[WIP] Curse of the Caves (EGA DOS game)

[Arachne]

Thanks for that edit, Helm. Breaking up the background would definitely be a space-saver, but I'll have to make sure the layer behind it doesn't mess it up, so I need to think about that for a bit.



Worked on the tiles and some of the crystals.


I also drew some kind of idols made of jade, alabaster and lapis lazuli, respectively.

[surt]

Nothing constructive.

Just got to say that it's utterly beautiful. Makes that horrid palette look good.

[ptoing]

I want to play this

[ilkke]

Love the little crystal highlights on the terrain-tiles.
I wanted to add that maybe it wouldn't hurt to have similar kinds of tiles for the BG as well, so you could aesthetically flesh out a level by placing an accented bit of bg instead of a large patch of darkness.
Adds to the non-repetitiveness of the tile-based levels and that in turn adds to the being-there factor.

[Larwick]

Awh this is so pretty. 

Like-like looking monsters (red ones with the mouth-faces), looks like they need more contrast, if that's possible with your pallette, especially the larger one.

[Arachne]

Thanks, guys! Glad you like it.



Some minor adjustments to the tiles. I also tried adding another layer, since I thought it was a good idea, but I think it's difficult to pull off without making it too cluttered, at least with so few colors to work with.



Made the glowing moth more moth-like and made some more death animations. Not sure what speed to go for, though.

And, yeah, the worm monsters look pretty dull. I tried adding some yellow or white highlights to begin with, but thought they were too harsh, so I ended up settling for the dry, leathery look. Darkening the shadows would mean using gray or dark blue, and that wouldn't really work, either.

The shading is what bothers me the most about the worms at the moment. A top-left light source doesn't work when flipping them. The mud man has his lantern hand, and the glowing moth glows, and it's not really noticeable with the rest since they have other details like arms and such that can't really be shaded much and still be readable. I tried changing the shading on the smaller worms a bit. I'm not that worried about the big one since it's not going to be moving much. It'll just lay eggs.

[Arachne]

Working on some new tiles. I'm going to put some frozen creatures or something in the ice to break it up a bit, like I've done with the rocks and the tiny crystals. The transition between rocks and ice also needs some work, I think.


Walk cycle and some sort of stun effect.

[surt]

Ice looks a little dark to me. I find it looks more icy if you swap the light-cyan for white and push the remaining colours up on step in the gradient.

[Arachne]

Well, I was thinking the ice would be darker since there's not much light in the cave, but I guess it would depend on how clear the ice is. I added some white to the cyan in the original, but I also made a much brighter version. I'm not sure how the bright ice would work combined with the darker rock tiles, though, and the items won't be as visible. What do you think?

[philipptr]

I actually like the darker version much better. It is no readability-issues at all and creates a nice cave-atmosphere the rest while the brighter version seems to work a bit against the atmosphere.
Ah I would love to play this game fullscreen right now
Only thing I might crit is the use of cyan in the green crystals. It looks nice but makes the hues of the blue and green crystals even nearer which might make it a bit problematic in gameplay,and look a bit inconsistend considering the much greater difference between the other items.