Aldo's Adventure -> finished ? ^_____^

[madPXL]

Just decided to start a new topic for the character of Aldo because this time, it will be a topic with all  WIP/updates of a sort of a wanted game.

It's been a long time that I don't have made an homebrew game project, and this time I want to create several mockups to improve skills and style.

Let's start with the first WIP (inspired by henk nieborg)



C&C are welcome of course to help me !

[current version]

[Ryan Cordel]

If anything.. I think you should try making some of the mountains in the background less pyramid like, and make some different dark bushy tiles (Such as those near Aldo.), because it looks very repetitive as is. Try different sizes, leaf direction, and the likes.
Also, possibly, some darker rocks that partially continue down the foreground would be okay.

[surt]

Both the character and background look great but they don't really fit in my eyes.

The very cartoonishly rendered character clashes with the comparatively realistic backdrop, and so they don't appear to be part of the same game.

I'd simplify the background and carry over the bright colours and outlining from the sprite.

[madPXL]

WIP

so many changes : color, contrast, style, etc...

and yes I love pink montains !

[cave]

Huge improvement IMO, everything is a lot more cohesive now. I'd suggest giving the background more character. Put some unusual things in it, like, I  dunno, Emo flowers, popcorn trees, or maybe just an unusual pallete. My point is... Be creative, let your imagination loose. Oh and don't forget to animate it

[Ben2theEdge]

I love the color and the style, especially the main character. One comment is that you've choses a very flat angle to work with, and consequently your background is a lot of big, empty space. If you tilted the perspective a little, you'd be able to show a lot more, particularly of the lake which is barely visible right now.

[Badassbill]

The contrast ratio on the grass changes as soon as you hit the soil, to these lower contrast tiles which almost match hills in the distance. I think giving the soil more contrast will help hold the piece together.

[willfaulds]

I think the different mockups, palettes in particular, could be levels in the same game. The first looks grey - like its perhaps raining...

In both watch out for priority conflicts. The character should be quite distinct from the background.

[madPXL]

thanks for comments and critics !

here 2 version : first with colors/contrast issues, second with little perspective to see the lake.

Maybe it's me, but I prefer the no perspective..



Next will be the details

[edited] thanks cave.

[cave]

The new colors for the foreground are burning my eyes, it's a step backwards to me.

[infinitegames]

Hey, I've gotta say, there was something very refreshing about the one in the first post. I'm not sure why. The second post isn't bad by any means, but it takes on the really common style of Nintendo DS/Gameboy Advance platformer with supersaturated colors and the like. It's still really good-looking, though, and the clouds in both of them are beautiful.

[ndchristie]

I think you just need to fill it more :



don't actually 2x the pixels, that's just what i did to fill the space.

[AdamAtomic]

Great update - the dithering in the far background really catches my eye, in a bad way, since you have absolutely none in the foreground, character, or sky.  with colors that desaturated, the need to dither is much less anyways since neighboring tones will be lower contrast than their saturated counterparts anyways.  Awesome job!

[madPXL]

the night WIP !



So for the changes :

little changes on the floor,
emo pink flowers added(thanks cave for the idea),
little crow added,
big plants on the foreground(thanks adarias for the idea)

@adam :I removed a little of dither but I don't know how I could make the background no flat with no dither...

next : walking animation of the character !

[Crow]

I disagree. I think the latest one is very nice, but I guess the bushes behind the character have to lose some saturation.

[Terley]

just want to say MaDsk8tard this is looking pretty awesome, all it needs now is possibly some raised and lower parts to the ground and since he's a frog have you considered having any water atall in this? Oh definately some like rocks, trees, things to collect and baddies somewhere along the line.

Oh in the background I don't see the need in all that dithering, It should be simplier and blocked out like the foreground I think.

[Stefano]

The only thing I liked in the original version - that seemed to give your mock-up a fresh look as it has already been stated -, was that "pond" that started behind the character plane and seemed to extend all the way back to the mountains, killing the usual "gap" between these planes, and relating much better to your main character. Reeds, pebbles and moss would add to the overall mood...

Great work, Mask.
Makes me want to play the game...

[cave]

I'm starting to really really love this! The flowers and the rounded plants are now giving the scenery a more unique style, but I believe it can still be taken further. Don't be afraid to experiment with quirky ideas, you got a really nice thing going there.

[eobet]

The last WIP was a huge step up, and also rather unique, imo, since I normally associate large, round, cartoony shapes with that you find on a title screen. It's rare to see someone being able to fit that into the game itself! Very nice!

I think that the frog character does blend a bit too much into the background, though.

[madPXL]

@all :thanks for C&C.

@crow and @eobet : Yes I have a problem of visibility, I want to remove it...

@terley : I will add ennemis, rocks, tree, water, butterfly; etc...
I will redo the background, more like the foreground I think. (I don't know for clouds but I will try)

@stefano : As as said, I will redo it to make a better visibilty of the pound and the character.

@cave : sure, it's interesting to experiment with quirky ideas, Actually I'm seeking a style more defined.


So for news, I've just started to make the walking animation of the character : the next step is the complete texture and correction of problems (if there are )



it's take time to have what you want in animation, I'm noob here^^

and a little bonus :

cheers.

[cave]

Okay, for the walking animation, you want to make his shoulders rotate but not his head, heads don't do that when people walk...

Actually, your guy doesn't have shoulders... hmm I say drop the head rotation and really try to exaggerate the movements of his limbs to make the walk more bouncy, you know, give him a spring in his step. Also you might want to try not having your character be seen in a perfect 90 degree side view, if you make it so he is slightly rotated towards the screen it will give him a whole lot more dimensionality.

[thedaemon]

Try delaying the head or just breaking up the even action. Here is a small edit. I hope you don't mind. It looks pretty solid to me though. The only thing I would do different is try to incorporate a hop. He is after all a frog.

[the_ripper]

As cave suggested, i think it lacks exagerated movements. Makes him be more cartoonish.
The head generally focus on the direction where the characters walks, this , actually, more the body that will rotate than the head.
The arms shouldn't stay still during more than 1 frames at the extremity of the movement, it gives a slight feeling that it's a bit jerky (in comparison the legs looks good since they always have a different position) . Keeps him moving, even if it's one pixel, the result should be smoother.
Delaying the legs and the arms animation cycle of 1 or 2 frames should strenghten the cartoonish look.

[big brother]

It'd be cool if you embraced the character's quirky design and gave him a walkcycle to match. The generic walking loop isn't doing much for me. What if he skips, hops, or does something more frog-like?

[.TakaM]

This has a great style and has evolved nicely.

But I think the setting has evolved away from the frog, or the frog hasn't evolved with the setting
as in, if I hadn't seen this gradually improve, I think I'd be wondering why it's a frog and not a human or something.


However, I think once you show some real level design, cliffs, water, etc, it will be better.
And the animation.. I think you're missing out on a good opportunity with a frog character and human animation, I suppose because you're aiming for a more traditional feeling of control, but I think something more frog-like (as BB said) would be neat.
Somewhere between this, and the frog in Donkey Kong Country would be perfect I think


can't wait to see more

[madPXL]

since a while without update this topic too:)

first, thanks to all for yours constructive comments, I'm trying to get my best on this mock.
second : for the character of Aldo, it's a sort of human jinns with an appearance of a frog -> that's why it's look like an human.
but it's a good idea to put some hops on the animations, I will see it later when I will get time.

so this is the new one with some corrections and adds:

[Hyrule_SwordsMan]

really nice sprites and tiles
but i have a critique for ya
4 in fact
-Those trees.. I recommend you making its leaves bigger and add more contrast to the trunk. Check some real trees for references
-I suppose that rock is wip so...  but I would remove its outlines
-The bananas seems very polygonal, if thats your intention, then its ok lol
-The sign and the hud dont have a lot of wooden texture.

and one overall critique: donīt mix between outlined and without outlines sprites. It won't look ok. Just choose one of those.

[Godsent]

Well, it's all pretty much looking good accoring to me. The only thing that bugs me is the rather thick outline on the flowers in the foreground Keep it up

[ndchristie]

i'd say if you do any wood grain, do it lightly:



as for the outline on the rock, it's in keeping with the rest of the piece i think.  the range of values on the interior is what gives it too much priority imo.

[robotacon]

Extremely good work. I'm getting goose bumps.

One nitpick I can see right now is how light is handled.
Objects seems to be lit from different directions.

As far as I can see you have 4 levels of depth. You should do more to distinguise them, border thickness is not enough.
Perhaps you can play more with saturation like you've done with the mountains.

I'd keep the walk because it look great but I'd add a froglike jump.
Anyone jumping their own height would need frogs legs no?

[madPXL]

thanks all for help me to improve this mockup.

So a new WIP

[brianskywalker]

This new mockup is AWESOME. Though, I really can't figure out why a frog would be picking up bananas. Was this just random, or is there another reason behind this?

[tehwexxl0rz]

I miss the pond! I thought the perspective in the original version was great. Now, with the bushes obscuring the space between the level and the background, it looks like you don't know how to connect the two (which obviously is not the case).

Of course, the direction you want to take with the art is up to you, but it feels like the "swampiness" was lost. I really liked the old vines coming down the rocks in the foreground. Something about the trees feels out of place.... maybe if you broke up the leaves....? They would certainly look more natural and I don't think you'd necessarily have to sacrifice style. Just my two cents.

Great work so far!

[madPXL]

@brianskywalker : hummm, I don't have ideas for collectibles items (maybe butterfly, firefly, dragonfly?...)

@tehwexxl0rz : you are not the first to tell me this about the pond, so I will try an another perspective. And for the "swampiness" look, I prefer cartoon but with details, sorry

[madPXL]

so I post here the last mockup of this world, lot of changes are done since the start and I'm finally happy with it^^



thanks again to pixelation's guys for C&C

[vedsten]

wow, this is turning out pretty neat. This has been vastly improved since your first draft.

Only thing that bugs me is the plants in the bottom part ~ the dark 2 pixel outline and very sketchy approach doesn't really go very well with the rest stylewise.

[ndchristie]

I must say that I liked the one just before this much, much better.  the newest is clean but...uninspired.  If you keep this one, at least lose the dither on the rocks - it's wicked out of place imo.

[politopo]

the last version is much better than the previous ones, it keeps the lightness of the first versions.

[cave]

wow, this is turning out pretty neat. This has been vastly improved since your first draft.

Only thing that bugs me is the plants in the bottom part ~ the dark 2 pixel outline and very sketchy approach doesn't really go very well with the rest stylewise.

Agree 100%. The previous trees and ground looked much better IMO.

[madPXL]

not the same opinions of each of you 

I like the previous one, but I prefer the last one in term of design and color.

maybe if I have time I will redo bushes on the bottom part.

[Crow]

Ground of the old one + colors of the new ground + old bushes I think would look smexy.

[Reo]

I agree with Crow 100 %

[Break]

Have to say I like the previous one more, but the brighter trees on the newer update are really working better for me. There's something weird about seeing slanted trees tiled, like they were all blown down that way by some lazy tornado. The newer ones are very fresh and kirby-ish, but I think the hole in the middle of them looks a little tacked on. Try morphing that form into the tree more?

[FuzzballFox]

I prefered the dirt from these versions personally...
Still looks great though! =D