Quick Mockup: Ice Dungeon (new level added: temple)

[TomF]

This is an idea that i've always wanted to implement into a game, an ice dungeon level. It's for a cartooney platformer I started ages ago and probably will never finish.

Anyway here's what I've got so far:



And yes, lots of inspiration from Superfrog.

[fil_razorback]

For readability's sake, you should note use the same pattern for foreground and background.
Also, if the ice blades are an obstacle for the player, it should pop out more (contrast ? outline ...?).


Good start anyway =)

[smiker]

i  think that snow should be a bit less saturated, and also think that spikes would have a nice look if you shade it from the left or the right
tat shading is hard to read, seems overantialiasing...
by the way, i like them very much, but also think that you might change bg brick size to give it a far effect, dont you think?

[Draco9898]

The grates in the background keeps pulling at my eyes and keep making me think it's something in the foreground.
As mentioned before, make a different looking background.

The repetition of the same cracks over and over in the tiles is slightly painful.

[smiker]

here is a small edit, seconding what i said:
EDIT V


YOURS /\

[robotacon]

This looks promising. The AA looks good to me.

Is it metal-spikes or is it icicles? If they are icicles I'd mix em up a bit and and add snow around them. More snow over all I'd say.

The background block could be the same types of blocks as the floor blocks but perhaps you need a little more variation. Add som blocks that stick out a bit or some blocks that have snow on them. You could also add different lighting to the floor blocks.

Seriously it's a little empty for a mock-up. Perhaps if you add some characters and some level design it's easier to C+C. I want more!

[TomF]

Thanks for the crits everyone. It's funny how I left such obvious mistakes.

Well, here's a quick edit I did before work, with slight colour tweak and different background:



Logically, the smaller background blocks make alot more sense because they are further into the background. (yeah stating the obvious, but still.) 

Perhaps a little too dark though?

[Helm]

further color edits.

edit: though no, keep the blueish main tint on the foreground colors after all.

[TomF]

Thank you Helm, much appreciated. It's finally starting to look more like a game now:



I've developed a terrible habbit of re-colouring sprites from previous mock-ups. 

Possible problems:

Spring not bright enough?

Edge blocks too bright?

[smiker]

your objects are from superfrog,aren't them?

[bengo]

Don't accuse without proof, just makes you look like a d-bag.

[Badassbill]

I don't think he's accusing you of theft, I think he just meant that you're using the same object designs, not pixels.

[EyeCraft]

The diamonds remind me alot of turrican. Actually I just went and had a look at them and theyre pretty different, hehe.

As for recolouring stuff you've done before, I've done that quite alot in the past. Hey if its too good to let go to waste, don't let it go to waste!

A prob I see with this mockup is it comes across more as a sewer than as a dungeon. Maybe it's just me, but when I think of dungeons I think low ceilings, archways, chains and shackles, grunge, rats, corpses/skeletons, barred walls and doors. Just some suggestions for details, I guess.

[TomF]

smiker I can assure you that nothing is ripped or traced, it's just that I tend to include generic platform objects like bright gems and chunky springs. But yeah I can hardly say the designs are original. Sorry if I misunderstood.

EyeCraft you make a good point about the sewer thing. I'll take it into account.

Cheers for all the feedback so far! 

[TomF]

I've found a good way to self critique is to not look at the piece for a day or so, the next time you open it you can see straight away what you don't like. I did this and decided the ice needed changing.



Hopefully looking a little better now. The character is from an old mockup just as a filler, maybe I should use him though?

I'm not happy with the chains. 

[bengo]

Chains could use a bit of work, they look a bit like they're apart of the level(Like you can climb on them or something), I'm assuming though that they're just meant for eye candy.

[Faceless]

The ice looks more like snow now, and the spring does not sit well on it. Same goes for the spike trap.
Stalactites made of ice would not go amiss in this scene. I really don't think the brown guy fits.

[piotrek255]

the ice should be more to green+blue (very bright) thats how ice looks, and add skewed stripes with brighter colors, i dun know how to explain it better, watch some art from game boy advance, or psx games. observe how they create ice, the pattern for rocks does not feel very interesting, add some green stuff, its a water dungeon, water = moss(or slime, i dun know the exact word in english) , kind of like sewers, and i haven't seen cleaner sever than the one you made for years 

[TomF]

Perhaps more like this?

[robotacon]

Perhaps more like this?

Looks great to me.
Perhaps skip the black line between the ice hanging from the ceiling.

Now make more screens

[EyeCraft]

Nice progress! But I'm not too crash-hot on those pink-purple tones in the ice. I think I'll do an edit...



Editted ice character is standing on, lanterns in BG, colours, and character. Mainly dealing with contrast issues and colour issues, and making the ice blend more, and making it more...icy.

[ceddo]

Great improvement since the first shot! I still think the ice spikes could use some work though. Maybe it would work better if you made them out of metal. The use of high contrast would make them pop out a bit more, as well as add variety to the entire piece.

I preferred the torches when they had more of a reddish-orangeish hue. I just think the colors had a nice harmony with the blue of the ice.
I also think you should make the character using a color ramp you haven't used anywhere else in the background, to make sure it doesn't blend in with the rest of the game.

Hope I helped,
.c

[Dusty]

I quite liked it when you had the plush snow in there. Perhaps you should make it much more shorter, but it really added more to it than just flat tiles.

[TomF]

Yeah I did also enjoy the snow, but the it caused problems with the perspective as Faceless said.

I'm sorry Eyecraft but I just have to use your edit, I hope you dont mind. Further changed character colours.



I've decided to turn it into a small one level demo thingy. Working on the engine and level design now, so it's likely that everyone will be able to see the graphics in motion pretty soon. ( I mean within the next week or so.)

Oh and I tried the spikes out in metal but it really didn't fit the scene at all. Maybe I'll give them a little animated shine to make them stand out more.

[Dusty]

It did cause issues with perspective, but that wasn't because you had snow there, but the approach.
You had high snow the same color as the foreground icicles, going up 5 or so pixels, giving it an angle of perspective. This can be resolved by making the snow shorter and drawing it over the character, instead of the character over the snow.

[EyeCraft]

Yeah I did also enjoy the snow, but the it caused problems with the perspective as Faceless said.

I'm sorry Eyecraft but I just have to use your edit, I hope you dont mind. Further changed character colours.

Be my guest. I probably shouldn't edit things so much anyways...

I say reduce the value a bit on the midtone of the character to bring back a bit more 'pop' to him.

[smiker]

smiker I can assure you that nothing is ripped or traced, it's just that I tend to include generic platform objects like bright gems and chunky springs. But yeah I can hardly say the designs are original. Sorry if I misunderstood.

EyeCraft you make a good point about the sewer thing. I'll take it into account.

Cheers for all the feedback so far! 

sorry, i said that without ckecking my words before. i ask for sorry 4 you all. i 'm going to intend to not make that again

·  ·

[TomF]

Added a new level, overgrown temple type thing:



I'm pretty stuck as to what to have in the background, the standard bricks are boring me.

[robotacon]

This looks like it's going to be a great game.

I'm not sure about the water effect though. Perhaps it needs more contrast.
Water needs texture as well, currently it has a gel-like feel to it.

You have some things in the foreground and some things in the background.
Will the character move behind things in the foreground?

[Vertigo-zero]

Offcourse not, my guess is the bright pillars are obstacles...
Oh and they are right about the water... You might not even want to
use transparancy if you want to keep your color count low.

[TomF]

Correct, Vertigo! The bright pillars are obstacles, will probably be destructable if cracked or something like that.

And yeah you're both right about the water and to be honest I'm really not sure where im going with it. :/ Will try and fix it up asap.

[Fizz]

You could add some subtle overgrowth in the back..

[madPXL]

i like the last mockup, colors are good,
but for the background, bricks again??   

maybe that you could innovate on it 

[tocky]

I think, compared to the other one, the background is just too constant, no contrast.  It's all roughly the same hue. The candles in the other one broke it up pretty well - maybe you could have light poring in through breaks in the wall, or luminous plants or fungi, something like that.

[PypeBros]

Added a new level, overgrown temple type thing:
I'm pretty stuck as to what to have in the background, the standard bricks are boring me.

I definitely love the look of your mockups ^_^ but it seems to me that you haven't chosen whether that overground temple is open or closed area (if open, why such a brick wall -- if close, what do plants live from ?). If it's something like a formerly-closed-area-which-ceiling-damaged, we might have nice lightning effects, etc.

I guess since it's a temple, you might love to have statues and large doors instead of plain brick walls ... Since it's overgrown, you might very well have huge vines cracking the stones of the main hall or something ... Bg. of "Fury of the Furries" did a nice job in introducing such subtle (and humoristic) features to break monotony.

Another thing you might want to ask is "this is the temple of what, anyway?" That could give a direction to what kind of statues you'll have, include replicas of the "deity"'s face on large rocks or whatever.

Anyway, go on. This is going to be outstanding. It makes me feel the urge to complete my NDS-2D gaming engine and import your tiles to see it moving ^_^