/rectangular "cluster" in the floating rock that grabs my attention, maybe more of a transition to the dark (right) side would help it seem like less of a rectangle. If possible, a bit of a shadow underneath the character could give it some grounding, which it lacks now.

Otherwise it's looking nice!