AuthorTopic: Dinosword Game (WIP)  (Read 7509 times)

Offline absenter

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Dinosword Game (WIP)

on: April 05, 2012, 06:41:38 pm
I've been checking out this forum for awhile and figured I'd put something I've been working on for critique. As you can see, it's still in progress. I'm going for a style along the lines of NES. Whatever input you're willing to provide would be helpful. Thanks!


Offline absenter

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #1 on: April 13, 2012, 01:00:47 am
Walk cycle for the main character.

Offline kinoko

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #2 on: April 13, 2012, 08:53:28 am
I'm not very experienced but from what I've picked up from other people's critiques over time, you probably need to tone down the saturation of your background tiles, particularly the grass I'd say. That was the first thing I noticed, that the characters with that same green just blend into the grass a bit too much. It would be nice if they all popped off the bg a bit more :) Conversely, objects that are interact-able (if you get my meaning) should also pop off the bg tiles to make it clear that the characters can interact with them. E.g. the rocks you've done. I'm assuming they will actually stop the character if they walk into them, not just pass behind them. But right now they appear to be part of the bg.

All that said, your characters and bgs are really, really beautiful. I love the originality. However, on an aesthetic note, the style you used to make the forest scene appears completely different to the underwater scene directly below it. They could easily be from different games. I think you need to pick a style and make it carry across the whole game. Since the trees seem to be the only artwork done in that sketchy style, I guess it would be more efficient to convert those to the more classic pixelated style. This would also fit better with the NES style you said you're trying to emulate.

All just my humble opinions though so feel free to disregard. Your work is beautiful. Can't wait to see more.

Offline Mathias

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #3 on: April 13, 2012, 07:46:11 pm
Very different. Nice job, man.

What NES restrictions are you observing?

Protagonist needs more character. Seems more generic than the NPC's at the bottom of your image.

I recommend reducing the general amount of detail in your graphics, but it's a style preference. Cartoon colors + concentrated detail can hard to pull off.

I'll support this thread with critique if you keep it going.

Offline absenter

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #4 on: April 14, 2012, 02:16:19 am


I'm in the process of cleaning up this forest scene. I put the palette I'm using in the picture. Awhile back when I was working on this the Nintendo palette I was working from somehow got converted to sRGB. I've been working with this palette since.

Kinoko: I'll try to figure out a way to get things looking more separate from foreground to background. Would you be able to give me a tiny example of what you mean? I'm trying to stick fairly close to the colors that I'm using.

Mathias: I can understand your thinking the main character is lacking a bit. My wife said the same thing. I'm kinda stuck on the little guy. The game is going to have a lot of interactions with NPC's and I'm hoping meeting new characters helps keep things interesting. What about him makes him bland? Any suggestions?

Thanks to both of you for commenting. I've been working on this for awhile and kept it to myself. It's cool to have someone look at this stuff other than me

Heres an animation of one of the NPC's. Probably going to add some bending at his knees, etc...


Offline Mathias

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #5 on: April 14, 2012, 09:00:00 pm
Tree trunks are looking nice, though I worry about a their full range of lights/darks, being BG tiles. Readability problems easily arise. You have the right idea with the blue mountains BG. Though, when in-game everything is moving around so it becomes easier to distinguish depth correctly.
I don't like the tree canvas however - it's too mushy and cloudy, pillowy.

When you look at successful protagonists in games, they usually have unique features. Things that imply some sort of backstory perhaps - a strange haircut, some weird item, an outfit with some flair. Your little guy just looks like some random extra from SpongeBob Squarepants.

I also wonder about your use of black outlines - how you use them in some places, but not others. Feels inconsistent. I'd try adding outines to your foreground tiles, see what happens.

___

On a sidenote, if you're really going to complete this game, are these gfx all you've done? If you're creating polished art, you should have a complete design doc outlined and established. Do you have that?

Offline infinitegames

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #6 on: April 15, 2012, 02:57:43 am
I love your characters! They look like they pop right out of a child story book I had when I was a kid. They look so sexual!

Offline kinoko

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #7 on: April 16, 2012, 04:21:05 am
I love your characters! They look like they pop right out of a child story book I had when I was a kid. They look so sexual!

 ??? Slightly concerned about these childhood stories...  :crazy:



So this is just to demonstrate what I meant (an exaggeration). Sorry I didn't stick to your palette but when I tried, I realised you didn't have the necessary colours. You'd already used the darkest shade of green in them and your palette really doesn't seem to have any unsaturated colours. But it does have a HEAP of different variations of green..... Very uneconomical. I'm not very experienced with palettes but this seems like a weakness of yours. Basically I dropped saturation. Dark recedes and light pops, hence, making the character easier to see. This purely about readability, as mathias mentioned. Do you see what I mean?

Offline absenter

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #8 on: April 26, 2012, 04:09:07 am
Here are some leaf tiles I have started to create for the game. I took your advice Mathias and attempted to try and make the trees look less like clouds and have more distinct leaf details.



There are going to be 16 different tiles for this leaf object. I only created these ones so far.

I have made a asset list with all the art I'm going to put into the game, but it's kinda ballooning out of control. I'll make a posting of all I plan on putting in the game at some point, but for now here is what I've been working on.

 ;D

Offline PypeBros

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Re: Dinosword Game (WIP)

Reply #9 on: April 26, 2012, 11:45:03 am
nice NES-ish new leaves. I'd just recommend you to wobble the border a bit more, so that squares and straight lines disappear.