Squaretale's Pixel Game

[eishiya]

If your system has no constraints, then there's no problem with using 23 colours. However, the more colours you use on a sprite, the harder it is to keep the shapes those colours make up looking consistent from frame to frame. Generally, the fewer colours you have, the easier it is to animate. And of course, on top of that there's the visual unity that you get when you reuse colours between different parts of a sprite and between sprites instead of having a separate set of colours for everything.

With the sword's handle, what if the hand flips out of the book, like it was a ribbon bookmark that suddenly became solid? It makes no sense in 3D space, but could look cool. Alternatively, maybe the book's spine could fold out.

[Bacrylic]

Thanks for the note. I'm sure the struggle will make itself present if the count is too much to animate with.

For the book animation, I think it would be hard to visually show a ribbon becoming the handle of the sword with the book being as small as it is. This animation probably wont happen during the game everytime you equip the book unless I can manage to make it super quick. He's gonna be able to quick-equip a different weapon during combat and I think it might be a problem if you had to wait for an animation to play out before attacking. 

I intend for there to be a few weapon books he can get or a few different weapons that the book can turn into. I like the ribbon idea for another weapon though. Other than the sword, his other weapons could expand to take on different shapes. I know for certain I want to add a shield that grows to be pretty big on him. That'd be good add 

The spine folding out was actually our first idea for how to handle that, but we opted for one of the gold bars on the spine extending down. I might give that a try though. When he isn't attacking but has the weapon equiped, its just gonna look like he's running with a book in his hand and that animation may work out better.   


 

[Bacrylic]

Ok so I've been back and forth with different pieces of this game, trying to make assets for the 'cross your toes we'll make it in time' demo. Bouncing kind of helps me from getting burnt out from working on one piece of the puzzle, but that just means I haven't checkmarked anything off as relatively finished. So I've decided to focus on finishing off Alex's sprite sheet with all his animations, or at least the ones we'll show for now.

A little pixel cleanup with our 23 color scheme and flipped his shirt logo and bag for his left animations on his sprints.




We also wanted a jog or a running animation thats less hurrdle jumpy. Right now both the sprint and jog are set at 10 frames each and I kind of want to keep it in that range if possible.   



Sorry about the straggling pixels, didn't notice those in there before loading out.
Aside from these and the combos I posted earlier, I gotta make a jump anim, possible double jump, combat roll, an 'in air' attack anim, an equip anim, and probably some ledge animations. Making games is a love, hate relationship huh. 

[Bacrylic]

Ok so I did a little work on the jump and jog animation, but I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with it, the motion I mean. The cleanup is to come but I don't feel like they match with the style of the sprint. A goal of mine is for the animation to have a lot of character in it.


I edited the jog down to 8 frames instead of 10, but then back up to 12. I thought the first try was a bit choppy and wanted to speed things up a bit. It didn't look right with a faster speed, so I added the extra frames to try and smooth out the animation. Not sure where to make changes yet, but will be adding hair bouncing.



Similar style issue with the jump. Its a little too bouncy/cartoony for me, and I know I want an exaggerated second jump so I'm not sure if the first jump should be something basic looking.

[Bacrylic]

Oh and for the sneak-idy peaks, I'll show a bonus image for the level I'm working on making for the demo. The modern scene is taking a break. It was intended for the trailer and I'm not quite there with it. My partner wants to push for something playable. Here's an attempt on the in-game conceptual appearance.



Although this will be a sidescroller, its not necessarily a platformer, but for combat reasons I need to find a way to design platforms that don't look like floating or tileset placed platforms. I want them to blend in with the environment and feel natural. Any advice on how to achieve this? If so, please share. I have some thoughts on it myself, but putting it into visuals is difficult.
 

[eishiya]

Are you asking just for the woods, or for all levels? In-world platforms are probably the ideal way to go. Scaffolds, podiums, cars, piles of boxes, trash bins, treehouses, balconies, roofs...

More cartoony platformers sometimes incorporate tree branches as platforms in forested areas, but I don't think that would work in a more realistic-looking game with a human protagonist, as they wouldn't hold the character's weight and a human would have trouble balancing even on the thickest branches. Plus, for clarity, it's best if the platforms are fairly blocky-looking and stand out from the background, whereas real branches aren't blocky and usually blend with the background branches. Leaf/branch platforms look best when the whole tree can be stylised and blocky. I've tried mixing blocky platforms with non-blocky trees like this and I don't think it worked well at all, would not recommend.

[Bacrylic]

All levels. Those examples are exactly what I want to input. Though I want to change it up with elements that match the book that the world is in. This book level is actually intended to be in the story of King Arthur. I'm not familiar with any iconic elements that were present in this setting of the book, but I'd like to tribute to those kinds of things as throwbacks to the original stories.

I agree with you there. I'm trying to find that sweet spot inbetween. Here was my first go at it, and althought I was liking it, I don't like how it feels so flat.

[eishiya]

Do floating islands fit with the world of your game?
The way I'm dealing with platforms in a natural setting in my current project is by having a very rough terrain and lots of boulders, the upper/horizontal surfaces of which are walkable, and the vertical surfaces of which are just cosmetic (the player does not collide with them). It also makes for more interesting platforms, since they're not all just horizontal/flat, they can have slopes just like the ground. This does have the disadvantage of leaving less space where the parallax backgrounds are visible, but the platform "bases" can be visually interesting in their own right.

Something else to consider, if all else fails: magical platforms that aren't part of the world proper, but are added by the books. Magical swords, shields, or just magical blocks you can jump on. This could work well if the gameplay involves traversing the same "real" setting under the influence of different books, which create different-looking platforms in different arrangement.

[Bacrylic]

No, unless the story you enter refences them you might not see floating platforms. Though some form of platforms will be necessary to have elevated.

Thats an interesting take on it. I may do something similar if not that exactly.

For the other worlds that will be infected or altered I'm up for magical placed platforms of the sort and influence, but pertaining to the story, this one is a small section and is untouched.

[Bacrylic]

Can I get some feedback?

The background is cause I'm sure I missed some hidden pixels in some frames that'll make things look gritty otherwise. I'll get them later, but I'm more concerned about how the animation reads. If its too choppy, too fast, needs more frames and the like.



I have another roll without the leap that puts Alex hitting the ground right away, but I feel like this one has more character to it.



Not sure how I feel about this one. I did a previous jump that felt too bouncy, so I checked some game references, and for one I noticed that they didn't have a bend frame prior to being airborn. It just cuts right to being in the air, followed by a decending frame, pretty much just two by the looks of it. The reference looked good but for mine I kept some extra frames. There is a bend, an extend, an ascending, a top of the arc, a descending, and a bending land frame. Maybe its the timing for this one thats bothering me, idk.



Here is the fixed jog. It's 12 frames in total, but I'm not sure if I should add more or not. I feel iffy about the timing on this one as well. Also the bag might be bouncing a little too high...